- Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. / Samsung Electronics America, Inc. v. Staton Techiya, LLCSome claims unpatentablePTAB · Jun 14, 2023 · IPR2022-00282 · APJ George R Hoskins · IPR · Final written decision
Claims 1–3, 6, 7, 9–14, and 17–20 are unpatentable; claims 4, 5, 8, 15, and 16 were not shown unpatentable, based on the stated anticipation and obviousness grounds.
RulingsFinal written decision- Skill levelSkill level petitioner adoptedDecided for petitioner
“A. Level of Ordinary Skill in the Art Petitioner contends a person having ordinary skill in the art pertaining to the ’400 patent “would have had a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer science, or a similar field and two years of experience in the design of wireless earphones and associated signal processing.” Pet. 17; Ex. 1002 ¶¶ 17–18. “Patent Owner accepts the level of ordinary skill in the art that is proposed in the Petition.” PO Resp. 15; Ex. 2009 ¶¶ 9–10. We conclude Petitioner’s formulation of ordinary skill is consistent with the level of skill reflected in the ’400 patent and the prior art of record, and it is not disputed by Patent Owner. We, therefore, apply Petitioner’s formulation in our analysis below.” slip op. at 8
- Claim Construction › Threshold & procedure › Whether a term needs construction (O2 Micro)No construction neededOther
“B. Claim Construction We interpret the ’400 patent claims “using the same claim construction standard that would be used to construe the claim in a civil action under 35 U.S.C. 282(b).” 37 C.F.R. § 42.100(b). This “includ[es] construing the claim in accordance with the ordinary and customary meaning of such claim as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art and the prosecution history pertaining to the patent.” Id. The Petition asserts “no express constructions of the claims are necessary” in this proceeding, and “the claims should be given their plain and ordinary meaning.” Pet. 17–18; Ex. 1002 ¶ 74. The Patent Owner Response provides several claim constructions. See PO Resp. 15–19 (construing “sound signal” in claims 1, 14, and 18; “noise signal” in claims 14 and 18; and “envelope” in claims 8, 17 and 20); id. at 19–21 (construing “a background noise level” in claim 1); id. at 33–35 (construing “a background noise signal” in claims 14 and 18); id. at 35–38 (construing “mixing” in claims 4, 15, and 19). We discuss here Patent Owner’s claim constructions as they relate to independent claims 1, 14, and 18. We defer construction of dependent claims to later sections of this Decision.” slip op. at 9
- Claim Construction › Intrinsic evidence (Phillips canons) › Plain and ordinary meaning to a POSITATerm construed patent owner constructionDecided for patent owner
“might support construing “a background noise level” in claim 1 to mean a single overall background noise level is the reasoning provided in the Patent Owner Response. However, the CUPP decision states: “We now make precedential the straightforward conclusion we drew in an earlier nonprecedential opinion: ‘[T]he Board is not required to accept a patent owner’s arguments as disclaimer when deciding the merits of those arguments.’” CUPP, 53 F.4th at 1383 (quoting VirnetX, 778 F. App’x at 910). Yet, Patent Owner is in effect asking us to do that here, given the procedural interplay of this proceeding and the District Court Litigation. For the foregoing reasons, we conclude the District Court Litigation does not provide a persuasive basis to adopt Patent Owner’s claim construction of “a background noise level” in this proceeding. c) Conclusion For the foregoing reasons, we construe “a background noise level” in” slip op. at 21
- Novelty / Anticipation (§102) › Anticipation standard (single reference, every element)UnpatentableNot shown unpatentableMixed
“based on the background noise level, to produce noise-reduced ambient sound signal 78. See Ex. 1005, Fig. 3. In particular, Alves discloses that, in an exemplary noise cancellation algorithm applied by noise reducer 76, “the average power of quasi-stationary background noise is tracked, and then a gain is decided accordingly and applied to the subband signals.” Id. ¶ 43 (emphasis added); accord id. ¶ 31.” slip op. at 38
Patent outcomesUS 8,315,400 mixedClaim construction§ 102 anticipation§ 103 obviousnesscites KSR · GrahamPatents in suitUS 8,315,400
Holdings, summaries, rulings, issues, outcomes, winners and claim constructions shown for a decision were generated by a large language model reading the opinion. They are a guide to the decision, not the decision. Confirm every one against the court's own text before relying on it. Outcomes read from the patent owner’s side. Party names are extracted from the decision and are missing on about 900 short Director denials and scans, which carry the trial number instead.