`571-272-7822
`
`
`
`
`Paper No. 29
`Entered: July 23, 2021
`
`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`____________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`____________
`
`GOOGLE, LLC,
`Petitioner,
`
`v.
`
`UNILOC 2017, LLC,
`Patent Owner.
`____________
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`____________
`
`Record of Oral Hearing
`Held: July 15, 2021
`____________
`
`
`
`
`Before SALLY C. MEDLEY, MICHAEL R. ZECHER, and
`NABEEL U. KHAN, Administrative Patent Judges.
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`
`
`APPEARANCES:
`
`ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER:
`
`
`ERIKA H. ARNER, ESQ.
`JASON E. STACH, ESQ.
`Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP
`901 New York Avenue, N.W.
`Washington, D.C. 20001
`
`
`
`ON BEHALF OF THE PATENT OWNER:
`
`
`BRETT A. MANGRUM, ESQ.
`Ethridge Law Group
`2600 East Southlake Boulevard
`Suite 120-324
`Southlake, Texas 76092
`
`
`
`
`
`The above-entitled matter came on for hearing on Thursday, July 15,
`2021, commencing at 3:00 p.m., EDT, by video.
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`2
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`
`P R O C E E D I N G S
`- - - - -
`JUDGE ZECHER: Good afternoon. My name is Judge Zecher. I
`
`have two colleagues with me today, Judge Medley and Judge Khan. This is
`a hearing for IPR2020-00756. At issue are Claims 9 through 12 of U.S.
`Patent No. 9,564,952.
`
`So I'm going to start today with the parties providing us with
`appearances. If possible for Petitioner and Patent Owner, please let us know
`who may be speaking today so the court reporter is aware of who you are so
`she can keep tabs of you during the hearing. So let's start with Petitioner,
`Google, please.
`
`MR. STACH: Thank you, Your Honor. This is Jason Stach on behalf
`of Petitioner, Google. I am joined by our lead counsel, Erika Arner, by
`video. We also have dialed in Charley Stiernberg who is IP counsel from
`Google and our back-up counsel, Benjamin Saidman. I will be presenting
`the argument today, Your Honor.
`
`JUDGE ZECHER: Okay. Thank you.
`
`For Patent Owner, Uniloc?
`
`MR. MANGRUM: Yes. Good afternoon, Your Honors. This is Brett
`Mangrum. I will be arguing today on behalf of Patent Owner. I'd like to
`also announce that Steve Pederson, in-house counsel for Patent Owner, is
`listening on the line.
`
`JUDGE ZECHER: Okay. Thank you. So let me first start by just
`thanking the parties for agreeing to appear by video today. I want to make
`sure that if you have any technical difficulties you let us know immediately
`so we can make the appropriate remedies. We do have a public dial-in line
`
`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
`
`
`
`3
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`that we can use as a back-up.
`
`As far as how the proceeding is going to go today, Google as the
`Petitioner has the burden of persuasion so they're going to go ahead and
`present their case-in-chief. They can reserve some rebuttal time. After
`which Uniloc will present their case. They can also make use of some
`surrebuttal, so let's get started.
`
`Mr. Stach, how much time would you like for rebuttal today or --
`
`MR. STACH: Twelve minutes.
`
`JUDGE ZECHER: -- to reserve for rebuttal?
`
`MR. STACH: Twelve minutes --
`
`JUDGE ZECHER: Twelve minutes? All right.
`
`MR. STACH: -- please, Your Honor.
`
`JUDGE ZECHER: Okay. So you have 45 minutes according to our
`hearing order in total, so I'll go ahead and set my timer at 33 minutes and
`you can begin when you're ready.
`
`MR. STACH: Thank you, Your Honor. I appreciate you all spending
`time with us today and I also appreciate that Judge Medley was on a back-
`to-back hearing. This is back-to-back with another hearing she was on, so I
`will try to keep this as interesting as possible recognizing it can be a long
`afternoon.
`
`So to that end, I'm actually going to skip right to the disputes between
`the parties. So if you wouldn't mind turning to Slide 14 of Petitioner's
`demonstratives and I'll give some background as we go through these
`disputes, but to sort of discuss that background as we talk about the different
`disputes.
`
`What we have on Slide 14 is Claim 9. This is the only challenged
`
`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
`
`
`
`4
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`independent claim in the '952 Patent. We also have challenged Claims 10
`through 12. Those are dependent claims, but Uniloc has not raised any
`specific disputes related to the language in those claims. All of the disputes
`between the parties relate to language that's in Claim 9, so that will be the
`focus today.
`
`Generally, the technology relates to a method of near field
`authentication of a source using sound waves and there's a number of
`different steps that are recited, the first being that the system will scan a
`plurality of predetermined frequencies for a free frequency. Then it will
`select the free frequency from that plurality of predetermined frequencies
`and from there it goes on to generate a message and a modulated carrier
`wave based on that message and then transmits that message.
`
`There are some additional details about how it generates the message
`and the modulated carrier wave and we'll get into those a bit later. But for
`now, I'd like to focus on the dispute over the first term that shows up in red
`on the slides, it's "scanning a plurality of predetermined frequencies."
`
`If we go to Slide 15, we can see that a primary dispute between the
`parties is whether the Paulson reference which is a reference that also uses
`sound waves to communicate information. It's like the '952 Patent in that
`regard. In fact, both Paulson and the '952 talk about the reason for using
`sound waves is largely because the hardware for communicating these in
`sound waves is often found already on devices that people already have.
`
`So for example, a loud speaker can transmit the sound wave and then
`there can be a microphone on the receiving device that if it's able to sample
`at appropriate rates and so forth, can then pick up that sound wave and
`demodulate it.
`
`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
`
`
`
`5
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`So Paulson is right in the same wheelhouse as the '952 Patent and
`
`there hasn't been really any dispute about issues like combinability of
`Paulson, the relevance of Paulson. The focus really for the parties when it
`comes to "scanning a plurality of predetermined frequencies," is whether
`Paulson, in fact, does scan that predetermined -- or that plurality of
`predetermined frequencies.
`
`We can see on Slide 15 there's actually two paths. We have two
`competing views that are before the Board right now. One is Google's view
`which is supported by expert testimony. It's the only expert testimony of
`record and actually there's two declarations that Google's expert provided,
`one with the petition and then an additional declaration post-institution with
`Google's reply.
`
`Uniloc did not cross-examine Google's expert or otherwise introduce
`its own expert testimony in support of its view. And also Uniloc did not
`introduce any exhibits after institution. So I know often times the Board's
`institution decisions and, in fact, here talk about preliminary findings based
`on the current record. Well, from an evidentiary standpoint, the record
`really has not changed post-institution. There are new arguments that
`Uniloc has raised, certainly. Those are attorney arguments, but they have
`not provided additional evidence that would support those arguments.
`
`So we have the view from Google and its expert about how one of
`ordinary skill would have interpreted Paulson and then we have the view
`from Uniloc from its attorney argument that interprets it somewhat
`differently. But either way, under either interpretation we end up with
`Paulson rendering obvious in combination with Surprenant, the secondary
`reference, rendering the claims obvious.
`
`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
`
`
`
`6
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`And I'll get into more of an explanation. First we'll look at Google's
`
`interpretation and its expert's interpretation of Paulson. So we can go to
`Slide 17, please. We can see that a central aim of Paulson is trying to
`increase the reliability of these sound wave transmissions. They're trying to
`make sure that if there's noise in the environment that could interfere with
`the soundwave transmissions and the reception of those in particular, that --
`Paulson wants to try to minimize the likelihood that noise could actually
`interfere.
`
`So what it does is it initially looks at the device capabilities. So we
`have here an excerpt of Paulson's Figure 4 on Slide 17 and we can see at
`Step 402 it initializes a set of sonic transmission frequencies for transmitting
`a sonic carrier's signal. What it does there, if we look at the corresponding
`text that goes along with that, it talks about how that initial set is determined
`by looking at the capabilities of the transmit device and its loud speaker and
`the received device and its microphone and what they're capable of
`transmitting and receiving, and so it's looking for that overlap.
`
`When you see what the overlap is between the frequencies that the
`transmit device is capable of transmitting and the receive device is capable
`of receiving, then you can see the range of theoretical frequencies that could
`be used between those devices to communicate. Now, that's all in the
`absence of noise because once noise gets introduced, Paulson recognizes that
`it may not be possible to use all of those different frequencies.
`
`So the initial determination is really happening based on the
`capabilities of the devices in the absence of noise. Then Paulson moves to
`Step 404 on Slide 17 and it creates a noise characteristic and that's a term I
`think that may be somewhat unique to Paulson, but the idea of the noise
`
`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
`
`
`
`7
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`characteristic is to scan the frequencies that the devices could theoretically
`communicate across and determine whether there is noise on any of those
`frequencies such that the system would not want to use those.
`
`They want to find a free frequency that is devoid of noise or at least
`has a signal to noise ratio, has a low enough amount of noise that the devices
`could communicate reliably, so that's what this noise characteristic does.
`And then there's a determination that's made at Step 406 where it asks the
`question in Step 406, "Could noise interfere with demodulating data from
`the set of sonic transmission frequencies?"
`
`So at that point we're then now looking at the information that we've
`learned from the noise characteristic and we're comparing that with what is
`the theoretical set of frequencies the devices could use. Now we're deciding
`which of those should we use based on that noise characteristic. And if it
`turns out that noise would not interfere, then it can proceed and it selects a
`signal of frequency that it would then use to send the soundwaves and
`communicate the data.
`
`If there is noise, then Paulson discloses we can wait and see if the
`noise goes away. There's an example of a coffee grinder, for example. A
`temporary noisy environment can cause issues. So what it can do is
`suspend transmission and that's what we see in Step 408 there and feedback,
`and then recreate the noise characteristic. This isn't something that's static
`because noise can change in the environment. It will regenerate that and it
`will keep iterating until it's able to find a time and a frequency that is free
`that it can then communicate.
`
`So that's how Paulson scans a plurality of predetermined frequencies
`and we'll get to the dispute --
`
`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
`
`
`
`8
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`JUDGE ZECHER: Mr. Stach, this is Judge Zecher. Just so I'm clear,
`
`and thanks for that explanation. I do appreciate it, but if we're talking about
`just focusing on the claim language specifically at issue here, the "scanning
`a plurality of predetermined frequencies," would you say that's done in Step
`402 based on this initial determination of frequencies between the receiving
`and transceiving device and then this iterative process on 404, 406, 408 of
`finding a frequency that's not -- has noise interference is finding that free
`frequency within the initial determination that you made in 402?
`
`MR. STACH: Yeah. So I would say that this scanning is not what
`happens in 402. The defining the predetermined frequencies happens in 402,
`so looking at that range of overlap between what the transmit device can
`send and what the received device can receive, that's where the
`predetermined set of frequencies is defined and then in 404 there is a
`scanning that occurs across at least those frequencies and that's where the
`parties do have a dispute, is whether the noise characteristic is generated
`only for those frequencies that were predetermined in Step 402 or whether it
`encompasses additional frequencies or a completely different set of
`frequencies, that's where the parties have their primary dispute on scanning,
`but my take is that it happens more in 404 scanning those frequencies that
`were initially determined in 402.
`
`JUDGE ZECHER: Okay. So 402, Step 402, is really defining the
`predetermined frequencies and then the iterative process that's in 404, 406,
`408, if we need to go that way, is the scanning for that free frequency?
`
`MR. STACH: That's correct, Your Honor. And the --
`
`JUDGE ZECHER: Okay. Thank you.
`
`MR. STACH: When it creates the noise characteristic, what it's doing
`
`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
`
`
`
`9
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`is it's looking at the gain levels at a number of different frequencies to try to
`decide, to try to see how much noise and what the amplitude of that noise is
`at these different frequencies and that's how it determines what's free. It
`looks for something that has a low amount of noise or as small amount of
`noise as possible and then selects that frequency for transmission later.
`
`If we go to Slide 20 now if you would please, we can see the -- a
`central aim of Paulson and it's talked about all throughout Paulson, is that it
`wants to "reduce the probability of conflict with ambient noise in the
`environment," and that's -- I'm reading from the title of Paulson. And then
`Figure 4 which we saw an excerpt of is described as providing "strategies
`that reduce the probability of interference from noise."
`
`And then there are other statements throughout Paulson as well. This
`one is particularly good, I think, "In noisier environments. Aspects of the
`present invention continue to achieve robust communication through careful
`selection of the sonic transmission frequencies and timing of the
`transmission."
`
`The idea being that when we've looked at the range of frequencies that
`the devices could theoretically communicate across, we want to make sure
`that at the very least the scanning that happens looking for noise happens on
`those frequencies. Now, if it also scans additional frequencies which I think
`is what Uniloc is saying, that's not really relevant to the claim language and
`I'll get to that in a moment.
`
`But if -- it's a little bit unclear to me whether Uniloc is saying that the
`noise characteristics encompasses just additional frequencies beyond those
`that are identified in 402 or if they're saying that the frequencies that are
`scanned in the noise characteristic are completely exclusive of the
`
`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
`
`
`
`10
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`frequencies that were identified in 402.
`
`So our take is that if there's any overlap between the scanned
`frequencies and those that were predetermined in 402, then that's sufficient
`to meet the claims and the idea that you might scan for noise on a
`completely different set of frequencies than those that the devices could
`theoretically communicate across just doesn't make sense in the context of
`Paulson where Paulson needs that data. It needs to know is there noise on
`the frequencies that the devices could actually theoretically use so it can
`make the determinations that are talked about and reduce that probability of
`conflict with that noise.
`
`So our expert has opined on this. It's unrebutted. I say "unrebutted,"
`meaning he wasn't cross-examined. There's no contrary expert testimony
`discussing how one of ordinary skill would have understood Paulson.
`Certainly, Uniloc is making attorney arguments that I think they believe may
`rebut it, but there's really no -- the best evidence that the Board has in front
`of it is the expert testimony saying, "Here's how one of ordinary skill in the
`art would have understood Paulson," and it's all consistent with this where
`you have this overlap between what's scanned and the predetermined
`frequencies. We can see some of that testimony --
`
`JUDGE ZECHER: Mr. Stach, this is Judge Zecher again. Can I drill
`down a little bit on this? Can we go to your Slide 23 and --
`
`MR. STACH: Yes, Your Honor.
`
`JUDGE ZECHER: -- I think you've highlighted really the sentence
`that Uniloc points out consistently in their briefing. What is your take as to
`what this particular sentence means here in the context of Step 406?
`
`MR. STACH: Sure. Yes, this is the primary statement that they point
`
`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
`
`
`
`11
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`to in their briefing and rely on. And as I understand their argument, they are
`pointing to it to say that the frequencies that are scanned do not overlap with
`or are not the same as the predetermined frequencies and what they say is --
`so this language, I'll just read it. It says, "In one instance, the sonic
`transmission frequencies available according to the noise characteristic may
`be too high for the received device to sample and demodulate."
`
`Uniloc has said that what that means is that if in Step 402 we've
`already looked at what the devices are capable of, you will never end up in a
`situation at Step 404 and later in 406 where the available frequency is
`somehow too high for the received device to sample and demodulate.
`
`I don't think that's a correct reading of this statement. The reason is
`because there's two steps that need to go into this process. The first is let's
`look at what the devices theoretically do. Could they communicate over a
`range that -- in the absence of noise, they could theoretically use a certain
`range of frequencies to communicate. We then run the noise characteristic
`and we see, "Oh, there's some level of noise."
`
`Now, there are some received devices that even in the presence of
`noise they are going to be able to sample and demodulate a signal. They
`might have highly sensitive received circuitry. They might just be
`configured differently than other received devices where a different received
`device might not actually be able to sample and demodulate the signal now
`that we know there is a certain amount of noise at the frequency.
`
`So what ends up happening is we look at the theoretical range of
`frequencies the device could use to communicate and Paulson says we're
`going to try to use the highest of those frequencies. We want to start there
`because that has the lowest likelihood of creating issues in terms of users in
`
`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
`
`
`
`12
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`the environment hearing the sound and being annoyed by it, things like that.
`So it's looking at the highest frequencies is where it's going to hopefully land
`and find a free frequency.
`
`But once we taken into account the noise characteristic, we can see
`then and we know, "Well, there is some level of noise at those highest
`frequencies," for example, potentially. We don't know that. I'm just saying,
`you know, one of the things that could come from the noise characteristic is
`just to say that those high end frequencies may have some level of noise and
`we need to do a secondary check then to say, "Okay. Does this received
`device have circuitry that is sensitive enough to sample reliably and
`demodulate that signal in the presence of that noise?"
`
`It is possible that it's too high, that the -- that what ends up being
`available according to the noise characteristic and taking into account that
`related signal-to-noise ratio, that that may still be too high for the received
`device to sample and demodulate the data. So we see that actually in
`Paulson.
`
`If we look at the next slide on Slide 24, Paulson specifically talks
`about the signal-to-noise ratio and it says that -- it talks about it in a positive
`sense saying that, "If the signal-to-noise ratio at these frequencies is higher
`than a predetermined threshold," so meaning that you have a signal that has
`a high amplitude and maybe a really low small amount of noise. So the
`difference between a signal and a noise can be easily interpreted and
`understood by a received device then it says that, "It is probable that the
`received device could demodulate data when the sonic carrier signals are
`transmitted."
`
`The flipside is also true though where if the noise level and the signal
`
`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
`
`
`
`13
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`are too close together and you end up with a device that's not sensitive
`enough to differentiate between that signal and the noise, then it may be that
`even though the devices theoretically could have communicated with one
`another in the absence of noise, we may now know that that frequency is
`too high for the received device to actually sample and demodulate the data
`and as the frequency goes up, it gets more difficult for received devices to do
`that. You need more sensitive circuitry, you need faster circuitry because it's
`trying to sample at twice the frequency and so there may just be hardware
`limitations and things where this received device just can't differentiate.
`
`When that signal gets too close to the noise level and that signal to
`noise ratio becomes really small or smaller, it becomes less reliable to then
`sample and demodulate. So that's what the -- that paragraph or that sentence
`on Slide 23 that Uniloc points to is really talking about. It's not suggesting
`that the scanned frequencies are completely different from the initially
`predetermined frequencies. For Paulson to work, you look at the
`predetermined frequencies that the devices could theoretically use and then
`you look for noise at least in those frequencies and make a decision, can we
`use them or do we need to wait until the noise goes away.
`
`So that's my interpretation and that's what our expert talked about as
`well and we have testimony. Uniloc raised that in its Patent Owner response
`and so that's addressed in the reply declaration from Google's expert. Does
`that answer your question, Your Honor?
`
`JUDGE ZECHER: Yes. Thank you for that explanation.
`
`MR. STACH: If we turn to Slide 25, I'd like to now talk about
`Uniloc's interpretation. And as I said, it's not 100 percent clear to me if
`they're just saying that the scanning that happens is additional frequencies
`
`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
`
`
`
`14
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`beyond what the devices could use to communicate or if it's in a fully
`exclusive set so there's no overlap and I'll show you a Venn diagram in a
`moment to help clarify that.
`
`But if we go to the claim language first on Slide 26, you can see that
`the language just says, "scanning a plurality of predetermined frequencies
`for a free frequency." So that really just says we're scanning two or more
`frequencies and they have to be predetermined frequencies and we see that
`in 402.
`
`So if we go to Slide 27, the Venn diagram shows where that
`intersection happens. You have your predetermined frequencies and I'm not
`suggesting that this is what Paulson discloses. I'm saying that on Slide 27
`this is what the claims require. You have a set of predetermined frequencies
`and as long as you scan a plurality of those frequencies even if you don't
`scan all of them, but if you scan a plurality of them then you have scanned a
`plurality of predetermined frequencies.
`
`What we believe Paulson discloses is if you were to take this figure
`and you were to take those predetermined frequencies and put them fully
`inside the scanned frequencies, actually they're coextensive circles. The
`scanned frequencies would be the same as the predetermined frequencies, at
`the very least.
`
`Now, it may be that you could create the noise characteristic and scan
`even more frequencies and so you would have a -- the predetermined
`frequencies would be a smaller circle that fits fully within the scanned
`frequency circle. Either way, whether they're perfectly coextensive or the
`predetermined frequencies just fit within the scanned frequencies, that meets
`the language of the claims.
`
`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
`
`
`
`15
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`The claims are much more permissive is what I'm saying when it
`
`comes to which frequencies you scan. You really only need to scan two or
`more of the predetermined frequencies to meet the language of the claims
`and Paulson suggests much more than that.
`
`We do have expert testimony on Slide 28 that talks about how, at the
`very least, the frequency ranges need to overlap. So what's scanned needs to
`overlap with the originally determined set of frequencies. That testimony is
`unrebutted. We have additional testimony on Slide 29, but unless there are
`other questions about the scanning component, I'd like to shift briefly to the -
`- to Slide 30.
`
`Are there any other questions on scanning?
`
`Okay. And when I say "shift to the" -- this also involves scanning,
`actually. This is more about scanning for a free frequency. If we look on
`Slide 30, this is the second dispute that Uniloc raised. And if we go to Slide
`31, we can see their argument from their surreply where they contend that if
`you are scanning for noise and determining which frequencies you cannot
`use and hence they're unusable.
`
`That's distinguishable from scanning for a free frequency, but this is
`really two sides of the same coin. I mean, when Paulson is scanning for
`noise, it's looking for the presence of noise and for the absence of noise.
`What it's really looking for is the absence of noise. Its hope is to find
`frequencies where noise would not conflict.
`
`And so it may be a semantic difference, I'm not sure exactly, but when
`you look at how Paulson operates it really, it's goal is to get down to that
`free frequency. It wants a frequency that either has no noise or has a low
`enough level of noise relative to the signal that we have a good signal to
`
`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
`
`
`
`16
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`noise ratio and the received device is likely to actually be able to receive and
`demodulate the data.
`
`And to the extent that Uniloc's argument is focused more on the fact
`that sometimes Paulson might initially fail to find a free frequency because
`maybe all of the frequencies that the devices could use to communicate have
`too much noise on them. If we go to Slide 32, we can see that the system
`can just wait and then try again and it continues to do this iterative loop
`recreating the noise characteristic until it does find that free frequency that it
`wants to transmit on.
`
`Unless there are any questions on that, I'd like to turn now to Slide 33,
`please. And this is a limitation in red. It says, "Wherein, the content
`includes device identification data including a bit array derived from user-
`configurable and non-user-configurable data specific to the audio transceiver
`computing device."
`
`All of this relates to what type of information actually gets transmitted
`using these soundwaves and when you generate a message, the claim tells us
`that the content portion, so what we might think of as the payload and a
`network message, for example, that the actual content, the meaningful
`component of the message that we're trying to send, that content needs to
`include this device identification data and it has to be generated using these
`two types of information, these other two types of data; user-configurable
`and non-user-configurable.
`
`And when we look at Uniloc's arguments, they haven't really disputed
`the user-configurable portion here. What they're disputing is that the
`references disclose or render obvious the non-user-configurable data
`component that's in this claim. If we go to Slide --
`
`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
`
`
`
`17
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`JUDGE ZECHER: Mr. Stach, this is Judge Zecher. I just wanted to
`
`give you a heads up on your timing. You have about five minutes before
`you're going to start eating into your rebuttal time.
`
`MR. STACH: Thank you, Your Honor.
`
`On Slide 34, we have identified -- we actually provided three different
`ways that the prior art renders obviously both the -- it's the combination of
`user-configurable and non-user-configurable data using that to generate this
`bit array. One of them relies on Surprenant and its disclosures. Second path
`involves using the background knowledge of one of ordinary skill as
`evidenced by the '952 Patent specification and the third is -- relies on a
`reference called Beenau.
`
`Each of these paths independently is sufficient to result in finding the
`claims unpatentable. So, but we've presented numerous different ways to
`get there. And first, just I think maybe briefly I'll just mention if we go to
`Slide 38 there is expert testimony, again unrebutted, that talks about how
`there's something in Surprenant, and maybe I'm saying the name wrong, but
`Surprenant talks about having an AMP ID.
`
`"AMP" stands for Acoustic Modulation Protocol and it has this
`identifier, and Surprenant says that the AMP ID is a unique identification
`string that's disclosed as being specific to the transmit device 101 and it
`doesn't provide a lot of detail about what that ID would be, but because it's
`unique and because it's specific to the transmit device, it would have been
`obvious to one of ordinary skill reading that, that it would have taken the
`form of something like the device's serial number. That helps ensure the
`uniqueness.
`
`We know that Surprenant separately disclosed the user-configurable
`
`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
`
`
`
`18
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00756
`Patent 9,564,952 B2
`
`component where it can generate this ID using credentials that are provided
`by a user and Uniloc has not disputed the user-configurable component, but
`when you read Surprenant and you see, "Okay. It's got this user-
`configurable component," but the it still is calling this AMP ID unique.
`Well, users can configure things. You could say -- you could choose the
`same password or the same code for 10 different devices. You don't end up
`necessarily with a unique identification string from something that's solely
`generated from user-configurable data.
`
`This is part of the reason why when you look at this and you look at
`our expert's testimony, it would have been obvious that you want something
`that can help the AMP ID become unique and so one of ordinary skill
`reading it would have interpreted that to mean something like a serial
`number and that's backed up by information that we have in the knowledg