`Petitioner
`
`v.
`
`ANDREA ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
`Patent Owner
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Case: IPR2016-00461
`
`Patent 6,049,607
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`
`
`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`
`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`
`
`
`
`
`
`V.
`
`MANDATORY NOTICES ............................................................................ 1
`I.
`PAYMENT OF FEES .................................................................................... 3
`II.
`STANDING ................................................................................................... 3
`III.
`IV. REQUEST TO HOLD CLAIMS 1-4, 8, 25-18 and 32 OF THE ’607
`PATENT UNPATENTABLE ........................................................................ 3
`The Alleged Invention Of The ’607 Patent ........................................ 4
`
`Summary Of The Prosecution History Of The ’607 Patent ............... 4
`
`CLAIM CONSTRUCTION ........................................................................... 5
`Broadest Reasonable Construction ..................................................... 5
`
`“interference signal” (claims 1-2 and 25-26) ...................................... 6
`“adaptive filter” (claims 1, 3, 4, 8, 25, 27, 28 and 32) ....................... 6
`“target signal” (claims 1, 2, 25, 26 and 27) ........................................ 6
`“reference signal” (claims 2, 4, 5, 12, 26, 28, 29 and 37) .................. 6
`“main signal” (claims 5, 8, 12, 29, 32 and 36) ................................... 7
`“transform function” (claims 9, 33) .................................................... 7
`“main input for inputting said target signal / inputting said target
`
`signal” (claims 1) ........................................................................................... 7
`“band limited…signals” (claims 1, 3, 25 and 27) .............................. 7
`
`“reference input for inputting said interference signal” (claims 1, 2,
`
`4, 26 and 28) ................................................................................................... 7
`“cancelling” (claims 1 and 25) ........................................................... 8
`
`“beam splitting/beam splitter” (claims 1 and 25) ............................... 8
`“beam selector” (claims 8 and 32) ...................................................... 8
`
`VI. PRIOR ART TO THE ’345 PATENT FORMING THE BASIS FOR THIS
`PETITION ...................................................................................................... 8
`Prior Art Documents .......................................................................... 8
`
`Summary Of Unpatentability Arguments ......................................... 10
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`ii
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`VII. GROUNDS FOR UNPATENTABILITY OF EACH CLAIM ................... 12
`Ground 1: Claims 1-4 and 25-28 Are Unpatentable Under 35 U.S.C.
`
`§ 102(b) As Being Anticipated By Chu 307. ................................................ 12
`Ground 2: Claims 1-4 and 25-28 Are Unpatentable Under 35 U.S.C.
`
`§ 102(a) As Being Anticipated By Nakagawa .............................................. 21
`Ground 3: Claims 1-4, 8, 25-28 and 32 Are Unpatentable Under 35
`
`U.S.C. § 102(a) As Being Anticipated By Dreiseitel .................................... 30
`Ground 4: Claims 1, 2, 8, 25, 26 and 32 are Unpatentable Under 35
`
`U.S.C. § 103(a) as Being Obvious over Chu 307 in view of Chu 1995. ..... 38
`E.
`Ground 5: Claims 1-3, 8, 25-27 and 32 Are Unpatentable Under 35
`U.S.C. § 103(a) As Being Obvious over Chu 1993 in view of Chu 1995. .. 50
`Ground 6: Claims 8 and 32 Are Unpatentable Under 35 U.S.C. §
`
`103(a) As Being Obvious over Chu 307 or Nakagawa or Dreiseitel in view
`of Griffiths. ................................................................................................... 63
`Ground 7: Claims 8 and 32 are Unpatentable Under 35 U.S.C. §
`
`103(a) As Being Obvious Over Chu ‘307 or Nakagawa or Dreiseitel in view
`of Provencher. .............................................................................................. 65
`Ground 8: Claims 8 and 32 are Unpatentable Under 35 U.S.C. §
`
`103(a) As Being Obvious Over Chu 307 or Nakagawa or Dreiseitel in view
`of Huang. ...................................................................................................... 66
`VIII. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................ 69
`
`
`
`
`
`iii
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`PETITIONER’S EXHIBIT LIST
`
`
`
`Description
`U.S. Patent No. 6,049,607, “Interference Canceling Method And
`Apparatus,” to Joseph Marash and Baruch Berdugo, issued on Apr. 11,
`2000 (“the ’607 Patent”)
`
`Exhibit #
`1001
`
`Prosecution History of U.S. Patent Application No. 09/157,035 which
`issued as U.S. Patent No. 6,049,607
`
`1002
`
`Table 1 – List Of Each Challenged Claim Element Annotated
`With Its Claim Number and A Reference Letter
`
`Petitioner’s List of Related Litigation Matters, And Patents at Issue
`
`Petitioner’s List of IPR Petitions and Challenged Patent Claims of the
`Andrea Patents
`
`U.S. Patent No. 5,305,307 (“Chu 307”)
`
`U.S. Patent No. 5,774,561 (“Nakagawa”)
`
`Pia Dreiseitel, Eberhard Hänsler, and Henning Puder, “Acoustic Echo
`and Noise Control – A Long Lasting Challenge,” Signal Processing
`Conference (EUSIPCO), Sept. 8-11, 1998, (“Dreiseitel”)
`
`1003
`
`1004
`
`1005
`
`1006
`
`1007
`
`1008
`
`Chu, “Desktop MIC Array for Teleconferencing.” I.E.E.E., 1995,
`(“Chu 1995”)
`
`1009
`
`Peter L. Chu, “Weaver SSB Subband Acoustic Echo Canceller,” 1993
`IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and
`Acoustics, pp. 8-11 (“Chu 1993”)
`
`1010
`
`
`
`
`iv
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`
`Description
`Griffiths and Jim, “An Alternative Approach to Linearly Constrained
`Adaptive Beamforming,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and
`Propagation, vol. 30, No. 1, Jan 1982, (“Griffiths”)
`
`Exhibit #
`1011
`
`U.S. Patent No. 4,032,922 (“Provencher”)
`
`U.S. Patent No. 6,173,059 (“Huang”)
`
`Declaration of Bertand Hochwald (“Hochwald Decl.”)
`
`1012
`
`1013
`
`1014
`
` v
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`
`
` Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 311, Petitioner hereby respectfully requests inter
`
`partes review of claims 1-4, 8, 25-28 and 32 of Ex. 1001, U.S. Patent No. 6,049,607
`
`(“the ’607 Patent”) which issued on March 26, 2002. The challenged claims are
`
`unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. §§ 102 and 103 over the prior art publications
`
`identified and applied in this Petition.
`
`I.
`
`MANDATORY NOTICES
`
`Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §42.8, Petitioner provides the following mandatory
`
`disclosures:
`
`A.
`
`Real Parties-In-Interest. Petitioner, Waves Audio, Ltd., Azrielli Center
`
`3, Tel-Aviv 67023, ISRAEL, is a real party in interest for the instant petition.
`
`B.
`
`Related Matters. Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 42.8(b)(2), Petitioner submits
`
`that the ’607 Patent is the subject of a series of related patent infringement lawsuits
`
`brought by Andrea Electronics Corporation (“Andrea”) in the U.S. District Court
`
`for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY Actions) and an action in the U.S.
`
`International Trade Commission (USITC Action, Investigation No. 337-TA-949).
`
`More detail as to the EDNY Actions and the USITC Action are to be found in
`
`Exhibit 1004.
`
`A Markman Order was entered in the USITC Action on January 7, 2016 and
`
`is attached as part of Exhibit 1004.
`
`Petitioner further states that the above cited actions also initially involved
`
` 1
`
`
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`
`Andrea’s U.S. Patent Nos. 5,825,898, 6,049,607, 6,377,637, and 6,483,923 although
`
`the ’898 and ’923 patents are no longer part of the USITC Action and a Motion to
`
`Terminate as to the ’637 patent is pending before the Commission.
`
`Concurrently, Petitioner is filing one other inter partes review petition,
`
`challenging certain claim elements of U.S. Patent No. 6,363,345, which are: (1)
`
`subject to additional prior art references; and (2) may affect, or be affected by,
`
`decision(s) in the proceedings of the Andrea patents. For further references,
`
`Petitioner includes as Exhibit 1004 (list of related litigation matters); and Exhibit
`
`1005 (list of concurrently filed IPR petitions and challenged patent claims).
`
`B.
`Lead and Back-up Counsel and Service Information – 37 C.F.R.
`§42.8(b) (3) & (4).
`
`
`J. Scott Denko (Reg. No. 37,606) is lead counsel. Patrick Stellitano (Reg.
`
`No. 42,169) is associate counsel on this matter. The Petitioner may be served in
`
`this matter as follows:
`
`Post and Hand
`Delivery
`
`
`Telephone No.
`Facsimile No.
`
`
`
`J. Scott Denko
`Patrick Stellitano
`Denko Lauff, L.L.P.
`denko@dcllegal.com
`Stellitano@dcllegal.com
`512-906-2074
`512-906-2075
`
`
` 2
`
`
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`
`II.
`
`PAYMENT OF FEES
`
`Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §42.103(a) and 42.15(a), the required filing fees for
`
`this petition are submitted and charged to Deposit Account 50-5159. Should any
`
`further fees be required by the present Petition, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board
`
`(“the Board”) is hereby authorized to charge the above referenced Deposit Account.
`
`III.
`
`STANDING
`
`Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 42.104(a), Petitioner certifies that the patent sought
`
`for review, U.S. Patent No. 6,049,607, is available for inter partes review and that
`
`Petitioner is not barred or estopped from requesting an inter partes review
`
`challenging the patent claims on the grounds identified herein.
`
`IV. REQUEST TO HOLD CLAIMS 1-4, 8, 25-18 and 32 OF THE ’607
`PATENT UNPATENTABLE
`
`Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 42.104(b), Petitioner requests that the Board hold
`
`claims 1-4, 8, 25-28 and 32 of the ’607 Patent unpatentable. Such relief is justified
`
`as the alleged invention of the ’607 Patent was described by others prior to the
`
`effective filing date of the ’607 Patent. Attached hereto as Exhibit 1003, is a Table
`
`that provides the ’607 patent claim elements challenged, each limitation annotated
`
`with its claim number and a reference letter.
`
`The specific statutory grounds under 35 U.S.C. §102 and/or §103 upon which
`
`each challenge to each claim is based and the patents or printed publications relied
`
`upon for each ground are set forth below.
`
` 3
`
`
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
` The Alleged Invention Of The ’607 Patent
`
`The ’607 Patent describes an apparatus and method for echo-cancelling in a
`
`full duplex communication system like a teleconference. A teleconference
`
`typically involves sounds present at a “near-end” location, such as those of a near-
`
`end loudspeaker, that are received by a microphone or by microphones. These
`
`sounds are transmitted to a “far-end” system and subsequently broadcast by a far-
`
`end loudspeaker. At the far-end system, sounds emanating from the far-end
`
`loudspeaker are also received by the far-end microphone and transmitted to the
`
`near-end system where they are broadcast by the near-end loudspeaker. As a
`
`result, a disturbing echo will be heard in the system. Without an echo cancellation
`
`mechanism in the system, a person speaking into the microphone will hear himself
`
`as a result of his or her voice being transmitted over the far-end loudspeaker, into
`
`the far-end microphone and back out of the near-end loudspeaker.
`
`The ’607 Patent specifically describes cancelling echoes in the system by (1)
`
`splitting (through splitter 114) the near-end signal from microphone array 102 and
`
`far-end signal (through splitter 128) and (2) adaptively filtering the interference
`
`signal from the target signal through adaptive filters 116x. See Ex. 1001, Fig. 1.
`
` Summary Of The Prosecution History Of The ’607 Patent
`
`The application that led to the ’607 Patent was filed on September 18, 1998
`
`and issued with no rejections. Ex. 1001 and 1002 at p. 54-59. On December 3, 1999,
`
`
`
` 4
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`
`the Examiner allowed all claims and stated in his reasons for allowance that the
`
`prior art of record taken alone and in combination does not disclose the “beam
`
`splitter” limitation recited in claim 1 (i.e., “a beam splitter for beam-splitting said
`
`target signal . . . whereby for each band-limited target signal there is a
`
`corresponding band-limited interference signal.”). Id, page 55-56. The Examiner
`
`also indicated that he had called Applicants’ representative that same day,
`
`December 3, to discuss some “minor informalities” in claims 1, 13 and 25. Id. at p.
`
`57. The Applicants agreed to an Examiner’s amendment changing “equals” to
`
`“equal” in these claims. Id at page 57. Additionally, PCT/US99/21186 was filed on
`
`September 14, 1999 which is published and claims the benefit of U.S. Patent
`
`Application 09/157,035.
`
`V.
`
`CLAIM CONSTRUCTION
`
` Broadest Reasonable Construction
`
`Unless otherwise addressed herein, for the purposes of inter partes review
`
`only, the terms of ’607 patent’s claims are to be given their broadest reasonable
`
`interpretation, as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, in view of the ’345
`
`patent’s specification. See 37 C.F.R. § 42.100(b).
`
`Further, while the Petitioner believes that several claims may be invalid
`
`under 35 USC § 112, Petitioner is still providing prior art to challenge the
`
`patentability of the requested claims to the extent the Board can determine that the
`
`
`
` 5
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`
`claims are valid under the “broadest reasonable interpretation” standard. The
`
`Petitioner’s prior art submission, however, is not an admission on its part that all
`
`claims are valid under 35 USC § 112. Accordingly, the Petitioner reserves the right
`
`to challenge the validity of the claims of the ’345 patent under 35 USC § 112 in
`
`Federal District Court or in an action before the International Trade Commission.
`
`
`
`“interference signal” (claims 1-2 and 25-26)
`
`In harmonization with the Markman Order in the USITC Action, Petitioner
`
`submits that the term “interference signal” means the signal from a far end that is
`
`picked up as an echo by the main input.
`
`
`
`“adaptive filter” (claims 1, 3, 4, 8, 25, 27, 28 and 32)
`
`Petitioner submits that the term “adaptive filter” means a filter in which the
`
`coefficients of the filter change based on at least one band limited reference signal
`
`and at least one band limited target signal. Col. 2, lines 16-33, Col. 3, lines 60-64.
`
`
`
`“target signal” (claims 1, 2, 25, 26 and 27)
`
`Petitioner submits that the term “target signal” means the desired signal plus
`
`interference. Col. 1, lines 32-48. Col. 3, line 65-col. 4, line 6.
`
`
`
`“reference signal” (claims 2, 4, 5, 12, 26, 28, 29 and 37)
`
`Petitioner submits that the term “reference signal” means the signal conveyed
`
`from a far end of a teleconference. Col. 3, line 65-col. 4, line 6.
`
`
`
` 6
`
`
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`
`
`“main signal” (claims 5, 8, 12, 29, 32 and 36)
`
`Petitioner submits that the term “main signal” means the target signal. Col.
`
`3, lines 52-55.
`
`
`
`“transform function” (claims 9, 33)
`
`Petitioner submits that the term “transform function” means a model of a
`
`transformation that the far end signal undergoes when broadcast and then received
`
`at the main input. Col. 7, lines 36-42.
`
`
` “main input for inputting said target signal / inputting said target
`signal” (claims 1)
`
`Petitioner submits that the terms “main input” and “inputting said target
`
`signal” mean an input from more than one sensor, from which at least one beam is
`
`formed / inputting signal from more than one sensor, from which at least one beam
`
`is formed. Col. 3, lines 52-55.
`
`
`
`“band limited…signals” (claims 1, 3, 25 and 27)
`
`Petitioner submits that the term “band limited” signal means signals limited
`
`to a band of frequencies that are a subset of frequencies of the original target and
`
`interference signals. Abstract. Col. 7, lines 6-12.
`
`
`“reference input for inputting said interference signal” (claims 1, 2, 4,
`26 and 28)
`
`Petitioner submits that the term “reference input” means an input for the
`
`signal from the far end, separate from the main input. Col. 3 lines 53-55 and col. 3,
`
`
`
` 7
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`
`line 65-col. 4, line 2.
`
`
`
`“cancelling” (claims 1 and 25)
`
`Petitioner submits that the term “cancelling” means subtracting. Col. 7, lines
`
`34-37.
`
`
`
`“beam splitting/beam splitter” (claims 1 and 25)
`
`Petitioner submits that the term “beam splitter” means hardware or software
`
`that splits a time domain signal into a plurality of band limited signals. Col. 7, lines
`
`5-10.
`
` “beam selector” (claims 8 and 32)
`
`Petitioner submits that the term “beam selector” means hardware or software
`
`that selects a beam for adaptive filtering, where a beam is a signal from a particular
`
`direction. Col. 4, lines 16-26.
`
`VI.
`PRIOR ART TO THE ’345 PATENT FORMING THE BASIS FOR
`THIS PETITION
`
`Prior Art Documents
`
`U.S. Patent No. 5,305,307 (“Chu 307”) (Ex. 1006) was published on April
`
`19, 1994. As a result, Chu 307 is available as prior art against all claims of the ‘607
`
`patent under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b).
`
`U.S. Patent No. 5,774,561 (“Nakagawa”) (Ex. 1007) was published on June
`
`30, 1998. As a result, Nakagawa is available as prior art against all claims of the
`
`
`
` 8
`
`‘607 patent under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a).
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`Pia Dreiseitel, Eberhard Hänsler, and Henning Puder, “Acoustic Echo and
`
`Noise Control – A Long Lasting Challenge,” Signal Processing Conference
`
`(EUSIPCO), Sept. 8-11, 1998, (“Dreiseitel”) (Ex. 1008) was published in Europe
`
`in September 8-11, 1998. As a result, Dreiseitel is available as prior art against all
`
`claims of the ‘607 patent under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a).
`
`Peter L. Chu, “Desktop MIC Array for Teleconferencing.” Proceedings of
`
`the 1995 International Conference on Acoustic, Speech and Signal Processing, vol.
`
`5, 1995, pages 2999-3002, (“Chu 1995”), (Ex. 1009) was published in the United
`
`States in 1995. As a result, Chu 1995 is available as prior art against all claims of
`
`the ‘607 patent under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b).
`
`Peter L. Chu, “Weaver SSB Subband Acoustic Echo Canceller,” 1993 IEEE
`
`Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics, pp. 8-11
`
`(“Chu 1993”) (Ex. 1010) was published in the United States in 1993. As a result,
`
`Chu 1993 is available as prior art against all claims of the ‘607 patent under 35
`
`U.S.C. § 102(b).
`
`Griffiths and Jim, “An Alternative Approach to Linearly Constrained
`
`Adaptive Beamforming,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol.
`
`30, No. 1, Jan 1982, (“Griffiths”), (Ex. 1011) was published in the United States in
`
`1982. As a result, Griffiths is available as a prior art against all claims of the ‘607
`
`patent under 35 U.S.C. §102(b).
`
` 9
`
`
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`U.S. Patent No. 4,032,922 (“Provencher”) (Ex. 1012) was published in 1977.
`
`As a result, Provencher is available as a prior art against all claims of the ‘607 patent
`
`under 35 U.S.C. §102(b).
`
`U.S. Patent No. 6,173,059 (“Huang”) (Ex. 1013) was filed on April 24, 1998.
`
`As a result, Provencher is available as a prior art against all claims of the ‘607 patent
`
`under 35 U.S.C. §102(e).
`
`None of the references relied upon in this Petition were considered during
`
`prosecution of the application of the ’607 Patent.
`
`
`
`Summary Of Unpatentability Arguments
`
`The alleged novel features of the ’607 patent were well known at the time of
`
`the alleged invention and it would have been obvious to any person of ordinary skill
`
`in the art that they could be used separately, or combined into a single system to
`
`obtain the advantages of these various features.
`
`For example, Chu 307 describes an echo cancelling device for reducing
`
`feedback between a loudspeaker and microphone in a full duplex communication
`
`system such as a telephone conferencing system.” Chu 307, Abstract.
`
`In Chu 307, a microphone converts speech and other acoustic signals in a
`
`room into an electronic microphone signal. The signal from the microphone is split
`
`into distinct frequency bands and the interference signal from the far end is also split
`
`into the same frequency bands as the microphone signal to produce band-limited
`
`
`10
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`
`signals. For each band, a band limited interference signal is submitted to an adaptive
`
`filter that models the response of the channel between the near end loudspeaker and
`
`the near end microphone. The output of each filter is used as the estimated echo
`
`signal to be subtracted from the microphone signal. Chu 307, Col. 4, lines 42-47.
`
`See also, Chu 307, col. 7, lines 7-11.
`
`Nakagawa discloses a subband acoustic echo canceller that divides the
`
`received (target) signal and an echo (interference) signal and separately splits each
`
`signal into a plurality of corresponding subbands. The subband acoustic echo
`
`canceller has plurality of subband echo path estimation parts for estimating the
`
`transfer functions of the subband echo paths from the subband errors signals and
`
`subband received signals by an adaptive algorithm so that the subband error signals
`
`are reduced to zero. Nakagawa, col. 2, lines 32-39, and col. 4, lines 27-32.
`
`Deiseitel provides an overview of algorithms used for echo cancellation.
`
`Deiseitel describes splitting a signal into subbands, thereby enabling sub sampling
`
`the subband signals leading to shorter adaptive echo cancellers. Dreiseitel, section
`
`3.7. Dreiseitel also discloses adaptive beamforming. Dreiseitel, section 5.6.
`
`Chu 1995 describes a beam selection method coupled with echo cancellation.
`
`Chu 1995, section 2 and 4. Chu 1993 discloses sub band echo cancellation without
`
`an intervening whitening filter between the main input and the sub-band beam
`
`splitter. Chu 1993, section 2.1, Figure 1. Griffiths describes beam steering for an
`
`
`11
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`
`array of sensors. Griffiths, page 27, col. 2. Provencher describes an adaptive that
`
`can maximize a desired signal from a given direction. Provencher, col. 1, lines 21-
`
`24. Huang, discloses an adaptive array that can maximize the desired signal in a
`
`given direction by a beam-selection process. Huang, Abstract and Claim 1.
`
`In short, the ’607 Patent claims no inventive matter and discloses no novel
`
`signal processing technology or techniques to echos in a full duplex acoustic
`
`system. Instead, the ’607 Patent merely aggregates matter that was already well-
`
`known to those of skill in the art at the time of the alleged invention. To the extent
`
`that any element can be argued as “novel,” it is a predictable and obvious
`
`application of known techniques disclosed in the closely-related field of signal
`
`processing and noise suppression for precisely the same purposes disclosed in that
`
`art, namely to reduce interference in a digital audio signal. In light of the disclosures
`
`detailed below, the claims of the ‘607 patent are unpatentable because they are
`
`anticipated or rendered obvious by at least eight prior art references.
`
`VII. GROUNDS FOR UNPATENTABILITY OF EACH CLAIM
`
` Ground 1: Claims 1-4 and 25-28 Are Unpatentable Under 35 U.S.C. §
`102(b) As Being Anticipated By Chu 307.
`
`Claims 1-4 and 25-28 are anticipated by Chu 307. Chu 307 describes an echo
`
`cancelling device for reducing feedback between a loudspeaker and microphone in
`
`a full duplex communication system such as a telephone conferencing system.” Chu
`
`307, Abstract. In Chu 307, a microphone converts speech and other acoustic signals
`
`
`12
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`
`in a room into an analog electronic microphone signal. The signal from the
`
`microphone, m(z), is digitized, filtered and split into distinct frequency bands to
`
`produce band-limited signals mn(i). Chu 307, Col. 4, lines 23-26. The interference
`
`signal s(z) from the far end is also digitized, filtered and split into the same
`
`frequency bands as the microphone signal to produce band-limited signals sn(i).
`
`Each signal sn(i) is submitted to an adaptive filter that models the response of the
`
`channel between the near end loudspeaker and the near end microphone. The output
`
`of each filter is used as the estimated echo signal to be subtracted from mn(i) to
`
`produce the a signal for which the interference is suppressed. Chu 307, Col. 4, lines
`
`42-47. See also, col. 7, lines 7-11.
`
`In light of the above, the table below demonstrates how each limitation of
`
`Claims 1-4 and 25-28 of the ‘607 patent is anticipated by Chu 307.
`
`Prior Art: Chu 307
`
`Chu 307: “An echo cancelling device for
`reducing acoustic feedback between a
`loudspeaker and microphone in a full duplex
`communication system such as a telephone
`conferencing system.” Abstract.
`
`See also, Hochwald Decl., ¶ 83.
`
`
`Claims 1-4 and 25-28 of the 607
`Patent
`1. An
`
`interference canceling
`
`apparatus for canceling, from a
`
`target signal generated from a
`
`target source, an
`
`interference
`
`signal
`
`generated
`
`by
`
`an
`
`interference
`
`source,
`
`said
`
`apparatus comprising:
`
`
`13
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`Claims 1-4 and 25-28 of the 607
`Patent
`1a) a main input for inputting said
`
`target signal;
`
`1b) a reference input for inputting
`
`said interference signal;
`
`Prior Art: Chu 307
`
`Chu 307: “a microphone 10 converts speech
`and other acoustic signals in a room into an
`analog electronic microphone signal. The
`electronic signal is applied to input signal
`conditioner 12 which filters the signal with
`a 7 KHz low pass filter and digitizes the
`filtered signal at a 16 KHz sampling rate.”
`“The resultant digitized microphone signal
`m(z) (where z is an integer representing the
`time at which the sample m(z) was taken
`measured in terms of a number of samples at
`the 16 khz sampling rate) is applied to echo
`cancellation system 15 which processes the
`microphone signal to remove any echo
`components, and
`transmits
`the echo
`corrected signal to the far end of the
`communication system” Col. 3, lines 58-63.
`
`The speech and other acoustic signals
`received by the microphone forms the
`target signal.
`
`See also, Hochwald Decl., ¶ 84.
`
`Chu 307: “A digitized electronic speaker
`signal s(z), representing the voice of persons
`at the far end of the communication system,
`is received at the near end of the system.”
`Col. 5, lines 7-9.
`
`The reference signal is s(z), representing
`the voice of persons at the far end.
`
`See also, Hochwald Decl., ¶ 85.
`
`
`
`14
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`Claims 1-4 and 25-28 of the 607
`Patent
`1c) a beam splitter for beam-
`
`splitting said target signal into a
`
`plurality of band-limited target
`
`signals and beam-splitting said
`
`interference signal
`
`into band-
`
`limited
`
`interference
`
`signals,
`
`wherein
`
`the
`
`amount
`
`and
`
`frequency of band-limited target
`
`signals equal the amount and
`
`frequency
`
`of
`
`band-limited
`
`interference signals, whereby;
`
`1d)
`
`an
`
`adaptive
`
`filter
`
`for
`
`adaptively filtering, each band-
`
`limited interference signal from
`
`each corresponding band-limited
`
`target signal.
`
`Prior Art: Chu 307
`
`Chu 307: “The resultant whitened signal
`mw(z) generated by filter 14 is then applied
`to a splitter 16 which separate mw(z) into
`twenty-nine distinct frequency bands.” Col.
`4, lines 23-26.
`“s(z) is passed through a whitening filter 28
`which is similar to or identical to whitening
`filter 14. The whitened loudspeaker signal
`sw(z) is then separated by signal splitter 30
`into its spectral components, represented by
`a ,set of twenty-nine bandpass loudspeaker
`signals sb(i)…” Col. 4, lines 35-41. The
`twenty nine bands are the same for the target
`signal and the interference signal, Col. 6,
`lines 45, 46.
`The whitened signal mw(z) applied to the
`twenty nine distinct frequency bands is the
`target signal beam-split into the plurality of
`band limited target signals. The whitened
`signal sw(z) separated into twenty nine
`bandpass
`loudspeaker signals are
`the
`band-limited “interference”
`(reference)
`signals.
`
`See also, Hochwald Decl., ¶ 86-88.
`
`Chu 307: “each bandpass loudspeaker signal
`sn(i) is then passed through a corresponding
`least-means-squared filter (within the bank
`of echo cancellers 18) which models the
`response
`of
`the
`channel
`between
`loudspeaker 32 and microphone 10 in the
`frequency band n. The output of each filter
`is used as the estimated echo signal to be
`subtracted from mn(i).” Col. 4, lines 42-47.
`See also, col. 7, lines 7-11.
`is an
`filter
`The
`least-means-squared
`adaptive filter that filters each band limited
`
`15
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`Claims 1-4 and 25-28 of the 607
`Patent
`
`2. The apparatus according to
`
`claim 1, wherein said target signal
`
`represents speech generated at a
`
`near end of a teleconference, said
`
`reference signal represents said
`
`target signal broadcast from a far
`
`end of said teleconference and
`
`said interference signal represents
`
`an echo generated by
`
`said
`
`broadcast of said reference signal
`
`of said far end.
`
`3. The apparatus according to
`
`claim 2, wherein said adaptive
`
`filter is an adaptive filter array
`
`with each adaptive filter in said
`
`Prior Art: Chu 307
`
`reference signal from each band limited
`target signal.
`
`See also, Hochwald Decl., ¶ 90.
`
`Chu 307: “An echo cancelling device for
`reducing acoustic feedback between a
`loudspeaker and microphone in a full duplex
`communication system such as a telephone
`conferencing system.” Abstract.
`“A plurality of adaptive echo estimators
`estimate the echo in each frequency band
`defined by the above signal splitters. More
`specifically, each estimator generates an
`echo estimation signal representing an
`approximation of the acoustic feedback of a
`corresponding bandlimited
`loudspeaker
`signal into the microphone.” Abstract.
`Chu solves
`the very same problem
`addressed by the ‘607 patent.
`
`See also, Hochwald Decl., ¶ 92.
`
`
`Chu 307: “To cancel echo, a subtractor
`removes each echo estimation signal from
`the bandlimited microphone signal of the
`same frequency band as the estimation
`signal.” Abstract.
`“each bandpass loudspeaker signal sn(i) is
`then passed through a corresponding least-
`means-squared filter (within the bank of
`echo cancellers 18) which models the
`response
`of
`the
`channel
`between
`loudspeaker 32 and microphone 10 in the
`
`16
`
`IPR2016-00461
`
`
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,049,607
`
`
`
`Claims 1-4 and 25-28 of the 607
`Patent
`array
`
`filtering
`
`a
`
`different
`
`frequency band.
`
`
`
`4. The apparatus according to
`
`claim 2, wherein said adaptive
`
`filter estimates a transfer function
`
`of said reference signal broadcast
`
`of said far end.
`
`25. An
`
`interference canceling
`
`method for canceling, from a
`
`target signal generated from a
`
`target source, an
`
`interference
`
`signal
`
`generated
`
`by
`
`an
`
`interference source, said method
`
`comprising the steps of:
`
`25a) inputting said target signal;
`
`Prior Art: Chu 307
`
`frequency band n.” Col. 4, lines 42-47. See
`also, Col. 7, lines 7-11.
`
`The array of LMS filters is an array of
`adaptive filters forming said adaptive filter.
`
`
`See also, Hochwald Decl., ¶ 93.
`
`Chu 307: “which models the response of the
`channel between
`loudspeaker 32 and
`microphone 10.” Col. 4, lines 42-47.
`
`The LMS filters of Chu model the channel
`between
`the
`loudspeaker
`and
`the
`microphone.
`
`See also, Hochwald Decl., ¶ 94.
`
`Chu 307: “An echo cancelling device for
`reducing acoustic feedback between a
`loudspeaker and microphone in a full duplex
`communication system suc