Free Expert Report - District Court of Delaware - Delaware

Case 1:04-cv-01231-SLR Document 120-7 Filed 12/O2/2005 Page 1 of 3
EXHIBIT E

Case 1:04-cv-01231-SLR Document 120-7 Filed 12/O2/2005 Page 2 of 3
‘*Variable Base Protocol" Research l
In a review ofthe *195 patent, as to the meaning of the phrases "variable base
protocol" and ‘*object identifier variables,” the example provided by the *l95 patent is
SNMP: ("SNMP, or simple network management protocol, a well known network
communication protocol based on a variable paradigm" {col S line 65].)
Also referenced are a *‘rnanagement information base (MIB) that defines a set of
conceptual variables that the SNMP server must maintain" {col 9 line 4-9] and *‘MIB “
variables . . . according to the ISO standard . . . transmitted in a numeric form ofthe
ASN.1 forrnat" {col 9, lines l0-I4).
Also referenced in the *195 patent specification is a textbook, as follows: "Further
discussion of SNMP can be found in DOUGLAS E. COMER AND DAVID L.
STEVENS, INTERNETWORKHQG WITH TCP/IP VOL. 2—DESIGN,
IMPLEMENTATION, AND ETERNALS (2ND El}. 1994) Chapter 20. SNMP is well
known to the data communications art.] [col 9, lines 21-26].
A contemporaneous internet search (I0/27/05) using a combination of two search terms
("SNMP”) and ("ASN-l") returns 286,000 *hits’ including extensive documentation from
trusted industry, academic, and organization sites. These reference documents obtained
by this means provide a perspective on the meaning ofthe terms "variable~based
protocol" and "object identifier variables" in terms of current standards and terminology
used for SNMP ("Simple Network Management Protocol") and ASN.} (‘*Abstract Syntax
Notation Ol`l€”) applications.
The sites identified by the internet search include:
- Cisco(www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/cisintwk/ito doc/snmp.ht1n);
- IBM (XML Security Suite I ASN. I/XML Translator ——
wwwtrlibmcom/proiects/xml/xss·4]/docs/ast-readmehtml };
—- the Internet Architecture Board lwwwiab.0ra/appeals/snmpvZsini-appeaibttnl);
— Freesoft‘s *‘Intemet Encyclopedia? (www.freesoft.ora/CllE/'l`opics/107.htm and
www.freesoft.orcJCIE/Topics/ l 0'Lhtm);
- the ASN.1 Site (oid.eliebel.tm.fr/1.3.6.i.2.l.l1)
More specifically, the above internet search returns a definition for ‘*object identifier"
from the *‘Internet Encyclopedia" at (www.freesoft.org/CIEfRPC/ 1902/ l0.htm)
35. OBJECT nnnvrnrrnn mines
An OBSECT IDENTIFIER value is an ordered list of non—ncgative numbers. For the SNMPv2 framework, each number in the list is
rcferred to as 21 sub-icientiiier, there are at most k2B sub- identiiiers in a value, and each sub-idemiiicr has a maximum value of 2**32-I
{$294957295 decimal). All OBJECT IDENTIFIER values have at least two sub-identifiers, where the value of the first sub- identifier
is one of the following wel]-known names:
Value Name
0 ccitt
1 iso
2 joint-iso-ccitt

Case 1:04-cv-01231-SLR Document 120-7 Filed 12/O2/2005 Page 3 of 3
Additionally, thc search returns another source for the definition of "0bject identifier" or
"OID" at (oid.1ibel.tm.fr/13.6.1.2.1.}1)