Prior art

The USPTO provides tools for searching patents and identifying prior art. Prior art encompasses publicly known information before a patent's effective filing date, including patents, published applications, journal articles, books, and websites.

US Patent 9203806 explicitly references the following prior art documents in its detailed description:

• United States Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0195896 to Fulp et al.

  • Full Citation: US 2006/0195896 A1
  • Publication Date: August 31, 2006
  • Brief Description: This patent application describes methods, systems, and computer program products for implementing a function-parallel network firewall. The patent 9203806 states that this reference, along with US 2006/0248580 A1 and US 2011/0055916 A1, "describe such advanced packet filtering technologies" that have reduced the time required to apply large rule sets to network traffic. This suggests that 2006/0195896 covers techniques for efficient packet filtering, which is a foundational aspect of the "preprocessing" step in 9203806.
  • Potential Anticipated Claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. § 102: Potentially anticipates aspects of Claims 1, 9, and 17 related to the "preprocessing... to optimize performance" of rule sets (specifically the underlying packet filtering technology) and the general concept of a network protection device processing packets. The core invention of 9203806, however, lies in the swapping and synchronization of multiple processors after preprocessing, rather than just the preprocessing itself.

• United States Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0248580 to Fulp et al.

  • Full Citation: US 2006/0248580 A1
  • Publication Date: November 2, 2006
  • Brief Description: This patent application focuses on methods, systems, and computer program products for network firewall policy optimization. As with 2006/0195896, US 9203806 cites this as describing "advanced packet filtering technologies" that reduce the time to apply large rule sets. This implies that 2006/0248580 details techniques for optimizing firewall policies, which is directly relevant to the preprocessing step.
  • Potential Anticipated Claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. § 102: Similar to 2006/0195896, this reference potentially anticipates aspects of Claims 1, 9, and 17 related to the "preprocessing... to optimize performance" of rule sets, particularly regarding the optimization of firewall policies. The novelty of 9203806 would rest on the multi-processor synchronization during the rule-set swap.

• United States Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0055916 to Ahn.

  • Full Citation: US 2011/0055916 A1
  • Publication Date: March 3, 2011
  • Brief Description: This patent application, with inventor David K. Ahn (also an inventor on US 9203806), describes methods, systems, and computer readable media for adaptive packet filtering. US 9203806 references this as describing advanced packet filtering technologies that have reduced the time required to apply large rule sets to network traffic. Given the shared inventor and the description of "adaptive packet filtering," this likely provides more specific details on the packet processing mechanisms that could be employed within the preprocessing step of 9203806.
  • Potential Anticipated Claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. § 102: This reference likely anticipates significant portions of the "preprocessing... to optimize performance" steps found in Claims 1, 9, and 17, as well as the fundamental architecture of a network protection device processing packets. Its relevance is high due to the shared inventor and the explicit mention in the background of US 9203806. The key differentiating factor for 9203806 remains the coordinated rule swapping across multiple processors.

• U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/657,010, filed Oct. 22, 2012.

  • Full Citation: US 2014/0115719 A1 (published as "METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROTECTING A SECURED NETWORK")
  • Filing Date: October 22, 2012
  • Brief Description: US 9203806 references this patent application as describing "the use of packet transformation functions." This implies that this prior art teaches the application of various functions (e.g., forwarding, dropping, logging) to packets based on examined information.
  • Potential Anticipated Claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. § 102: This reference likely anticipates the concept of "performing one or more packet transformation functions" as mentioned in the detailed description of 9203806. This would relate to the actions performed on packets after they match a rule. While not directly anticipating the rule swapping or synchronization, it provides context for the "processing packets in accordance with the first/second rule set" aspects of Claims 1, 9, and 17, specifically regarding the actions taken on packets.