PTAB

IPR2019-00487

ZTE USA Inc v. AGIS Software Development LLC

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Petition
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1. Case Identification

2. Patent Overview

  • Title: Interactive Map-Based Communication System
  • Brief Description: The ’055 patent describes a system for establishing an ad hoc communication network among first responders using wireless devices. The system allows users to view the locations of other participants as symbols on an interactive map and to initiate communications by selecting those symbols.

3. Grounds for Unpatentability

Ground 1: Obviousness over Fumarolo, Sheha, and Lazaridis - Claims 1, 2, 5-7, 14, 15, 17, 21-25, 28, 30, 32-34, 36, 40-43, 45, 49, and 54 are obvious over Fumarolo, Sheha, and Lazaridis.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Fumarolo (Patent 6,366,782), Sheha (Application # 2004/0054428), and Lazaridis (Application # 2004/0157590).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner argued that Fumarolo taught the foundational system: a display-based terminal for a first responder dispatch network that shows communication units as selectable icons on a map to initiate voice or data communication. Sheha taught using mobile wireless phones with telephone numbers in similar automated vehicle location (AVL) and dispatch applications, which reads on the claim limitation of obtaining telephone numbers as contact information. Lazaridis disclosed using a first communication path (SMS message) containing an IP address to establish a second, more robust IP-based communication path between mobile devices, mapping to the claims’ requirement of using SMS to initiate IP-based communication.
    • Motivation to Combine: A POSITA would combine these references to improve the functionality and efficiency of Fumarolo's emergency response system. Implementing Fumarolo's terminals as mobile phones (per Sheha) was argued to be a simple substitution of known elements for a predictable result. Incorporating Lazaridis’s SMS-to-IP-based communication protocol would improve the speed and efficiency of data exchange, a critical benefit in emergency situations where large data transfers may be necessary.
    • Expectation of Success: The combination involved applying known communication technologies (mobile phones, SMS, IP-based messaging) to an existing framework for emergency dispatch, yielding predictable improvements in functionality and efficiency.

Ground 2: Obviousness over Fumarolo, Sheha, Lazaridis, and Liu - Claim 27 is obvious over Fumarolo, Sheha, Lazaridis, and Liu.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Fumarolo (Patent 6,366,782), Sheha (Application # 2004/0054428), Lazaridis (Application # 2004/0157590), and Liu (Application # 2002/0027901).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: This ground built upon the combination in Ground 1 to address the specific limitation of "initiating voice-over-IP (VOIP) communication" in claim 27. While the primary combination established initiating data communication from an interactive map, Liu explicitly taught that mobile devices can be part of a packet-switched network, such as the Internet, that supports VoIP.
    • Motivation to Combine: A POSITA would combine Liu’s teaching of VoIP with the Fumarolo/Sheha/Lazaridis system to provide an efficient and modern form of voice communication for first responders. Petitioner asserted that VoIP is merely a special type of voice and data communication, making its implementation an obvious design choice over the more general voice/data communications taught by Fumarolo.
    • Expectation of Success: Integrating VoIP technology into a mobile communication network was well-understood and would have predictably resulted in an efficient voice communication system as claimed.

Ground 3: Obviousness over Fumarolo, Sheha, Lazaridis, and Van Bosch - Claim 37 is obvious over Fumarolo, Sheha, Lazaridis, and Van Bosch.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Fumarolo (Patent 6,366,782), Sheha (Application # 2004/0054428), Lazaridis (Application # 2004/0157590), and Van Bosch (Application # 2005/0221876).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: This ground addressed the limitation in claim 37 requiring the transmitted data to comprise a "video clip or a video transmission." The base combination from Ground 1 taught transmitting data between units. Van Bosch was introduced because it explicitly disclosed a system for sending location-based messages that can be "textual, audio, video, or pictorial messages" in a wireless network, including in emergency scenarios.
    • Motivation to Combine: A POSITA would combine Van Bosch’s teachings to enhance the Fumarolo system by enabling the transmission of rich media, like video. Providing first responders with the ability to send and receive video would be a logical and obvious improvement for conveying critical, location-relevant information during an emergency. Petitioner contended that transmitting video is simply a specific type of data transmission and would have been an obvious design choice.
    • Expectation of Success: Transmitting video over wireless networks was a known capability, and adding this feature to Fumarolo’s data communication system would have been a predictable extension of its functionality.

4. Arguments Regarding Discretionary Denial

  • Petitioner argued that discretionary denial under 35 U.S.C. §325(d) would be inappropriate. The petition asserted that the specific prior art combinations relied upon—Fumarolo, Sheha, Lazaridis, Van Bosch, and Liu—were not considered by the examiner during the original prosecution. It further distinguished its petition from a separate, pending inter partes review (IPR) by another party by noting that the other IPR relied on an entirely different set of prior art references.

5. Relief Requested

  • Petitioner requested the institution of an inter partes review and the cancellation of claims 1, 2, 5-7, 14, 15, 17, 21-25, 27, 28, 30, 32-34, 36, 37, 40-43, 45, 49, and 54 of the ’055 patent as unpatentable.