US 8955128

Patent Overview: US8955128B1 — "Systems and methods for selectively regulating network traffic"

Bibliographic data (as supplied): Application US13/560,991; priority date 2011-07-27; filed 2012-07-27; granted/published 2015-02-10. Inventors: Francesco Trama and Daniel Gynn. Original assignee listed as "Individual"; assigned to PACKETVIPER, LLC on 2015-02-20. Status listed as Active, with anticipated expiration 2032-07-27. Classifications include H04L63/02 (firewalls), H04L63/1441 and H04L63/1491 (countermeasures against malicious traffic; deception/honeypots).

Purpose and plain-language scope: The patent describes controlling traffic to a network based on user preferences—particularly geographic location—rather than only conventional filters (IP, range, reverse DNS, intent, or content filtering). The excerpt explains that because IP ranges were assigned non-sequentially worldwide, administrators must otherwise enter separate CIDR addresses for each country. The invention instead builds master/access control lists from a country's preassigned network ranges as assigned by Internet numbering authorities, so users can decline traffic from selected countries or national boundaries.

Disclosed elements: An appliance (hardware or virtual), a centralized server, and a user computer with a browser interface. The appliance holds world IPv4/IPv6 assignments in repositories organized as Prebuilt Country IP Lists, Subscribed Lists, Custom Lists, and Control Lists. A script generator compiles user-selected lists into a "master access" file loaded into appliance RAM. A rules engine applies user-defined rules to evaluate packets, enabling blocking/dropping, rerouting, or logging. The appliance may sit as a Layer 2 network bridge in front of networking equipment, and be updated from the server. Figures describe packet evaluation filtering (FIGS. 2A–2C), a sample user interface (FIG. 3), IP identification of logged packets (FIG. 4), and a user-initiated "Net Check" (FIG. 5).

What the excerpt does not establish: The source text is an excerpt; it omits much of the description and all claim language, so actual claim scope cannot be determined here. It provides no details on server/appliance communication protocols, update mechanisms beyond periodic/query-based updating, security implementation specifics, or any litigation, validity, or prior-art analysis. No representations beyond the listed bibliographic fields are made.

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US8955128](/patent/US8955128)/en