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`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`____________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`____________
`
`CISCO SYSTEMS, INC. AND OCLARO, INC. and
`NOKIA OF AMERICA CORPORATION,
`Petitioners,
`
`v.
`
`OYSTER OPTICS, LLC,
`Patent Owner.
`____________
`
`Cases IPR2017-02189 and IPR2017-02190
`Patent 6,476,952
`____________
`
`Record of Oral Hearing
`Held: December 21, 2018
`____________
`
`
`
`
`Before Patrick M. Boucher, Jessica C. Kaiser, and John R. Kenny,
`Administrative Patent Judges.
`
`
`
`
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`Cases IPR2017-02189 and IPR2017-02190
`Patent 6,476,952
`
`
`
`APPEARANCES:
`
`ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER, CISCO SYSTEMS:
`
`
`BRIAN OAKS, ESQUIRE
`AASHISH KAPADIA, ESQUIRE
`Baker Botts LLP
`98 San Jacinto Blvd, Suite 1500
`Austin, TX 78701
`Tel: 512-322-5470 OAKS
`Tel: 512-322-2554 KAPADIA
`
`DARREN DONNELLY, ESQUIRE
`Polsinelli LLP
`1661 Page Mill Road, Suite A
`Palo Alto, CA. 94304
`Tel: 650-461-7735
`
`
`ON BEHALF OF THE PATENT OWNER, OYSTER OPTICS:
`
`
`WAYNE M. HELGE, ESQUIRE
`JAMES T. WILSON, ESQUIRE
`Davidson Berquist Jackson & Gowdey L.L.P.
`8300 Greensboro Drive, Suite 500
`McLean, VA 22102
`Tel: 571-765-7700 HELGE
`Tel: 571-765-7700 WILSON
`
`
`
`
`The above-entitled matter came on for hearing on Friday, December
`
`21, 2018, commencing at 12:30 p.m., at the U.S. Patent and Trademark
`Office, 207 S. Houston Street, Dallas, Texas 75202.
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`Patent 6,476,952
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`
`P R O C E E D I N G S
`- - - - -
` JUDGE KAISER: Good afternoon, everyone. Please be
`seated.
` Just make sure that Judge Kenny and Judge Boucher can
`hear.
` JUDGE BOUCHER: I can.
` JUDGE KENNY: I can hear you also.
` JUDGE KAISER: Okay. Great. Are we on the record?
` REPORTER: Yes.
` JUDGE KAISER: Okay. Very good.
` Good afternoon. So this is the oral hearing for
`IPR2017-02189 and IPR2017-02190. These cases have also been
`joined with IPR2018-00984 and IPR2018-00988.
` I'm Judge Jessica Kaiser. With us remotely are Judge
`John Kenny and Judge Patrick Boucher. Because they're
`participating remotely, as you know, please make sure that you
`identify the exhibit numbers or the demonstratives by number so
`that they can follow along.
` Each side has 60 minutes to present their arguments, and
`Petitioner will go first, followed by Patent Owner, and Petitioner
`can reserve rebuttal time. And I'll be keeping the time and give
`you warnings. If you have questions about where you are, just let
`me know.
` So, at this time, I'll have counsel introduce
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`themselves, beginning with Petitioner.
` MR. OAKS: Good afternoon, Your Honors. My name is
`Brian Oaks. I'm lead counsel for Petitioners, Cisco and Oclaro.
`With me is backup counsel, Darren Donnelly. And also representing
`Petitioners is Anshish Kapadia in the back of the room.
` JUDGE KAISER: Okay. And Mr. Oaks, will you be
`presenting the argument today?
` MR. OAKS: I will, Your Honor.
` JUDGE KAISER: Thank you.
` And for Patent Owner?
` JUDGE BOUCHER: I actually couldn't hear Mr. Oaks very
`clearly. Can you check to make sure the microphone by the lectern
`is actually on?
` MR. OAKS: Okay. Let's try that again.
` JUDGE BOUCHER: Yes, that's much better. Okay.
` JUDGE KAISER: Mr. Oaks, I think, because you're taller,
`sometimes you might have to hold it up -- pull it up a little bit.
` MR. OAKS: Okay. I think I had it turned off.
` JUDGE KAISER: Okay. Great. Thank you.
` MR. HELGE: Good afternoon, Your Honor. My name is
`Wayne Helge here for the Patent Owner, Oyster Optics. And with me
`is Mr. James Wilson. And today, Mr. Wilson will be presenting for
`the Patent Owner.
` JUDGE KAISER: Very good. Thank you.
` MR. HELGE: Thank you, Your Honor.
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` JUDGE KAISER: Mr. Oaks, would you like to reserve time
`for rebuttal?
` MR. OAKS: Yes, Your Honor. I would like to reserve
`10 minutes.
` JUDGE KAISER: 10 minutes? Very good.
` Okay. You can proceed when you're ready.
` MR. OAKS: All right. Good afternoon, Your Honors. May
`it please the board. So the functionality that we're talking
`about here today in the two IPRs -- 2189 and 2190 -- relates to a
`modulation system that modulates data according to a technique
`that's known in the industry as Differential Phase Shift Keying,
`or DPSK. In the claims, the Patent Owner doesn't actually talk
`about that, but I believe it's undisputed that's sort of what's
`going on.
` And in addition to that DPSK transmitter and receiver,
`the transmitter also has, at the very end of claim 1, a
`digital-to-analog converter that is used to alter the phase of the
`phase modulator.
` Now, DPSK systems were well-known in the art, and that's
`shown in both Bauch and Kaneda. In addition, modulator control
`using a DAC was also known in the art, and that's shown in
`Schneider. So those references form the basis for the grounds for
`these two different IPR petitions.
` JUDGE BOUCHER: I actually have a very high-level
`question, because I just wondered if you could kind of address, if
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`Mach-Zehnder Modulators were known to be used for intensity
`modulation and for phase modulation, why choose Schneider as a
`reference? Everybody seems to agree that it's focused exclusively
`on intensity modulation and not phase modulation. So doesn't it
`introduce an additional complication to your argument? And
`wouldn't -- was there no reference that you could rely on, though,
`to show phase modulation?
` MR. OAKS: Well, I mean, what Schneider is used for and
`why it's a good reference in our argument is that it has all the
`details of the control system. It shows the micro controller with
`the DACs that are controlling the modulator. And as I'll talk
`about that, Mach-Zehnder Modulator is well-known to be used for
`either intensity or phase modulation.
` So we believe it's no great leap to use a Mach-Zehnder
`Modulator for phase modulation because that is how a person of
`ordinary skill in the art would know that it's used.
` JUDGE BOUCHER: Okay. So those other aspects of
`Schneider, I guess, support your argument that one of skill
`in the art would have been motivated to make the combination?
` MR. OAKS: Yes, Your Honor. And, you know, there's also
`dependent claims and including claims about rotating phase, and
`that's also led to reasons for using Schneider as opposed to some
`of the other prior art that you mentioned.
` JUDGE BOUCHER: Okay. Thank you.
` MR. OAKS: So as the board knows, in the institution
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`decision, as the board preliminarily found, that the petitions has
`shown an unpatentability of all the challenged claims except for
`one dependent claim in the 2189 petition, and that's the Kaneda
`petition that was claim 4. And we can talk about that.
` And importantly, the Patent Owner doesn't dispute that
`Schneider shows a DAC that is used to control a modulator. What
`the dispute revolves around is what, Judge Boucher, you were
`mentioning is whether you can use that control system shown in
`Schneider to control a phase modulator -- a Mach-Zehnder Modulator
`being used as a phase modulator, and that's really the crux of the
`dispute in these matters.
` JUDGE KAISER: So, Mr. Oaks, I have some questions
`around how you're putting the combination together --
` MR. OAKS: Okay.
` JUDGE KAISER: -- because there seems to be a lot of
`focus on Schneider's control algorithm. But my understanding in
`the petition for the DAC, or D-A-C, limitation is that really what
`you're relying on is the DAC for -- that has the bias output for
`that limitation; is that right?
` MR. OAKS: That's correct.
` JUDGE KAISER: Okay. And so how does the control
`algorithm or how is Schneider's specific control algorithm
`necessary to the combination for claim 1?
` MR. OAKS: Okay. So if we look at claim 1 -- and I'm on
`slide 3 of the presentation slides, which are the last paper filed
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`in each IPR. And so that claim limitation, claim 1, is the
`control circuit, including a digital-to-analog converter, having
`an output for altering the phase of the phase modulator.
` So as an initial matter, all the other limitations of
`this claim are shown in Bauch and Kaneda and, for the most part, I
`believe that's undisputed. That's the sort of just generic DPSK
`functionality. And so we're using Schneider, as I mentioned,
`because it shows a DAC that is being used to control a phase
`modulator.
` I'll go to -- or if you go to our slide 9, that's an
`annotated figure from the petition that shows the combination, and
`this particular figure is from Bauch but Kaneda also is modified
`similarly.
` And if you look at Figure 2 of Schneider, you'll see
`that it has the micro controller, 50, there to the left of
`Figure 2 that's running the control algorithm, and then that micro
`controller, based on the findings of the control algorithm will
`output values to the DACs, which modify -- they modify the
`Mach-Zehnder Modulator both for gain and for bias.
` And so that's -- I mean, you ask about how we use the
`DAC. That DAC is what is outputting a signal to the modulator,
`which is a voltage, that changes the way that the Mach-Zehnder
`Modulator operates, and the way it changes it alters the phase of
`the Mach-Zehnder Modulator.
` JUDGE KAISER: Right. And so the control algorithm sort
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`of tells it what value to output; right? What value for the DAC
`to output, and then it's the actual output of the DAC that alters
`the phase -- for the phase modulator.
` MR. OAKS: Right. The micro controller based on what
`the control algorithm discovers, the shape of the transfer
`function, and the micro controller outputs a value to the DAC.
`And then that's converted to an analog voltage that's supplied to
`the electrode of the modulator.
` JUDGE KAISER: And so if you go back to the claim
`language, claim 1, which, I think, was on your slide 3, where it
`talks about the DAC having an output for altering the phase of the
`phase modulator, do you interpret that as requiring that it have
`the capability to do that or that it's actually doing that?
` MR. OAKS: That it has an output or that it alters --
` JUDGE KAISER: That the output has the capability of
`altering the phase in the phase modulator. Or does it actually
`have to have that purpose?
` MR. OAKS: Well, it is sort of an intended use
`statement, but we have treated it as -- we have shown in our
`combination how that DAC does output a signal that would alter the
`phase modulator.
` JUDGE KAISER: And so in the DAC that's in Schneider --
`I guess maybe just a broader question. When a DAC, say, for bias,
`is outputting a voltage with the bias to the phase modulator,
`isn't it necessarily altering the phase just by virtue of doing
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`that?
` MR. OAKS: Yes.
` JUDGE KAISER: Okay.
` MR. OAKS: I mean, we have shown how it alters the phase
`of the Mach-Zehnder Modulator when it's being used to modulate
`phase, but as we'll talk about with the transfer function, when
`you change -- when you change the voltage applied to the
`Mach-Zehnder Modulator, it's changing the phase of the signal,
`even if you're intentionally modulating the signal. But we're
`showing it -- our combination shows how you can use that
`Mach-Zehnder Modulator specifically for a phase modulation so that
`it's a phase modulator as recited in the claims.
` JUDGE BOUCHER: And with respect to that, what specific
`changes -- I don’t have a good idea of what changes need
`to be made to the control algorithm in Schneider for it to operate
`as a phase modulator. I mean, I recall -- I think it was -- I
`think that Patent Owner kind of focused on some testimony by your
`expert in which Dr. Blumenthal said that it wasn't his job to do
`an invention, and I read your redirect examination with respect to
`that. But it sounded from that testimony that some significant --
`potentially significant modifications would need to be made to the
`control algorithm in Schneider for it to operate as a phase
`modulator instead of an intensity modulator.
` And can you give some sense of what modifications need
`to be made?
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` MR. OAKS: So our position is that they are not
`significant modifications; that what Dr. Blumenthal testified
`about is, when you run the control algorithm of Schneider, you are
`going to determine the necessary points on the transfer function
`so that you can determine the whole transfer function. So
`Schneider -- let me go to slide 20.
` So Schneider's control algorithm provides all the
`information needed to characterize the transfer function. And I
`have some slides on the transfer function, but if everybody
`understands how that works, I'll skip them. But let me know if
`you want me to go over that.
` But what that algorithm does is it determines particular
`points along the transfer function, and in particular, it finds
`the peak voltage, which, if you look at the slides on the transfer
`function, is the -- the peaks are located at both the maximums and
`the minimums of this sine wave that is the transfer function and
`it finds a swing voltage. And in particular, what it finds is the
`peak-to-null swing voltage. So it's going from -- if you look at
`the transfer function figure, it's going from 1 on the X axis to 2
`on the X axis, or 0 to 1.
` And so it also -- the experts also agree that what it
`settles on is the bias voltage is at the quadrature point. And so
`you know the quadrature, you know the peak, and -- you know both
`peaks, you know the minimum and the maximum because you know the
`swing. So you have all the voltages that gets you to those three
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`points, and it's a sinusoid.
` And what Dr. Blumenthal explained in detail in the
`petition and in his declaration is how you change the voltages to
`operate as a phase modulator versus an intensity modulator. And I
`have -- let me go to slide --
` JUDGE BOUCHER: So let me just make sure I understand
`that correctly then. You're saying that no modification is needed
`to the algorithm in Schneider because, essentially, all that
`algorithm does is determine parameters that will uniquely specify
`what the transfer function is, and that transfer function is the
`same, whether it's operating as a phase modulator or an intensity
`modulator, and so, therefore, I have all the information I need.
`Is that right?
` MR. OAKS: That's correct. And so, if you turn to slide
`24, it kind of summarizes what you're doing with the Mach-Zehnder
`Modulator for phase modulation. So -- and for phase modulation,
`you're biasing at the minimum, and so, again, Schneider has found
`the peaks. It's found the peak-to-null swings. You know the
`voltage at the minimum. And then, really, the only changes
`you're -- instead of doing a peak-to-null swing, so on this graph,
`it would be from zero to one or from one to two, you're doing a
`peak-to-peak swing.
` And so what Dr. Blumenthal has said is you just -- you
`apply twice the swing voltage. This is on slide 23 from his
`declaration filed with the petition, the bottom excerpt from --
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`this is from paragraph 102 and also 162. He says when twice the
`swing voltage is applied differentially to the electrodes, one
`waveguide rotates counterclockwise to pi while the other waveguide
`rotates clockwise to the same point. When the waveguides
`counter-rotate in this manner, 180 degrees phase shift could be
`imparted at the output of the phase modulator.
` So -- and then the excerpt above, it talks about how
`it's known that the bias point is the minimum for phase
`modulation. So in sort of response to the Patent Owner saying,
`Well, this is some complicated method, Dr. Blumenthal explained in
`his reply declaration a number of ways you could do it. He had
`already mentioned doubling -- he says twice, which is just simple
`multiplication. And there's a few other ways that you can get to
`those points, and it's all just using simple math:
`Multiplication, addition, subtraction.
` JUDGE KAISER: So, Mr. Oaks, it seems to me that it's
`not disputed that the transfer function of the modulator is the
`same regardless of whether you use intensity or phase modulation.
`And you have pointed us to things that show that the points that
`you would calculate about the transfer function are the same. But
`it seems to me that, in your demonstratives, it's clear that --
`and in the pleadings -- it's clear that what bias point you use
`for phase modulation or intensity modulation is different; is that
`right?
` MR. OAKS: That's correct.
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` JUDGE KAISER: So what are you relying on that a person
`of ordinary skill in the art would have taken Schneider and known
`how to use its control algorithm to have the correct bias point
`for phase modulation?
` MR. OAKS: So we cited to a number of different
`references, and one of the ones we relied on extensively is
`Chikama, which is Exhibit 1029, but there's several others that we
`put into the record that talk about it was well-known that these
`Mach-Zehnder Modulators could be used for either function. In
`fact, if you go to slide 22, there's an excerpt from Chikama at
`page 310 that says this modulation scheme is talking about
`Mach-Zehnder Modulation is attractive because a modulator can be
`commonly used as a phase modulator and an intensity modulator
`simply by changing its dry voltage.
` And there's also -- we have excerpts from Exhibit 1036
`which shows also how you -- what the set points are for those two
`different modes. So what Dr. Blumenthal testified as supported by
`the exhibits is that it was well known that a Mach-Zehnder
`Modulator has this dual functionality. You could use it for
`either one. And based on the fact that Schneider is telling you
`everything you needed to know about the transfer function -- and I
`kind of skipped some slides, but what's going on is, over time,
`you have environmental conditions that can change that transfer
`function.
` So normally, the peak -- the first peak of the transfer
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`function is at zero on the X axis, but that transfer function can
`shift along the X axis back and forth based on aging or
`temperature variations or other environmental conditions.
` And so what Schneider is doing is basically running, you
`know, the control algorithm to see -- changing the bias point,
`changing the gain to see am I on the maximum and the minimum. So
`if the transfer function is shifted along the X axis, it will
`determine that. That's why you find the bias point. And once it
`does that, it knows exactly where the transfer function is.
` And so, like I said, you have all that information, and
`Dr. Blumenthal testified that, given all that information, given
`the fact that you know it could be used for either, it would be
`obvious to use it as a fixed modulator.
` JUDGE KAISER: But just to be clear, Schneider doesn't
`tell you how to do that; right? You're relying on the knowledge
`of a person of ordinary skill in the art as evidenced by these
`other references for how to specifically implement Schneider's
`control function in phase modulation.
` MR. OAKS: Right. So Schneider doesn't say multiply the
`swing voltage by two to get phase modulation. What Schneider
`says -- if you look at slide 20, there's a couple of excerpts from
`Schneider. The first one says that -- from column 2, line 36 --
`says that "the bias control subroutine derives the peak of the
`sinusoidal Mach-Zehnder function." That's the transfer function.
` But then it goes on to say, "The bias control
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`subroutine, therefore, depends on the shape of the transfer
`functio0n and not on the absolute values of the controller feedback
`signal."
` So this is teaching a POSITA -- this is controlled
`algorithm that's trying to figure out the shape of the transfer
`function. It goes on to talk about, in Column 4, line 48, about
`the gain control, and it says, "The driver gain control routine
`non-disruptively optimizes the peak-to-peak swing of the
`electrical data signal output by the data driver."
` And then, like I said, what the experts agree is that's
`actually peak-to-null, that the experts call the minimum and the
`maximum peaks. So it's determining the swing and the bias points,
`so it has -- it's defining the transfer function. So that's what
`Dr. Blumenthal testified. That's how a POSITA would understand
`this disclosure of Schneider.
` So to answer your question, yes, you take that
`information a POSITA knows -- I have the transfer function, I know
`I can use this modulator either in intensity or phase, it was
`known to use them in phase, so I can use it as the modulator in
`Bauch or Kaneda for phase modulation, and I can control it using
`Schneider's algorithm, given all the information that Schneider
`gives about the transfer function.
` So let me move on to slide 26. So, again, claim 1
`merely recites this DAC, a digital analog converter, that has an
`output for altering the phase of the phase modulator. There's no
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`Cases IPR2017-02189 and IPR2017-02190
`Patent 6,476,952
`
`dispute that Schneider has a DAC that controls a modulator. So
`what the dispute is about, like we have discussed, is whether you
`can use that control algorithm and associated DAC to control that
`Mach-Zehnder Modulator for phase modulation.
` And so the Patent Owner has come up with a number of
`arguments that basically we believe it's reading or misreading
`Schneider to -- in a way that it says would not motivate a POSITA
`to make this combination. And it has a number of those arguments
`that's made, so I'd like to go through those. They're listed here
`on slide 26, but I'm just going to go through them in order in the
`following slides.
` So if we turn to slide 27 of the demonstratives, the
`first argument that Patent Owner makes is that Schneider had some
`closed-loop control requirement that's not met by the combination.
`But our response to that is that the control loop that we're using
`in the combination is the exact same control loop that's being
`used in Schneider. And as I mentioned, after the control loop's
`run, you have (indiscernible) points from Schneider, and yes, you
`have to multiply the swing voltage by two to get to run it as a
`phase modulator, but the control loop itself is exactly the same
`control loop.
` So it can't be that somehow we're not complying with
`what Schneider says is a closed-loop control. We're doing the
`same feedback, a loop control, in the combination that's being
`done in Schneider alone. What Schneider is referring to --
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`Cases IPR2017-02189 and IPR2017-02190
`Patent 6,476,952
`
`sorry -- when it talks about the closed-loop control is really --
`it's relating to the prior art. It's talking about the system
`for, like, manual alignment that had to constantly be adjusted and
`applied, and this closed-loop control is simply using the data
`itself, using the output of the modulator to control the
`modulator. And so that's what we're doing in the combination,
`just like Schneider alone.
` JUDGE KAISER: So Patent Owner seems to talk a lot about
`running -- whether your combination runs Schneider's control loop
`at the same time that it's transmitting data. Can you just talk a
`little bit about that and whether -- are you using Schneider's
`control loop in that way or are you using it in some different way
`than Schneider uses it in terms of transmission of data?
` MR. OAKS: So Schneider -- the Patent Owner reads
`certain passages of Schneider to suggest that it is running while
`data is being transmitted, and we don't disagree that those might
`imply that. But Schneider doesn't ever say "this is an algorithm
`that has to be run when data is being transmitted." It doesn't
`say you can't run it when data is not being transmitted, when sort
`of real data over the network is being transmitted.
` So, I mean, to answer your question, we're not -- we're
`running the control loop when data is not being phase modulated.
`So it would be run -- and I'll talk about that because this kind
`of relates to the disruption argument. So I'm on slide 29. What
`Patent Owner says is, by doing that, by pausing the data briefly
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`Cases IPR2017-02189 and IPR2017-02190
`Patent 6,476,952
`
`at some periodic intervals, which could be large, that that
`somehow disrupts the data, and that's the disruption that
`Schneider is talking about when it talks about disruption. That's
`not the case.
` Like I said, like the closed-loop control, Schneider
`mentions disruption when it's talking about the prior art. The
`prior art had this -- what they call time-consuming manual
`alignment techniques, and it proposed this micro controller-based
`controller algorithm that eliminated that and that would not
`disrupt the data because you're not doing this manual alignment
`without a micro controller.
` And of course, in the combination, we're using the micro
`controller just like Schneider teaches. Dr. Blumenthal testified
`on this disruption point, and he said that pausing this data --
`and we're talking about a very short time, from milliseconds, to
`run this control algorithm is not -- a POSITA wouldn't consider
`that disruption of a system. He explained that Schneider's
`control algorithm could run more quickly than the prior art
`routines, and those routines found the bias, for example, in
`50 milliseconds.
` Dr. Goossen, the Patent Owner's expert, also -- when he
`ran his program, he found a conversion like four iterations, so
`we're talking about a very short amount of time. And so that
`short time, milliseconds, Dr. Blumenthal explained that that's,
`quote, "the time period is consistent with acceptable link
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`Cases IPR2017-02189 and IPR2017-02190
`Patent 6,476,952
`
`downtime."
` He talked about SONET, for example, which was a
`well-used optical networking system that, at times -- still is
`today -- has actual data buffer storage. So it has buffers that
`buffer the data for a period of time for these -- for
`50 milliseconds that allows for pausing of the data so that you
`can do maintenance and other things and then the data can be run.
`So the end points don't know that anything was wrong, because
`you've been buffering the data.
` He explained -- he was asked about this in his
`deposition, and he explained that the SONET standard didn't
`transmit data, so it paused data. When you had, like, a link
`switch or a link down, when you're doing a protection switch, that
`it verified everything was working, and it had a built-in
`50-second -- 50-millisecond restoration time. So, again, it
`paused the data for 50 milliseconds to do that restoration. So
`it's not uncommon that you have pauses in data in these systems.
` He went on --
` JUDGE KAISER: And just so I can understand, you know,
`assuming that there is some disruption from Schneider's
`control algorithm, would you have a -- would it matter whether
`that -- whether Schneider was doing intensity or phase modulation
`in terms of this disruption? In other words, does phase
`modulation somehow exacerbate the disruption aspect of running a
`control algorithm?
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`Cases IPR2017-02189 and IPR2017-02190
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` MR. OAKS: I don't think there's any evidence in the
`record one way or the other about phase versus intensity
`modulation. I mean, it's just a fundamental -- it's more about
`what does the network expect? Does it have built-in leeway to
`deal with pauses in data transmission, and that's what
`Dr. Blumenthal says they do. If you turn to slide 31,
`Dr. Blumenthal went on to explain in his deposition that the
`system stopped data to do things and there's not a problem with
`that; that data transmission was commonly stopped for maintenance
`in addition to, as I mentioned before, for switching, if you have
`a link problem. And he said that these acceptable -- these are
`acceptable levels of -- if you want to call them disruption, fine.
`I would say it's pausing or interruption, but they're acceptable
`because that's built into the system already for maintenance.
` JUDGE KAISER: Yeah, I mean, I guess what I'm trying to
`understand is, is the disruption aspect, is that part of Schneider
`to begin with or is that introduced by your combination?
` MR. OAKS: So I think what Patent Owner has argued is
`that Schneider, when it's running an intensity modulation, is
`running a control algorithm during data transmission. So we --
`and so we wouldn't dispute that. That is, we're running the
`control algorithm not during data transmission so pausing it for
`the milliseconds that it --
` JUDGE KAISER: But you're saying that's what Schneider
`does anyway, or you're saying that's how you would use Schneider
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`Cases IPR2017-02189 and IPR2017-02190
`Patent 6,476,952
`
`when you're --
` MR. OAKS: No, that's in the combination. That's how it
`would be used.
` JUDGE KAISER: Okay.
` MR. OAKS: And just to finish that point, so
`Dr. Blumenthal also explained in his deposition, quote, that it
`was quite common to run these routines periodically during link
`downtimes and scheduled maintenance at nighttime when there wasn't
`a lot of traffic running on the link. So, again, Dr.

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