IN THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`
`
`Akamai Technologies, Inc.,
`Petitioner
`
`v.
`
`Limelight Networks, Inc.,
`Patent Owner
`
`
`
`IPR2017-00356
`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 8,615,577
`
`
`
`
`
`

`
`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
`
`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`
`I. 
`II. 
`
`INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1 
`OVERVIEW OF THE ’577 PATENT ............................................................ 3 
`A.  Overview of Content Distribution Networks (CDNs) .......................... 3 
`B. 
`The Purported Invention of the ’577 Patent .......................................... 4 
`C. 
`The Challenged Claims 1, 8 and 11 ...................................................... 8 
`D. 
`Prosecution History Summary ............................................................ 12 
`III.  OVERVIEW OF PRIOR ART ...................................................................... 12 
`A.  Maharajh .............................................................................................. 13 
`B. 
`Lai ........................................................................................................ 17 
`C. 
`Horstmann ........................................................................................... 20 
`D. 
`Rankin.................................................................................................. 21 
`IV.  CLAIM CONSTRUCTION .......................................................................... 22 
`V. 
`LEVEL OF ORDINARY SKILL IN THE ART ........................................... 23 
`VI.  SPECIFIC GROUNDS FOR PETITION ...................................................... 23 
`VII.  GROUND 1 – MAHARAJH, LAI AND RANKIN ...................................... 24 
`A. 
`Claim 1 ................................................................................................ 24 
`1. 
`Preamble: “A content delivery network (CDN) having a
`plurality of geographically distributed points of presence
`(POPs) for processing content objects with a plurality of
`resources, the CDN comprising:” ............................................. 24 
`Element 1a: “a landing pad to receive a content object from a
`client;” ....................................................................................... 27 
`Element 1b: “one or more databases comprising a list of the
`plurality of resources,” .............................................................. 28 
`Element 1c: “each of the plurality of resources being associated
`with one or more tags, each tag indicating a characteristic of the
`associated resource; and” .......................................................... 31 
`Element 1d: “a policy reconciliation service (PRS) for
`maintaining and processing policies, the PRS being coupled to
`the one or more databases, the PRS comprising:” .................... 33 
`
`2. 
`
`3. 
`
`4. 
`
`5. 
`
`i
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`6. 
`
`7. 
`
`Element 1e: “a policy store comprising a plurality of policies,
`each of the plurality of policies defining specific processing of
`content objects, the plurality of policies including a first policy
`and a second policy,” ................................................................ 36 
`Element 1f: “wherein each of the first policy and the second
`policy comprises an applicability parameter indicating criteria
`that a content object must satisfy in order for the content object
`to be processed in accordance with the respective first or second
`policy, the criteria indicated in the first policy’s applicability
`parameter being different from the criteria indicated in the
`second policy’s applicability parameter,” ................................. 38 
`Element 1g: “wherein the first policy comprises a disposition
`parameter indicating criteria that a resource must satisfy in
`order for the resource to effect the first policy, and” ................ 39 
`Element 1h: “wherein the first policy comprises one or more
`mutators, each mutator comprising a template for inclusion of
`an address of a resource and/or a location of a received content
`object; and” ............................................................................... 42 
`10.  Element 1i: “a policy manager configured to: determine that the
`first policy is applicable to the received content object and that
`the second policy is not applicable to the received content
`object, the determination being based on the first policy’s
`criteria and metadata related to the received content object, a
`requestor of the received content object and/or a provider of the
`received content object at the CDN; and” ................................ 46 
`11.  Element 1j: “identify a resource of the plurality of resources for
`effecting the first policy based on the disposition parameter and
`a tag associated with the first policy.” ...................................... 52 
`Claim 8 ................................................................................................ 58 
`1. 
`Preamble: “A method for processing content objects with a
`plurality of resources associated with a content delivery
`network (CDN) having a plurality of geographically distributed
`points of presence (POPs), the method comprising:” ............... 58 
`Element 8a: “Enrolling, using a registration interface, the
`plurality of resources to be accessible from the CDN;” ........... 59 
`
`8. 
`
`9. 
`
`2. 
`
`B. 
`
`ii
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`3. 
`
`4. 
`
`5. 
`
`6. 
`
`7. 
`
`Element 8b: “categorizing each of the plurality of resources
`using a plurality of tags that categorize the plurality of
`resources, and the plurality of resources includes a resource;” 61 
`Element 8c: “receiving selection of a policy from a plurality of
`policies, wherein the plurality of policies define processes to
`perform on content objects stored at the CDN, wherein the
`selected policy includes an applicability criteria and a call to the
`resource;” .................................................................................. 62 
`Element 8d: “receiving, at the CDN, metadata related to a
`content object, a requester of the content object and/or a
`provider of the content object” ................................................. 64 
`Element 8e: “receiving the content object for storage at the
`CDN;” ....................................................................................... 64 
`Element 8f: “determining, with a policy manager, that the
`policy is applicable and that other policies are not applicable to
`the received content object based on an analysis of the metadata
`and the applicability criteria of the policy; and” ...................... 65 
`Element 8g: “calling, with the policy manager, the resource
`according to the call in the policy to cause the resource to
`perform specified processing on the received content object.” 65 
`Claim 11 .............................................................................................. 66 
`C. 
`VIII.  GROUND 2 – MAHARAJH, LAI, RANKIN AND HORSTMANN .......... 68 
`IX.  MANDATORY NOTICES ........................................................................... 72 
`A. 
`Real Party-In-Interest .......................................................................... 72 
`B. 
`Related Matters .................................................................................... 72 
`C. 
`Counsel ................................................................................................ 73 
`D. 
`Service Information ............................................................................. 73 
`E. 
`Certification Of Grounds For Standing ............................................... 74 
`CONCLUSION .............................................................................................. 75 
`
`8. 
`
`X. 
`
`
`iii
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`

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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
`
`Akamai Technologies, Inc. requests Inter Partes Review pursuant to 35
`
`U.S.C. §§ 311-19 and 37 C.F.R. § 42.1 et seq. of claims 1, 8, and 11 of U.S. Patent
`
`No. 8,615,577 (“the ’577 patent”) (Ex. 1001), which has a priority date of February
`
`1, 2011 and is assigned to Limelight Networks, Inc. (“Limelight” or “Patent
`
`Owner”).
`
`I.
`
`INTRODUCTION
`
`The ’577 patent claims as its purported invention a system and method for
`
`processing and storing data received by a content delivery network (“CDN”). Ex.
`
`1001-’577, 1:31-40. As the ’577 patent explains, CDNs – which deliver internet
`
`content on behalf of content providers (such as companies that maintain websites)
`
`– have to process and store the content received from their customers. The ’577
`
`patent asserts that existing CDNs did not provide a sufficiently flexible or
`
`customizable way to process and store the content objects – e.g., webpages,
`
`images, and videos – received by the CDNs. Id. at 1:10-27. To address this
`
`purported problem, the ’577 patent claims as its invention a system that uses
`
`“policies” (i.e., rules) and “resources” (i.e., conventional hardware or software
`
`functions) to process and store content objects. Id. at 5:28-29. Specifically, in the
`
`system described by the ’577 patent, when a content object is received by the
`
`CDN, the system determines whether or not a specific policy applies to the content
`
`object by comparing the policy’s “applicability criteria” to metadata associated
`
`1
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`with: the content object, the provider of the content object, or the requester of the
`
`content object. Id. at 9:33-34. Once the system determines that a policy applies to
`
`a content object, the system identifies an applicable resource based, in part, on a
`
`tag associated with the resource, and then calls the resource. Id. at 9:40-55; 10:33-
`
`63. The resource then processes or stores the received content object according to
`
`the applicable policy. Id. The ’577 patent claims priority based on an application
`
`filed on February 2, 2011, and the ’577 patent issued on December 24, 2013.
`
`Long before the ’577 patent was filed, however, multiple prior art
`
`references, that were not before the Patent Office during the prosecution of the
`
`’577 patent, disclosed the claimed invention of the ’577 patent. For example, a
`
`patent application to Maharajh, published more than two years before the filing of
`
`the ’577 patent, discloses the use of policies (which Maharajh calls “consumption
`
`profiles”) to determine how to process and deliver received content objects. Ex.
`
`1003-Maharajh, e.g., ¶¶111, 115, 117. Specifically, just like the ’577 patent,
`
`Maharajh discloses a system that determines whether or not a specific policy
`
`applies to received content by matching policies to content using metadata (e.g.,
`
`id., ¶¶127, 167), and then identifies resources to process the content. (e.g., id., ¶¶8,
`
`112, 130, 157). As another example, a patent application to Lai, published over six
`
`years before the filing of the ’577 patent, discloses using “tasks,” which “include
`
`all the steps necessary to deliver the requested media content” (Ex. 1004-Lai,
`2
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`¶143), determining what resources are available to carry out the tasks, and then the
`
`processing the content according to the tasks. Id., ¶104 (explaining that the system
`
`“allocates the necessary tasks to the appropriate resources, and then manages the
`
`tasks to completion”).
`
`As explained below, Maharajh, in combination with Lai and other prior art,
`
`render claims 1, 8, and 11 of the ’577 patent invalid as obvious.
`
`II. OVERVIEW OF THE ’577 PATENT
`The ’577 patent issued from USAN 13/336,915 (filed on December 23,
`
`2011) and is a continuation of PCT Application No. PCT/US2011/023410 (filed on
`
`February 1, 2011). Ex. 1001-’577, cover page.
`
`A. Overview of Content Distribution Networks (CDNs)
`As Internet usage grew in the 1990s, the increased traffic caused popular
`
`websites to crash. Also, websites that were hosted on a single server were
`
`physically distant from many users, causing slow response times resulting in poor
`
`performance. Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶37.
`
`CDNs were invented in the 1990s to resolve these issues. A CDN consists
`
`of distributed, interconnected, and cooperating servers that serve content in place
`
`of the problematic single-location web servers. A CDN provider’s customers are
`
`typically companies with high-traffic websites or high volumes of internet content.
`
`CDNs provide caching and other functions to reduce traffic to their customers’
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`servers and improve performance experienced by end users retrieving their content.
`
`Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶38.
`
`CDNs distribute various types of content objects, such as files, pictures,
`
`movies, and programs. E.g., Ex. 1011-US 2007/0288588 at ¶5 (“It is well-known
`
`to deliver HTTP and streaming media using a content delivery network (CDN).”);
`
`Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶39. It was well-known that content objects, such as images and
`
`video content, often needed to be transcoded (converted from one media type to
`
`another media type) or otherwise processed or stored before being distributed to
`
`end users’ computers or devices. Ex. 1004-Lai, ¶12-17; Ex. 1003-Maharajh, Title,
`
`¶¶9, 12; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶39.
`
`The Purported Invention of the ’577 Patent
`
`B.
`The ’577 patent claims that in the state of the art at the time, “CDNs have
`
`not provided the flexibility to adapt to all the needs of customers. Currently,
`
`limited interfaces to the CDN with little or no customization results in lost
`
`opportunity.” Ex. 1001-’577, 1:22-27; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶40. The ’577 patent
`
`purports to solve this problem by using policies to flexibly determine how to
`
`process or store content objects. Ex. 1001-’577 at 1:31-32, 1:35-40; Ex. 1002-
`
`Decl. ¶40.
`
`In particular, the ’577 patent purports to describe a technique for flexibly
`
`processing or storing content objects in the context of a CDN. Ex. 1001-’577,
`
`4
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
`
`Abstract; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶41. As shown in Figure 1, the “content distribution
`
`system 100” includes “a content delivery network (CDN) 110” “that includes a
`
`number of points of presence (POPs) 120, which are geographically distributed
`
`through the content distribution system 100 to deliver content.” Id., 3:67-4:1,
`
`4:14-17; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶41.
`
`
`
`Resources 134, including bricks 130, “are available to the CDN 110 to
`
`process content.” Ex. 1001-’577, 5:24-26. A resource is “any hardware or
`
`software function that can store or process a content object,” such as transcoders,
`
`video/audio ad insertion engines, thumbnail generators, and video processing
`
`services (among others). Id., 5:28-36. “A brick 130 is any storage medium inside
`
`or outside the CDN 110 that is part of a content management architecture (CMA).”
`
`Id., 5:13-15. “All bricks 130 and resources 134 have various tags associate[d] with
`
`5
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`them.” Id., 6:35-36. Tags indicate “a characteristic of the associated resource.”
`
`Id., 2:6-7; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶42.
`
`“The content originator 106 produces and/or distributes content objects,”
`
`“such as video, pictures, data, audio, software, and/or text.” Ex. 1001-’577, 3:64-
`
`66; 4:6-8. The content originator 106 “includes a content provider 108,” which
`
`uses “a CDN 110 to deliver the content objects over the Internet 104 to end users
`
`128.” Id. 3:66, 4:13-14; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶43.
`
`“A policy reconciliation service (PRS) 260 maintains and processes
`
`policies,” which is shown in the excerpt of Fig. 5, below:
`
`Ex. 1001-’577, 6:50-51; Fig. 5 (excerpt).
`
`
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`6
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`“There are various policies for ingest, replication, hosting, transcoding,
`
`encryption, compression, thumbnailing, [and] various workflows.” Id., 8:54-58;
`
`8:62-67 (describing a “transcode policy”); Ex. 1002-Decl., ¶44-45.
`
`Figure 9 illustrates a process 900 for applying policies to a content object.
`
`Ex. 1001-’577 at 13:36-38, FIG. 9.
`
`
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`7
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`At step 904, the customer account, services and policies are configured. Id., 13:38-
`
`40. At step 908, a content file is received using a landing pad or other API. Id.,
`
`13:41-42. At step 912, potential policies that apply to the content object are
`
`determined, which can be triggered by an action such as content intake or request
`
`by a user. Id., 13:47-54. At step 916, the policies that apply to the content object
`
`are determined (e.g., using the applicability parameter(s) in each policy). Id., 9:33-
`
`39; 13:54-56. At step 920, the policy is interpreted and performed, including
`
`applying the disposition parameter(s) and mutator(s) in the policy. Id., 9:40-55;
`
`13:60-63. At step 922, the process 900 repeats until all applicable policies are
`
`applied. Id., 13:64-66; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶46-47.
`
`As discussed below, all of this was well known in the prior art.
`
`C. The Challenged Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petitioner challenges independent claims 1 and 8, and dependent claim 11.
`
`These claims provide:
`
`Claim 1: A content delivery network (CDN) having a plurality of geographically
`
`distributed points of presence (POPs) for processing content objects with a
`
`plurality of resources, the CDN comprising:
`
`a landing pad to receive a content object from a client;
`
`one or more databases comprising a list of the plurality of resources, each of
`
`8
`
`
`
`

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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`the plurality of resources being associated with one or more tags, each
`
`tag indicating a characteristic of the associated resource; and
`
`a policy reconciliation service (PRS) for maintaining and processing
`
`policies, the PRS being coupled to the one or more databases, the PRS
`
`comprising:
`
`a policy store comprising a plurality of policies, each of the
`
`plurality of policies defining specific processing of
`
`content objects, the plurality of policies including a first
`
`policy and a second policy,
`
`wherein each of the first policy and the second policy comprises
`
`an applicability parameter indicating criteria that a content
`
`object must satisfy in order for the content object to be
`
`processed in accordance with the respective first or
`
`second policy, the criteria indicated in the first policy’s
`
`applicability parameter being different from the criteria
`
`indicated in the second policy’s applicability parameter,
`
`wherein the first policy comprises a disposition parameter
`
`indicating criteria that a resource must satisfy in order for
`
`the resource to effect the first policy, and
`
`wherein the first policy comprises one or more mutators, each
`9
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`mutator comprising a template for inclusion of an address
`
`of a resource and/or a location of a received content
`
`object; and
`
`a policy manager configured to:
`
`determine that the first policy is applicable to the received
`
`content object and that the second policy is not applicable
`
`to the received content object, the determination being
`
`based on the first policy’s criteria and metadata related to
`
`the received content object, a requester of the received
`
`content object and/or a provider of the received content
`
`object at the CDN; and
`
`identify a resource of the plurality of resources for effecting the
`
`
`
`
`
`first policy based on the disposition parameter and a tag
`
` associated with the first policy.
`
`
`Claim 8: A method for processing content objects with a plurality of resources
`
`associated with a content delivery network (CDN) having a plurality of
`
`geographically distributed points of presence (POPs), the method comprising:
`
`enrolling, using a registration interface, the plurality of resources to be
`
`accessible from the CDN;
`
`categorizing each of the plurality of resources using a plurality of tags that
`10
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`

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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`categorize the plurality of resources, and the plurality of resources
`
`includes a resource;
`
`receiving selection of a policy from a plurality of policies, wherein the
`
`plurality of policies define processes to perform on content objects
`
`stored at the CDN, wherein the selected policy includes an
`
`applicability criteria and a call to the resource;
`
`receiving, at the CDN, metadata related to a content object, a requester of
`
`the content object and/or a provider of the content object;
`
`receiving the content object for storage at the CDN;
`
`determining, with a policy manager, that the policy is applicable and that
`
`other policies are not applicable to the received content object based
`
`on an analysis of the metadata and the applicability criteria of the
`
`policy; and
`
`calling, with the policy manager, the resource according to the call in the
`
`policy to cause the resource to perform specified processing on the
`
`received content object.
`
`Claim 11: The method for processing content objects with the plurality of
`
`resources associated with the CDN having the plurality of geographically
`
`distributed POPs as recited in claim 8, further comprising choosing the resource
`
`11
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`from a larger group of resources all associated with a tag from the plurality of tags,
`
`wherein the tag is identified in the policy.
`
`Prosecution History Summary
`
`D.
`The ’577 patent was issued on December 24, 2013, from the ’915
`
`application, following minimal prosecution. The April 26, 2013 Non-Final
`
`Rejection did not present any art-based rejections. Ex. 1006-PH, pp. 1-7. Rather,
`
`claims 8-20 were rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 and 35 U.S.C. § 112. Id., pp. 3-4;
`
`Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶49.
`
`In response, Patent Owner amended claim 8, among other claims, to recite a
`
`“registration interface” and a “policy manager.” Ex. 1006-PH, p. 12; Ex. 1002-
`
`Decl. ¶50.
`
`A Notice of Allowance was issued on September 3, 2013. Ex. 1006, pp. 18-
`
`23. There was no statement of Reasons for Allowance in the Notice of
`
`Allowability. Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶51.
`
`III. OVERVIEW OF PRIOR ART
`Pursuant to Rules 42.22(a)(1) and 42.104(b)(1)-(2), Petitioner relies upon
`
`the following prior art to challenge claims 1, 8 and 11 of the ’577 patent:
`
`1.
`
`USPN 2008/0207182 (“Maharajh”)(Ex. 1003), which published on
`
`August 28, 2008, is prior art under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 102(b).
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`12
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`2.
`
`USPN 2004/0193648 (“Lai”)(Ex. 1004), which published on
`
`September 30, 2004, is prior art under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 102(b).
`
`3.
`
`Chapter 4 of Cay S. Horstmann, Mastering Object-Oriented Design in
`
`C++, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Copyright 1995 (“Horstmann”)(Ex. 1005), is prior
`
`art under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. §102(b).
`
`4.
`
`Chapter 3 of Rankin, Kyle, Linux Multimedia Hacks: Tips & Tools
`
`for taming Images, Audio, and Video, O’Reilly, Copyright 2006 (“Rankin”)(Ex.
`
`1012) is prior art under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. §102(b).
`
`A. Maharajh
`Maharajh was filed on December 13, 2007, and claims priority to two
`
`provisional applications filed on February 14, 2007 and December 13, 2006,
`
`respectively. Maharajh published on August 28, 2008 – more than two years
`
`before the priority date of the ’577 patent. Therefore, it is prior art under pre-AIA
`
`35 U.S.C. §102(b). Just as is described in the ’577 patent, Maharajh discloses the
`
`use of policies (which it calls “consumption profiles”) to automate, optimize, and
`
`tailor delivery of content objects, and the identification of resources to process the
`
`content. Ex. 1003-Maharajh, e.g., ¶¶111, 115, 117; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶53.
`
`Maharajh discloses a method and system “for encoding content for mobile
`
`media distribution,” including “determining an encoding format based [on] … a
`
`consumption profile, … encoding content to provide an encoded content consistent
`
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`with the determined encoding format, and providing the encoded content to one or
`
`more of a content host, a content cache, a distribution portal, a mobile carrier, and
`
`a mobile device.” Ex. 1003-Maharajh, Abstract; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶54.
`
`Figure 1 shows the mobile media platform 100. Id., ¶96.
`
`
`
`Id., Fig. 1; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶55.
`
`While Fig. 1 includes a number of different components, the following
`
`paragraphs summarize the components relevant to this request for Inter Partes
`
`Review. In particular, the mobile media platform 100 “may include ingestion 118
`
`of external content.” Ex. 1003-Maharajh, ¶150. The platform 100 processes the
`
`same types of content as the ’577 patent, including “audio, video, text, images,
`
`14
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
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`photos, applications, games, data,” as well as numerous other types of content. Id.,
`
`¶237; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶56.
`
`The mobile media platform 100 also provides many of the same “resources”
`
`described in the ’577 patent, such as encoding, transcoding, ad-insertion,
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`thumbnail generation, and content storage. The advanced encoding and/or
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`transcoding facility 104 supports “real-time encoding and/or transcoding of
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`content.” Ex. 1003-Maharajh, ¶149. Maharajh also explains that “encoding may
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`further facilitate in-stream ad insertion.” Id., ¶189. Additionally, the platform 100
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`“may reformat an image during ingestion to generate and store a variety of
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`thumbnail images based on a variety of profiles (e.g. consumption, user, device,
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`network) associated with the mobile media platform.” Id., ¶263; Ex. 1002-Decl.
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`¶57.
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`The storage facility 122 can store consumption profiles 102 (described
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`further below) and/or content. Ex. 1003-Maharajh, ¶192 (“content database 122”);
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`¶346 (“a consumption profile 102 may be stored, such as in a storage 122
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`facility”); FIG. 9 (showing the content database 122). The platform 100 makes
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`content available using hosting 132, which “may be configured as a secure site and
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`may include redundancy to ensure ingestion and delivery of content to mobile
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`users. Hosting may involve making content available or receiving content over a
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`network.” id., ¶246. Delivery 120 “may include downloading such as delivering
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`content via HTTP, RSTP download with additional wrappers for DRM, and the
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`like. Delivery may be performed with streams, such as to delivery audio and video
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`content via 3GPP, Real Media streaming, and the like. Delivery may include other
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`types of download, including progressive download.” Id., ¶¶246-247; Ex. 1002-
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`Decl. ¶58.
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`Just like the “policies” in the ’577 patent, the platform 100 uses
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`“consumption profiles” “to automate, optimize and tailor delivery of content over a
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`network.” Ex. 1003-Maharajh, ¶97; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶59.
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`“The consumption profile 102 may take into account file types, such as types
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`of files that may be delivered to a device,” and may “include a list of supported file
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`types.” Ex. 1003-Maharajh, ¶122. The self-aware encoding/transcoding 104 may
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`use the consumption profile 102 “to determine a type of content and therefore
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`determine what actions to take.” Id., ¶167. “Encoding required by the
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`consumption profile 102 may require specific tools to be applied to the content to
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`provide the encoded format.” Id., ¶122. “An identification of the required tools,
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`methods, and the like may be included in a consumption profile 102 so that an
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`encoder may determine which tools to use.” Id., ¶122. “A consumption profile
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`102 may identify one or more delivery methods.” Id. The platform 100 “may
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`reformat an image during ingestion to generate and store a variety of thumbnail
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`images based on a variety of profiles (e.g. consumption, user, device, network)
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`associated with the mobile media platform.” Id., ¶263. Additionally, tags may be
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`included in, and maintained as part of, the consumption profile 102. Id., ¶119 (“A
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`consumption profile 102 may include one or more tag IDs that identify content
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`supported by devices and networks to which the consumption profile 102
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`applies.”); ¶167 (“Content profiles 212 may identify … content tags 108”); ¶341
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`(“Tags may be maintained as part of the consumption profile 102.”); Ex. 1002-
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`Decl. ¶60.
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`A tag can be used to identify or to describe content, and can be used for
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`ingestion, encoding/transcoding, and delivery. Ex. 1003-Maharajh, ¶193
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`(explaining that tagging 108 may “establish a uniform basis for identification of
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`content, describing content”). “Tagging 108 may facilitate using rules associated
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`with ingestion 118 to setup encoding 104 and delivery 120.” Id., ¶192; see also
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`¶195 (“Tags 108 and tagged content 108A may be automatically processed by
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`ingestion 118, encoding 104, advanced transcoding 104, [and] delivery 120… .”);
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`Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶61.
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`Lai
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`B.
`Lai was filed on August 20, 2003 as a continuation-in-part of Application
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`No. 10/141,966, filed on May 10, 2002. Lai published on September 30, 2004,
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`over six years before the priority date. Therefore, Lai is prior art under pre-AIA 35
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`U.SC. §102(b). Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶62.
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`Lai discloses a system for distributed, on-demand media transcoding and
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`streaming. Ex. 1004-Lai, Title. Figure 2 of Lai shows a media transcoding engine
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`106. Id., ¶84; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶63.
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`The media transcoding engine 106 includes a task manager 206 that
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`“determines what tasks need to be executed in order to deliver the requested media
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`content.” Ex. 1004-Lai, ¶143. The tasks “include all the steps necessary to deliver
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,615,577 – Claims 1, 8 and 11
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`the requested media content, and may include …fetching the requested media
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`content, transcoding the requested media content from the source type into the
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`destination type, … and streaming … the transcoded media content to the viewer.”
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`Id.; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶64.
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`“Once the task manager 206 has determined what tasks need to be executed,
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`it then interfaces with the resource manager 208,” which “assigns each task to one
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`or more machines within the machine farm 216.” Ex. 1004-Lai, ¶¶143-144. The
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`resource manager 208 uses the database 210 to store “information concerning the
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`status of each active and pending task as well as information concerning the status
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`of each resource within the machine farm 216.” Id., ¶116; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶65.
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`“The machine farm 216 includes a plurality of individual servers for
`
`performing the transcoding and delivery of requested media content.” Ex. 1004-
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`Lai, ¶107. The machine farm 216 includes “transcoder servers 218 that transcode
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`the source data to the appropriate destination type, and streaming servers 222 that
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`stream the transcoded media content.” Id. The transcoder servers 218 can execute
`
`different transcoder software. Id., ¶¶17, 159. Each streaming server 222 can be “a
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`type-specific streaming server dedicated to the delivery of media content of a
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`single type.” Id., ¶111; Ex. 1002-Decl. ¶66.
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`The resource manager 208 can determine the allocation of resources to a
`
`given task based on “which machines support the necessary utilities for performing
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`the required task.” Ex. 1004-Lai, ¶144; see also ¶62 (“resource manager further
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`selects one of the plurality of transcoders based on the source type and destination
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`type”); ¶159 (“[T]he resource manager 208 assigns the transcoding task to a
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`transcoder