CONTEST
Competed
$5,000
This contest is closed.
Problem
Patexia seeks prior art for US Patent 7,496,674 (‘674), with a focus on claims 1, 2, 4, 5, and 10. The patent allegedly describes a data packet transfer communication system with wired and wireless components, and a base station that bridges the two components of the network. The base station facilitates data packet transfers from the wired network to the wireless network, while maintaining one security protocol for the wired network, and a different security protocol for the wireless network.
The network contains 2 security protocols:
- for the wired portion of the network, a first security protocol (i.e., authentication and/or encryption) is applied to the data packet
- for the wireless portion of the network, the base station applies a second different security protocol employed by the wireless network
Any data packet transfer has the base station:
- receive the data packet from the source via the wired network
- process the data packet according to the first security protocol (e.g., decrypt data)
- read the data packet’s header containing the address information of the destination device
- apply the second security protocol (different from the one employed by the wired network)
- wirelessly transmit the secured result to the destination
Figure. Basic diagram showing data packet transfer and different security protocols used
Submission Boundaries
- references filed or published before 07/09/1999
- patents or non-patent literature references
- no geographic restrictions for references
- no references allowed from the known references list
Wired and wireless icons from Free Dark Blue Cloud Icons by Ivlichev Victor Petrovich used under CC BY 3.0 US.
Contest icon from udana ekanayake.
Questions
| # | Question | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is the reference either a US patent filed, a foreign patent published, or a non-patent document published before July 9th, 1999? | T/F |
| 2 | Does the reference describe a data communication system where a base station facilitates a packet transfer from a source connected via a wired network, to a destination device connected via a wireless connection? | 20 |
| 3 | Is the data packet received by the base station from the wired network subject to a security protocol such as authentication and/or encryption that has been performed on the data while on the wired network before arriving at the base station? | 30 |
| 4 | Is the security protocol applied to the data while on the wired network compliant with the IPSec (internet protocol security) standard? | 10 |
| 5 | Does the base station then determine the data packet’s destination via a header coded with the destination device’s address information? | 5 |
| 6 | Does the base station then apply to the data packet a security protocol that is different from the security protocol applied while on the wired network and wirelessly transfer the secured result to the destination device? | 35 |
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 8th, 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.
