US 10,848,546 Direct binary file transfer based network management system free of messaging, commands and data format conversions
3 defendants · 3 suits · updated October 6, 2026
Also cited as U.S. Patent No. 10,848,546 · US10848546B2 · US 10,848,546 B2 · 10848546 · the '546 patent
Optimum Communications Services, Inc. has filed 3 patent-infringement suits on US 10,848,546, "Direct binary file transfer based network management system free of messaging, commands and data format conversions" since July 16, 2026, all in the D. Del., against 3 distinct defendants including Northwest Fiber, LLC, Cogeco US Finance, LLC and Connect Holding II LLC. The patent was granted November 24, 2020 on a priority date of November 16, 2006. Its abstract opens: "Telecommunication network management operations are performed based on accessing network management data (NMD) files via GUIs and general purpose computers including a network management system (NMS) server, and automatic routines for transferring binary NMD…"
- Assignee
- OPTIMUM COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES Inc
- Priority date
- November 16, 2006
- Granted
- November 24, 2020
- Expires
- November 16, 2026
- Status
- Active
- Claims
- 20 (3 independent)
- Inventors
- Mark Henrik Sandstrom
- Full text
- Google Patents
The suits
3 cases · D. Del. (3)
| Filed | Defendant | Plaintiff | Court | Docket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-16 | Northwest Fiber, LLC | Optimum Communications Services, Inc. | D. Del. | 1:26-cv-00869 |
| 2026-07-20 | Cogeco US Finance, LLC | Optimum Communications Services, Inc. | D. Del. | 1:26-cv-00884 |
| 2026-07-22 | Connect Holding II LLC | Optimum Communications Services, Inc. | D. Del. | 1:26-cv-00897 |
Docket links open the public record on CourtListener. Filing dates are the complaint's.
Independent claims
What is actually asserted, verbatim.
1. An infrastructure management method comprising a set of actions: at a set of remote elements, (a) holding element-side copies of configuration data (CD) at a storage media, wherein the element-side copies are repeatedly synchronized with corresponding copies of the CD maintained as user accessible copies of the CD, and (b) performing operations, by digital logic, at least in part based on contents of the element-side copies of the CD; at a computer system, (a) holding the user accessible copies of the CD at a storage facility, and (b) enabling a user of the method, via a user interface, to access the user accessible copies of the CD to manage the set of remote elements; and via a network interface, repeatedly transferring the user accessible copies of the CD to the storage media for holding the element-side copies of the CD at the remote elements, to maintain synchronization between the accessed user accessible copies of the CD and the element-side copies of the CD, wherein (i) contents of the user accessible copies of the CD are generated automatically through derivation from one or more parameters defining a contract that the set of remote elements are deployed for, and (ii) the corresponding element-side copies of the CD drive contents of hardware logic control registers at the set of remote elements, and wherein the user interface enables the user to access, including view and modify, both the user accessible copies of the CD as well as the parameters defining the contract that the set of remote elements are deployed for, from which parameters the user accessible copies of the CD as well as the corresponding element-side copies of the CD, and consequently, the contents of the registers at the remote elements, are derived through automatic generation.
6. An infrastructure management method comprising a set of actions as follows: at a set of remote elements, (a) holding element-side copies of status data (SD) at a storage media, wherein the element-side copies are repeatedly synchronized with corresponding copies of the SD maintained as user accessible copies of the SD, and (b) producing contents, by digital logic, for the element-side copies of the SD; at a computer system, (a) holding the user accessible copies of the SD at a storage facility, and (b) providing a user access, through a user interface, to the user accessible copies of the SD, for a user to monitor the set of remote elements; and via a network interface, repeatedly transferring the element-side copies of the SD to the computer system, to be held as the user accessible copies of the SD at the storage facility of the computer system, in order to maintain synchronization between the element-side copies of the SD and the user accessible copies of the SD, wherein the user interface displays, at least in part based on contents of the SD, status of defects at the remote elements, including a summarized representation of whether each given one of the remote elements has at least one active defect, with such an active defect indicating a detection of an operational fault condition monitored at a respective remote element.
11. A system for interaction among a set of components, the system comprising: at a first one of the components, digital logic for producing a series of management data units, with a given one of said data units providing an array of information fields including a certain information field whose contents are used to indicate an action on part of a second one of the components; a wide area network for transferring the series of data units from said first component over the network to said second component to maintain synchronization between respective management data contents held at said first and second components; and at said second component, digital logic for processing one or more of the information fields in the given data unit, with said processing involving performing the action as indicated by the contents of the certain information field, wherein memories at each of said first and second components comprise respective segments for configuration and status files, and the given management data unit includes information segments corresponding to contents of both the configuration and the status files at said first and second components, wherein, in a first mode of the system, in which the first component comprises a computer subsystem and the second component comprises its respective remote element instance, the certain information field, based on whose contents the performing of the action at the respective remote element instance is done, is included within the configuration file segment of a respective instance of the given management data unit, wherein, in a second mode of the system, in which the first component comprises its respective remote element instance and the second component comprises the computer subsystem, the certain information field, based on whose contents the performing of the action at the computer subsystem is done, is included within the status file segment of a respective instance of the given management data unit, and wherein the management data contents held at the computer system are accessible to a user of the system in order to enable the user to remotely manage one or more of said remote element instances.
Art before the examiner
64 references of record.
Everything listed here was before the Office and is what a challenge must go beyond. Art the examiner never saw is where an invalidity search starts.
Applicant-cited and other (64)
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Classification
- H04L67/06primary — Protocols specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
- G06F11/0709 — Error or fault processing not based on redundancy, i.e. by taking additional measures to deal with the error or fault not making use of redundancy in operation, in hardware, or in data representation the processing taking place on a specific hardware platform or in a specific software environment in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
- G06F11/0751 — Error or fault detection not based on redundancy
- G06F11/0769 — Readable error formats, e.g. cross-platform generic formats, human understandable formats
- H04L41/0609 — Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications using filtering, e.g. reduction of information by using priority, element types, position or time based on severity or priority
- H04L41/0853 — Retrieval of network configuration; Tracking network configuration history by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
- H04L41/20 — Network management software packages
- H04L41/22 — Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
- H04L41/24 — Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks using dedicated network management hardware
- H04L67/01 — Protocols
- H04L67/1097 — Protocols in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
- H04L67/42
Family
- US10848546B2 — B2 (2020)
- US20210067581A1 — A1 (2021)
- US9917883B2 — B2 (2018)
- US10567474B2 — B2 (2020)
- US20200177471A1 — A1 (2020)
- US20160057036A1 — A1 (2016)
- US20180198844A1 — A1 (2018)
- US11431783B2 — B2 (2022)
Abstract
Telecommunication network management operations are performed based on accessing network management data (NMD) files via GUIs and general purpose computers including a network management system (NMS) server, and automatic routines for transferring binary NMD files between the general purpose computers and remote network elements (NEs) being managed. A system user produces configuration files at the NMS server for NEs using a network management GUI, and the hardware of NEs automatically complete the network management operations indicated by the NMD files transferred to them from the NMS server and produce their status files to the NMS server. The network management GUI displays network status based on the latest NE status files at the NMS server. This provides direct, binary file transfer based NMS communication that avoids the complexity and restrictions of intermediate messaging protocols or transaction languages and conversions thereof.
Also asserted by Optimum Communications Services, Inc.
- US 10,567,474 — Direct binary file transfer based network management system free of messaging, commands and data format conversions (3 defendants)
- US 7,333,511 — Dynamically channelizable packet transport network (3 defendants)
- US 7,558,260 — Byte-timeslot-synchronous, dynamically switched multi-source-node data transport bus system (3 defendants)
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