The patent does not cover all cookies. Entitled 'Cookie
Persistence,' it covers a system that uses a cookie stored on a
customer's computer to allow the customer to reconnect to the same
server previously visited at a web site. This is relevant to large
web sites that are operated from a pool of servers.
The system is important, for example, where a customer adds
items to a shopping cart at a web site, then leaves the site before
completing the transaction. When the customer returns, Cookie
Persistence allows a traffic management device to direct the
customer to the server that has stored the customer's shopping cart
information, allowing the customer to complete the transaction.
Without Cookie Persistence, the traffic management device could
direct the customer's request to a different server, which may not
know about the customer and his shopping cart status.
F5 introduced its Cookie Persistence system to the traffic
management market in 1999. It announced its patent grant on
Wednesday and said that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit
against rivals Array Networks, NetScaler, and Radware in the US
District Court in Seattle.
The patent is available on
this page of the US Patent Office web site.
