CONTEST
Competed
$5,000
This contest is closed.
Meltin Bell
technologyPierre Ndalamba
technologyJagannathan Arumugam
technologyAmit Aswal
technologyProblem
Patexia contests ask you to find, submit, and explain references that respond to our research criteria. 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 6,078,654 (‘654) and 6,496,579 (‘579); both titled “Method of and system for efficient communication through networks.” These patent describe connecting a telephone call by intercepting the calling party’s transmission at a local network node and then placing a call to both the called party and the initial calling party from a central control location.
The local network node transmits call information to a central control location, which in turn calls and conferences the two parties after determining whether a call should be completed based on the called party’s availability. This system reduces the amount of network usage time by connecting the call along a full transmission path between the two parties only once the called party is known to be available to take the call.
In particular, ‘654 and ‘579 claim a method and system which establishes telephone communication between a called party and a calling party by:
- intercepting a call placed by a calling party at a local network node,
- selecting a transmission path between the parties through a central control location,
- exchanging information (such as telephone numbers) between the local network node intercept and the central control location,
- at the central control location determining if a call should be connected between the two parties based on the availability of the called party to take a phone call;
- if the called party is available, the central control location calls both the called party and the initial calling party, and
- bridges/teleconferences these two calls, completing the initial calling party’s 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 all contest questions. All sources must be clearly dated before October 11th, 1994 or they will not be considered for contest prizes.
Does this source describe...
- Intercepting a communication (such as a call) between two parties at a local network node via transmission to and reception by the local network node?
- Exchanging caller and called party identification information between the intercepting network node and a central control location?
- Selecting a transmission path or network for connecting the call?
- Determining if a call should be connected via the selected transmission path or network based on the availability of the called party?
- Connecting the call from calling party to called party?
- Connecting the call by placing a call from the central control location to: a) the calling and, b) the called parties?
- Bridging these two calls at the central control location?
- Are steps 1-7 transparent to the calling and called parties?
Questions
| # | Question | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intercepting a communication (such as a call) between two parties at a local network node via transmission to and reception by the local network node? | 0 |
| 2 | Exchanging caller and called party identification information between the intercepting network node and a central control location? | 0 |
| 3 | Selecting a transmission path or network for connecting the call? | 0 |
| 4 | Determining if a call should be connected via the selected transmission path or network based on the availability of the called party? | 0 |
| 5 | Connecting the call from calling party to called party? | 0 |
| 6 | Connecting the call by placing a call from the central control location to: a) the calling and, b) the called parties? | 0 |
| 7 | Bridging these two calls at the central control location? | 0 |
| 8 | Are steps 1-7 transparent to the calling and called parties? | 0 |
| 9 | [user survey question] Can you provide us with more information regarding your qualifications to enter this contest? (no reference needed, simply a short list of any relevant background or qualifications) | 0 |
| 10 | [user survey question] Can you provide us with more information regarding the time you spent researching this contests? (no reference needed, simply an estimate of the time spent researching this particular contest) | 0 |
| 11 | [user survey question] Can you provide us with more information regarding the resources and databases you searched for this information? (no reference needed, simply a short list of any sources you used to research this contest) | 0 |
Additional Notes
Submission Notes
- Submission deadline is 11:59pm August 12th, 2013.
- All work must be prepared by a single researcher.
- If you were referred, the referral prize ($500) will be paid to the referring user from the total prize pool of $5,000.
- Contest entries will be judged based on the number of questions answered and the quality of each question’s explanation, favoring earlier submissions in the event of a tie. Non-winning entries correctly answering all five questions will also be considered for a contest prize.
- Entries must be in English.
- Answer all the questions (yes or no) factually based on your references and clearly explain supporting information about how each reference supports each question. If you do not provide an adequate explanation you will not get credit and will not be eligible for contest prizes.
- In case you are submitting foreign references, please provide a translation of key sections.
- Please use “Ask a Question” to post general questions or feedback about the contest to the community.
- For specific questions, you can contact us directly by email at contests@patexia.com.
- All submissions are subject to Patexia's contest legal terms. Failure to follow these rules may lead to disqualification from the contest
Prize Distribution
We will award 80% of the contest prize to the winning submission, and will distribute the remaining 20% among the qualifying runners-up. If the winning entry was referred by another user, a $500 referral prize will be subtracted from the 80% winner's award.
Known References
The following references are known prior art related to ‘654 and ‘579. Please do not resubmit them. Entries relying on known references will not be considered for contest prizes.
US4068101
US4166929
US4313035
US4313036
US4594477
US5012515
US5027387
US5065393
US5163042
US5247676
US5311583
US5313467
US5353331
US5408518
US5408526
US5414752
US5425084
US5425091
US5438616
US5479495
US5506887
US5515425
US5526413
US5533100
US5606602
US5608782
US5608786
US5638363
US5661790
US5675636
US5706507
US5764741
US5771279
US5790642
US5825858
US5917897
US5940479
US5970126
US5999598
US6047006
EP0501903A1
EP0658061A2
GB2198011A
GB2316266A
WO1992001350A1
WO1993016543A1
WO1993016544A1
WO1993016546A1
WO1994028683A1
WO1997016916A1
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