US 7027465

Summary of U.S. Patent No. 7,027,465 B2 (US7027465)

Note on scope of search: I searched for CAFC (Federal Circuit) 2026 dockets involving 7,027,465 and found none. My Federal Circuit-specific queries returned no results, and no CAFC appeal number surfaced in any litigation database hit. What exists is a large body of district court litigation (mostly NPE enforcement by CommWorks Solutions, LLC / Unwired Broadband, Inc. in W.D. Tex., E.D. Tex., E.D. Va., and elsewhere), including some 2026 district-court filings (e.g., W.D. Tex. 7:26-cv-00043; E.D. Tex. 2:26-cv-00088 per the Google Patents litigation listing). I cannot confirm any 2026 CAFC docket for this patent, so treat "CAFC 2026" as not found / unconfirmed rather than nonexistent.

Bibliographic data

• Title: Method for contention free traffic detection
• Patent number: US 7,027,465 B2 (application no. 10/167,986)
• Inventor: Petri Hautala (Tampere, FI)
• Assignee (at grant): Nokia Corporation, Espoo (FI) — the patent cover page (Docket Alarm copy, case 6:21-cv-00366-ADA) lists Nokia Corporation; Google Patents' assignment history shows the application was originally filed by Nokia Inc. and assigned to Nokia Corporation in 2002.
• Current owner (per Google Patents assignment records): Unwired Broadband, Inc. — chain: Nokia Corp. → Calton Research L.L.C. (2011) → OL Security LLC (2016) → Intellectual Ventures Assets 130 LLC (2019) → CommWorks Solutions, LLC (2020) → Unwired Broadband, Inc. (corrective assignment recorded 2022-02-16).
• Filing date: June 11, 2002 (as a continuation of PCT/EP99/10097)
• Priority date: December 17, 1999
• Issue date: April 11, 2006
• Status: Expired – Lifetime (adjusted expiration ~2021-02-22; RPX lists "Expired due to Term")
• Field: IEEE 802.11 WLAN; detecting high-priority traffic for use during the Contention Free Period (CFP)

Abstract (as issued)

"The invention discloses a method for detecting priority of data frames comprising the steps of extracting (S1) a bit pattern from a predetermined position in a frame, comparing (S2, S3) the extracted bit pattern with a search pattern, and identifying (S4) the received frame as a priority frame in case the extracted bit pattern (BP) matches with the first search pattern (SP). By this method, the priority of a data frame can easily be detected. The invention also proposes a corresponding device for detecting priority of data frames."

What the patent does (plain language)

The patent addresses a problem in IEEE 802.11 WLAN access points: high-priority traffic is flagged by fields buried in upper-layer protocol headers, but the AP normally only processes the low-level MAC layer and would have to parse every header to find priority information. The invention instead lets the AP be configured (by an external program, via "information elements") with an offset into the frame and a search pattern (optionally plus a mask). The AP simply extracts the bits at that offset, optionally masks them, and compares them against the search pattern — if they match, the frame is treated as priority traffic (e.g., queued for the contention-free period). It is deliberately protocol-independent and lightweight. Additional embodiments queue priority frames during the CFP, collect statistics and dynamically resize the CFP, use data+CF-poll frames for symmetric high-priority traffic, and provide a companion method for a configuration program to derive the offset/search-pattern/mask.

Independent claims (plain-language overview)

There are 18 claims; the independent ones are claims 1, 6, 7, 10, 14, 15, and 18.

• Claim 1 (method): Extract a bit pattern from a predetermined position in a frame (the position being defined by an offset), compare it with a search pattern, and identify the received frame as a priority frame if it matches.
• Claim 6 (method): Same core extraction/compare/identify operation, but using a plurality of different bit patterns, search patterns, and offsets to detect frame priority — enabling detection of priority information spread across multiple frame positions.
• Claim 7 (method): Same core operation, plus forwarding the frame to a high-priority queue when it is detected as high-priority during a special period reserved for sending priority traffic (e.g., the CFP).
• Claim 10 (device): Means-plus-function apparatus — receiving means, extracting means (position defined by an offset), comparing means, and identifying means — where the offset and search pattern are carried in an information element (i.e., configurable from outside the AP).
• Claim 14 (device): Same means-based device, but configured to use multiple bit patterns, search patterns, and offsets for priority detection.
• Claim 15 (device): Same means-based device, plus a controlling means that forwards detected high-priority frames to a high-priority queue during the special priority-traffic period.
• Claim 18 (method for generating priority-detecting information): A configuration-program-side method — identify a bit pattern in a data frame that indicates a priority state, define it as the search pattern, locate it within the frame, determine its offset, and produce an information element containing the offset and search pattern (which is then delivered to the AP to configure claims 1–17 type operation).

Uncertainties / caveats

• CAFC 2026: No Federal Circuit appeal for this patent could be located; all identified litigation is at the district-court level. Confirm against PACER/CAFC docket if an appeal is expected.
• Owner description conflict: Third-party litigation blogs (e.g., PatSnap) give loose, partly inaccurate characterizations of what US7027465B2 covers (one even mislabels it as "network path provisioning"); I relied on the patent text and USPTO records instead. The currently recorded entity is Unwired Broadband, Inc., while most litigation through ~2024 was captioned in the name of CommWorks Solutions, LLC (its immediate predecessor).
• The Google Patents metadata lists many district-court cases but no merits rulings on validity/infringement surfaced in my searches; most appear to have settled or been dismissed without substantive findings.