PTAB

IPR2015-00999

Cisco Systems Inc v. Spherix Inc

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Key Events
Petition
petition

1. Case Identification

2. Patent Overview

  • Title: Admissions Control in a Connectionless Communications Network
  • Brief Description: The ’763 patent discloses a system for managing call admission control in a packet-switched communications network. The system uses an admission control server that receives call requests, accesses predetermined information about available bandwidth on network links, and determines whether to accept a potential call based on that information.

3. Grounds for Unpatentability

Ground 1: Obviousness over Ramsey and MCS Data Sheet - Claims 1-2, 8-12, 16-17, 20-23, and 25 are obvious over Ramsey in view of the MCS Data Sheet.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Ramsey (Patent 6,907,004) and the MCS Data Sheet (a Cisco product data sheet published in 2000).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner argued that Ramsey disclosed a packet-based phone system with a "call manager" that functions as the claimed "admission control server." Ramsey's call manager receives call setup requests, consults a stored table (Table 28) containing information on the "currently available bandwidth" for various network links, and determines whether to establish the call based on this information. This, Petitioner asserted, taught all limitations of independent claims 1 and 11. The MCS Data Sheet, explicitly referenced by Ramsey as a potential implementation of its call manager, was argued to provide further detail on the server's components, such as its processor (Intel Pentium III), input (SCSI controller), and output (Ethernet controller), thereby rendering the claimed hardware configurations obvious.
    • Motivation to Combine: Petitioner contended that a person of ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) would have been expressly motivated to combine the references because Ramsey explicitly taught that its call manager could be implemented as the Cisco 7830 Media Convergence Server, the very product described in the MCS Data Sheet. A POSITA would have looked to the MCS Data Sheet for technical specifications and implementation details of Ramsey's call manager.
    • Expectation of Success: Petitioner asserted success would have been expected because the combination involved implementing a system component (Ramsey's call manager) with its expressly suggested commercial embodiment (the server in the MCS Data Sheet), which was a straightforward application of known technology.

Ground 2: Obviousness over Ramsey, MCS Data Sheet, and Keagy - Claims 3-4, 7, 13, 18-19, and 24 are obvious over Ramsey in view of the MCS Data Sheet, further in view of Keagy.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Ramsey (Patent 6,907,004), the MCS Data Sheet, and Keagy (a 2000 publication titled Integrating Voice and Data Networks).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: This ground built upon the Ramsey/MCS Data Sheet combination to address dependent claims requiring specific communication protocols. Petitioner argued that while Ramsey disclosed using a general "VoP protocol," Keagy provided specific teachings on using well-known Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Session Description Protocol (SDP) messages for managing VoIP calls. Keagy taught that an SIP "INVITE" message functions as a call admission request and can contain an SDP-formatted body specifying bandwidth requirements and codec information for the potential call (as required by claims 3, 4, 13, and 18). Petitioner asserted that using such standard protocols to convey call parameters to Ramsey's call manager would have been an obvious design choice.
    • Motivation to Combine: A POSITA would combine Keagy with Ramsey to implement Ramsey's generic "VoP protocol" with a well-known, standardized protocol like SIP/SDP. Petitioner argued this combination was desirable because Keagy’s protocols provided a standardized way to specify the bandwidth and codec attributes necessary for Ramsey's call manager to perform its function of assessing network resources.
    • Expectation of Success: Success would be predictable because SIP and SDP were well-established protocols for managing VoIP sessions at the time, and their application to Ramsey's system would have involved using them for their intended and known purpose.

Ground 3: Anticipation by Abaye - Claims 1, 5-6, 11, and 14-15 are anticipated by Abaye.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Abaye (Patent 7,260,060).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner argued that Abaye disclosed every element of the challenged independent and dependent claims. Abaye's "connection manager" was asserted to be an admission control server that operates in a packet-switched network. This connection manager received a "CALL_SETUP" message (a call admission request) from an originating terminal. To determine whether to accept the call, the connection manager queried a "policy server" to access predetermined information about the "real time congestion status and linkage usage of network resources," including available bandwidth. Based on this information, the connection manager's processor determined whether to accept the call and outputted the result. Petitioner also mapped Abaye's teachings on handling "intra-community" versus "inter-community" calls to the limitations of dependent claims 5, 6, 14, and 15, which relate to determining if endpoints share the same links.

4. Key Claim Construction Positions

  • "packet media endpoint": Petitioner proposed this term should be construed as a "node that is at one end of a packet-based communication session," such as a user terminal or media gateway. Petitioner noted that while the specification provided a definition tying the term to a "middlebox," the applicants amended the claims during prosecution to remove any reference to middleboxes, suggesting an intent to cover systems without them.
  • "predetermined information": Petitioner proposed this term refers to "information determined before it is accessed." This construction was based on the specification's description of a call server accessing a database of "pre-specified information" that is kept current, such as the available bandwidth on network links.

7. Relief Requested

  • Petitioner requested institution of an inter partes review and cancellation of claims 1-25 of the ’763 patent as unpatentable.