You can freely build on How Load Balancers Route Web Traffic Based on Specific Content

What this patent covers

This patent describes a system where a central load balancer acts as a gatekeeper for a website. Instead of mirroring every file on every server, the system distributes specific resources across different nodes. When a user requests a file, the load balancer intercepts the request, reads the URL to see exactly what is being asked for, and then routes the connection to a server that actually holds that specific file. Once the connection is handed off, the chosen server sends the data directly back to the user, bypassing the load balancer to prevent network bottlenecks.

What is now free to use

All 1 claims of US 5774660 are in the public domain. Specifically:

The 1 dependent claim add narrowing limitations and are also free.

What is NOT covered

Patent expiry frees this specific invention. Separately-patented improvements made after expiry may still be protected.

• Does not cover systems where every server contains an identical copy of all website resources (full mirroring).

• Does not cover load balancing methods that assign servers based solely on CPU load or round-robin traffic distribution without inspecting the requested URL.

• Does not cover systems where the load balancer remains in the data path for the entire duration of the file transfer.

Who is building on this today

Major cloud infrastructure providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Cloudflare have evolved these concepts into sophisticated global traffic management systems. The original assignee, Resonate, was a pioneer in this space, and these fundamental principles of content-aware routing remain standard in modern load balancing software like Nginx or HAProxy.

Products built on expired version of this technology

How to cite this patent in your documentation

Resonate Inc. US Patent 5774660. World-wide-web server with delayed resource-binding for resource-based load balancing on a distributed resource multi-node network. Granted 1998, expired 2016. Now in the public domain.

Note: This is a convenience citation. Consult a patent attorney for formal freedom-to-operate analysis.

PatentBrief is an educational resource and does not provide legal advice. Patent expiration information is derived from USPTO records and may not reflect continuation patents, divisional filings, or separately-patented improvements. For commercial use or production decisions, obtain a formal freedom-to-operate (FTO) opinion from a registered patent attorney.