Invalidity dossier
US 6633561
Method, system and apparatus for telecommunications control
Current assignee: Sprint Communications Co LP
Added 9/23/2026, 7:16:13 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: US6633561B2
Title: Method, system and apparatus for telecommunications control
Patent number: US6633561B2
Inventor: Joseph Michael Christie
Assignee: Sprint Communications Co LP (original and current assignee as listed; Google notes assignee listings may be inaccurate and are not legally analyzed)
Key dates (as listed, and characterized by the source as assumptions, not legal conclusions):
- Priority date: 1994-05-05
- Filing date: 2001-11-14 (application US10/002,850)
- Publication of US20020039372A1: 2002-04-04
- Grant/publication of US6633561B2: 2003-10-14
- Anticipated expiration: 2014-05-05
- Legal status: Expired – Lifetime
Purpose and plain-language scope:
Based only on the supplied text, this patent is titled as covering a "method, system and apparatus for telecommunications control." The excerpt's prior-art keywords are network, signaling, processing, ccp, switch, indicating the disclosure relates to controlling telecommunications networks through signaling and processing, with "ccp" (as literally rendered in the source) associated with switching. The priority chain notes a claim from US08/568,551 (1995-12-07), which itself descends from the 1994-05-05 priority date.
Because the excerpt omits the abstract, specification, and claims, the precise scope of the invention cannot be stated from this source alone. The title, keywords, and status are all that the supplied text establishes about subject matter.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US6633561](/patent/US6633561)/en
What the excerpt does not establish:
- The actual claims, abstract, or detailed description (omitted from the excerpt)
- The meaning or expansion of "ccp"
- Any findings on validity, infringement, or enforceability
- Any conclusion about prior art beyond the listed keywords
- Accurate assignee history or the legal effect of the listed litigation entries
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:42:13 PM
Cases on file (0)
Specific litigation cases in our database that name US patent 6633561. The free-form analysis below may also discuss cases beyond this list.
No cases on file mention this patent. Upload a CSV or add a case manually in Admin → Manage litigation cases.
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.