Patexia contests ask you to find, submit, and explain references that respond to our research criteria. In this contest we’re seeking prior art; published examples of an idea or invention before a specific date.

If you are new to Patexia and have never submitted to a contest, start by watching this simple how-to video  and take a look at our tutorial contest first, and refer to the submission notes below. The following questions will help you understand specifically what we are looking for in this study.

Patexia seeks prior art for US patent 7,724,879 (‘879) -- “Efficient communication through networks.” This patent describes the transmission of a voice communication between two parties through multiple types of communications networks.

In particular, ‘879 claims a method for communication involving:

• Transmitting a voice communication over a first network in a telecommunications protocol format;
• Converting the communication from the first telecommunications protocol format to a second IP format;
• Transmitting the communication over a second network, which is a data network;
• Converting the communication from the second IP format to a telecommunications format suitable for the end user device.

Additional Features

Additionally, the patent specification discloses the following features:

• The call is intercepted and diverted from its normal transmission path before being converted to an IP format and transmitted over a data network.
• A “best” transmission route is selected based on user preferences (for quality, cost, and calling credit available to the calling party), as well as storing information about the call.

Questions

To enter the contest, Patexia’s system will ask you the following questions. Contestants should focus their search by locating sources which answer these questions, and submitting a concise explanation of why the source(s) respond to a particular question. This explanation should specifically indicate where in the reference we can find the required supporting information. If you do not provide an adequate explanation and we cannot locate the desired information in your reference, you will not get credit and will not be eligible for contest prizes.

Entries must answer at least questions 1-3. Contest entries will be judged based on the number of questions answered beyond 1-3 and the quality of each question’s explanation, and favoring earlier submissions in the event of a tie.

All sources must be clearly dated before October 11th,1994 or they will not be considered for contest prizes. Does each source describe...

1. receiving a transmission from a first access device in a telecommunications protocol (TP) format at a first network node and converting to internet protocol (IP) format?
2. sending the transmission in IP format to a second network node over a data network?
3. converting the transmission from IP format to a TP format at the second network node or second access device?
4. do either of the network nodes belong to an analog, digital, or cellular telecommunications network?
5. are the transmissions between the two access devices voice communications?
6. a second access device connected to a central telecommunications office?
7. does the second access device intercept and divert the communication from its normal path?
8. selecting a route for transmission based on a user-defined criterion (e.g. level of transmission quality, call credit availability, cost of routing, etc.)?
9. storing information about the call (subscriber information, rate information, etc.)?