Cookie Invalidation Or Expiration By A Switch

Abstract

A switch may be used to force the expiration of a cookie on a user's system by inserting an expiration field into the cookie contained in a network response packet. Additionally, a mechanism is provided to delete or damage a cookie contained in a network request packet, so that server software is not disrupted by the receipt of a cookie. Deleting a cookie results in a cleaner request, but damaging a cookie may be more efficient in certain circumstances. By providing these features, an efficient cookie switching design is provided.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 at a network device configured to perform packet switching, swapping a first odd byte/even byte pair of a cookie header name with a second odd byte/even byte pair of the cookie header name if the cookie header name begins at an even byte from a beginning point of a header of a network request packet; and   swapping a first even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie header name with a second even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie header name if the cookie header name begins at an odd byte from a beginning point of the header of the network request packet.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein an odd byte/even byte pair is an odd byte followed by an even byte. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein an even byte/odd byte pair is an even byte followed by an odd byte. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method is only performed for network request packets to be routed to a particular server and wherein the particular server is registered as not wanting to receive the cookie. 
     
     
         5 . A method comprising:
 at a network device configured to perform packet switching, swapping a first odd byte/even byte pair of a cookie name with a second odd byte/even byte pair of the cookie name if the cookie name begins at an even byte from a beginning point of a header of a network request packet; and   swapping a first even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie name with a second even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie name if the cookie name begins at an odd byte from a beginning point of the header of the network request packet.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein an odd byte/even byte pair is an odd byte followed by an even byte. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein an even byte/odd byte pair is an even byte followed by an odd byte. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the method is only performed for network request packets to be routed to a particular server and wherein the particular server is registered as not wanting to receive the cookie. 
     
     
         9 . A method comprising:
 at a network switch configured to perform packet switching, swapping a first odd byte/even byte pair of a cookie header name with a second odd byte/even byte pair of the cookie header name if the cookie header name begins at an even byte from a beginning point of a header of a network request packet and if the cookie is an only cookie in a cookie header in the network request packet;   swapping a first even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie header name with a second even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie header name if the cookie header name begins at an odd byte from a beginning point of the header of the network request packet and if the cookie is the only cookie in a cookie header in the network request packet;   swapping a first odd byte/even byte pair of the cookie name with a second odd byte/even byte pair of the cookie name if the cookie name begins at an even byte from a beginning point of the header of the network request packet and if the cookie is one of a plurality of cookies in the network request packet; and   swapping a first even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie name with a second even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie name if the cookie name begins at an odd byte from a beginning point of the header of the network request packet and if the cookie is one of a plurality of cookies in the network request packet.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein an odd byte/even byte pair is an odd byte followed by an even byte. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein an even byte/odd byte pair is an even byte followed by an odd byte. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the method is only performed for network request packets to be routed to a particular server and wherein the particular server is registered as not wanting to receive the cookie. 
     
     
         13 . A method comprising:
 at a network device configured to perform packet switching, swapping a first odd byte/even byte pair of a header name with a second odd byte/even byte pair of the header name if the header name begins at an even byte from a beginning point of a header of a network packet; and   swapping a first even byte/odd byte pair of the header name with a second even byte/odd byte pair of the header name if the header name begins at an odd byte from a beginning point of the header of the network packet.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein an odd byte/even byte pair is an odd byte followed by an even byte. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein an even byte/odd byte pair is an even byte followed by an odd byte. 
     
     
         16 . An apparatus comprising:
 a memory; and   one or more processors configured to:
 swap a first odd byte/even byte pair of a cookie header name with a second odd byte/even byte pair of the cookie header name if the cookie header name begins at an even byte from a beginning point of a header of a network request packet; and 
 swap a first even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie header name with a second even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie header name if the cookie header name begins at an odd byte from a beginning point of the header of the network request packet. 
   
     
     
         17 . An apparatus comprising:
 a memory; and   one or more processors configured to:
 swap a first odd byte/even byte pair of a cookie name with a second odd byte/even byte pair of the cookie name if the cookie name begins at an even byte from a beginning point of a header of a network request packet; and 
 swap a first even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie name with a second even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie name if the cookie name begins at an odd byte from a beginning point of the header of the network request packet. 
   
     
     
         18 . An apparatus comprising:
 a memory; and   one or more processors configured to:
 swap a first odd byte/even byte pair of a cookie header name with a second odd byte/even byte pair of the cookie header name if the cookie header name begins at an even byte from a beginning point of a header of a network request packet and if the cookie is an only cookie in a cookie header in the network request packet; 
 swap a first even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie header name with a second even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie header name if the cookie header name begins at an odd byte from a beginning point of the header of the network request packet and if the cookie is the only cookie in a cookie header in the network request packet; 
 swap a first odd byte/even byte pair of the cookie name with a second odd byte/even byte pair of the cookie name if the cookie name begins at an even byte from a beginning point of the header of the network request packet and if the cookie is one of a plurality of cookies in the network request packet; and 
   swap a first even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie name with a second even byte/odd byte pair of the cookie name if the cookie name begins at an odd byte from a beginning point of the header of the network request packet and if the cookie is one of a plurality of cookies in the network request packet.