Prior art

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database confirms the existence of US patent 9215275, titled "System and method to balance servers based on server load status". This patent was granted on December 15, 2015, from an application filed on September 30, 2010, and is currently active, set to expire on October 2, 2031.

Here's an analysis of the most relevant prior art cited in US patent 9215275, along with their potential anticipation of claims under 35 U.S.C. § 102:

Most Relevant Prior Art for US9215275

The following citations are presented based on their description in US9215275 and their direct relevance to the core concept of balancing server load based on real-time server status.

1. US20020194350A1 (Lu Leonard L.)

   • Full Citation: US20020194350A1, "Content-aware web switch without delayed binding and methods thereof"
   • Publication/Filing Date: Published: December 19, 2002 (Filed: June 18, 2001)
   • Brief Description: This patent application describes a content-aware web switch that directs web requests to appropriate servers without delayed binding. The system analyzes the content of a request (e.g., URL) to select a server. It focuses on efficiently routing requests based on content knowledge at the switch.
   • Potential Anticipated Claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. § 102: US20020194350A1 potentially anticipates aspects of claims related to a service gateway receiving a service request with a URL and determining a server to process that URL (e.g., portions of claim 1 where "determining the first server is a primary server associated with the third URL and the second server is a secondary server associated with the third URL"). However, US20020194350A1 does not explicitly disclose obtaining server load status from a service response to dynamically adjust server selection, which is a key distinguishing feature of US9215275.

2. US20040202182A1 (Lund Martin)

   • Full Citation: US20040202182A1, "Method and system to provide blade server load balancing using spare link bandwidth"
   • Publication/Filing Date: Published: October 14, 2004 (Filed: February 12, 2003)
   • Brief Description: This reference details a method and system for load balancing in a blade server environment by utilizing spare link bandwidth. While it addresses load balancing and server status (specifically, bandwidth), it focuses on a different metric and mechanism than US9215275's reliance on server computing load status embedded in service responses.
   • Potential Anticipated Claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. § 102: This reference might anticipate the general concept of using server-specific parameters for load balancing. However, its specific focus on "spare link bandwidth" as the load metric and its deployment in a blade server context, rather than a general computing load status obtained from a service response, would likely differentiate it from the specific claims of US9215275. It may anticipate the general idea of "discovering... the first server temporally cannot act as a primary server" if that discovery is based on network-level load rather than application-level computing load status in a service response.

3. US7076555B1 (Novell, Inc.)

   • Full Citation: US7076555B1, "System and method for transparent takeover of TCP connections between servers"
   • Publication/Filing Date: Granted: July 11, 2006 (Filed: January 23, 2002)
   • Brief Description: This patent describes a system and method for transparently taking over TCP connections between servers, primarily for fault tolerance and seamless service migration. While it involves managing server interactions and potentially implies some knowledge of server state for a seamless takeover, it doesn't explicitly teach the dynamic load balancing based on server computing load status communicated within service responses for incoming new service requests as claimed in US9215275.
   • Potential Anticipated Claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. § 102: This patent's focus on TCP connection takeover for fault tolerance is distinct from dynamically selecting a server for new requests based on its current computing load status as reported in a service response. Therefore, it is less likely to directly anticipate the core claims of US9215275, particularly those regarding the server status within a service response and its use for new request distribution.

4. US20070195792A1 (A10 Networks Inc.)

   • Full Citation: US20070195792A1, "System and method for an adaptive TCP SYN cookie with time validation"
   • Publication/Filing Date: Published: August 23, 2007 (Filed: February 21, 2006)
   • Brief Description: This patent application, assigned to the same entity (A10 Networks Inc.) as US9215275, focuses on an adaptive TCP SYN cookie mechanism for network security and efficiency, particularly in handling SYN attacks. While it relates to network traffic management and server interaction, its primary inventive concept is around TCP SYN cookie generation and validation, not the dynamic balancing of application-level service requests based on server computing load status reported in application-level service responses.
   • Potential Anticipated Claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. § 102: While from the same assignee and related to network appliances (like SLBs mentioned in US9215275's background), this reference's focus on TCP SYN cookies is distinct from the core claims of US9215275 regarding server load status in service responses for load balancing. It would not anticipate the specific method steps of US9215275.

5. US20100235880A1 (A10 Networks, Inc.)

   • Full Citation: US20100235880A1, "System and Method to Apply Network Traffic Policy to an Application Session"
   • Publication/Filing Date: Published: September 16, 2010 (Filed: October 17, 2006)
   • Brief Description: This patent application describes applying network traffic policies to application sessions. It involves inspecting application-layer information to apply policies, which hints at deeper traffic inspection. However, it does not explicitly disclose the mechanism of servers reporting their computing load status within a service response that is then used by a service gateway for dynamic load balancing decisions on subsequent requests, which is central to US9215275.
   • Potential Anticipated Claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. § 102: This reference, also from A10 Networks, Inc., relates to applying policies based on application sessions, suggesting some level of application-aware processing. However, it does not clearly teach the explicit reporting of server computing load status within a service response for the purpose of dynamically selecting servers for new requests, which is a key element of US9215275's claims.

It is important to note that a definitive assessment of anticipation would require a detailed claim-by-claim analysis against the full disclosure of each prior art reference, considering all limitations in the claims of US9215275. The descriptions above are based on the summaries provided in US9215275 and typical interpretations of patent titles and abstracts.