Patents by Inventor Sean Mountcastle

Sean Mountcastle 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: 10447611
    Abstract: A method for adding a blacklisted site to a whitelist. At least one whitelisting query may be generated for an encoded domain in the tag format: a nonce, a hash, a blocked-domain, and a static domain, each separated by a delimiter. The nonce is a unique identifier for the at least one query. The hash is a cryptographic hash of an IP address of the user, a normalized timestamp, and the blocked domain. The static domain is a constant domain representing the at least one query. The at least one query may be sent to a first recursive DNS server. The first recursive DNS server may create a message including whitelist information. The first recursive DNS server may send the message to a second recursive DNS server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: VERISIGN, INC.
    Inventors: David Blacka, Sean Mountcastle
  • Publication number: 20150026341
    Abstract: A method for adding a blacklisted site to a whitelist. At least one whitelisting query may be generated for an encoded domain in the tag format: a nonce, a hash, a blocked-domain, and a static domain, each separated by a delimiter. The nonce is a unique identifier for the at least one query. The hash is a cryptographic hash of an IP address of the user, a normalized timestamp, and the blocked domain. The static domain is a constant domain representing the at least one query. The at least one query may be sent to a first recursive DNS server. The first recursive DNS server may create a message including whitelist information. The first recursive DNS server may send the message to a second recursive DNS server.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2014
    Publication date: January 22, 2015
    Inventors: David Blacka, Sean Mountcastle
  • Patent number: 8856305
    Abstract: A method for adding a blacklisted site to a whitelist includes requesting a blacklisted site via a network, the blacklisted site having a domain name of the format <blocked-domain>. The method includes generating queries for an encoded domain, the encoded domain being of the format <nonce>.<hash>.<blocked-domain>.<static domain>, sending the queries to a recursive DNS server, and sending responses based on the queries to a cache of a web browser. The method includes requesting by the web browser the blacklisted site, adding the blacklisted site to the whitelist, sending an IP address corresponding to the blacklisted site to the web browsers, and accessing the blacklisted site.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2014
    Assignee: Verisign, Inc.
    Inventors: David Blacka, Sean Mountcastle
  • Publication number: 20140019601
    Abstract: A method for adding a blacklisted site to a whitelist includes requesting a blacklisted site via a network, the blacklisted site having a domain name of the format <blocked-domain>. The method includes generating queries for an encoded domain, the encoded domain being of the format <nonce>.<hash>.<blocked-domain>.<static domain>, sending the queries to a recursive DNS server, and sending responses based on the queries to a cache of a web browser. The method includes requesting by the web browser the blacklisted site, adding the blacklisted site to the whitelist, sending an IP address corresponding to the blacklisted site to the web browsers, and accessing the blacklisted site.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 11, 2012
    Publication date: January 16, 2014
    Inventors: David BLACKA, Sean Mountcastle
  • Patent number: 8380870
    Abstract: A method of filtering a plurality of DNS queries, wherein each DNS query includes a query name and a resource record type, includes defining a filter rule including a domain name, a filter type, and a throttle percentage and forming a filter file including the filter rule. The method also includes transmitting the filter file from a server to a plurality of filter proxies, transmitting the filter file from each of the plurality of filter proxies to one or more processing engines, and receiving the plurality of DNS queries at one of the one or more processing engines. The method includes determining a match between the domain name and the query name and between the resource record type and the filter type for a subset of the plurality of DNS queries, and blocking a predetermined percentage (equal to the throttle percentage) of the subset of the plurality of DNS queries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: Verisign, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher A. Smith, Michael A. Bentofsky, Sean Mountcastle, Piet Barber
  • Publication number: 20110035469
    Abstract: A method of filtering a plurality of DNS queries, wherein each DNS query includes a query name and a resource record type, includes defining a filter rule including a domain name, a filter type, and a throttle percentage and forming a filter file including the filter rule. The method also includes transmitting the filter file from a server to a plurality of filter proxies, transmitting the filter file from each of the plurality of filter proxies to one or more processing engines, and receiving the plurality of DNS queries at one of the one or more processing engines. The method includes determining a match between the domain name and the query name and between the resource record type and the filter type for a subset of the plurality of DNS queries, and blocking a predetermined percentage (equal to the throttle percentage) of the subset of the plurality of DNS queries.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 5, 2009
    Publication date: February 10, 2011
    Applicant: VeriSign, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher A. Smith, Michael A. Bentofsky, Sean Mountcastle, Piet Barber
  • Patent number: 7529821
    Abstract: Techniques for managing network elements in a network are provided. A network element dependent module is utilized to provide functions for managing a specific type of network element. The network element dependent module can be for a network element type and software version. The network element application can manage new network elements, even those with new features, without requiring an update to the network management application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2009
    Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Wayne Cannon, S. Daniel James, Sean Mountcastle, Anita Recharla, Rich Verjinski, Rudy Zulkarnain
  • Patent number: 7486626
    Abstract: Techniques for partitioning a network element into multiple virtual network elements are provided. Resources of the network element are allocated to the virtual network elements and a virtual network element manager manages the execution of the virtual network elements. The virtual network elements allow the network element to conceptually function and be customized as distinct network elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2009
    Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Sean Mountcastle
  • Patent number: 7170862
    Abstract: Techniques for partitioning a network element into multiple virtual network elements are provided. Resources of the network element are allocated to the virtual network elements and a virtual network element manager manages the execution of the virtual network elements. The virtual network elements allow the network element to conceptually function and be customized as distinct network elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2007
    Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Sean Mountcastle