UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`___________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`___________
`
`COMCAST CABLE COMMUNICATIONS, LLC,
`Petitioner,
`
`v.
`
`PROMPTU SYSTEMS CORPORATION,
`Patent Owner.
`
`___________
`
`Case IPR2018-00345
`Patent 7,047,196
`___________
`
`DECLARATION OF CHRISTOPHER SCHMANDT IN SUPPORT OF
`
`PETITIONER’S REPLY TO PATENT OWNER’S RESPONSE
`
`Comcast – Exhibit 1029, cover
`
`
`
`___________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`___________
`
`COMCAST CABLE COMMUNICATIONS, LLC,
`Petitioner,
`
`v.
`
`PROMPTU SYSTEMS CORPORATION,
`Patent Owner.
`
`___________
`
`Case IPR2018-00345
`Patent 7,047,196
`___________
`
`DECLARATION OF CHRISTOPHER SCHMANDT IN SUPPORT OF
`
`PETITIONER’S REPLY TO PATENT OWNER’S RESPONSE
`
`Comcast – Exhibit 1029, cover
`
`
`
`I, Christopher Schmandt, declare as follows:
`
`1.
`
`I make this declaration based upon my own personal knowledge and,
`
`if called upon to testify, would testify competently to the matters stated herein.
`
`2.
`
`I have been asked by petitioner Comcast Cable Communications, LLC
`
`to provide my opinions in response to certain arguments and assertions made in the
`
`Patent Owner’s Response (Paper 20) and the supporting declaration provided by
`
`John Tinsman (Ex. 2033).
`
`I.
`
`THE PRIOR ART DISCLOSES “PROCESSING A MULTIPLICITY
`OF RECEIVED IDENTIFIED SPEECH CHANNELS TO CREATE A
`MULTIPLICITY OF IDENTIFIED SPEECH CONTENT”
`
`3.
`
`In this section, I respond to the Patent Owner’s argument that I
`
`improperly analyzed the elements of claims 14 and 53 of the ’196 Patent that recite
`
`“processing a multiplicity of received identified speech channels to create a
`
`multiplicity of identified speech content.” In particular, I am responding to the
`
`arguments on pages 11-14 of the Patent Owner’s Response (Paper 20) and
`
`paragraph 35-36 of the Tinsman Declaration (Ex. 2033).
`
`4.
`
`Patent Owner and Mr. Tinsman argue that my analysis of this element
`
`“conflates a signal with data.” Paper 20 at 12; Tinsman Decl. ¶ 35 (Ex. 2033). I
`
`disagree with their criticism, but also observe that Mr. Tinsman and Patent Owner
`
`appear to be applying a rigid distinction between signals and data that is incorrect
`
`in the technological area of the ’196 Patent.
`
`Comcast – Exhibit 1029, page 1
`
`
`
`5.
`
`In a two-way interactive network, as described in the ’196 Patent and
`
`in Julia, signals are used to carry data. For example, the user can issue a voice
`
`command. The speech command is digitized and becomes data that the system
`
`will transmit using electrical or optical signals sent to the central wireline
`
`node/server on the network’s back channel over, for example, coaxial cable or
`
`fiber optics. The wireline node/server processes the received signal to extract the
`
`data carried on it so that the spoken command can be recognized by voice
`
`recognition processing located at the wireline node/server. The reference to
`
`signals and data in this explanation, as in the discussion of this element in my
`
`original declaration, does not “conflate” the two, but instead recognizes the
`
`interrelated nature of signals and data in network communications technology.
`
`Simply put, signals are the way that data is transmitted; without the signal, there is
`
`no transmission, and without the data, the signal is only noise.
`
`II.
`
`THE PRIOR ART DISCLOSES VOICE-CONTROLLED FINANCIAL
`TRANSACTIONS AS RECITED IN CLAIMS 18, 19, 55, AND 65
`
`6.
`
`In this section, I respond to the Patent Owner’s argument that Julia
`
`combined with Gordon or Banker does not disclose the voice-controlled financial
`
`transactions recited in dependent claims 18, 19, 55, and 65. In particular, I am
`
`responding to the arguments on pages 16-20 of the Patent Owner’s Response
`
`(Paper 20). I disagree with Patent Owner’s arguments for a number of reasons.
`
`7.
`
`Patent Owner argues that I relied only on Julia for the first element of
`
`Comcast – Exhibit 1029, page 2
`
`
`
`claims 18, 19, 55, and 65. I disagree. I explained how Julia, Banker, and Gordon
`
`each disclose the first “assessing” step of these claims.
`
`8.
`
`In particular, I explained how Julia discloses the “assessing” step of
`
`claim 18 in paragraph 309 of my original declaration (Ex. 1019). I explained how
`
`Banker discloses the “assessing” step of claim 18 (and the second “billing” step) in
`
`paragraph 312 of my original declaration. I explained how Gordon discloses the
`
`“assessing” step of claim 18 (and the “billing” step) in paragraph 313 of my
`
`original declaration.
`
`9.
`
`I explained how Julia discloses the “assessing” step of claim 19 in
`
`paragraph 315 of my original declaration (Ex. 1019). I explained how Banker
`
`discloses the “assessing” step of claim 19 in paragraph 316 of my original
`
`declaration. I explained how Gordon discloses the “assessing” step of claim 19 in
`
`paragraph 317 of my original declaration.
`
`10.
`
`I explained how Julia discloses the “assessing” step of claim 55 in
`
`paragraph 352 of my original declaration (Ex. 1019). I explained how Banker
`
`discloses the “assessing” step of claim 55 (and the “billing” step) in paragraph 353
`
`of my original declaration. I explained how Gordon discloses the “assessing” step
`
`of claim 55 (and the “billing step”) in paragraph 354 of my original declaration.
`
`11.
`
`I explained how Julia discloses the “assessing” step of claim 65 in
`
`paragraph 373 of my original declaration (Ex. 1019). I explained how Banker
`
`Comcast – Exhibit 1029, page 3
`
`
`
`discloses the “assessing” step of claim 65 in paragraph 376 of my original
`
`declaration. I explained how Gordon discloses the “assessing” step of claim 65 in
`
`paragraph 376 of my original declaration.
`
`12.
`
`Patent Owner also argues that Julia does not disclose “creat[ing] a
`
`financial consequence identified as to said user site.” Paper 20 at 17. I disagree.
`
`Julia describes a voice-controlled system for obtaining video and other content for
`
`display to viewers. One embodiment is a coaxial cable network with set-top box
`
`and voice-enabled remote control. Julia at 3:45-55, 4:31-35 (Ex. 1012). Julia then
`
`states:
`
`Further, practitioners may choose to implement the each of the
`various embodiments described above on any number of different
`hardware and software computing platforms and environments and
`various combinations thereof, including, by way of just a few
`examples: a general-purpose hardware microprocessor such as the
`Intel Pentium series; operating system software such as Microsoft
`Windows/CE, Palm OS, or Apple Mac OS (particularly for client
`devices and client-side processing), or Unix, Linux, or Windows/NT
`(the latter three particularly for network data servers and server-side
`processing), and/or proprietary information access platforms such as
`Microsoft’s WebTV or the Diva Systems video-on-demand system.
`
`Julia at 6:47-59. This passage informs a person of ordinary skill in the art that the
`
`Julia voice-control system can be implemented on “the Diva Systems video-on-
`
`demand system.” A person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize from this
`
`Comcast – Exhibit 1029, page 4
`
`
`
`disclosure that the Julia system can be used to “create a financial consequence” by
`
`implementing the Julia voice-control system on a Diva Systems video-on-demand
`
`system. As I stated in my initial declaration, a person of ordinary skill in the art
`
`would understand that that pay-per-view and video-on-demand functionality
`
`provided by the Diva system would require a purchase (i.e., “a financial
`
`consequence”). Ex. 1019 ¶ 309.
`
`13.
`
`Patent Owner argues that I “cannot equate ‘pay-per-view and video-
`
`on-demand’ because they are not the same thing.” Paper 20 at 17. A person of
`
`ordinary skill in the art would not have understood these terms to rigidly define
`
`mutually exclusive features in a television system, as Patent Owner asserts. For
`
`instance, a person of ordinary skill in the art in 2000 would have understood that a
`
`video rental system (for example, in a hotel room) could be referred to either as
`
`“video-on-demand” or as “pay-per-view.”
`
`14.
`
`In any event, I did not need to equate one with the other. In my initial
`
`declaration, I stated that a person of ordinary skill in the art would know that the
`
`Diva Systems system provided pay-per-view functionality. I have reviewed
`
`portions of the transcript of the deposition of Paul Cook, the founder of Diva
`
`Systems, who confirmed that Diva Systems provided pay-per-view functionality.
`
`Cook Dep. at 22:2-13, 249:6-17 (Ex. 1024). Further, the reference to Diva
`
`Systems in Julia would have led a person of ordinary skill in the art to review Diva
`
`Comcast – Exhibit 1029, page 5
`
`
`
`Systems’ patents such as the Gordon patent I discussed in my original declaration.
`
`Gordon discloses that the Diva system provided pay-per-view functionality, which
`
`Gordon refers to as “a la carte” viewing. Gordon at 9:26-10:9, Fig. 3B (Ex. 1016).
`
`In Gordon, if a desired video is outside of the user’s subscription plan, the system
`
`prompts the user “with an ‘a la carte’ purchase option” that allows the viewer “to
`
`purchase and view the a la carte selection.” Gordon at 9:56-63.
`
`15.
`
`In connection with the argument about equating pay-per-view and
`
`video-on-demand, Patent Owner also states that “Netflix subscribers can watch as
`
`many videos on-demand as they please; they do not need to pay per view.” Paper
`
`20 at 17. This assertion misses the point. The claims do not recite or require “pay
`
`per view”; instead, they recite creating a “financial consequence” for which the
`
`user is billed. Netflix subscribers have to pay to become subscribers, and if they
`
`do so using the Julia voice-control system they would be creating a “financial
`
`consequence” for which they will be billed. Indeed, Gordon explicitly describes
`
`the process for selecting such a paid “subscription-on-demand” service, as I
`
`explained in my initial declaration. Ex. 1019 ¶¶ 130, 186, 198, 244, 254, 313, 321,
`
`366, 376. A person of ordinary skill in the art in 2000 would have understood that
`
`both video-on-demand subscription services (like Netflix, although it did not exist
`
`in 2000) and pay-per-view services create a financial consequence for the user.
`
`Comcast – Exhibit 1029, page 6
`
`
`
`Acknowledgement of Oath
`
`I declare that all statements made herein of my own knowledge are true and
`
`that all statements made on information and belief are believed to be true; and
`
`further that these statements were made with the knowledge that willful false
`
`statements and the like so made are punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both,
`
`under Section 1101 of Title 18 of the United States Code.
`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`Christopher Schmandt
`
`Dated: December 13, 2018
`
`Comcast – Exhibit 1029, page 7
`
`
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