Invalidity dossier
US 6374300
Method and system for storing load balancing information with an HTTP cookie
Current assignee: F5 Inc
Added 9/23/2026, 6:05:39 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview: US6374300B2
Title: Method and system for storing load balancing information with an HTTP cookie
Patent Number / Application: US6374300B2 (Application No. US09/353,335)
Inventor: Richard R. Masters
Original Assignee: F5 Networks, Inc. Current assignee listed as F5 Inc.
Key Dates:
- Priority/Filing Date: 1999-07-15
- Publication of US20010023442A1: 2001-09-20
- Grant/Publication Date: 2002-04-16
- Anticipated Expiration: 2019-07-15
- Legal Status: Expired – Lifetime
Purpose:
The patent relates generally to distributing load demand between servers on a network, and more specifically to employing an HTTP cookie to balance load demand between servers on a wide area network of geographically distributed servers, such as the Internet.
Plain-Language Scope:
The invention uses a cookie in a Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) data stream to identify a relationship between a previously selected destination and a client's HTTP request. Described is a method for load balancing access to a resource identified in an HTTP request that includes: (1) examining an HTTP request to determine when a Cookie is included, the Cookie indicating a destination for accessing the resource; (2) when the Cookie is included, sending the HTTP request to the destination indicated; (3) generating an HTTP response at the destination; (4) inserting a copy of the Cookie information; and (5) sending the HTTP response with the copied information, so a subsequent request includes another Cookie indicating the resource is accessible at that destination.
The method may send the HTTP request to a server array controller managing multiple node servers, which selects a node server based on the Cookie information. The selected node server is associated with the destination and generates the response including the copy of the Cookie information. An identifier associating the selected node server with the destination may be included, and may be encoded as a hash value. A time stamp may be generated by the node server, server array controller, or any network transmission device.
What the excerpt does not establish: It provides only a partial description (the text is excerpted) and does not establish full claim language, the complete specification, or the full field of claims. Legal status is noted as an assumption, not a legal conclusion. The excerpt does not establish validity, enforceability, or the complete prosecution history.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US6374300](/patent/US6374300)/en (fetched 2026-09-23).
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:43:00 PM
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Litigation summary
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PTAB challenges
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Assignment history
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Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
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