throbber

`
`
`
`
`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`____________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`____________
`
`APPLE, INC.,
`Petitioners,
`
`v.
`
`IMMERSION CORPORATION,
`Patent Owner.
`_____________
`
`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`____________
`
`Record of Oral Hearing
`Held: January 10, 2018
`____________
`
`
`
`
`Before BRYAN F. MOORE, PATRICK R. SCANLON, and MINN
`CHUNG, Administrative Patent Judges.
`
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`
`
`APPEARANCES:
`
`ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER:
`
`
`BRIAN K. ERICKSON, ESQUIRE
`JAMES M. HEINTZ, ESQUIRE
`DLA Piper, LLP
`401 Congress Avenue
`Suit 2500
`Austin, TX 78701
`
`
`
`ON BEHALF OF THE PATENT OWNER:
`
`
`RICHARD M. BIRNHOLZ, ESQUIRE
`BABAK REDJAIAN, ESQUIRE
`MICHAEL R. FLEMING, ESQUIRE
`Irell & Manella LLP
`1800 Avenue of the Stars
`Suite 900
`Los Angeles, CA 90067
`
`
`
`
`
`The above-entitled matter came on for hearing on Wednesday,
`January 10, 2018, at 1 p.m., at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office,
`Madison Building East, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia, before
`Chris Hofer, Notary Public.
`
`
`
`
`
`2
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`
`P R O C E E D I N G S
`- - - - -
`JUDGE SCANLON: Good afternoon. This is the hearing for
`IPR2016-01884 pertaining to patent No. 7,336,260 B2. I’m Judge Scanlon
`in our Detroit office and with me today on the panel are Judge Moore and
`Judge Chung who is participating remotely via audio. Let’s start with
`appearances. Who is here for Petitioner, please?
`MR. ERICKSON: Your Honor, Brian Erickson and Jim Heintz with
`DLA Piper for Petitioner, Apple.
`JUDGE SCANLON: Thank you. And for Patent Owner?
`MR. FLEMING: Mike Fleming from Irell & Manella representing
`Immersion Corporation. I also have slides to present. May I approach the
`bench and present them to Judge Moore?
`JUDGE SCANLON: Yes. All right, thank you. As set forth in the
`Trial Hearing Order, each party will have 30 minutes to present arguments.
`Petitioner will present its case first and may reserve time for rebuttal. Patent
`Owner will then present its case and then Petitioner may use any remaining
`time for rebuttal. I ask each presenter to be sure to speak into the
`microphone so that we will be able to hear you clearly. I also ask presenters
`to identify by slide number any demonstrative you’re referring to and that
`would be very helpful. So counsel for Petitioner, would you like to reserve
`any time for rebuttal?
`MR. ERICKSON: Yes, Your Honor. We would like to reserve
`approximately half our time for rebuttal.
`JUDGE SCANLON: All right. Very good. You may proceed when
`you’re ready.
`
`3
`
`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
`
`
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`
`MR. ERICKSON: May it please the Board, Brian Erickson with DLA
`Piper on behalf of Petitioner, Apple. Also with me is Jim Heintz from DLA
`Piper and from Apple joining us today is in-house counsel Kim Moore.
`On slide 2, the Board instituted IPR on the ’260 patent on two
`grounds. First, the challenged claims are unpatentable as obvious over
`Komata, and second that the claims are unpatentable as obvious over JP725
`which is also known as the Tsuji reference.
`Slide 3. There are three topics at issue here. First, there’s a claim
`construction issue, specifically that none of the claims are limited to a single
`contact or single interaction as the Board correctly found in its preliminary
`claim construction. Second, when you turn to obviousness, it’s undisputed
`that if the Board maintains its preliminary claim construction all challenged
`claims are obvious under both grounds, and finally to the extent the Board
`revisits its construction and incorporates some aspect the Patent Owner’s
`construction, the claims are still made obvious by each of Komata and Tsuji.
`Starting with claim construction, moving to slide 5, the Board
`correctly held in its preliminary construction that the challenged claims do
`not require detecting the claimed three pressures during a single touch
`interaction. Now that’s a preliminary construction, but moving to slide 6 we
`note that in this particular IPR the Board ordered additional briefing on this
`specific issue so that it could fully address the issue. So the Board has
`already considered multiple pages from the Patent Owner’s preliminary
`response, Petitioner’s reply of seven pages, and Patent Owner’s surreply of
`additional seven pages. So the Board has had substantial briefing on this
`already that went into its preliminary construction. Essentially there’s
`
`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
`
`
`
`4
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`nothing new that came up at trial and Patent Owner’s response or otherwise
`that would justify the Board revisiting its preliminary construction.
`Moving to slide 7, we’re in a bit of an unusual position with this claim
`construction issue. Patent Owner is relying on the structure of the claims.
`Usually at this point we would identify claim limitation and propose
`competing constructions. We can’t really do that here because the Patent
`Owner is relying on “the structure of the claims” and has provided in
`different times in different places either the summary or the gist of this
`concept, but hasn’t really proposed a formal construction.
`Moving to slide 8. We’ll very briefly step through the typical claim
`construction approach of looking at the claims, the specification and the file
`history. None of those support reading in a single contact requirement.
`Slide 9. As the Board noted in its Institution decision, a claim
`construction analysis must begin and remain center on the claim language
`itself. Slide 10 shows challenged claims 1 and 2. As the Board is aware,
`claim 1 the preamble to the Boregard (phonetic) claim, “a computer-readable
`medium having instructions that cause a processor to” and then it recites
`several functions. The functions are detect a first pressure, provide a first
`tactile sensation and then that’s repeated for second and third pressures and
`sensations, the fourth being added by dependent claim 2.
`Slide 11. There is a claimed relationship between these detections.
`It’s mathematical. The claim recites that each of the successfully claimed
`pressures are greater than the previously claimed pressure. That’s a simple
`mathematical relationship. The Board correctly held, moving to slide 12,
`that there’s no temporal or other relationship in the claim. There’s no
`requirement that it be -- detection to the pressures must occur at the same
`5
`
`
`
`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
`26
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`time continuously or as part of a single touch interaction. There’s simply
`nothing in the claims in that regard.
`Patent Owner, in its response, attacked the Board’s holding and it
`claims that it’s an unreasonably broad construction, that it would encompass
`one or more multiple contacts. That’s an improper attack. The Board
`properly applied the claimed mathematical relationship and showed how
`they were taught by the references. Patent Owner also argues that the Board
`has somehow read out or made the claimed mathematical relationship
`superfluous. There’s no merit to Patent Owner’s attack. Claim 1 excludes
`devices that only detect two pressures. In fact that’s exactly what happened
`in the file history, as we’ll see in a moment. Patent Owner does mention
`dependent claims 5 and 7. Those are inapposite to this issue. They point out
`that claims 5 and 7 are discussing a second input device and that the
`pressures detected on that input device have a claimed mathematical
`relationship with each other. That’s all well and good. It doesn’t have
`anything to do with whether either one of the dependent claims or the
`challenged claims must detect the pressures during a single contact or single
`interaction.
`Moving to slide 15. In the specification there’s no assertion that
`there’s any lexicography, there’s no express definition, there’s no assertion
`that there’s any express disclaimer or words of manifest exclusion. In fact,
`this single interaction contact requirement is not even expressly discussed so
`it’s not used to distinguish in the art or any other basis that could be used to
`properly read in a limitation from the specification.
`Slide 16. The Patent Owner really just discusses various disclosed
`embodiments and cherry picks certain features from those embodiments.
`6
`
`
`
`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
`26
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`You’ll hear a lot of discussion today about figure 4. You’ll notice that figure
`4 has a sequential application of pressure and that the pressures are detected
`in order, 1, 2, 3, 4. Patent Owner does not read in that aspect of the
`embodiment, Patent Owner only reads in that it happens during a single
`contact. Patent Owner is cherry picking that portion of this embodiment. As
`we pointed out in our reply in the ITC action, Patent Owner has relied on its
`infringement contentions that these can occur out of order so it’s inconsistent
`for the Patent Owner to delve into the specification. It’s improper under any
`circumstances to read in the limitation but here they’re cherry picking an
`aspect of the preferred embodiment rather than taking it as a whole.
`Slide 17. The Board correctly held that it’s improper to read a
`disclosure into the claims. There’s a wealth of case law authority cited there
`on slide 17 and the briefs. Indeed, in slide 18 we discuss in the briefing how
`it’s in fact inconsistent with some embodiments, for example, the sampling
`press embodiments, to read in this requirement. In the sampling press
`embodiment the device will sample the -- whatever the pressure is at the
`relevant time and in the example given there’s no discussion in the patent
`about how fast the sampling interval is, there’s no discussion in the patent
`about how fast the user is bearing the pressure, but the example given in the
`patent, whatever the sampling rate is, it missed at least pressure 2 and
`providing sensation 14. So we know that things can happen between these
`sampling rates, whether it breaks contact or not is simply not known. Now a
`user could of course slowly applied pressure and whatever the sampling rate
`is perhaps they will catch the reapplied pressure, but that’s happenstance.
`That’s not a basis to read in, and it’s inconsistent to then read in a
`requirement there’s some obvious single contact.
`7
`
`
`
`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
`26
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`
`JUDGE SCANLON: Excuse me, counsel.
`MR. ERICKSON: Yes, Your Honor.
`JUDGE SCANLON: So you’re saying about slowly, is it your
`position if a user of the device pressed the button with a great force and
`reached maximum point quickly, the different vibrations or outputs would
`not be felt by the user?
`MR. ERICKSON: Yes, Your Honor. That’s precisely what’s taught
`in the sampling press embodiment where you have a first pass and you catch
`pressure one and a second pass and you catch pressure three. It’s not clear
`how many other things may have happened during that application but going
`back to slide 16 and showing figure 4 embodiment, you would have to pass
`through pressure two to get to pressure three, so you missed at least pressure
`two.
`
`JUDGE SCANLON: But when you pass through you don’t get the
`signal --
`MR. ERICKSON: That’s correct.
`JUDGE SCANLON: -- that correlates to pressure two, you’re saying?
`MR. ERICKSON: That’s correct, Your Honor. The single contact
`limitation is kind of manufactured out of whole cloth by the Plaintiff.
`There’s no discussion someone jammed on the button in figure 4 and
`immediately as fast as they could jammed all the way down to position five.
`There’s no discussion of how the device would react. When it started to spin
`up the rotating eccentric mass to create a vibration and provide feedback,
`you know, that’s going to take some time and say the vibration is a tenth of a
`second or whatever the vibration is to communicate back to the user, it
`might start doing that as it detects the first pressure but by the time the user
`8
`
`
`
`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
`26
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`immediately slams down the position five, does it queue two, three, four and
`provide those later? Does it override vibration one and realize oh, I’m at
`vibration five, I’m going to stop playing vibration one and play vibration
`five? There’s no discussion of this in the specification. There’s the single
`contact concept is just not discussed.
`JUDGE SCANLON: Thank you.
`MR. ERICKSON: Finally, the file history, and this really undercuts
`all of Plaintiff’s arguments, Petitioner pointed out in their reply that the file
`history gives a concrete example of how these claims have meaning with
`this mathematical relationship. The prior art was capable of detecting two
`different pressures, light and strong. As a result, the Patent Owner cancelled
`claim 1 that only required the detection of two pressures and rolled those
`limitations into pending dependent claim 2 which then issued as claim 1 to
`require the detection of a third pressure. There’s no discussion of whether
`there was a single contact or not. It was just being able to detect three
`distinct pressures and provide three different haptic effects.
`So all of Patent Owner’s arguments that somehow the Board is
`reading out this mathematical relationship are completely undercut by the
`file history itself. Now we notice that the Patent Owner originally brought
`up the file history in its preliminary response. Petitioner pointed out it was
`wrong. The Board sided with Petitioner. Patent Owner dropped this
`argument by not including it in its response, so they waived any argument
`here. It’s uncontested in this record that the file history supports Petitioner’s
`construction.
`Moving on to the obviousness question, again it’s undisputed that the
`Board maintains its preliminary proposed constructions that the claims are
`9
`
`
`
`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
`26
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`obvious under both grounds one and two. I’ll touch briefly on the Komata
`reference. To the extent the Board does incorporate some aspect of single
`interaction, Komata certainly still discloses that. If we go to slide 24. Slide
`24 shows figure 3 in Komata and discusses the cited evidence there. The
`Komata begins a round by detecting pressure applied by one of the players.
`Patent Owner even cites to that and agrees that each round begins when one
`of the players has pressed a button. That’s cited there from Patent Owner’s
`response on slide 24. But the Patent Owner goes back on that. The Patent
`Owner says no, it’s not just one, there’s some mechanism to enforce that if
`that one was the same player whose pressure started the round before it
`won’t count and this is what they call their turned based programming.
`There’s absolutely no support for this in Komata. There’s no way that
`Komata could be programmed to support a turn based system.
`As we show on slide 26, first of all it’s legally improper. The
`reference as prior art for all it teaches, regardless of whether Patent Owner
`thinks it would be improved by reprogramming to to have a turn based
`system, but more importantly it’s technically impossible. There’s a gap on
`the buttons in Komata that prevent the software from ever knowing -- the
`hardware can’t tell the software whether the user has broken contact with the
`button, and remember this is a turn based reaction time game. This is a
`reaction time game. There’s no turn based disclosure in Komata. But even if
`there were under Patent Owner’s turn based reprogramming, if the game
`were five minutes long the users would want to keep their fingers on the
`button the whole time because if they wanted to attack, they’d want to attack
`as soon as possible and if they were planning on defending, they’d want to
`be able to respond as quickly as possible. So you would keep your fingers in
`10
`
`
`
`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
`26
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`contact with the buttons for five minutes if the game’s five minutes long and
`every one of the detected pressures would be during a single contact, and
`there’s no way to reprogram Komata to force the user to break contact with
`the button between rounds because the hardware can’t tell whether the user
`has broken contact with the button so it can’t even report that to the software
`to begin with.
`I’ll reserve the rest of my time. Thank you, Your Honor.
`JUDGE SCANLON: Thank you. You have 17 minutes left.
`MR. FLEMING: Your Honor, before we begin I’d like to introduce
`my colleagues. I’d like to introduce Richard Birnholz and Bab Redjaian,
`and Richard and Bab will both be presenting.
`MR. BIRNHOLZ: Good afternoon, Your Honor. Richard Birnholz
`of Irell & Manella for Patent Owner.
`JUDGE SCANLON: Good afternoon.
`MR. BIRNHOLZ: Jane (phonetic) if we could pull up slide 8, please.
`So as Petitioner previewed there’s an important issue of claim construction
`here and regarding the structure of the claims and whether they require a
`single contact in detecting multiple pressures as the user varies pressure
`applied to the input device, and it’s Patent Owner’s position that the
`Institution decision that rejected that view was incorrect and that we would
`urge the Board to reconsider that preliminary view in light of the structure of
`the claims, the specification, and the discussion that we have here today.
`The claims as you can see recite a specific relationship between three
`detected pressures. The second and third pressure must be successively
`greater than the previous pressure and this is for a reason. The claims are set
`out like this for a reason, as Professor Meldal, Immersion’s expert explained
`11
`
`
`
`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
`26
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`in his declaration. Individuals are notoriously bad at sensing the degree of
`pressure that they apply to an input device, that individuals cannot
`consistently or reliably assess how much pressure they’re applying. The
`feedback that is provided as a user varies pressure on the device is important
`to improve the functioning of the device and as the device detects a first
`pressure, it provides a first tactile sensation. It detects a second pressure
`which is greater than the first pressure and provides a second tactile
`sensation, and then detecting a third pressure which is greater than the
`second pressure and providing a third sensation.
`The next slide, slide 9. Claim 2 adds detecting a fourth pressure with
`the fourth pressure greater than the third pressure and slide 10, please.
`Professor Meldal has explained that how a person of ordinary skill in the art
`would read this claim in light of the specification that the relationship
`between the detected pressures would occur during a contact with the input
`device. Now Professor Meldal’s declaration was not something that was
`before the Board when it issued its initial decision and we would urge the
`Board to consider this expert testimony in deciding this important issue.
`I’d also like to direct the board to a case that came out after our appeal
`was filed from September of 2017, Federal Circuit case In re Smith
`International. The citation is 871 F.3rd 1375 and the pin cite is at 1382 at
`83, and it’s an important case because in this case the Federal Circuit
`addressed the Board’s construction of a term as to whether it was
`unreasonably broad and the Board, on appeal, argued that there was no
`lexicography, there was no definition, there was a lack of established
`meaning, that a certain construction was reading in limitations from the
`specification, and the case rejected those arguments that even though there
`12
`
`
`
`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
`26
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`was no lexicography and even though there was no established meaning that
`it was important to look at whether and how the specification prescribed the
`meaning of the claim and whether that supported the Board’s construction.
`The Federal Circuit said the correct inquiry in giving a claim its broadest
`reasonable interpretation in light of the specification is not whether the
`specification prescribes or precludes some broad reading of the claim term
`adopted by the examiner, it is an interpretation that corresponds with what
`and how the inventor describes his invention in the specification, and the
`Federal Circuit actually reversed the construction in that case.
`So I’d urge the Board to look at that particular case in assessing the
`claim construction issue here because what we have here is not a situation
`when limitations are being read in from the specification, we’re
`understanding what the structure of the claims is in light of how they would
`be read and then construed by a person of ordinary skill in the art, and if you
`look at -- slide 11, please. Now figure 4 is one embodiment of the invention
`in a mechanical setting where there’s a series of keys that pass sequentially
`through second, third, fourth and fifth positions as greater and greater
`pressure is applied to the input device, and the specification explains how a
`tactile sensation is provided when the user passes through those particular
`levels. Now, slide 12 please.
`JUDGE SCANLON: Excuse me, counsel.
`MR. BIRNHOLZ: Yes.
`JUDGE SCANLON: If I could interrupt you momentarily. Could
`you speak to the conversation I had with Petitioner’s counsel regarding what
`happens if the user pushes the button initially with great force and causes it
`to rapidly go to the fifth position? Do you have any thoughts on how the
`13
`
`
`
`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
`26
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`device responds to that as far as the different signals that would be created as
`it goes through each of the positions?
`MR. BIRNHOLZ: So I think it’s going to depend on the particulars
`of the device in terms of whether it would meet the limitations of the claim
`in that instance where the claim requires detecting a first, second and third
`pressure providing corresponding sensations. So, if in the instance that the
`device did not detect the three pressures and provide the three sensations,
`then that would be outside the scope of that particular claim, but if in that
`particular instance if the user pressed slowly such that the device was
`configured to provide the sequential sensations as the user applied and
`varied the pressure, then it would be within the scope of the claim. So there
`might be corner cases in terms of how fast a device can respond, but the
`claim requires detecting a first, second and third pressure and providing
`those corresponding sensations as the user varies pressure on the device and
`if the device is configured to do that, then it would be within the scope of the
`claim and if it is not configured to do that and will never do that, then it is
`outside the scope of the claim and that’s an important point when we talk
`about the Tsuji reference and the Komata reference which are not at all
`configured to provide multiple sensations as the user varies pressure on the
`device. They are consistently configured to provide one sensation based on
`one pressure that is detected, and these claims are not fairly read as detecting
`one pressure and providing a sensation and doing that separate act in
`unrelated circumstances three times which is how the claim would be
`deconstructed and read under the Petitioner’s view and the Board’s initial
`view, that -- the claim does not read on detecting a first pressure and
`providing a first sensation one time and then doing that separate three times
`14
`
`
`
`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
`26
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`which is how the claim is ultimately being read. If a device is capable of
`detecting three different pressures separately and providing three separate
`sensations, separate and apart from each other, if that’s what the claim
`covers and then that’s not what the claim covers and that’s not how it’s
`described in the specification. Can I –
`JUDGE SCANLON: I don’t mean to throw you off here --
`MR. BIRNHOLZ: Not at all.
`JUDGE SCANLON: -- in your planned presentation, but you
`mentioned Komata. If we could look at figures 8A through 8C of Komata
`and maybe compare that to figure 4 of the patent. My reading of Komata, it
`would be very similar if the user pressed the button slowly, the structure of
`that button in Komata would go through different pressure readings
`sequentially from just barely touching. It has the conducting member 50 and
`resister 40 and the amount of contact between those two elements varies the
`resistance and, as I understand Komata, creates different signals. So how is
`that really different -- I would look at that similarly in the sense if somebody
`pushed it very hard it would go to the maximum deformation or amount of
`contact, but if it was done slowly as you were suggesting with figure 4, it
`seems to me it would also have a series of pressure levels. Do you agree
`with that?
`MR. BIRNHOLZ: So I’m happy to address that, Your Honor. If you
`look at figures 8A, 8B and 8C there’s no question that Komata is capable of
`producing different resistance values, but when you look at the disclosure of
`Komata what it does is it takes one of those values and provides a
`corresponding sensation. There is no disclosure in Komata that you actually
`continuously measure the resistance and provide a different pressure value
`15
`
`
`
`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
`26
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`and a different drive signal. There’s no disclosure in Komata that teaches
`providing multiple sensations as the user varies pressure on that button.
`There’s a pressure applied to the button, a value is received, and a drive
`signal is applied and when you look at the disclosure of Komata, it’s actually
`applied to the other user’s controller and in the context of this head to head
`timing game, and there’s no teaching --
`JUDGE SCANLON: So Komata can produce different signals but not
`in a single contact?
`MR. BIRNHOLZ: Correct.
`JUDGE SCANLON: Or else it doesn’t disclose doing that in a single
`interaction.
`MR. BIRNHOLZ: That’s absolutely correct, Your Honor. It does not
`disclose that at all. We don’t dispute that there are different pressure sensed
`values that can be generated by Komata’s system. It is a pressure sensitive
`button. But it produces one value and one drive signal that’s applied in the
`context of its game to the other user’s controller and then that process
`restarts actually after the other controller pushes their button and sends a
`vibration back to the first player, and that’s the context in which Komata is
`describing its system. So there’s no multiple sensations based multiple
`pressure levels. It’s a different architecture.
`The claims of the ’260 patent don’t read on just providing a one
`pressure and one sensation and doing that three times in separate unrelated
`events. That’s not what the claim is directed to, and if you look at slide 12
`which talks about in the context of the touch screen and soft key
`embodiment where it also describes how a first sensation is applied when the
`soft key 36A is in the second position. The second position is meaning it’s
`16
`
`
`
`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
`26
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`not in a rest position, and then it says the controller would then cause the
`actuator to provide a second tactile sensation upon receipt of the input signal
`associated with the third position meaning you pushed it further, and the
`point here is that you are providing successive sensations to alert the user
`that they’ve actually proceeded through different levels because, as
`Professor Meldal explained, we’re not good at judging how hard we’re
`pressing on something. If I said I need you to press on a button at a certain
`level, maybe you could get it right but most likely you wouldn’t and the
`feedback greatly enhances the functionality of the device.
`Now, slide 13. This concept is a not a particular discreet embodiment,
`it’s the essence of the invention is how to make these devices better and to
`integrate haptics. In column 6 it talks about how when pressure is applied,
`when greater is applied, when still greater pressure is applied and when even
`greater pressure is applied and how the device will transmit the appropriate
`signals to the controller, and the structure of the claims reflects this
`arrangement.
`Can we look at slide 14, please where we have highlighted dependent
`claims 5 and 7 which talk about the specifics of a relationship between the
`detected pressures. It’s not just mathematical, it’s that they occur within the
`context of a contact with the device. Claim 5 talks about detecting a fourth
`pressure on a second input device, so now we’re talking about a separate
`contact on a second input device, and it’s another pressure. There’s no
`comparison to other detected pressures for this particular fourth pressure, but
`then you look at claim 7 which is a fifth pressure greater than the fourth
`pressure. So now there’s a two pressure single interaction concept on the
`second input device. That’s what claims 5 and 7 are directed to. Claims 1
`17
`
`
`
`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
`26
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`and 2 talk about a varying pressure on a first input device and providing
`multiple sensations as the user varies the pressure and claims 5 and 7 talk
`about that similar arrangement on a second input device.
`It would make no sense to have all this language if the claims merely
`read on detecting a first pressure and providing a first tactile sensation in
`doing that three times. The claims are architected in a way to describe the
`invention that the inventor described which is providing multiple sensations
`as the user varies pressure on the device. It’s an extremely important point
`and I think when you look at the Smith case you’ll see that this is not an
`issue of reading disclosure into the claims, this is understanding how the
`inventor described the invention in solving the particular problem that he
`was trying to solve. I’ll also refer the Board to column 9, lines 48 to 51
`which explains how a haptic effect is provided whenever -- he uses the word
`whenever -- the user moves from the second to the third level.
`Now slide 15, please. Just as a point of reference, and it’s obviously
`not binding in any way on the Board but it’s a point of reference that the
`chief ALJ at the ITC when looking at these claims acknowledged that how
`the patent resolves the issue of solving this problem by detecting at lease
`three different levels of pressure during a single interaction and providing
`haptic feedback based thereon. Now I’m pointing that out for the Board’s
`reference.
`Slide 16, please. You heard some reference in Petitioner’s opening
`remarks about a sampling pass embodiment and how that somehow means
`that the Patent Owner’s read is not well taken. If you look at the record on
`this sampling pass embodiment, the arguments are really unsupported. What
`you have is Dr. Sarrafzadeh, the expert for Petitioner, who acknowledges
`18
`
`
`
`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
`26
`
`

`

`Case IPR2016-01884
`Patent 7,336,260 B2
`
`that processors performed operations at millions of operation

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