Invalidity dossier

US 5991807

System for controlling users access to a distributive network in accordance with constraints present in common access distributive network interface separate from a server

Current assignee: Avaya Inc

Added 9/21/2026, 9:24:29 AM

At a glanceNo PTAB challengesNo litigation on file

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Patent summary

Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.

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Patent Overview — US 5991807 A

Title: System for controlling users['] access to a distributive network in accordance with constraints present in common access distributive network interface separate from a server.

Patent number / application: US 5,991,807 A; Application No. US 08/669,053.

Dates: Filed 1996-06-24 (priority date 1996-06-24); granted/publication date 1999-11-23; anticipated expiration 2016-06-24; legal status listed as "Expired – Lifetime."

Inventors (as supplied): Jonathan Schmidt, Lewis Donzis, Henry Donzis, John Murphy, Peter Baron, Herb Savage. Original assignee listed as Nortel Networks Corp; current assignee listed as Avaya Inc. (Assignment history is noted in the source but is outside the scope requested here.)

Purpose (per source): The invention concerns access systems connecting users on a LAN or WAN to a distributive network such as corporate intranets and the Internet. It provides a method for managing and controlling access under both time and category constraints, so that only authorized users interact with facilities over the Internet during authorized time periods for authorized purposes. It permits administration of distributive-network use, including maintaining a complete access log of actual usage by each user, based upon existing LAN management architecture.

Plain-language scope (per source): Rather than adding Internet IP addressing to each LAN PC, the preferred embodiment uses an access interface system ("box") associated with the distributive network. PCs access the distributive network through this common access box, which identifies the individual user or user group through native LAN identification and applies the administration system. Management parameters are entered by an administrator as compact references—pointers to the existing LAN server directory services database of users and groups—through a graphical user interface. After a PC authenticates against native LAN login and authentication, it accesses its stored control parameters from the box; the box's access module screens and controls that PC user's Internet access and updates log files and metering parameters stored securely in the box.

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5991807/en

What the excerpt does not establish: It does not establish the full claim scope or complete specification text (the excerpt is expressly partial), the validity or enforceability of any claim, litigation or ownership-transfer details, or any prior-art comparison beyond general background statements.

Generated 10/1/2026, 10:02:30 PM

Cases on file (0)

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Litigation summary

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Proceedings on file (0)

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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

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Assignment history

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Prior art

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Obviousness

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Extensions

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Derivative works

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