Patents by Inventor Robert WHELTON

Robert WHELTON 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: 12615237
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, for encoding a firewall ruleset into one or more bit arrays for fast determination of processing of a received communication packet by a firewall device associated with a network. Through this bitmap, a number of computation operations needed to determine a processing rule for a received packet is significantly reduced compared to the traditional approach of using a hash or a longest prefix match technique. Rather, determining a processing rule for a received packet may include determining a bit value within one or more arrays. In one implementation, a firewall rule may be encoded into a 64-bit array of bit values in which each bit of the array corresponds to a particular processing rule for a particular network address. The firewall rule may be encoded into a bitmap array of bit values by asserting a particular bit within the array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2024
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2026
    Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventor: Robert Whelton
  • Publication number: 20250392569
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, for encoding a firewall ruleset into one or more bit arrays for fast determination of processing of a received communication packet by a firewall device associated with a network. Through this bitmap, a number of computation operations needed to determine a processing rule for a received packet is significantly reduced compared to the traditional approach of using a hash or a longest prefix match technique. Rather, determining a processing rule for a received packet may include determining a bit value within one or more arrays. In one implementation, a firewall rule may be encoded into a 64-bit array of bit values in which each bit of the array corresponds to a particular processing rule for a particular network address. The firewall rule may be encoded into a bitmap array of bit values by asserting a particular bit within the array.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2025
    Publication date: December 25, 2025
    Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventor: Robert Whelton
  • Patent number: 12401621
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, for encoding a firewall ruleset into one or more bit arrays for fast determination of processing of a received communication packet by a firewall device associated with a network. Through this bitmap, a number of computation operations needed to determine a processing rule for a received packet is significantly reduced compared to the traditional approach of using a hash or a longest prefix match technique. Rather, determining a processing rule for a received packet may include determining a bit value within one or more arrays. In one implementation, a firewall rule may be encoded into a 64-bit array of bit values in which each bit of the array corresponds to a particular processing rule for a particular network address. The firewall rule may be encoded into a bitmap array of bit values by asserting a particular bit within the array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2023
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2025
    Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventor: Robert Whelton
  • Publication number: 20250267124
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, for encoding a firewall ruleset into one or more bit arrays for fast determination of processing of a received communication packet by a firewall device associated with a network. Through this bitmap, a number of computation operations needed to determine a processing rule for a received packet is significantly reduced compared to the traditional approach of using a hash or a longest prefix match technique. Rather, determining a processing rule for a received packet may include determining a bit value within one or more arrays. In one implementation, a firewall rule may be encoded into a 64-bit array of bit values in which each bit of the array corresponds to a particular processing rule for a particular network address. The firewall rule may be encoded into a bitmap array of bit values by asserting a particular bit within the array.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2025
    Publication date: August 21, 2025
    Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Cody SANFORD, Robert WHELTON
  • Publication number: 20250047643
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, for encoding a firewall ruleset into one or more bit arrays for fast determination of processing of a received communication packet by a firewall device associated with a network. Through this bitmap, a number of computation operations needed to determine a processing rule for a received packet is significantly reduced compared to the traditional approach of using a hash or a longest prefix match technique. Rather, determining a processing rule for a received packet may include determining a bit value within one or more arrays. In one implementation, a firewall rule may be encoded into a 64-bit array of bit values in which each bit of the array corresponds to a particular processing rule for a particular network address. The firewall rule may be encoded into a bitmap array of bit values by asserting a particular bit within the array.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 16, 2024
    Publication date: February 6, 2025
    Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventor: Robert Whelton
  • Patent number: 12095735
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, for encoding a firewall ruleset into one or more bit arrays for fast determination of processing of a received communication packet by a firewall device associated with a network. Through this bitmap, a number of computation operations needed to determine a processing rule for a received packet is significantly reduced compared to the traditional approach of using a hash or a longest prefix match technique. Rather, determining a processing rule for a received packet may include determining a bit value within one or more arrays. In one implementation, a firewall rule may be encoded into a 64-bit array of bit values in which each bit of the array corresponds to a particular processing rule for a particular network address. The firewall rule may be encoded into a bitmap array of bit values by asserting a particular bit within the array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2024
    Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventor: Robert Whelton
  • Publication number: 20230353538
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, for encoding a firewall ruleset into one or more bit arrays for fast determination of processing of a received communication packet by a firewall device associated with a network. Through this bitmap, a number of computation operations needed to determine a processing rule for a received packet is significantly reduced compared to the traditional approach of using a hash or a longest prefix match technique. Rather, determining a processing rule for a received packet may include determining a bit value within one or more arrays. In one implementation, a firewall rule may be encoded into a 64-bit array of bit values in which each bit of the array corresponds to a particular processing rule for a particular network address. The firewall rule may be encoded into a bitmap array of bit values by asserting a particular bit within the array.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 3, 2023
    Publication date: November 2, 2023
    Inventor: Robert WHELTON