Invalidity dossier
US 5559933
Distributed enterprise print controller
Current assignee: Unisys Corp
Added 9/23/2026, 7:45:43 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview: US5559933A
Title: Distributed enterprise print controller
Patent Number: US5559933A
Inventor: R. Stephen Boswell
Assignee: Unisys Corp (original assignee per the excerpt)
Application Number: US08/231,547
Filing Date: 1994-04-22
Priority Date: 1994-04-22
Publication Date: 1996-09-24
Legal Status: Expired - Lifetime (anticipated expiration 2014-04-22)
Purpose and Plain-Language Scope
Based only on the supplied excerpt, this patent is directed to a "distributed enterprise print controller." The classification entries place it within digital output to print units (G06F3/12), specifically dedicated interfaces to print systems (G06F3/1201), print management administration (G06F3/1203), print job management including job scheduling/queuing (G06F3/1237, G06F3/126), remote printer devices being remote from client or server (G06F3/1285), and networked architectures/services (H04L67/00, H04L67/30 "Profiles", H04L67/51). The prior-art keywords listed are: file, print, transfer, mask, computer.
Taken together, these entries suggest a networked print-management system handling jobs scheduled and queued across distributed, remotely located printers, involving file transfer and profile/mask features. However, the excerpt does not include the patent's abstract, detailed description, or claims, so the precise scope cannot be stated.
What the Excerpt Does Not Establish
The supplied source text contains no abstract, no claim language, no detailed description, and no drawing text. Accordingly, this overview cannot establish:
- The specific claims or their exact scope.
- The particular technical mechanisms (e.g., how "mask," "file," or "transfer" are used).
- Prior-art references relied upon during prosecution.
- Litigation, validity, or enforceability.
- Any ownership transfers beyond the assignment/reassignment entries shown.
The lengthy reassignment history in the excerpt (including secured-party releases and security agreements) concerns ownership and collateral records; per instructions, no analysis of ownership transfers is offered here.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US5559933](/patent/US5559933)/en
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:41:51 PM
Cases on file (0)
Specific litigation cases in our database that name US patent 5559933. The free-form analysis below may also discuss cases beyond this list.
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Litigation summary
Past and pending lawsuits — plaintiffs, defendants, jurisdictions, outcomes, and notable rulings.
Proceedings on file (0)
All PTAB activity →AIA trial proceedings (IPR / PGR / CBM) filed at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board against this patent. Sourced from the USPTO Open Data Portal and refreshed every six hours; each proceeding number deep-links to the PTAB E2E docket.
No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.