Case 1:16-cv-00116-RGA Document 162 Filed 08/10/17 Page 1 of 5 PageID #: 2780
`
`IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE
`
`SOUND VIEW INNOVATIONS, LLC,
`
`Plaintiff,
`
`v.
`
`No. 16-cv-116 (RGA)
`
`FACEBOOK, INC.,
`
`Defendant.
`
`MEMORANDUM ORDER
`
`This order addresses two issues relating to the claim construction in this
`
`case. I issued an opinion construing contested terms in six asserted patents on May
`
`19, 2017. (D.I. 100).
`
`First, Plaintiff moves (D.I. 116) for reconsideration of my finding that claim 1
`
`of U.S. Patent No. 7,366, 786 is indefinite. Claim 1 reads:
`
`1. A system for authorizing a user of a client to have access to a server via the
`Internet comprising:
`
`means in said client for inputting a user identification (ID) and user
`password;
`
`means in said client for storing a unique client address;
`
`communication means at said client for passing said ID, password and
`address to said server via said Internet in response to a request
`therefrom;
`
`means at said server to store information respecting said client and to
`compare said stored information with said user ID and user password;
`
`1
`
`
`
`IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE
`
`SOUND VIEW INNOVATIONS, LLC,
`
`Plaintiff,
`
`v.
`
`No. 16-cv-116 (RGA)
`
`FACEBOOK, INC.,
`
`Defendant.
`
`MEMORANDUM ORDER
`
`This order addresses two issues relating to the claim construction in this
`
`case. I issued an opinion construing contested terms in six asserted patents on May
`
`19, 2017. (D.I. 100).
`
`First, Plaintiff moves (D.I. 116) for reconsideration of my finding that claim 1
`
`of U.S. Patent No. 7,366, 786 is indefinite. Claim 1 reads:
`
`1. A system for authorizing a user of a client to have access to a server via the
`Internet comprising:
`
`means in said client for inputting a user identification (ID) and user
`password;
`
`means in said client for storing a unique client address;
`
`communication means at said client for passing said ID, password and
`address to said server via said Internet in response to a request
`therefrom;
`
`means at said server to store information respecting said client and to
`compare said stored information with said user ID and user password;
`
`1
`
`
`
`Case 1:16-cv-00116-RGA Document 162 Filed 08/10/17 Page 2 of 5 PageID #: 2781
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`means at said server to store dynamic status information respecting
`said user, said dynamic status information being one of enabled,
`disabled or active; and
`
`means to authorize log in of said user if said ID and password agree
`with said stored information and if said user status is enabled.
`
`'786 Patent, col. 22, 11. 5-21 (emphasis added). I construed the italicized term to be
`
`indefinite because Plaintiff failed to identify corresponding structure to the function
`
`I adopted. Importantly, in the brief the Plaintiff and Defendant agreed-to on an
`
`articulation of the claimed function. I rejected their agreed-to function as an
`
`incomplete regurgitation of the claim language. I construed the function of the
`
`claimed means to be "authorizing log in and verifying user status as enabled." (D.I.
`
`100 at 18).
`
`As structure for the claimed function, Plaintiff pointed to a JavaScript cookie
`
`disclosed in the specification. I rejected this argument on sequencing grounds. It
`
`was not possible for the JavaScript cookie to verify the user status as enabled
`
`because the cookie came after the user's credentials had been checked. While
`
`Defendant pointed to sequencing problems in the claim construction brief, it did not
`
`articulate the sequencing problem in this manner. Nor was the particular nature of
`
`the sequencing problem I relied on in finding the claim indefinite discussed at oral
`
`argument.
`
`Plaintiff now asks me to construe the structure to be a JavaScript Cookie and
`
`System APL It points to a clear passage in the specification to support its proposed
`
`construction. (D.I. 116 at 3 (citing '786 Patent, col. 10, 11. 21-27)).
`
`2
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`
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`Case 1:16-cv-00116-RGA Document 162 Filed 08/10/17 Page 3 of 5 PageID #: 2782
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`Because the patent specification is clear and the exact grounds for my
`
`indefiniteness ruling were not explored in the briefs or at oral argument, my earlier
`
`decision was "manifest error." Thus, I am GRANTING Plaintiffs motion for
`
`reconsideration. I do not think I need "full briefing" on this. (See D.I. 129 at 3 n. 1).
`
`Thus, I CONSTRUE the term "means to authorize log in of said user if said ID and
`
`password agree with said stored information and if said user status is enabled" as
`
`follows:
`
`Function
`"authorizing log in and verifying user
`status as enabled"
`
`Structure
`"a JavaScript cookie" and "System API"
`
`Second, in my claim construction opinion, I reserved construction of
`
`"spinning" as used in claim 13 of U.S. Patent No. 5,991,845. (D.l. 100 at 9). Claim
`
`13 reads:
`
`13. A method for providing multiple processes with mutually exclusive access
`to a shared resource in a system having a lock associated with the shared
`resource, possession of the lock signifying exclusive access to the shared
`resource, wherein processes desiring access to the shared resource spin on the
`lock until the lock is acquired, the method comprising the steps of:
`
`maintaining a linked queue structure of data records corresponding to
`a queue of processes including processes spinning on the lock and a
`process possessing the lock, one data record per process;
`
`transferring the lock from the process possessing the lock to a process
`next in the queue;
`
`conducting a cleanup process if one or more processes in the queue
`have terminated, said cleanup process removing said one or more
`terminated processes from the queue and reassembling the linked
`queue structure.
`
`'845 Patent, col. 19, 11. 1-17 (emphasis added).
`
`3
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`I l
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`Case 1:16-cv-00116-RGA Document 162 Filed 08/10/17 Page 4 of 5 PageID #: 2783
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`On August 7, 2017, I held a hearing where I took testimony from Plaintiffs
`
`expert, Dr. Xiao Su, and Defendant's expert, Dr. Sandeep Chatterjee, on the plain
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`meaning of "spinning" to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the
`
`patent's priority date, 1996. Based on that testimony and on my review of prior art
`
`articles cited by the patent, I am CONSTRUING "spinning" to mean "continuously
`
`running while repeatedly trying to acquire the lock."
`
`The prior art articles I reviewed are "Algorithms for Scalable Synchronization
`
`on Shared-Memory Multiprocessors" by John M. Mellor-Crummey and Michael L.
`
`Scott, published in February 1991 in Volume 9, Number 1 of the ACM Transactions
`
`on Computer Systems, and "The Performance of Spin Lock Alternatives for Shared-
`
`Memory Multiprocessors" by Thomas E. Anderson, published in January 1990 in
`
`Volume 1, Number 1 of IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems.
`
`Both articles are referenced in the patent. '845 Patent, col. 2, 11. 6-10, 27-31.
`
`In broad strokes, a spin lock ensures that multiple processes trying to access
`
`a shared resource do so one at a time. There are two components to the construction
`
`that was proposed by Defendant at the hearing and that I adopt. First, the
`
`processes trying to access the shared resource are continuously running. Second,
`
`those processes try to acquire the lock repeatedly.
`
`First, Anderson and Mellor-Crummey clearly distinguish spin locks from
`
`locks that operate by blocking a processor and relinquishing it to do other work. See
`
`Anderson at p. 6, Mellor-Crummey at p. 22. Thus, I am construing spinning to
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`require the process to run continuously.
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`4
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`Case 1:16-cv-00116-RGA Document 162 Filed 08/10/17 Page 5 of 5 PageID #: 2784
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`Second, in describing spin locks, the two articles I reviewed, as well as the
`
`testimony of both Dr. Su and Dr. Chatterjee, support the notion that, with spin
`
`locks, the processes try to acquire the lock repeatedly.
`
`At the hearing, Plaintiff made reference to ticket locks, referenced in Mellor-
`
`Crummey, as a type of spin lock, to suggest that a process need not check the lock
`
`repeatedly. But even with ticket locks, the process checks the lock more than once,
`
`and likely more than twice, to see if the resource is available. Mellor-Crummey at p.
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`27 (explaining that it is "possible to acquire the lock with only two probes" but "is
`
`not likely in practice"). A lock where the process has to attempt to acquire the lock
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`at least twice is covered by a definition of "spinning" that requires "repeatedly
`
`trying to acquire the lock." Thus, I construe "spinning" to require that the processes
`
`trying to access the shared resource attempt to acquire the lock repeatedly.
`
`My construction of "spinning" based on the Anderson and Muller-Crummey
`
`articles and the testimony adduced at the hearing is consistent with the patent's
`
`use of the term. See '845 Patent, col. 51, ll. 51-58.
`
`IT IS SO ORDERED this _j!2_ day of August 2017.
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`5
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