Patents by Inventor John Nathan Foster
John 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).
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Patent number: 11929944Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: July 29, 2022Date of Patent: March 12, 2024Assignee: Barefoot Networks, Inc.Inventors: Xiaozhou Li, Jeongkeun Lee, Changhoon Kim, John Nathan Foster
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Patent number: 11720373Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: November 29, 2021Date of Patent: August 8, 2023Assignee: Barefoot Networks, Inc.Inventors: Jeongkeun Lee, Cole Nathan Schlesinger, John Nathan Foster, Han Wang, Robert Soule, William Hallahan, Steffen Julif Smolka, Mon Jed Liu
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Publication number: 20230027453Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: July 29, 2022Publication date: January 26, 2023Applicant: Barefoot Networks, Inc.Inventors: Xiaozhou LI, Jeongkeun LEE, Changhoon KIM, John Nathan FOSTER
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Patent number: 11463381Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: November 6, 2020Date of Patent: October 4, 2022Assignee: Barefoot Networks, Inc.Inventors: Xiaozhou Li, Jeongkeun Lee, Changhoon Kim, John Nathan Foster
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Publication number: 20220083352Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: November 29, 2021Publication date: March 17, 2022Inventors: Jeongkeun LEE, Cole Nathan Schlesinger, John Nathan FOSTER, Han Wang, Robert SOULE, William Hallahan, Steffen Julif Smolka, Mon Jed LIU
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Patent number: 11188355Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: June 28, 2018Date of Patent: November 30, 2021Assignee: Barefoot Networks, Inc.Inventors: Jeongkeun Lee, Cole Nathan Schlesinger, John Nathan Foster, Han Wang, Robert Soule, William Hallahan, Steffen Julif Smolka, Mon Jed Liu
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Publication number: 20210105230Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: November 6, 2020Publication date: April 8, 2021Inventors: Xiaozhou LI, Jeongkeun LEE, Changhoon KIM, John Nathan FOSTER
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Patent number: 10862827Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: April 1, 2019Date of Patent: December 8, 2020Assignee: Barefoot Networks, Inc.Inventors: Xiaozhou Li, Jeongkeun Lee, Changhoon Kim, John Nathan Foster
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Publication number: 20200134308Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: October 1, 2019Publication date: April 30, 2020Inventors: Masoud Moshref Javadi, Robert Soule, Changhoon Kim, Jeongkeun Lee, John Nathan Foster, Daniel A. Alvarez, Theodore Jepsen
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Patent number: 10305820Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: October 11, 2017Date of Patent: May 28, 2019Assignee: BAREFOOT NETWORKS, INC.Inventors: Xiaozhou Li, Jeongkeun Lee, Changhoon Kim, John Nathan Foster
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Publication number: 20190108045Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: June 28, 2018Publication date: April 11, 2019Inventors: Jeongkeun Lee, Cole Nathan Schlesinger, John Nathan Foster, Han Wang, Robert Soule
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Patent number: 10257122Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: October 11, 2017Date of Patent: April 9, 2019Assignee: BAREFOOT NETWORKS, INC.Inventors: Xiaozhou Li, Jeongkeun Lee, Changhoon Kim, John Nathan Foster