Invalidity dossier
US 11956338
Correlating packets in communications networks
Current assignee: Centripetal Networks LLC
Added 9/21/2026, 1:08:14 PM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US11956338B2
Title: Correlating packets in communications networks
Patent number: US11956338B2
Assignee / current assignee (as listed): Centripetal Networks LLC (original assignee: Centripetal Networks LLC; an assignment to Centripetal Networks, LLC was recorded 2023-06-22)
Inventors: David K. Ahn; Peter P. Geremia; Pierre Mallett, III; Sean Moore; Robert T. Perry
Key dates (as listed; the source notes priority/expiration dates are assumptions and not legal conclusions):
- Priority date: 2015-02-10
- Filing date: 2023-05-19 (application US18/199,490)
- Publication of US20230291817A1: 2023-09-14
- Granted / publication of US11956338B2: 2024-04-09
- Anticipated expiration: 2035-02-10; legal status listed as Active
Purpose and plain-language scope (from the supplied text): Communications between endpoints of packet-switched networks may be characterized as flows of associated packets, and a particular flow may include packets containing information (e.g., in packet headers) that distinguishes it from other flows. Network devices between endpoints may alter packets in a flow and thereby potentially obfuscate which flow a packet belongs to; hence a need for correlating packets. The described approach: a computing system identifies packets received by a network device from a host in a first network and generates log entries for those received packets; it also identifies packets transmitted by the network device to a host in a second network and generates log entries for those transmitted packets. Using both sets of log entries, the computing system correlates the transmitted packets with the received packets. Received packets may be associated with one or more flows (e.g., distinct end-to-end communication sessions).
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US11956338](/patent/US11956338)/en
What the excerpt does not establish: It does not provide the full claims, dependent-claim limitations, or complete specification; nor the detailed correlation algorithms, hardware configurations, or definitions beyond the quoted passages. It also does not establish litigation, ownership history beyond the listed assignments, validity, or prior art.
Generated 10/1/2026, 10:00:53 PM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.