Prior art

To identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 7986426, I will use the authoritative full patent text provided and specifically look at the "Prior art keywords" and "Priority date" information, and then delve into the cited references within the patent document itself. The Google Patents link serves as the primary source for this information.

The full patent text from Google Patents (US7986426B1) lists a section titled "Prior art keywords" which includes: "electronic", "applications", "document", "management system", "computer data". It also lists a "Priority date" of 1996-10-18. Additionally, it states, "Priority claimed from US08/950,838" with a link to "patent/US6185590B1/en". This indicates that US6185590B1 is a key related patent.

A thorough prior art analysis typically involves reviewing both patents cited by the examiner and those cited by the applicant. Since the provided task specifically asks to "look at each patent citation for 7986426", I will extract the "References Cited" section directly from the US7986426B1 patent on Google Patents.

Upon examining the "References Cited" section of US7986426B1 on Google Patents, the following relevant prior art citations are listed:

U.S. Patent Documents:

• US5872569A (Salgado)

  • Full Citation: U.S. Patent No. 5,872,569 to Salgado, et al., titled "Method and apparatus for managing electronic documents."
  • Publication/Filing Date: The publication date is February 16, 1999 (as a granted patent). The patent text for US7986426 lists "Prior art date 1996-10-18" and "Priority claimed from US08/950,838" which corresponds to US6185590B1. Salgado (U.S. Patent No. 5,872,569) is explicitly mentioned as a ground for anticipation in IPR2013-00302 for claims 1-11.
  • Brief Description: This patent generally relates to a method and apparatus for managing electronic documents.
  • Potentially Anticipates Claims: Claims 1-11 of US7986426. As established in the "PTAB challenges" section, Salgado was a basis for challenging claims 1-11 in IPR2013-00302, and these claims were subsequently held unpatentable.

• US6185590B1 (Klein)

  • Full Citation: U.S. Patent No. 6,185,590 to Klein, titled "Distributed computer architecture and process for document management."
  • Publication/Filing Date: The patent US7986426 explicitly states "Priority claimed from US08/950,838", and the patent text for US6185590B1 also indicates that it claims priority from application Ser. No. 08/950,838, filed on Oct. 15, 1997. The publication date of US6185590B1 is February 6, 2001.
  • Brief Description: This patent describes a distributed computer architecture and process for document management, similar in title and subject matter to US7986426, and is the parent application from which US7986426 claims priority. It details a system for migrating program-specific APIs into a generic interface using object-oriented components.
  • Potentially Anticipates Claims: While it is a parent patent, it serves as crucial prior art in the sense of defining the inventive lineage and potentially disclosing elements that could anticipate later-filed claims if there isn't sufficient novelty in the continuation. Given the IPR invalidated claims 1-11 of US7986426, and US6185590B1 is the earlier priority document, it is highly likely that this patent discloses many of the features in the invalidated claims.

Non-Patent Literature:

The patent does not explicitly list non-patent literature references in a separate "References Cited" section on Google Patents beyond the patent documents. However, the IPR proceeding (IPR2013-00302) mentions "XNS (Ex. 1002)" as a ground for anticipation of claims 1-11. While the exact full citation for "XNS (Ex. 1002)" is not provided in the Google Patents interface for US7986426, its inclusion in the IPR as a basis for invalidation indicates it is highly relevant prior art. Without the full text of Ex. 1002, a detailed description and specific claim mapping are not possible from the provided information.

Summary of Most Relevant Prior Art:

The most relevant prior art documents for US7986426, based on their explicit mention in the IPR proceedings that resulted in the invalidation of claims 1-11, are:

1. US5872569A (Salgado): This patent directly contributed to the invalidation of claims 1-11 of US7986426 due to anticipation.
2. XNS (Ex. 1002): This non-patent literature reference also directly contributed to the invalidation of claims 1-11 of US7986426 due to anticipation.
3. US6185590B1 (Klein): While a parent patent, its priority claim and similar subject matter make it highly relevant. It likely discloses much of the core technology claimed in US7986426, particularly those aspects found unpatentable in claims 1-11.