PTAB

IPR2019-00543

Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Meetrix IP, LLC

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1. Case Identification

2. Patent Overview

  • Title: Hybrid Network Conferencing System
  • Brief Description: The ’612 patent discloses a telecommunications system for managing multi-participant collaboration over hybrid networks. The system integrates participants from both packet-switched networks (e.g., the Internet) and circuit-switched networks (e.g., the Public Switched Telephone Network or PSTN), featuring a central bridge architecture to manage audio and video data streams.

3. Grounds for Unpatentability

Petitioner asserts a single, comprehensive ground of unpatentability, arguing that all challenged claims are obvious combinations of known prior art elements. The core of the argument is that a person of ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) would have been motivated to combine the teachings of a primary reference (Drell) with several other references to add conventional, desirable features and create the system claimed in the ’612 patent.

Ground 1: Claims 1-18 are obvious over Drell in view of Knappe, Elliott, Hendricks, and Doganata.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Drell (Patent 7,089,285), Knappe (Patent 7,180,997), Elliott (Patent 6,690,654), Hendricks (WO 01/18665A1), and Doganata (Patent 6,798,753).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner asserted that Drell discloses the foundational system for a multi-point videoconference connecting endpoints over a hybrid network, such as the Internet and the PSTN. This base system includes a near conference endpoint that communicates with multiple remote endpoints. The remaining prior art references, all from the same field of endeavor, teach specific features that a POSITA would have been motivated to integrate into Drell's system to arrive at the claimed invention. The independent claims (1 and 10) and their dependent claims are allegedly rendered obvious by the combination of these teachings.
    • Motivation to Combine:
      • Knappe (Conference Management & Audio Mixing): Petitioner argued a POSITA would combine Drell with Knappe to add essential conference management features. Knappe teaches designating a participant as a "moderator" to control the conference, a feature a POSITA would add to Drell to improve organization. Knappe also discloses using a "gateway" to convert between network protocols (e.g., PSTN signals to IP packets), which would be a necessary and obvious component for enabling seamless communication in Drell’s hybrid network. Furthermore, Knappe teaches an advanced audio mixing architecture using separate "summers" for each participant to prevent a user from hearing their own echo, a well-known problem. A POSITA would integrate this to improve audio quality and user experience in Drell's system.
      • Elliott (Collaboration Data & Security): A POSITA would combine Drell with Elliott to add enhanced collaboration and security features. Elliott teaches the use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) and IP-tunneling to secure communications over a public network like the Internet. Petitioner argued this would be an obvious addition to Drell to protect business-sensitive conference data, a common requirement. Elliott also discloses sharing various types of "collaboration data," such as through application sharing and collaborative web browsing, often using the T.120 standard. A POSITA would add these features to Drell’s audio/video system to enhance its collaborative utility, which was a known objective in the art.
      • Hendricks (Full-Duplex Audio): Petitioner argued a POSITA would incorporate the "full duplex" audio taught by Hendricks. Full duplex allows for natural, simultaneous two-way conversation, eliminating the "clipping" and choppiness common in half-duplex systems. As full-duplex audio was the preferred mode for conferencing applications to facilitate spontaneous conversation, a POSITA would have found it obvious to implement this known improvement in Drell’s system.
      • Doganata (Connection Establishment): A POSITA would combine Drell with Doganata to implement standard methods for establishing conference connections. Doganata teaches both "dial-out" (where a moderator automatically calls participants to join) and "dial-in" (where participants call a designated number) procedures. Integrating these conventional and flexible connection methods would be an obvious way to make Drell’s system practical and user-friendly for initiating and joining conferences.
    • Expectation of Success: Petitioner asserted that a POSITA would have had a reasonable expectation of success in making these combinations. Each added feature was a well-known solution to a known problem or a standard enhancement in the field of teleconferencing. The integration of these modular software and hardware functionalities was conventional and would have produced predictable, beneficial results.

4. Relief Requested

  • Petitioner requests the institution of an inter partes review and the cancellation of claims 1-18 of U.S. Patent No. 9,843,612 as unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. §103.