CONTEST
Competed
$5,000
This contest is closed.
Problem
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 description and questions will help you understand specifically what we are looking for in this study.
Patexia seeks prior art for US patent 6,188,756 (‘756) -- “Efficient communication through networks.” This patent describes routing a communication between a calling party and a called party through a central control location, selecting the “best” path based on a particular criterion.
The basics steps involved in this communication are:
- receiving calling party access number and a called party access number at a control location,
- determining multiple possible routes between these two parties and comparing them,
- selecting the appropriate route to and placing a call to both parties,
- receiving status signal indicating the availability of the called party,
- bridging these two calls at the central location.
Additional Features
Additionally, the patent specification discloses the following:
- determining, comparing, and selecting possible routes based on which service providers service connections between the parties.
- selecting the criteria for comparing possible routes from one of:
- transmission quality, levels of security of transmission,
- cost for service by said service providers including peak and off-peak rates,
- types of communication routes available between said calling party access number and said called party,
- and history record of quality of service provided by said service providers,
- determining the expected time for the central location to communication with each party,
- making this determination based on expected times stored in memory, and updating this memory based on the results,
- delaying the call to the second party based on the expected difference in time from the central control location to both parties so that both calls are completed at the same time,
- checking the status of multiple access locations associated with the called party access number to determine which is accessible,
- are these access locations connected with different forms of communication networks,
- identifying the accessible access location and checking for authorization to allow communications through this location,
- routing communication through at least said access location,
- converting the initial transmission to accommodate the different network format,
- ascertain call quality and switch to a different network route if quality is inadequate.
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...
- Receiving calling party access number and a called party access number at a control location?
- Determining multiple possible routes between these two parties and comparing them based on criteria?
- Selecting the appropriate route to and placing a call to both parties from the central control location?
- Receiving status signal indicating the availability of the called party?
- Bridging these two calls at the central location?
- Determining, comparing, and selecting possible routes based on which service providers service connections between the parties, and instructing selected providers to provide service?
- Selecting the criteria for comparing possible routes from one of: transmission quality, levels of security of transmission, cost for service by said service providers including peak and off-peak rates, types of communication routes available between said calling party access number and said called party, and history record of quality of service provided by said service providers?
- Is step 6 performed in a manner transparent to the calling party?
- Determining the expected time for the central location to communication with each party?
- Making this determination based on expected times stored in memory, and updating this memory based on the results?
- Delaying the call to the second party based on the expected difference in time from the central control location to both parties so that both calls are completed at the same time?
- Checking the status of multiple access locations associated with the called party access number to determine which is accessible?
- Are these access locations connected with different forms of communication networks?
- Identifying the accessible access location ?
- Are steps 12-14 transparent (i.e., not known) to the users of the calling party access number and called party access number?
- Checking for authorization to allow communications through the identified accessible access location?
- Routing communication through at least said access location?
- Converting the initial transmission to accommodate the different network format?
- Ascertain call quality and switch to a different network route if necessary?
Questions
| # | Question | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Does this source describe receiving calling party access number and a called party access number at a control location? | 0 |
| 2 | Determining multiple possible routes between these two parties and comparing them based on criteria? | 0 |
| 3 | Selecting the appropriate route to and placing a call to both parties from the central control location? | 0 |
| 4 | Receiving status signal indicating the availability of the called party? | 0 |
| 5 | Bridging these two calls at the central location? | 0 |
| 6 | Determining, comparing, and selecting possible routes based on which service providers service connections between the parties, and instructing selected providers to provide service? | 0 |
| 7 | Selecting the criteria for comparing possible routes from one of: transmission quality, levels of security of transmission, cost for service by said service providers including peak and off-peak rates, types of communication routes available between said calling party access number and said called party, and history record of quality of service provided by said service providers? | 0 |
| 8 | Is step 6 performed in a manner transparent to the calling party? | 0 |
| 9 | Determining the expected time for the central location to communication with each party? | 0 |
| 10 | Making this determination based on expected times stored in memory, and updating this memory based on the results? | 0 |
| 11 | Delaying the call to the second party based on the expected difference in time from the central control location to both parties so that both calls are completed at the same time? | 0 |
| 12 | Checking the status of multiple access locations associated with the called party access number to determine which is accessible? | 0 |
| 13 | Are these access locations connected with different forms of communication networks? | 0 |
| 14 | Identifying the accessible access location? | 0 |
| 15 | Are steps 12-14 transparent (i.e., not known) to the users of the calling party access number and called party access number? | 0 |
| 16 | Checking for authorization to allow communications through the identified accessible access location? | 0 |
| 17 | Routing communication through at least said access location? | 0 |
| 18 | Converting the initial transmission to accommodate the different network format? | 0 |
| 19 | Ascertain call quality and switch to a different network route if necessary? | 0 |
| 20 | [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 |
| 21 | [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 |
| 22 | [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.
- Maximum of one entry per person allowed.
- 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 beyond 1-6 and 12-18 and the quality of each question’s explanation, and favoring earlier submissions in the event of a tie. Runners-up answering questions beyond 1-6 will also be considered for a partial contest reward.
- 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.
- If your reference has already been submitted by another researcher before you or is among the known references, it will not be considered for the contest.
- 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 ‘756. 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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Inequities and Inefficiencies", in Telecommunications Policy, vol. 17. No.3 (Apr. 1993), pp. 221-133, Butterworth-Heinemann.
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