CONTEST
Competed
$5,000
This contest is closed.
Problem
Patexia seeks prior art for US Patents 7,450,957 (‘957) and 8,078,200 (‘200), with a focus on claims 1, 10, and 11 of ‘957, and 1, 3, 4, and 16 of ‘200. The patent allegedly describes a method for routing a short message service message (or SMS message) through a communications network by forwarding the SMS message across multiple network nodes. The patent further describes each network node taking the opportunity to analyze the SMS message and deciding whether to forward the SMS message to the next node based on if the SMS message includes a set of predetermined criteria.
The system goes through the following steps:
- the first network node receives the SMS message and analyzes the SMS message
- if the predetermined criteria is not present, the first network node forwards the SMS message to a second network node; otherwise if the predetermined criteria is present, the first node blocks transmission of the SMS message
- the second network node receives the SMS message and analyzes the SMS message
- if the second network node determines that the SMS message is forwardable, the second network node forwards the SMS message to a third network node
The predetermined criteria could include:
- whether the SMS message is addressed to a particular destination address
- whether the SMS message is addressed to a destination address that falls within a predetermined numerical space or range
- whether the SMS message is addressed to a destination address for which an additional charge is applicable
- whether the SMS includes a predetermined text element
Submission Boundaries
- references filed or published before 04/10/2000
- patents or non-patent literature references
- no geographic restrictions for references
- no references allowed from the known references list
Contest icon from Ivlichev Victor Petrovich used under CC BY 2.5.
Questions
| # | Question | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is the reference either a US patent filed, a foreign patent published, or a non-patent document published before April 10th, 2000? | T/F |
| 2 | Does the reference describe routing a short message service message (SMS message) across a communication network through several nodes? | 15 |
| 3 | Does a first network node receive the SMS message and analyze it to determine if it meets certain predetermined criteria? | 15 |
| 4 | Does the reference describe one of the predetermined criteria being whether the SMS message is addressed to a particular destination address? | 10 |
| 5 | Does the reference describe one of the predetermined criteria being whether the SMS message is addressed to a destination address for which an additional charge is applicable? | 5 |
| 6 | Does the reference describe one of the predetermined criteria being whether the SMS message includes a certain text content? | 10 |
| 7 | Does the first network node then forward the SMS message to a second network node if the predetermined criteria are not present, or otherwise stop transmission if one of the criteria is a match? | 15 |
| 8 | Does the second network node receive the SMS message and also analyze the SMS message to determine if it meets certain predetermined criteria? | 15 |
| 9 | Does the second network node then forward the SMS message to a third network node if the predetermined criteria are satisfied? | 15 |
Additional Notes
This is a Prior Art Search contest aimed at determining if a patent idea was known and publicly available before a patent was filed.
+5 bonus points will be awarded for non-patent literature and for foreign language references.
This contest will close on Sunday, February 15th, 2015 at 11:59 PM PST and is subject to modified prize distribution awards:
- the top submission will be designated as a winner and receive $3,000
- the next scored 2 submissions will be designated as winners and receive $500 each
- the next scored submissions (to a maximum of 10) will be designated as runners up and receive a minimum of $100 each
Please review the Contest Rules. For more information on how to submit to this Contest type, please read the Intro to Prior Art Search page.
