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`1. I currently reside at 2020 Coffer Ln, Placerville, CA, 95667. I am providing
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`this Declaration in connection with the pending Inter Partes review
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`proceedings currently instituted against certain U.S. Patents owned by
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`Worlds, Inc.
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`2. Unless otherwise stated, the facts presented in this Declaration are based on
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`my personal knowledge.
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`3. I am currently retained as a consultant to Worlds, Inc. (formerly Knowledge
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`Adventure Worlds), the patent owner of the patents-at-issue in these
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`proceedings. I am being paid shares of company stock for my work. My
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`payment does not depend upon the outcome in these cases.
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`4. I joined Knowledge Adventure Worlds on January 30, 1995. I worked
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`primarily out of my home in Carlsbad, California while developing a
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`customizable virtual environment program known as both ActiveWorlds and
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`AlphaWorld.
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`5. During my employment with Knowledge Adventure Worlds, I occasionally
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`traveled to San Francisco, California to collaborate with the team developing
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`the Worlds Chat program, and on occasion members of that team traveled to
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`my home to collaborate with me. Additionally, my code for ActiveWorlds
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`was uploaded to the company’s servers, and so the Worlds Chat team was
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`able to view my code. I did not personally work on Worlds Chat, but
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`because ActiveWorlds and Worlds Chat were both virtual world programs
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`where users could interact with other users, the Worlds Chat team
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`encountered some of the same problems I encountered in the development of
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`ActiveWorlds, and we discussed possible solutions for overcoming these
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`problems.
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`6. The team developing the Worlds Chat program included David Leahy,
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`Judith Challinger, Mitra Ardon, and Bo Adler, and other programmers
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`working under them.
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`7. During my meetings with this Worlds Chat team, I learned that this team
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`developed a solution to the potential crowding problem that can occur in a
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`virtual world. They described to me a procedure for limiting the amount of
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`data transmitted from the server down to a particular client. Due to the
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`reduced data being sent to this particular client, the client did not have to
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`process as much data and this obviously reduced the processing burden on
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`the client. Additionally, at the time, networks were slow compared to 2016
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`standards. By reducing the data transmitted to a particular client, the time
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`required to transmit updates on the virtual world also was reduced. The
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`tradeoff with this solution was that the processing burden on the server
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`increased, since the server had to determine which updates to transmit to
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`each client.
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`8. During my visits to Worlds headquarters in San Francisco, I observed a
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`demo of the Worlds Chat program, which allowed multiple avatars
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`associated with different clients to interact with each other both visually and
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`textually. Specifically, the avatars could see each other in the virtual world,
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`and move relative to each other and see the other avatar’s change in position
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`and orientation. Also, the avatars could communicate with each other via a
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`typing “chat” function.
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`9. The demo was run on personal computers, acting as clients, connected to a
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`server overseeing the virtual world. The view displayed on each personal
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`computer was a perspective or point of view of an avatar associated with that
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`particular personal computer. This demo was shown to me before the official
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`public release of the Worlds Chat program.
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`10. My recollection is that from early April 1995 until April 25, 1995, both
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`ActiveWorlds and Worlds Chat software were available for download
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`through an anonymous ftp site, though Worlds did not officially and publicly
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`offer the Worlds Chat software for download by the public until April 25,
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`1995.
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`11. On April 25, 1995, Worlds, Inc. publicly announced the availability of
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`Worlds Chat for download from Worlds’ webpage (kaworlds.com). This
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`announcement was made by press release through Business Wire.
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`12. Attached as Exhibit 2021 is a true and accurate copy of the Press Release
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`issued by Worlds, Inc. on April 25, 1995.
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`13. To the best of my recollection, the statements in the Press Release were
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`accurate at the time they were made.
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`14. As I explained above, during my employment with Worlds, Inc. beginning
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`in January 1995, I worked occasionally with the inventors of the patents-at-
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`issue in these inter partes review proceedings. I also observed working
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`demonstrations of their Worlds Chat program, and learned how they
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`implemented certain solutions including their “crowd control” feature.
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`15. In 2010, I received copies of archived code from the CEO of Worlds, Inc.,
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`Thom Kidrin.
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`16. Mr. Kidrin also asked me, in connection with my consulting work for
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`Worlds, Inc., to review this code for certain features.
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`17. Based on his instructions, I reviewed both client-side and server-side code.
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`18. Based on my review, I submit the following conclusions about client-side
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`code:
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`a. I inspected the FROBVPLA.CPP C++ code module that determines
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`what objects (or portions thereof) are visible to a client-user according
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`to the associated avatar’s field of view. A true and accurate copy of
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`this code module is provided as exhibit 2034.
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`b. To the extent that the claims of the patents-at-issue require a client to
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`establish a field of view of an avatar, and to display the virtual world
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`from that field of view (including the objects or other avatars in that
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`field of view), this code module performs the same function.
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`c. This code was used in Worlds Chat clients.
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`d. The copyright of this code is from 1994, and therefore was written
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`and implemented before April 11, 1995.
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`19. Based on my review, I submit the following conclusions about server-side
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`code:
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`a. The Worlds Chat server repository was created on October 11, 1995.
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`That repository includes a CHANGELOG with entries back to March
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`27, 1995.
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`b. Based on the CHANGELOG of the server-side code, the Worlds Chat
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`programming team wrote and logged in code to perform the step of
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`the server sending selected positional updates to each client.
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`c. On April 11, 1995, the CHANGELOG entry indicates that the server
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`implemented crowd-control server-side filtering using the distances
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`between users’ avatars. A true and accurate copy of this
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`CHANGELOG is attached as Ex. 2036.
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`d. This code was included in the RSRoom.cc code, attached as Ex. 2035.
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`This code is described as a method that “returns a list of m Users that
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`are “close” to the given location.”
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`e. It is consistent with the business habits that a programmer who has
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`written code and recorded it in a CHANGELOG has already compiled
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`the code and tested its function.
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`f. Therefore, I believe that the appearance of this note in the change log
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`indicates that the server sending selected positional updates based on
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`location, rather than all positional updates, to a client was
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`implemented in Worlds Chat no later than April 11, 1995.
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`20. In 2008-2009, I actively spent about six months searching for prior art that
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`would potentially invalidate the Worlds patents-at-issue. I contacted the
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`Article One Partners organization in an attempt to win the $50,000.00
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`bounty that they offered for invalidating prior art. However, Article One
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`Partners rejected my attempts, and I became convinced that the Worlds
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`patents are solid.
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`21. I make this declaration of my own personal knowledge, and declare under
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`penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the
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`foregoing is true and correct.
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`Executed on this 14th day of March, 2016, at Placerville, CA.
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`_________________________
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`Ron Britvich
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