throbber
275
`
`UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
`HOUSTON DIVISION
`
`
`WESTERNGECO LLC, . 4:09-CV-01827
` . HOUSTON, TEXAS
`PLAINTIFF, .
` .
` vs. .
` .
`ION GEOPHYSICAL .
`CORPORATION, FUGRO GEOTEAM, .
`INC., ET AL, .
` .
`DEFENDANTS . JULY 24, 2012
`. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:37 A.M.
`
`
`TRANSCRIPT OF JURY TRIAL
`BEFORE THE HONORABLE KEITH P. ELLISON
`UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
`
` A
`
`
`
`
`
` P P E A R A N C E S:
`
`FOR THE PLAINTIFF:
`
`Lee K. Kaplan
`SMYSER KAPLAN & VESELKA LLP
`Bank of America Center
`700 Louisiana, Suite 2300
`Houston, Texas 77002
`Gregg F. LoCascio
`KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP
`655 Fifteenth Street Northwest
`Washington, DC 20005
`Sarah Tsou
`Timothy K. Gilman
`KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP
`Citigroup Center
`153 East 53rd Street
`New York, New York 10022
`
`
`
`Mayra Malone, CSR, RMR, CRR
`mayramalone@comcast.net
`
` 1
` 2
` 3
` 4
` 5
` 6
` 7
` 8
` 9
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 1
`
`

`
` 276
`
`APPEARANCES - CONTINUED
`
`
`FOR THE DEFENDANT:
`
`David L. Burgert
`Susan Kopecky Hellinger
`Jonathan M. Pierce
`Jonna N. Stallings
`Ray T. Torgerson
`Eric D. Wade
`PORTER & HEDGES LLP
`Reliant Energy Plaza
`1000 Main Street, 36th Floor
`Houston, Texas 77002
`
`
`FOR FUGRO GEOTEAM, INC.:
`
`Gordon T. Arnold
`Jason A. Saunders
`ARNOLD KNOBLOCH LLP
`4900 Woodway Drive
`Suite 900
`Houston, Texas 77056
`James M. Thompson
`Christine Raborn
`Michael E. Streich
`ROYSTON RAYZOR VICKERY & WILLIAMS LLP
`Pennzoil Place
`711 Louisiana Street, Suite 500
`Houston, Texas 77002
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Mayra Malone, CSR, RMR, CRR
`mayramalone@comcast.net
`
` 1
` 2
` 3
` 4
` 5
` 6
` 7
` 8
` 9
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 2
`
`

`
` 277
`
`APPEARANCES - CONTINUED
`
`
`
`OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER:
` Mayra Malone, CSR, RMR, CRR
` U.S. Courthouse
` 515 Rusk, Room 8016
`Houston, Texas 77002
`
`Proceedings recorded by mechanical stenography. Transcript
`produced by computer-aided transcription.
`- - - - -
`
`
`
`
`
`Mayra Malone, CSR, RMR, CRR
`mayramalone@comcast.net
`
` 1
` 2
` 3
` 4
` 5
` 6
` 7
` 8
` 9
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 3
`
`

`
` 278
`
`INDEX
`
`
`THOMAS SCOULIOS
`
`
`Cross-Examination by Mr. Burgert
`
`Cross-Examination by Mr. Thompson
`
`Continued Direct Examination by THOMAS SCOULIOS
`
`280
`329
`393
`
`
`
`Mayra Malone, CSR, RMR, CRR
`mayramalone@comcast.net
`
` 1
` 2
` 3
` 4
` 5
` 6
` 7
` 8
` 9
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 4
`
`

`
`493
`
`MR. LOCASCIO: We will. Under the Rule, he's
`outside so if I may go outside and --
`THE COURT: Yes. Please retrieve him or her.
`THE WITNESS: Can I bring all this down?
`THE COURT: Yes, you may take all that. Thank
`you very much.
`THE WITNESS: Thank you, Your Honor.
`THE COURT: May this witness remain in the
`courtroom, or is he still subject to the Rule.
`MR. LOCASCIO: He may. He's the corporate
`representative, so he will. Thank you, Your Honor.
`THE COURT: Sir, if you could make your way up
`
`this way.
`
`MR. LOCASCIO: Thank you, Your Honor.
`THE COURT: We're going to have you in the seat
`nearest me right here.
`Before you take your seat, sir, Mrs. Loewe
`will administer the oath, if you would raise your right
`hand, please.
`CASE MANAGER: Do you solemnly swear that the
`testimony you are about to give in the matter now before
`the Court will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing
`but the truth?
`THE WITNESS: I do.
`THE COURT: Try to make yourself comfortable in
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`12:56:46
`
`12:56:53
`
`12:57:09
`
`12:57:20
`
`12:57:27
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 5
`
`

`
`494
`
`that chair. It's not the most comfortable.
`MR. LOCASCIO: Your Honor --
`THE COURT: Try to speak directly into the
`
`mike.
`
`MR. LOCASCIO: -- my colleague, Mr. Mr. Gilman
`will be examining t his witness.
`THE COURT: Very well.
`THE COURT: You may proceed.
`MR. GILMAN: May it please the Court, ladies
`and gentlemen. My name is Timothy Mr. Gilman, and I'm here
`also representing WesternGeco. And as our next witness, we
`are calling Dr. Simon Bittleston. Dr. Bittleston is the
`head of all research for WesternGeco and for Schlumberger
`as well. He's also the inventor of three -- or one of the
`inventors of three out of the four patents that we're
`talking about today, the patents that we often refer to as
`the Bittleston patents, and he's here with us today to
`testify about what those patents are and the technology
`they cover and also the work he did that led up to those
`patents.
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`12:57:33
`
`12:57:59
`
`12:58:19
`
`12:58:33
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 6
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`495
`
`SIMON BITTLESTON,
`after having been first cautioned and duly sworn, testified
`as follows:
`
`DIRECT EXAMINATION
`
`BY MR. GILMAN :
`Good morning, Dr. Bittleston.
`Q.
`A.
`Good morning.
`Could you please introduce yourself to the jury.
`Q.
`A.
`My name is Simon Bittleston. I work for Schlumberger
`I've worked for Schlumberger for 26 years. And for nine
`of those years, from 1990s, I worked for -- I worked for
`WesternGeco -- it was called Geco-Prakla at that time --
`in Norway. And while I was in Norway, I was working on
`all the sorts of systems.
`What is your position today, Dr. Bittleston?
`Q.
`A.
`I'm vice-president of research for Schlumberger,
`which also includes research for WesternGeco.
`And what types of research do you oversee?
`Q.
`A.
`So the research covers all of Schlumberger's
`activities. Schlumberger is a very large organization.
`We have 16 different business units, of which one is
`WesternGeco. And so, the research covers all of those
`different activities.
`In fact, Schlumberger spends on research
`and productive elements about a $1 billion a year, and the
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`12:58:43
`
`12:59:02
`
`12:59:19
`
`12:59:31
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 7
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`496
`
`research portion of that is about 140 million, so that's
`what I cover.
`And where do you conduct all this research?
`Q.
`A.
`So the research is covered in about six main research
`centers. The largest of those is in Boston, next to MIT,
`where we have about 140 scientists. The next sized one is
`in Cambridge in England, where we have about 120
`scientists. And then the others are based in Moscow,
`Stavanger, Rio and some other places.
`How many total scientists do you have working
`Q.
`underneath you?
`A.
`About 400 in the research organization.
`What is your role in charge of overseeing all these
`Q.
`scientists?
`A.
`So the lab directors report to me, and I'm
`responsible for making sure that the right work is being
`done in the right research labs and also to interact with
`the business units a lot to make sure that we are
`addressing their needs.
`What is your connection to WesternGeco? I think you
`Q.
`started to describe this earlier.
`A.
`So I went to Norway -- I was invited to go to Norway,
`moved from Cambridge to Norway in 1993. So I started
`working for what was Geco-Prakla as it was then, but
`WesternGeco now, in 1993. And I worked all the way
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`12:59:47
`
`01:00:08
`
`01:00:17
`
`01:00:29
`
`01:00:44
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 8
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`497
`
`through to 1999 when I left Norway. So in that period, I
`was working for WesternGeco.
`What is your specific connection to this case?
`Q.
`A.
`So in this case, the number of patents I did, the
`three of them I have my name on. I'm a joint inventor
`with a chap called Oyvind Hillesund that I worked with,
`and those patents have been asserted.
`How many total patents are you an inventor on?
`Q.
`A.
`So U.S. patents, a bit less than 20. And then for
`the rest of the world, probably another 30. So that's my
`total.
`What types of inventions do your patents cover?
`Q.
`A.
`Well, the first patent I ever made was for -- in
`fact, it was for King Oil Wells, using multiphase flows,
`in that water in there. And then a lot of the patents,
`quite a few of the patents are associated with the systems
`we're going to talk about now. And then I have some
`others associated with sampling of down hole fluids,
`that's getting samples of oil and gas in the bottom of the
`well when you're drilling.
`Let's turn to the three patents of yours that are at
`Q.
`issue today.
`A.
`Yes.
`What technology do those patents cover?
`Q.
`A.
`So those patents cover really looking after handling
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:01:01
`
`01:01:15
`
`01:01:31
`
`01:01:43
`
`01:01:50
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 9
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`498
`
`the whole of a streamer and a spread on how you control
`all of the cables in the water. And it might be useful
`just to first look at the scale of the problem, which
`is -- tried to illustrate it here a little bit.
`I think this is Bittleston Demonstrative 1 that's
`Q.
`next to you.
`A.
`Okay.
`Can you describe, yeah, what this is showing?
`Q.
`A.
`So this is showing such a streamers being today
`behind the vessel, and these streamers are about four and
`a half miles long. In fact, you can have systems of
`streamers which go up to about six miles long. So this
`isn't the longest possible.
`And just to give you a sense of scale,
`down at the bottom there, you can hardly see it, is a
`Boeing 747, which is about 231 feet long. Then there's
`the JPMorgan Chase Tower, which is the biggest tower in
`Houston which is next to it, a thousand feet high. And
`then this is the Guadalupe Peak, which is tallest peak in
`Texas, which is 8,700 feet.
`So you can see the system is very huge,
`and the task here is to try and control all of these
`cables at the same time. So it's really a huge task. So
`the patents cover different aspects of controlling that.
`In order to control this, it's not enough
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:02:10
`
`01:02:19
`
`01:02:32
`
`01:02:50
`
`01:03:07
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 10
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`499
`
`just to maneuver the boat or the cable at the top of the
`headers, streamers, all at the tail, for that matter. But
`you have to actually put some loads and forces distributed
`over the different cables. So these cables -- I don't
`know if it's been described to you -- they're about two
`inches in diameter. They have a lot of electronics in
`them, and they're basically neutrally buoyant in water.
`So over this spread, you may have a couple
`of hundred of these birds, as they're called, streamer
`steering devices, which allow you to move the streamers
`sideways and vertically. At each points they're placed
`along the streamer, and they're placed uniformly spaced on
`the streamers.
`
`So the patents cover how you go about
`doing that. If you've got more than 200 airplanes to fly
`at the same time, you're not going to do it manually by
`giving instructions to each of the planes, and so, one of
`the patents is associated with how you can get give high
`level commands in order to tell all of these airplanes
`what to do at the same time and get them in the right
`position. So those are different strategies either
`keeping the cables parallel to each other, certain
`separation, or keeping them at a certain angle to the
`direction of the boat, or also, you can give them other
`commands in order to make sure that they don't tangle and
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:03:24
`
`01:03:39
`
`01:03:52
`
`01:04:12
`
`01:04:31
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 11
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`500
`
`things like this.
`So in addition, the problem here is that
`each of the birds doesn't know where everything else is.
`The only place where you know where everything in water
`is, is on the vessel where you've got the navigation data
`and all the information about where all the cables are.
`So on the vessel, you need a controller, and in each of
`the birds, there's a little computer so they're quite
`intelligent in that way, and so, you can send commands
`from the boat to each of the birds to tell them what to
`do. So that means that you need split the control system
`between a global control system, which is the one on the
`boat that has all the navigation data, and the local
`control system, which at the birds.
`And there's one other aspect of the
`patents which is very important, which is that, in order
`to work out where everything is in the water, we have to
`actually take a set of what's called acoustic ranges.
`What we do is we make a little sound on one of the cables,
`we receive it on another cable, and that gives us the
`distance between two cables by the time it took the sound
`get from one cable to the other cable. And we do about
`800, up to 800 of those ranges, and we do it every 10
`seconds. And that's a lot of information to process. So
`it takes a bit of time before we actually work out where
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:04:45
`
`01:05:01
`
`01:05:13
`
`01:05:29
`
`01:05:46
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 12
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`501
`
`all the cables were in the water because we have to
`process all this information.
`And in that time, everything's been
`moving. This is very dynamic. Everything is moving. And
`so, what we have to do we have to predict forward during
`period where we're doing the calculations what -- how --
`where the cables now are. So one of the patents is about
`predicting forward so that you know where the cables are
`so you can give it the right commands to do what you need
`to do next. So those are basically what it covers.
`So I think it makes sense to take a look at these
`Q.
`specific patents.
`A.
`Yes.
`
`MR. GILMAN: Your Honor, may I approach the
`
`witness?
`
`THE COURT: You may. You can approach your own
`witnesses without asking.
`MR. GILMAN: Thank you, Your Honor.
`BY MR. GILMAN:
`I'm handing you a collection of exhibits for today.
`Q.
`MR. GILMAN: And I believe that the jury has
`the copies of your patents as Patent Numbers 1 through 3 in
`their notebooks as well.
`BY MR. GILMAN:
`Dr. Bittleston, could you turn to Plaintiff's
`Q.
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:05:59
`
`01:06:13
`
`01:06:22
`
`01:06:30
`
`01:07:10
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 13
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`502
`
`Exhibit 1?
`
`THE COURT: Dr. Bittleston, where are you
`located now? Cambridge or Boston or --
`THE WITNESS: Cambridge in England, yes.
`THE COURT: Could you briefly trace your
`education for me.
`THE WITNESS: Yes, Your Honor. So I was
`educated in England, I went to university at Imperial
`College in London, which is like the MIT, I guess, of the
`UK. And then so, I did my bachelor's there, and I did my
`Ph.D. in Bristol, which is the west coast of the UK. I did
`that Ph.D. in fluid mechanics, which is working out the
`flow of fluids over various objects.
`In fact, my Ph.D. was on flows past groups
`of cylinders. The application was dialysis machines to try
`and make better ways to remove waste products from the
`blood.
`
`And after I done my Ph.D., I moved to
`Schlumberger Cambridge Research, which is in Cambridge,
`which is actually where I am now based again, and I started
`working as a scientists in Cambridge.
`THE COURT: What is your degree in as an
`
`undergrad?
`
`THE WITNESS: Mathematics.
`THE COURT: Thank you.
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`01:07:20
`
`01:07:33
`
`01:07:52
`
`01:08:04
`
`01:08:12
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 14
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`503
`
`THE WITNESS: All right.
`BY MR. GILMAN:
`I'd like to hear before the story that led to your
`Q.
`inventions too.
`
`Before we jump into how your research took
`you there, maybe we can start with a high level
`description of your patents.
`A.
`Okay.
`If you could turn to Plaintiff's Exhibit 1, which
`Q.
`should be behind?
`A.
`Yes, I'm there.
`Which -- what document is Plaintiff's Exhibit 1?
`Q.
`A.
`So this is the '520 patent, which is a patent which
`is associated with controlling all of these cables. And
`this particular patent is mainly concerned with the
`different control modes that you can have.
`MR. GILMAN: Pull up Exhibit 1, please.
`BY MR. GILMAN:
`Let's take a look at cover of the patent to begin
`Q.
`with.
`
`How do you know that this is one of your
`
`patents?
`A.
`So it's on the -- this page here, if I can put it up
`like this, it says, "Inventors: Oyvind Hillesund, Simon
`Hastings Bittleston, so that's me.
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:08:21
`
`01:08:33
`
`01:08:49
`
`01:09:03
`
`01:09:16
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 15
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`504
`
`BY MR. GILMAN:
`So who is Mr. Hillesund?
`Q.
`A.
`So Oyvind worked with please in Norway. He was part
`of the streamer team, so he was one of my staff.
`If you look under the list of both of your names as
`Q.
`inventors, it says "Assignee, WesternGeco"?
`A.
`Yes.
`What does that mean?
`Q.
`A.
`It means that WesternGeco has taken the device of
`these patents because, when I joined the company, when
`Oyvind joined the company, we signed something saying that
`any inventions we made were going to be owned by the
`company, not by us, so they're the owners.
`If we move up a little bit, there's the title of a
`Q.
`patent.
`
`What does that refer to?
`A.
`So the title here is just a summary title of the
`patent. It's "Control System for Positioning of a Marine
`Seismic Streamer."
`And if we see in the upper right-hand corner, we know
`Q.
`that this is your '520 patent that we've talked about
`today.
`A.
`Yes.
`When did this patent issue from the U.S. Government?
`Q.
`A.
`It says just below it, it's 13th of November, 2007.
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:09:24
`
`01:09:37
`
`01:09:52
`
`01:10:03
`
`01:10:11
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 16
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`505
`
`On the left side towards the bottom, there's a
`Q.
`section titled "References cited."
`What does that mean?
`A.
`So these are other documents of the patents where --
`have some relevance to this patent which the U.S.
`examiners will have looked at in order to see if this
`patent is unique or not.
`If we look at this list on that page and onto the
`Q.
`following page, how many references were considered by the
`U.S. Patent Office?
`A.
`I'm sorry. I didn't add up the total here, but I
`guess it's more than 20 or so, yeah.
`If we turn one page further in to the patent
`Q.
`document, we get to Figure 1 of your patent.
`A.
`Yeah.
`Could you describe what's being shown here in
`Q.
`Figure 1?
`A.
`So in Figure 1, we've got a set of streamers in the
`water, and we've got a few items which are marked on them.
`The items marked 18 are the positions where the birds are
`going to be.
`
`The items marked 16 are something called
`monowings. Monowings are the big wings in the front of
`the extreme which pull the front, these front cables
`sideways. They need to be quite a bit bigger because
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:10:29
`
`01:10:44
`
`01:10:59
`
`01:11:11
`
`01:11:26
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 17
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`506
`
`you've got a lot of force there.
`The Item Number 14 is actually the
`airguns. So that's where we make a bang -- sound bang
`every 10 seconds. That sound propagates through the earth
`and comes back reflected from underneath the earth and
`actually hits all the streamers, that sound wave, and we
`measure it with microphones, hydrophones, on all of these
`streamers. And that's the whole purpose is to actually
`make an image of the subsurface.
`10 is the boat and 20 is the tail buoy, and
`12 is the streamers in between.
`How big is this spread of streamers that's shown in
`Q.
`Figure 1?
`A.
`Well, this is just eight streamers wide, so it would
`probably be less than half a mile wide. And this length
`here, I guess, is quite short compared to that length that
`we've got up there.
`How long can these streamers arrays get to be?
`Q.
`A.
`They go up to -- up to six miles today. There are
`plans to go even further. There are reasons we want them
`to be even longer.
`Figure 1 is the overall streamer array.
`Q.
`What are you showing in Figure 2 of your
`patents on the next page?
`A.
`So Figure 2 is the particular birds' embodiment that
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:11:40
`
`01:11:55
`
`01:12:07
`
`01:12:23
`
`01:12:33
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 18
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`507
`
`we chose to make. This is a two-wing bird. You can see
`the two wings there marked 28, and they're attached to a
`stiff center body by some wing routes, 32, and then
`there's some motor drivers, one for each wing, 34. That
`means the wings act actually independently of each other.
`And then at the heads and tail, you have some bits of
`streamer, in fact, some short sections of flexible.
`That's flexible parts. So it's just the center part
`that's stiff. And there are other components in that
`streamer, things like spaces.
`And the point about this bird is how it
`works, which I think, as you can get a bit feel from here,
`is that if you're just flying horizontally, you just move
`the wings up and down together; but if you want to suddenly
`go vertically, move the streamers sideways, what you do is
`you just put them slightly at a different angle. That's
`called a splay angle. And that rotates the whole thing.
`So it start to go like that. It's like an airplane banking
`around the corner. And then you put them in the right
`position and then they'll pull the streamers sideways. And
`by doing something in between, you can control both the
`sideways movement and the depth movement at the same time.
`So it's really quite like a plane in terms of the way in
`which it moves.
`How many of these planes would be on a given streamer
`Q.
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:12:56
`
`01:13:11
`
`01:13:26
`
`01:13:41
`
`01:13:51
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 19
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`508
`
`array?
`A.
`So a couple of hundred is a very typical number. It
`can be more or less than that.
`If we look, then, down at Figure 3, what are you
`Q.
`showing here in Figure 3?
`A.
`In Figure 3, what we have here is an explanation of
`how this thing is going to respond to a command. What
`we've got is a bird. The bird wings are now marked 28
`again, you can see, with a center body 30. So that
`corresponds to the numbers above. So you can see it's at
`an angle. The streamers are actually going out of the
`page here. You're looking end on to it. And what's being
`asked for from the vessel is that it says, I want to move
`a horizontal force, which is marked by the horizontal
`arrow marked Number 42, and the vertical force which is
`marked by the vertical arrow 44.
`So you can actually add that force up, and
`you get -- the total force that's needed is the force
`marked 46. So that's the angle. So that's how much we're
`going to have to push in that direction.
`Now, the bird as it's sitting isn't quite
`pointing in this case direction. It's pointing along the
`long line marked along 52. And so, what we do is we start
`to push along that line marked 52, but then we put a
`little bit difference in the angles of the wings, and we
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:14:03
`
`01:14:21
`
`01:14:40
`
`01:14:56
`
`01:15:13
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 20
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`509
`
`realign the birds so that this line matches up with the
`Line 46. So it starts just turning a little bit, in this
`case, so that it's lined up with 46, and we change
`actually the total force so it matches the arrow 46. So
`it's explaining how to go from one position to another.
`Dr. Bittleston, did you invent the idea of trying to
`Q.
`put a lateral force on a cable?
`A.
`No, I did not. There are many devices. I mentioned
`the monowing, which was before this, and other people had
`thought of trying to move cable sideways.
`Did you invent the idea of trying to use a device to
`Q.
`move one of these streamers?
`A.
`I invented a particular embodiment, a particular
`device, to move streamers sideways, which was a tooling in
`a natural bird which had independent wings.
`Is that the subject matter of these patents in suit?
`Q.
`A.
`No, this is actually not the subject at all, although
`there's a patent about it. The subject matter is about
`not any particular device, I've shown you one particular
`device. It's actually about how the move the whole thing
`together. It's irrelevant respective of which device is
`on the cables. These patents have nothing to say about
`which device is on the cable, just that there are devices
`that can move them, and they explain how to go about
`managing a couple of hundred of these birds at the same
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:15:28
`
`01:15:42
`
`01:15:57
`
`01:16:09
`
`01:16:24
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 21
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`510
`
`time. That's what the whole point is really.
`If you turn to Figure 4, what aspect of your
`Q.
`invention is this showing?
`A.
`So in Figure 4, we've got a block diagram. It shows
`you the main parts of a local controller. So I mentioned
`before that part of the patents is to have some
`intelligence on the boat, some brains on the boat for
`the -- where everything is in the water; and each of the
`birds, it has it's own little computer. And here you can
`actually see it. And the little computer in the bird,
`it's called a processor unit, which is marked 54. But
`importantly, we're going to need to move two wings, and
`so, you can see marked 34 a motor left wing and a motor
`right wing. And in order for those motors to do the right
`thing, they have a motor driver each. So you can see
`that's how the two wings are driven.
`And we need to know where they are. So
`after we've moved them, we have a position indicator
`marked 64. And so, that gives feedback so that we can
`actually know what to do next.
`There are a few other measurements here.
`There's a pressure sensor. So as you go deeper in the
`water, the pressure goes up. You get that when you go
`swimming, your ears pop. And so, if you have pressure
`sensors, you can work out approximately how deep you are,
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:16:39
`
`01:16:53
`
`01:17:09
`
`01:17:23
`
`01:17:39
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 22
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`511
`
`approximately. And then there is a -- on the top right
`marked 17, you've got a vertical accelerometer, horizontal
`accelerometer at 10 percent. So --
`THE COURT: I'm going to ask you to slow down
`just a little bit.
`THE WITNESS: Okay. Sorry. And those
`accelerometers actually allow you to know what the angle of
`the bird is, how much rotation you have on it.
`The -- to the left-hand side of this is a
`box marked 76, and that is a communications -- a method of
`communications. It has a particular name, 485. There are
`other ways you could do the communications. And that's
`going to communicate information to and from the rest of
`the system and particularly up to the boat.
`BY MR. GILMAN:
`So in front of you, you have the three different
`Q.
`patents of yours that are in this case --
`A.
`Yes.
`-- Exhibits 1, 2 and 3.
`Q.
`What do the different patents cover in
`terms of your invention and what you were thinking about?
`A.
`Okay. So one of the patents covers the overall
`strategies for controlling the cables, that includes how
`you might turn the cables, turn mode, how you might keep
`the cables separated at a fixing distance, and how you
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:17:51
`
`01:18:08
`
`01:18:27
`
`01:18:34
`
`01:18:50
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 23
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`512
`
`might keep the cables at a fixed angle that are parallel
`to the direction. Maybe we have something I can show you
`that.
`Yeah, I think -- are there some slides that we have
`Q.
`that you think would help illustrate these features?
`A.
`Yes, I think so.
`Okay. So I'm going to start illustrating
`this by having no steering, so I hope you can see this
`little diagram here with cables wondering about in the
`water.
`
`This is a situation you would have if the
`cables didn't have any steering on them. And what you can
`notice in particular is that on some of the cables that
`get closer together, and some get further apart, so you
`get things where they're too close and too far apart.
`That's not good for a lot of reasons. One
`of the reasons is, you're trying to take a picture of the
`subsurface, and you want to take a uniform picture and
`you'd like all of these to be uniform to get a good
`picture. So maybe we can go on to the next slide.
`So if they get too close this is what
`happens, they cross, they tangle, and they make the most
`huge mess you can ever imagine. You tangle all those
`4 mile, 6 mile cables together, you're ending up taking all
`this back to port. It's a massive mountain of cables at
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:19:07
`
`01:19:34
`
`01:19:48
`
`01:20:02
`
`01:20:23
`
`PGS v. WESTERNGECO (IPR2014-00689)
`WESTERNGECO Exhibit 2050, pg. 24
`
`

`
`Direct-Bittleston/By Mr. Gilman
`
`513
`
`the side of the port. You're going to have to untangle
`them with cranes and take them apart. The whole system is
`down for weeks.
`This is a catastrophe. It doesn't happen
`all the time. It happens rarely, but when it does happen,
`it's a lot of money down the strain.
`How expensive are each of these cables?
`Q.
`A.
`They are millions of dollars each cable. I can give
`you precise number, you know, 10 to $20 million of
`equipment in the water is not unusual.
`So that's what happens if the cables get too close
`Q.
`together?
`A.
`Yeah.
`What happens if they get too far apart?
`Q.
`A.
`I don't know if we have an example of that. So if
`they get too far apart, then what happens is you get an
`area in between cables where you're not taking the data,
`and the contracts we have with our clients say that we
`have to get certain amount of data everywhere across the
`area we're covering.
`And this example you can now see. There's
`a hole that's been made in the data. So now the only
`choice here is to come back later and go over the same
`territory again. I think yesterday it was explained in
`the introduction about mowing the lawn and going over the
`
`123456789
`
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`25
`
`Johnny C. Sanchez, RMR, CRR - jcscourtreporter@aol.com
`
`01:20:35
`
`01:20:48
`
`01:20:56
`
`01:21:12
`
`01

This document is available on Docket Alarm but you must sign up to view it.


Or .

Accessing this document will incur an additional charge of $.

After purchase, you can access this document again without charge.

Accept $ Charge
throbber

Still Working On It

This document is taking longer than usual to download. This can happen if we need to contact the court directly to obtain the document and their servers are running slowly.

Give it another minute or two to complete, and then try the refresh button.

throbber

A few More Minutes ... Still Working

It can take up to 5 minutes for us to download a document if the court servers are running slowly.

Thank you for your continued patience.

This document could not be displayed.

We could not find this document within its docket. Please go back to the docket page and check the link. If that does not work, go back to the docket and refresh it to pull the newest information.

Your account does not support viewing this document.

You need a Paid Account to view this document. Click here to change your account type.

Your account does not support viewing this document.

Set your membership status to view this document.

With a Docket Alarm membership, you'll get a whole lot more, including:

  • Up-to-date information for this case.
  • Email alerts whenever there is an update.
  • Full text search for other cases.
  • Get email alerts whenever a new case matches your search.

Become a Member

One Moment Please

The filing “” is large (MB) and is being downloaded.

Please refresh this page in a few minutes to see if the filing has been downloaded. The filing will also be emailed to you when the download completes.

Your document is on its way!

If you do not receive the document in five minutes, contact support at support@docketalarm.com.

Sealed Document

We are unable to display this document, it may be under a court ordered seal.

If you have proper credentials to access the file, you may proceed directly to the court's system using your government issued username and password.


Access Government Site

We are redirecting you
to a mobile optimized page.





Document Unreadable or Corrupt

Refresh this Document
Go to the Docket

We are unable to display this document.

Refresh this Document
Go to the Docket