Patents by Inventor Nathan Foster

Nathan Foster has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11929944
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the invention provide a forwarding element (e.g., a switch, a router, etc.) that has one or more data plane, message-processing pipelines with key-value processing circuits. The forwarding element's data plane key-value circuits allow the forwarding element to perform key-value services that would otherwise have to be performed by data compute nodes connected by the network fabric that includes the forwarding element. In some embodiments, the key-value (KV) services of the forwarding element and other similar forwarding elements supplement the key-value services of a distributed set of key-value servers by caching a subset of the most commonly used key-value pairs in the forwarding elements that connect the set of key-value servers with their client applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: Barefoot Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Xiaozhou Li, Jeongkeun Lee, Changhoon Kim, John Nathan Foster
  • Patent number: 11720373
    Abstract: A method for verifying data plane programs is provided in some embodiments. Because the behavior of a data plane program (e.g., a program written in the P4 language) is determined in part by the control plane populating match-action tables with specific forwarding rules, in some embodiments, programmers are provided with a way to document assumptions about the control plane using annotations (e.g., in the form of “assertions” or “assumptions” about the state based on the unknown control plane contribution). In some embodiments, annotations are added automatically to verify common properties, including checking that every header read or written is valid, that every expression has a well-defined value, and that all standard metadata is manipulated correctly. The method in some embodiments translates programs from a first language (e.g., P4) to a second language (e.g., Guarded Command Language (GCL)) for verification by a satisfiability modulo theory (SMT) solver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: Barefoot Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeongkeun Lee, Cole Nathan Schlesinger, John Nathan Foster, Han Wang, Robert Soule, William Hallahan, Steffen Julif Smolka, Mon Jed Liu
  • Publication number: 20230027453
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the invention provide a forwarding element (e.g., a switch, a router, etc.) that has one or more data plane, message-processing pipelines with key-value processing circuits. The forwarding element's data plane key-value circuits allow the forwarding element to perform key-value services that would otherwise have to be performed by data compute nodes connected by the network fabric that includes the forwarding element. In some embodiments, the key-value (KV) services of the forwarding element and other similar forwarding elements supplement the key-value services of a distributed set of key-value servers by caching a subset of the most commonly used key-value pairs in the forwarding elements that connect the set of key-value servers with their client applications.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2022
    Publication date: January 26, 2023
    Applicant: Barefoot Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Xiaozhou LI, Jeongkeun LEE, Changhoon KIM, John Nathan FOSTER
  • Patent number: 11463381
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the invention provide a forwarding element (e.g., a switch, a router, etc.) that has one or more data plane, message-processing pipelines with key-value processing circuits. The forwarding element's data plane key-value circuits allow the forwarding element to perform key-value services that would otherwise have to be performed by data compute nodes connected by the network fabric that includes the forwarding element. In some embodiments, the key-value (KV) services of the forwarding element and other similar forwarding elements supplement the key-value services of a distributed set of key-value servers by caching a subset of the most commonly used key-value pairs in the forwarding elements that connect the set of key-value servers with their client applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: Barefoot Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Xiaozhou Li, Jeongkeun Lee, Changhoon Kim, John Nathan Foster
  • Patent number: 11457606
    Abstract: Compacting expanded perlite fines in the presence of a clay and water, followed by drying, produces particles with low density, good integrity, and surprisingly higher absorption by volume than non-compacted expanded perlite or non-swelling clay. Furthermore, addition of a clumping agent to the compacted granules results in a clumping litter with low density, good integrity and comparable clumping ability to traditional clay clumping litter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: SOCIÉTÉ DES PRODUITS NESTLÉ S.A.
    Inventors: Nathan Foster Huck, Colin Muscroft, David Odell Leinart
  • Patent number: 11382224
    Abstract: A hermetically sealed electronic package may include a thermal panel having a panel interior surface and a panel exterior surface with electronic device(s) in thermal communication with the panel interior surface. An enclosure, isolating environmental communication from internal electronic devices and modules, may be coupled to the thermal panel, and the enclosure may have an enclosure interior surface and an enclosure exterior surface. A plurality of electrical feedthroughs may be coupled to the package enclosure for signal and data transmission, and the conducting pin(s) in every electrical feedthrough may be bonded by a hydrophobic sealing material for harsh environmental electrical signal, data and power transmission. The ratio of sealing length over sealing bead diameter in the electrical feedthrough subassembly may have a preferred value from 2 to 3; and the ratio of the sealing bead diameter over pin diameter in the electrical feedthrough subassembly may have a preferred value from 1.5 to 2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: PA&E, HERMETIC SOLUTIONS GROUP, LLC
    Inventors: Hua Xia, Nathan Foster, Nelson Settles, Steve Hall, David DeWire
  • Publication number: 20220192144
    Abstract: Litter compositions comprising a blend of compacted granules comprising expanded perlite fines and coated granules, each coated granule comprising a non-agglomerated particle and a coating comprising a clumping agent on an outer surface of the particle are disclosed herein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2021
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventor: Nathan Foster Huck
  • Publication number: 20220083352
    Abstract: A method for verifying data plane programs is provided in some embodiments. Because the behavior of a data plane program (e.g., a program written in the P4 language) is determined in part by the control plane populating match-action tables with specific forwarding rules, in some embodiments, programmers are provided with a way to document assumptions about the control plane using annotations (e.g., in the form of “assertions” or “assumptions” about the state based on the unknown control plane contribution). In some embodiments, annotations are added automatically to verify common properties, including checking that every header read or written is valid, that every expression has a well-defined value, and that all standard metadata is manipulated correctly. The method in some embodiments translates programs from a first language (e.g., P4) to a second language (e.g., Guarded Command Language (GCL)) for verification by a satisfiability modulo theory (SMT) solver.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2021
    Publication date: March 17, 2022
    Inventors: Jeongkeun LEE, Cole Nathan Schlesinger, John Nathan FOSTER, Han Wang, Robert SOULE, William Hallahan, Steffen Julif Smolka, Mon Jed LIU
  • Patent number: 11188355
    Abstract: A method for verifying data plane programs is provided in some embodiments. Because the behavior of a data plane program (e.g., a program written in the P4 language) is determined in part by the control plane populating match-action tables with specific forwarding rules, in some embodiments, programmers are provided with a way to document assumptions about the control plane using annotations (e.g., in the form of “assertions” or “assumptions” about the state based on the unknown control plane contribution). In some embodiments, annotations are added automatically to verify common properties, including checking that every header read or written is valid, that every expression has a well-defined value, and that all standard metadata is manipulated correctly. The method in some embodiments translates programs from a first language (e.g., P4) to a second language (e.g., Guarded Command Language (GCL)) for verification by a satisfiability modulo theory (SMT) solver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: Barefoot Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeongkeun Lee, Cole Nathan Schlesinger, John Nathan Foster, Han Wang, Robert Soule, William Hallahan, Steffen Julif Smolka, Mon Jed Liu
  • Patent number: 11109563
    Abstract: Animal litter compositions having relatively low densities are described herein. Methods of manufacturing such litter compositions are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: SOCIÉTÉ DES PRODUITS NESTLÉ S.A.
    Inventors: Nathan Foster Huck, Phillip B. Greene
  • Publication number: 20210105230
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the invention provide a forwarding element (e.g., a switch, a router, etc.) that has one or more data plane, message-processing pipelines with key-value processing circuits. The forwarding element's data plane key-value circuits allow the forwarding element to perform key-value services that would otherwise have to be performed by data compute nodes connected by the network fabric that includes the forwarding element. In some embodiments, the key-value (KV) services of the forwarding element and other similar forwarding elements supplement the key-value services of a distributed set of key-value servers by caching a subset of the most commonly used key-value pairs in the forwarding elements that connect the set of key-value servers with their client applications.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 6, 2020
    Publication date: April 8, 2021
    Inventors: Xiaozhou LI, Jeongkeun LEE, Changhoon KIM, John Nathan FOSTER
  • Publication number: 20210076635
    Abstract: Compacting expanded perlite fines in the presence of a small amount of binder (starch and/or clay) and water, followed by drying, produces particles with low density, good integrity, and surprisingly higher absorption by volume than non-compacted expanded perlite or non-swelling clay. Furthermore, addition of a small amount of clumping agent (e.g., guar gum) to the compacted granules results in a clumping litter with low density, good integrity and comparable clumping ability to traditional clay clumping litter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2020
    Publication date: March 18, 2021
    Inventors: Nathan Foster Huck, Colin Muscroft, David Odell Leinart
  • Publication number: 20210014986
    Abstract: A hermetically sealed electronic package may include a thermal panel having a panel interior surface and a panel exterior surface with electronic device(s) in thermal communication with the panel interior surface. An enclosure, isolating environmental communication from internal electronic devices and modules, may be coupled to the thermal panel, and the enclosure may have an enclosure interior surface and an enclosure exterior surface. A plurality of electrical feedthroughs may be coupled to the package enclosure for signal and data transmission, and the conducting pin(s) in every electrical feedthrough may be bonded by a hydrophobic sealing material for harsh environmental electrical signal, data and power transmission. The ratio of sealing length over sealing bead diameter in the electrical feedthrough subassembly may have a preferred value from 2 to 3; and the ratio of the sealing bead diameter over pin diameter in the electrical feedthrough subassembly may have a preferred value from 1.5 to 2.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2020
    Publication date: January 14, 2021
    Applicant: PA&E, Hermetic Solutions Group, LLC
    Inventors: Hua Xia, Nathan Foster, Nelson Settles, Steve Hall, David DeWire
  • Patent number: 10881077
    Abstract: Compacting expanded perlite fines in the presence of a small amount of binder (starch and/or clay) and water, followed by drying, produces particles with low density, good integrity, and surprisingly higher absorption by volume than non-compacted expanded perlite or non-swelling clay. Furthermore, addition of a small amount of clumping agent (e.g., guar gum) to the compacted granules results in a clumping litter with low density, good integrity and comparable clumping ability to traditional clay clumping litter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: SOCIÉTÉ DES PRODUITS NESTLÉ S.A.
    Inventors: Nathan Foster Huck, Colin Muscroft, David Odell Leinart
  • Patent number: 10862827
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the invention provide a forwarding element that has one or more data plane, message-processing pipelines with key-value processing circuits. The forwarding element's data plane key-value circuits allow the forwarding element to perform key-value services that would otherwise have to be performed by data compute nodes connected by the network fabric that includes the forwarding element. In some embodiments, the key-value (KV) services of the forwarding element and other similar forwarding elements supplement the key-value services of a distributed set of key-value servers by caching a subset of the most commonly used key-value pairs in the forwarding elements that connect the set of key-value servers with their client applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: Barefoot Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Xiaozhou Li, Jeongkeun Lee, Changhoon Kim, John Nathan Foster
  • Patent number: 10811331
    Abstract: A hermetically sealed electronic package may include a thermal panel having a panel interior surface and a panel exterior surface with electronic device(s) in thermal communication with the panel interior surface. An enclosure, isolating environmental communication from internal electronic devices and modules, may be coupled to the thermal panel, and the enclosure may have an enclosure interior surface and an enclosure exterior surface. A plurality of electrical feedthroughs may be coupled to the package enclosure for signal and data transmission, and the conducting pin(s) in every electrical feedthrough may be bonded by a hydrophobic sealing material for harsh environmental electrical signal, data and power transmission. The ratio of sealing length over sealing bead diameter in the electrical feedthrough subassembly may have a preferred value from 2 to 3; and the ratio of the sealing bead diameter over pin diameter in the electrical feedthrough subassembly may have a preferred value from 1.5 to 2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: PA&E, HERMETIC SOLUTIONS GROUP, LLC
    Inventors: Hua Xia, Nathan Foster, Nelson Settles, Steve Hall
  • Publication number: 20200273769
    Abstract: A hermetically sealed electronic package may include a thermal panel having a panel interior surface and a panel exterior surface with electronic device(s) in thermal communication with the panel interior surface. An enclosure, isolating environmental communication from internal electronic devices and modules, may be coupled to the thermal panel, and the enclosure may have an enclosure interior surface and an enclosure exterior surface. A plurality of electrical feedthroughs may be coupled to the package enclosure for signal and data transmission, and the conducting pin(s) in every electrical feedthrough may be bonded by a hydrophobic sealing material for harsh environmental electrical signal, data and power transmission. The ratio of sealing length over sealing bead diameter in the electrical feedthrough subassembly may have a preferred value from 2 to 3; and the ratio of the sealing bead diameter over pin diameter in the electrical feedthrough subassembly may have a preferred value from 1.5 to 2.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2019
    Publication date: August 27, 2020
    Applicant: PA&E, Hermetic Solutions Group, LLC
    Inventors: Hua Xia, Nathan Foster, Nelson Settles, Steve Hall
  • Publication number: 20200134308
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the invention provide a data plane circuit for a network forwarding element that searches for one or more patterns of characters stored in data messages received by the data plane circuit. In some embodiments, the data plane circuit analyzes the data messages as it processes the data messages to forward the data messages to their destinations in a network. Because the data messages are already flowing through the network, it is optimal to search the data messages for the character patterns as the data messages pass through the network, instead of performing these operations on a separate set of servers that typically perform these searches at slower rates. In other embodiments, the data plane circuit does not perform its character pattern searches in conjunction with its forwarding operations, as it receives the data messages from a set of servers just for the purpose of performing its character pattern searches, in order to offload some or all of these searches from the server set.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 1, 2019
    Publication date: April 30, 2020
    Inventors: Masoud Moshref Javadi, Robert Soule, Changhoon Kim, Jeongkeun Lee, John Nathan Foster, Daniel A. Alvarez, Theodore Jepsen
  • Publication number: 20200077616
    Abstract: Animal litter compositions having relatively low densities are described herein. Methods of manufacturing such litter compositions are also described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2019
    Publication date: March 12, 2020
    Inventors: Nathan Foster Huck, Phillip B. Greene
  • Publication number: 20200037573
    Abstract: Compacting expanded perlite fines in the presence of a clay and water, followed by drying, produces particles with low density, good integrity, and surprisingly higher absorption by volume than non-compacted expanded perlite or non-swelling clay. Furthermore, addition of a clumping agent to the compacted granules results in a clumping litter with low density, good integrity and comparable clumping ability to traditional clay clumping litter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2019
    Publication date: February 6, 2020
    Applicant: Société des Produits Nestlé S.A.
    Inventors: Nathan Foster Huck, Colin Muscroft, David Odell Leinart