Patents by Inventor Brent W. Smith
Brent W. Smith 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).
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Patent number: 11968174Abstract: Systems and methods for blocking spoofed traffic within communications networks include obtaining, at a computing system, routing information for an autonomous system of a communications network, the routing information identifying Internet Protocol (IP) addresses associated with the autonomous system. In response to receiving the routing information, the computing system generates a prefix list based on the routing information, the prefix list including one or more prefixes encompassing the IP addresses identified by the routing information. The computing system then transmits instructions to a network device of the communications network configured to cause the network device to update a filter function of the network device based on the prefix list such that the network device permits network traffic that originates from IP addresses within the prefixes of the prefix list.Type: GrantFiled: October 3, 2019Date of Patent: April 23, 2024Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventor: Brent W. Smith
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Publication number: 20240129225Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for providing multiple egress points from a telecommunications network for a client of the network. In particular, the process and system allows for multiple provider edges of the network to utilize a route reflector server to provide a border gateway protocol (BGP) route to other provider edges in the network. Further, the multiple provider edges may each announce similar interior gateway protocol (IGP) routes through the network such that a provider edge receiving a packet intended for the customer network may select from the multiple IGP routes to provide the intended packet to the customer network. In this manner, the receiving provider edge may load balance among the various connections of the customer network to the telecommunications network.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 14, 2023Publication date: April 18, 2024Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Eric Osborne, Brent W. Smith
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Publication number: 20240089287Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for an orchestrator device associated with a scrubbing environment of a telecommunications network that receives one or more announced routing protocol advertisements from a customer device under an attack. In response to receiving the announcement, the orchestrator may configure one or more scrubbing devices of the network to begin providing the scrubbing service to packets matching the received routing announcement. A scrubbing service state for the customer may also be obtained or determined by the orchestrator. With the received route announcement and the customer profile and state information, the orchestrator may provide instructions to configure the scrubbing devices of the network based on the received information to dynamically automate scrubbing techniques without the need for a network administrator to manually configure the scrubbing environment or devices.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 22, 2023Publication date: March 14, 2024Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Todd J. Williamson, Brent W. Smith
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Publication number: 20240048472Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems for providing multiple egress routes from a telecommunications network for a client of the network. In general, the system provides for a client of the network to receive intended packets of information through multiple connections to the network such that load balancing and failover services for traffic to the customer are provided. The process and system allow for telecommunications network to utilize a common next-hop value of announced border gateway protocol (BGP) routes to advertise multiple routes to reach a destination customer network or address. By utilizing a common next-hop value in the announced BGP information, the devices of the network may load balance communication packets to the destination customer or address among the multiple egress locations from the network, as well as providing fast failover to alternate routes when a failure at the network or customer occurs.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 24, 2023Publication date: February 8, 2024Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Francis Ferguson, Eric Osborne, Clyde David Cooper, III, Brent W. Smith
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Patent number: 11848855Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for providing multiple egress points from a telecommunications network for a client of the network. In particular, the process and system allows for multiple provider edges of the network to utilize a route reflector server to provide a border gateway protocol (BGP) route to other provider edges in the network. Further, the multiple provider edges may each announce similar interior gateway protocol (IGP) routes through the network such that a provider edge receiving a packet intended for the customer network may select from the multiple IGP routes to provide the intended packet to the customer network. In this manner, the receiving provider edge may load balance among the various connections of the customer network to the telecommunications network.Type: GrantFiled: March 11, 2022Date of Patent: December 19, 2023Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Eric Osborne, Brent W. Smith
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Patent number: 11831673Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for an orchestrator device associated with a scrubbing environment of a telecommunications network that receives one or more announced routing protocol advertisements from a customer device under an attack. In response to receiving the announcement, the orchestrator may configure one or more scrubbing devices of the network to begin providing the scrubbing service to packets matching the received routing announcement. A scrubbing service state for the customer may also be obtained or determined by the orchestrator. With the received route announcement and the customer profile and state information, the orchestrator may provide instructions to configure the scrubbing devices of the network based on the received information to dynamically automate scrubbing techniques without the need for a network administrator to manually configure the scrubbing environment or devices.Type: GrantFiled: September 2, 2022Date of Patent: November 28, 2023Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Todd J. Williamson, Brent W. Smith
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Patent number: 11743167Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems for providing multiple egress routes from a telecommunications network for a client of the network. In general, the system provides for a client of the network to receive intended packets of information through multiple connections to the network such that load balancing and failover services for traffic to the customer are provided. The process and system allow for telecommunications network to utilize a common next-hop value of announced border gateway protocol (BGP) routes to advertise multiple routes to reach a destination customer network or address. By utilizing a common next-hop value in the announced BGP information, the devices of the network may load balance communication packets to the destination customer or address among the multiple egress locations from the network, as well as providing fast failover to alternate routes when a failure at the network or customer occurs.Type: GrantFiled: October 28, 2022Date of Patent: August 29, 2023Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Francis Ferguson, Eric Osborne, Clyde David Cooper, III, Brent W. Smith
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Publication number: 20230046362Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems for providing multiple egress routes from a telecommunications network for a client of the network. In general, the system provides for a client of the network to receive intended packets of information through multiple connections to the network such that load balancing and failover services for traffic to the customer are provided. The process and system allow for telecommunications network to utilize a common next-hop value of announced border gateway protocol (BGP) routes to advertise multiple routes to reach a destination customer network or address. By utilizing a common next-hop value in the announced BGP information, the devices of the network may load balance communication packets to the destination customer or address among the multiple egress locations from the network, as well as providing fast failover to alternate routes when a failure at the network or customer occurs.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 28, 2022Publication date: February 16, 2023Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Francis Ferguson, Eric Osborne, Clyde David Cooper, III, Brent W. Smith
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Publication number: 20220417280Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for an orchestrator device associated with a scrubbing environment of a telecommunications network that receives one or more announced routing protocol advertisements from a customer device under an attack. In response to receiving the announcement, the orchestrator may configure one or more scrubbing devices of the network to begin providing the scrubbing service to packets matching the received routing announcement. A scrubbing service state for the customer may also be obtained or determined by the orchestrator. With the received route announcement and the customer profile and state information, the orchestrator may provide instructions to configure the scrubbing devices of the network based on the received information to dynamically automate scrubbing techniques without the need for a network administrator to manually configure the scrubbing environment or devices.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 2, 2022Publication date: December 29, 2022Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Todd J. Williamson, Brent W. Smith
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Patent number: 11489755Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems for providing multiple egress routes from a telecommunications network for a client of the network. In general, the system provides for a client of the network to receive intended packets of information through multiple connections to the network such that load balancing and failover services for traffic to the customer are provided. The process and system allow for telecommunications network to utilize a common next-hop value of announced border gateway protocol (BGP) routes to advertise multiple routes to reach a destination customer network or address. By utilizing a common next-hop value in the announced BGP information, the devices of the network may load balance communication packets to the destination customer or address among the multiple egress locations from the network, as well as providing fast failover to alternate routes when a failure at the network or customer occurs.Type: GrantFiled: July 13, 2021Date of Patent: November 1, 2022Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Francis Ferguson, Eric Osborne, Clyde David Cooper, III, Brent W. Smith
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Patent number: 11438372Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for an orchestrator device associated with a scrubbing environment of a telecommunications network that receives one or more announced routing protocol advertisements from a customer device under an attack. In response to receiving the announcement, the orchestrator may configure one or more scrubbing devices of the network to begin providing the scrubbing service to packets matching the received routing announcement. A scrubbing service state for the customer may also be obtained or determined by the orchestrator. With the received route announcement and the customer profile and state information, the orchestrator may provide instructions to configure the scrubbing devices of the network based on the received information to dynamically automate scrubbing techniques without the need for a network administrator to manually configure the scrubbing environment or devices.Type: GrantFiled: October 21, 2020Date of Patent: September 6, 2022Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Todd J. Williamson, Brent W. Smith
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Publication number: 20220200888Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for providing multiple egress points from a telecommunications network for a client of the network. In particular, the process and system allows for multiple provider edges of the network to utilize a route reflector server to provide a border gateway protocol (BGP) route to other provider edges in the network. Further, the multiple provider edges may each announce similar interior gateway protocol (IGP) routes through the network such that a provider edge receiving a packet intended for the customer network may select from the multiple IGP routes to provide the intended packet to the customer network. In this manner, the receiving provider edge may load balance among the various connections of the customer network to the telecommunications network.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 11, 2022Publication date: June 23, 2022Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Eric Osborne, Brent W. Smith
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Patent number: 11283706Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for providing multiple egress points from a telecommunications network for a client of the network. In particular, the process and system allows for multiple provider edges of the network to utilize a route reflector server to provide a border gateway protocol (BGP) route to other provider edges in the network. Further, the multiple provider edges may each announce similar interior gateway protocol (IGP) routes through the network such that a provider edge receiving a packet intended for the customer network may select from the multiple IGP routes to provide the intended packet to the customer network. In this manner, the receiving provider edge may load balance among the various connections of the customer network to the telecommunications network.Type: GrantFiled: June 12, 2020Date of Patent: March 22, 2022Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Eric Osborne, Brent W. Smith
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Publication number: 20210344585Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems for providing multiple egress routes from a telecommunications network for a client of the network. In general, the system provides for a client of the network to receive intended packets of information through multiple connections to the network such that load balancing and failover services for traffic to the customer are provided. The process and system allows for telecommunications network to utilize a common next-hop value of announced border gateway protocol (BGP) routes to advertise multiple routes to reach a destination customer network or address. By utilizing a common next-hop value in the announced BGP information, the devices of the network may load balance communication packets to the destination customer or address among the multiple egress locations from the network, as well as providing fast failover to alternate routes when a failure at the network or customer occurs.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 13, 2021Publication date: November 4, 2021Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Francis Ferguson, Eric Osborne, Clyde David Cooper, III, Brent W. Smith
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Patent number: 11070460Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems for providing multiple egress routes from a telecommunications network for a client of the network. In general, the system provides for a client of the network to receive intended packets of information through multiple connections to the network such that load balancing and failover services for traffic to the customer are provided. The process and system allows for telecommunications network to utilize a common next-hop value of announced border gateway protocol (BGP) routes to advertise multiple routes to reach a destination customer network or address. By utilizing a common next-hop value in the announced BGP information, the devices of the network may load balance communication packets to the destination customer or address among the multiple egress locations from the network, as well as providing fast failover to alternate routes when a failure at the network or customer occurs.Type: GrantFiled: March 17, 2020Date of Patent: July 20, 2021Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Francis Ferguson, Eric Osborne, Clyde David Cooper, III, Brent W. Smith
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Publication number: 20210084067Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for an orchestrator device associated with a scrubbing environment of a telecommunications network that receives one or more announced routing protocol advertisements from a customer device under an attack. In response to receiving the announcement, the orchestrator may configure one or more scrubbing devices of the network to begin providing the scrubbing service to packets matching the received routing announcement. A scrubbing service state for the customer may also be obtained or determined by the orchestrator. With the received route announcement and the customer profile and state information, the orchestrator may provide instructions to configure the scrubbing devices of the network based on the received information to dynamically automate scrubbing techniques without the need for a network administrator to manually configure the scrubbing environment or devices.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 18, 2020Publication date: March 18, 2021Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventor: Brent W. Smith
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Publication number: 20210037051Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for an orchestrator device associated with a scrubbing environment of a telecommunications network that receives one or more announced routing protocol advertisements from a customer device under an attack. In response to receiving the announcement, the orchestrator may configure one or more scrubbing devices of the network to begin providing the scrubbing service to packets matching the received routing announcement. A scrubbing service state for the customer may also be obtained or determined by the orchestrator. With the received route announcement and the customer profile and state information, the orchestrator may provide instructions to configure the scrubbing devices of the network based on the received information to dynamically automate scrubbing techniques without the need for a network administrator to manually configure the scrubbing environment or devices.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 21, 2020Publication date: February 4, 2021Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Todd J. Williamson, Brent W. Smith
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Patent number: 10819739Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for an orchestrator device associated with a scrubbing environment of a telecommunications network that receives one or more announced routing protocol advertisements from a customer device under an attack. In response to receiving the announcement, the orchestrator may configure one or more scrubbing devices of the network to begin providing the scrubbing service to packets matching the received routing announcement. A scrubbing service state for the customer may also be obtained or determined by the orchestrator. With the received route announcement and the customer profile and state information, the orchestrator may provide instructions to configure the scrubbing devices of the network based on the received information to dynamically automate scrubbing techniques without the need for a network administrator to manually configure the scrubbing environment or devices.Type: GrantFiled: April 18, 2018Date of Patent: October 27, 2020Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Todd J. Williamson, Brent W. Smith
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Publication number: 20200314001Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for providing multiple egress points from a telecommunications network for a client of the network. In particular, the process and system allows for multiple provider edges of the network to utilize a route reflector server to provide a border gateway protocol (BGP) route to other provider edges in the network. Further, the multiple provider edges may each announce similar interior gateway protocol (IGP) routes through the network such that a provider edge receiving a packet intended for the customer network may select from the multiple IGP routes to provide the intended packet to the customer network. In this manner, the receiving provider edge may load balance among the various connections of the customer network to the telecommunications network.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 12, 2020Publication date: October 1, 2020Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Eric Osborne, Brent W. Smith
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Publication number: 20200220801Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems for providing multiple egress routes from a telecommunications network for a client of the network. In general, the system provides for a client of the network to receive intended packets of information through multiple connections to the network such that load balancing and failover services for traffic to the customer are provided. The process and system allows for telecommunications network to utilize a common next-hop value of announced border gateway protocol (BGP) routes to advertise multiple routes to reach a destination customer network or address. By utilizing a common next-hop value in the announced BGP information, the devices of the network may load balance communication packets to the destination customer or address among the multiple egress locations from the network, as well as providing fast failover to alternate routes when a failure at the network or customer occurs.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 17, 2020Publication date: July 9, 2020Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLCInventors: Francis Ferguson, Eric Osborne, Clyde David Cooper, III, Brent W. Smith