Invalidity dossier
US 5689566
Added 9/24/2026, 12:18:50 AM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US5689566A
Title: Network with secure communications sessions
Patent number: US5689566A
Application number: US08/547,346
Inventor: Minhtam C. Nguyen
Assignee: Individual (original and current assignee listed as Individual)
Prior art date / Filing date / Priority date: 1995-10-24
Publication (grant) date: 1997-11-18
Anticipated expiration: 2015-10-24
Legal status: Expired – Fee Related
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US5689566](/patent/US5689566)/en
Purpose (from the supplied text): The invention "relates to computer network security," specifically networks using "dynamic packet headers and multiple levels of packet encryption to transfer data to and from a remote server or to and from another node in the local network." The stated problem is that packet-based systems place user ID and password information in a header section, so interception of a packet lets an interceptor learn credentials and gain future unauthorized access. Security is also endangered by inadvertent disclosure to unauthorized members of an organization, and by online financial systems exposing individuals to fraudulent access to funds.
Plain-language scope: The disclosed system uses "three way password authentication," encrypting different portions of a logon packet with different keys based on the nature of the communications link. Nodes on a LAN can have one security level for intra-LAN transfers, a second for transfers between LANs on a private network, and a third for LANs connected via public networks. The security level "can optionally be selected by the user." Data transfers between network nodes are kept in separate queues "to reduce queue search times and enhance performance." The description lists figures covering application/requester connections, data transfer flow, packet header memory layouts, packet queue entries (TCP/IP, NetBIOS, SMODEM/SRS232), and multi-requester/multi-server configurations across LANs, wide area networks, and public telephone networks.
What the excerpt does not establish: It does not reproduce the claims, abstract, or full written description; the bolded claim/abstract headings appear in the source listing but their text is not included. It therefore cannot establish the precise scope of any claim, the specific encryption algorithm or key-management details, the exact three-way authentication steps, or the content of cited references. No litigation, ownership-transfer, validity, or prior-art conclusions are drawn here.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:31:59 PM
Cases on file (0)
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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.