throbber

`
`
`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`____________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`____________
`
`SK HYNIX, INC.,
`Petitioner,
`
`v.
`
`NETLIST, INC,
`Patent Owner.
`____________
`
`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`____________
`
`Record of Oral Hearing
`Held: April 24, 2018
`
`
`
`
`Before STEPHEN C. SIU, MATTHEW R. CLEMENTS, and SHEILA F.
`McSHANE, Administrative Patent Judges.
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`
`
`APPEARANCES:
`
`ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER:
`
`
`JOSEPH MICALLEF, ESQUIRE
`Sidley Austin LLP
`1501 K Street, N.W.
`Washington, D.C. 20005
`
`
`
`ON BEHALF OF THE PATENT OWNER:
`
`
`TOM WIMBISCUS, ESQUIRE
`WAYNE BRADLEY, ESQUIRE
`McAndrew Held & Malloy Ltd.
`500 West Madison Street
`34th Floor
`Chicago, IL 60661
`
`
`
`
`The above-entitled matter came on for hearing on Tuesday, April 24,
`
`2018, at 2:50 p.m., at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Madison
`Building East, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia.
`
`
`
`
`2
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`
`P R O C E E D I N G S
`- - - - -
`JUDGE MCSHANE: Please be seated. Thank you. Give me one
`moment. Judge Clements, can you hear okay?
`JUDGE CLEMENTS: Yes, I can. Thank you.
`JUDGE MCSHANE: Judge Siu? Communications --
`JUDGE SIU: Yes.
`JUDGE MCSHANE: -- are acceptable? Okay, very good. Thank
`you. We are going to start a new transcript and this is the second session
`this afternoon on SK -- the Netlist cases. The case we're hearing now is for
`IPR2017-00692. I got that number correct gentlemen? Thank you. May we
`have appearances, please?
`MR. MICALLEF: Joe Micallef, Your Honor, for Petitioner.
`MR. WIMBISCUS: Good afternoon. Tom Wimbiscus, and with me
`is Wayne Bradley, for the Patent Owner.
`JUDGE MCSHANE: Welcome back, counsel. Thank you. This
`afternoon we're going to have Petitioner go first, reserve time for rebuttal.
`Patent Owner can then present their case and then any rebuttal we will hear
`from Petitioner. Each party will have 30 minutes to present its argument and
`you folks know the ground rules pretty well, so please try to use the
`microphone and call out the demonstrative numbers. Anything from any
`judges, any other comments?
`JUDGE CLEMENTS: Nothing from me.
`JUDGE MCSHANE: Okay.
`JUDGE SIU: Nothing from me.
`
`1
`2
`3
`4
`5
`6
`7
`8
`9
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`
`
`
`3
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`
`JUDGE MCSHANE: Thank you. Okay, Petitioner, as soon as you're
`ready please proceed. Thank you..
`MR. MICALLEF: Thank you, Your Honor. Joe Micallef for the
`Petitioners. In the last proceeding you raised the issue of the recently issued
`SAS case out of the Supreme Court, and I guess I should understand as you
`mentioned in the last proceeding but will be on a different transcript, that
`any arguments we may want to raise as to that case or I guess this case we
`should hold back and if we have such an argument sometime in the future
`contact the Board about it?
`JUDGE MCSHANE: Yes. If you see a need let us know that you
`want to call, okay --
`MR. MICALLEF: Okay.
`JUDGE MCSHANE: -- and we'll perhaps discuss what issues may be
`raised.
`MR. MICALLEF: Great. Thank you very much.
`JUDGE MCSHANE: Okay. Thank you.
`MR. MICALLEF: So, yes, this is the 692 proceeding on the 831
`patent, Your Honor. I have a number of slides, I'm going to jump around.
`Obviously I'm happy to go to any one of them or to address other issues
`Your Honors might have.
`I'm on slide 2 and these are the grounds that were instituted in this
`proceeding, anticipate claims 1 to 14, anticipation by Best claims 1 to 14
`obvious over Best with or without Roy and then a separate ground for claim
`15, obviousness over Best in view of Mills and Bonella with or without Roy.
`
`1
`2
`3
`4
`5
`6
`7
`8
`9
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`
`
`
`4
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`
`On slide 3 here, I think that this proceeding devolves to really two
`issues and that is for claims 1 to 14 whether the cited art satisfies the --
`actually whether the Best patent satisfies the claimed memory module. That
`really is just a pure claim construction issue as far as I can tell, and then
`there is an argument about claim 15. So really we're looking at two separate
`arguments in this proceeding that I think the Board has to resolve.
`So what I'd like to do is go through, just to focus us here, go through a
`very brief overview of the 831 patent and a very brief overview of the
`principal prior art, and then get into those two issues. I'm on slide 4. I have
`just the front page of figure 5A of the 831 patent. You can see it was issued
`from an application filed in 2012. It claims priority to a number of prior
`applications. We have asserted and argued, and shown that it does not get as
`early as provisional date. The other side has not contested that argument so
`its date is I think somewhere in the 2008 time frame.
`If I can go to slide 5, well actually let me jump ahead to slide 6 just
`because it has more interesting color coding. Claim 1, which is directed to a
`memory module, and has essentially four structural components that we've
`called out there non-volatile memory, data manager of volatile memory and
`a controller. Over here on the right of this slide is figure 5A which is an
`example of the disclosed memory module and you can see the Flashes the
`non-volatile memory, the DRAM is the volatile memory, and there's this
`data manager that sits in between that moves data back and forth and there is
`essentially a module controller.
`The fact that those -- I'll show you in a second -- the fact that those
`components exist in the prior art, that system is not really at issue here at all.
`
`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
`
`
`
`5
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`They don't dispute that. The dispute revolves around whether Best discloses
`a memory module as that term should be properly construed in the context of
`the 831 patent.
`So let me go to slide 9. This is the Best patent issued from a PCT
`filed in 2008. Claims priority to its own provisional in 2007. We have
`shown that it's entitled to that 2007 provisional date and the other side has
`not contested that. There's no question here that Best is prior art.
`If we go to slide 10. Again, it's the same claim 1 with the same color
`coding and figure 2 from Best, and you can see that it has the same hardware
`components, the non-volatile memory array like a Flash, the DRAM
`memory, a data manager called a data control steering component and a
`command decoder on the module.
`So let's go to slide -- let's start with slide 12. I just want to talk first
`about this claim construction issue which is the proper interpretation of
`memory module. Here on slide 13 I've added this to sort of focus us and
`ground us on where we are here. These are the interpretations of the phrase
`memory module that had been I guess at play at various points in time in this
`proceeding, and what I'd like to point is that the Patent Owner's preliminary
`response proposed an interpretation of memory module that did not include
`or require a printed circuit board which is what their argument is today, and
`the reason I'd like to point that out is because their argument is that the term
`memory module in the context of the 831 patent requires a printed circuit
`board and a person of ordinary skill in the art would know not just that you
`could make a memory module with a printed circuit board but that two
`words memory module absolutely require. But they didn't know that when
`
`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
`
`
`
`6
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`they filed their Patent Owner's preliminary response. Apparently they did
`not discover this limitation of this well known term of art as they say until
`some time after the Institution decision in that case, and I think that removes
`any credibility to this argument that everybody in this art knew that memory
`module required a printed circuit board, but apparently not for the Institution
`decision, and there's a reason that that PCB was not included in their
`preliminary response because everything in the intrinsic record says
`otherwise, absolutely everything.
`On here, this is slide 14, this is the key, two of the key passages from
`the 831 patent. It says in certain embodiments this disclosed memory
`module can have a DIMM form factor dual-online memory module form
`factor. Now they are taking the position that a DIMM necessarily requires a
`printed circuit board and we show that's incorrect in our briefing. The
`standard for DIMM at the time said nothing about a printed circuit board so
`it was not required, but even if you were to accept that the second quote on
`this slide explicitly says that their invention is not limited to a DIMM form
`factor. It says,
`"While the DIMM form factor will predominate the discussion herein,
`it should be understood that this is for illustrative purposes only and memory
`systems using other form factors are contemplated as well."
`This is a classic patent specification statement that is included in these
`kinds of documents when the patentee explicitly does not want the invention
`limited to a particular embodiment such as a memory module that includes a
`printed circuit board. That really is the end of the matter. I think once you
`put that statement in your specification, unless you put something in 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
`
`
`
`7
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`claim language which isn't here -- the claim doesn't say printed circuit board
`-- then you're not going to be limited to a DIMM form factor. Once you say
`in the specification I'm not limiting myself to a DIMM form factor then
`you're not limited unless you put the words in the claim itself. But just about
`everything else you can point to in this intrinsic record goes exactly the same
`way.
`
`So, for example, slide 15, another portion of the specification and I
`think this is particularly relevant here because on this slide what is being
`described is an example of the claimed memory module in which the various
`hardware components that I just showed you on those color coded figures
`are encapsulated in the same package. Well, that is in fact what the prior art
`Best patent discloses as a memory module, the Flash memory and the
`DRAM and some control circuitry encapsulated in the same packet. So in
`other words, the 831 patent discloses an embodiment that doesn't include a
`PCB, doesn't include the DIMM form factor, but instead employs the exact
`same form factor that is in the prior art Best patent that we are relying on.
`So Best clearly under any fair interpretation of reasonable interpretation of
`memory module Best satisfies.
`Now, they have relied on the parent application, this 916 application,
`and pointed to several passages, none of which helped them. They have
`pointed to, for example, paragraph 2 which is a description of the prior art
`because it mentions a printed circuit board, paragraph 31 because it
`mentions a printed circuit board. In both cases of course the language is
`permissive. It says, for example, in the prior art part, paragraph 2, certain
`types of memory modules comprise DRAMs mounted on a printed circuit
`
`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
`
`
`
`8
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`board. It doesn't mean they all do. In fact the necessary implication is only
`certain types do but others do not, and the same with the statement in
`paragraph 31. Completely permissive. This is how people write patent
`specifications so they're not limiting the claim by statements in the
`specification.
`Now I'm only going to spend a few minutes on these next points
`unless the panel has some questions, but we pointed out that the 916
`application also gives examples of other form factors including this -- I'm at
`slide 17, excuse me -- this MultiMedia card form factor, an MMC card form
`factor and on slide 18 we show that the MMC standard at the time did not
`require a PCB so there's a memory module example disclosed in the parent
`application which I should point out was incorporated by reference in the
`831 patent.
`Here's a memory module form factor that does not include a PCB in
`the prior art, and we also pointed on slide 19 and put it in the record a prior
`art mix patent which was, again, an example of a prior art memory module,
`an MMC memory module that did not employ a printed circuit board.
`So there are a couple of other arguments that are briefed up. I'm
`happy to answer questions but I don't want to use my time to address them at
`this point because I think, as I pointed out, this patent specification is
`explicitly permissive when it comes to the form factor of the memory
`module and this claim just cannot be limited to a PCB based memory
`module.
`So unless there are questions on that issue, I'd like to move to claim
`15, the second issue here, and if we can go to slide 31 I guess. Thank you.
`
`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
`
`
`
`9
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`Okay, or 32, we'll go to 32, that's fine. So here's claim 15, it's a dependent
`claim, depends from independent claim 7 and adds three steps. There's no
`dispute that Best discloses the first two steps. The argument is really based
`on this last step, operating a volatile memory subsystem at a third clock
`frequency when the memory module is in the second mode of operation and
`then the third clock frequency is less than the first clock frequency. There is
`no dispute as far as I can tell that Best discloses operating a volatile memory
`subsystem while the module is in the second mode of operation which, as
`defined in the petition, went right back to a recurring power loss situation.
`The dispute is whether the cited art satisfies the third clock frequency less
`than the first clock frequency.
`So that's the language that we're fighting over and we pointed out, and
`this is slide 40 -- let's jump up there very quickly, slide 40 -- that Bonella,
`another prior art patent, discloses this use of a lower operating frequency for
`the DRAM in a low power mode in a low power situation, and our argument
`was it would have been obvious to take that idea, the lower frequency in a
`low power situation, and plug it in to the Best patent in the manner that
`satisfied that last element of claim 15 and we did so.
`Our arguments were basically two reasons. If we can go back to -- I'll
`do it this way, slide 37. I'm on slide 37. We argued that first reducing
`power during volatile and non-volatile flush operations prompted by a power
`loss was a well known technique. Secondly, that one way to reduce power
`consumption of DRAM devices was to lower the operating frequency, and
`so where did we get that? We pointed to specific prior art references, for
`example, on slide 38, the prior art Ashmore patent, Exhibit 1011, states that
`
`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
`
`
`
`10
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`you can reduce battery power consumption during a main power loss to
`reduce the likelihood of loss of user write-cached data. So to reduce the
`likelihood of loss what Ashmore tells you is reduce power consumption.
`That's what Ashmore says.
`And then we pointed, and this is slide 39. The Long patent, Exhibit
`1012, which says one way to reduce that power consumption is to drop the
`operating frequency and he says as a result less power is consumed thus
`enabling the use of a smaller size back-up power source.
`So those were our prior art evidence of motivation to combine that
`technique, that lower frequency technique, of Bonella. We also pointed to --
`let's see here, slide 42 -- and I do want to focus a little bit on this slide
`because I think sometimes this gets a little lost. Our additional argument for
`obviousness here is that what we pointed to was simply the arrangement of
`old elements, each performing what they were known to do without any
`unexpected results and I'm sure as the panel is aware that the Supreme Court
`in KSR says when that occurs, that arrangement is obvious, and as the
`Federal Circuit has said that is a reason to combine the arrangement of old
`elements each doing what they were known to do with no unpredictable
`results.
`And I would submit to you that well, counsel for the Patent Owner is
`going to get up and has made certain arguments about the motivation to
`combine, they have not contested this reason to combine, what I call the
`arrangement of old elements argument. They have not contested, they have
`not said no, there's an unpredictable result here or they haven't said no, it
`wasn't known to reduce frequency of a DRAM to reduce power
`
`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
`
`
`
`11
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`consumption. They haven't said any of those things, so I think they have
`conceded this point and it is sufficient, at least according to the Supreme
`Court, to prove obviousness.
`So unless there are any questions, I would like to reserve the
`remainder of my time.
`JUDGE CLEMENTS: No questions.
`JUDGE MCSHANE: Okay. Thank you.
`MR. MICALLEF: Thank you.
`MR. BRADLEY: Judge McShane, would you like a hard copy?
`JUDGE MCSHANE: If you have one, yes.
`MR. BRADLEY: Good afternoon, and may it please the Board. My
`name is Wayne Bradley and I'm representing Patent Owner, Netlist. The
`issues that I'll discuss today, as the Petitioner talked about, is now the same.
`How Petitioner has conflated power and energy in the argument against
`claim 15 and the proper claim construction for memory module, and the fact
`that Best fails to teach a memory module as properly construed.
`So we'll skip ahead to 43, and I'm going to talk about claim 15 first.
`Claim 15 is a method for managing memory module, as the Petitioner has
`said, and is dependent on claim 7. As shown in the blue box here, in the first
`mode of operation the volatile memory subsystem, which I'll refer to as the
`VMS, is operating in a first clock frequency while data is communicated
`with the memory controller and in the second mode of operation data is
`communicated with the VMS or between the VMS and the non-volatile
`memory subsystem during the second mode and as shown in the green box,
`the non-volatile memory subsystem is operating in a second clock frequency
`
`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
`
`
`
`12
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`and as shown in the red box the VMS is operating a third clock frequency
`which is less than the first clock frequency. My discussion will focus on
`Petitioner's attempt to show the limitation in this red box.
`Turning now to slide 44. The 833 patent is incorporated by reference
`in the 831 patent. This is important because some support for claim 15 is
`found only in the text of the 833 patent specification. Turning now to slide
`45. As shown in the question and answer session on slide 45, Petitioner's
`expert stated that he never considered the 833 patent text during his 831
`patent analysis so he could not have understood claim 15 in the context of
`the relevant specification.
`Turning now to slide 47. The Petitioner's argument for the invalidity
`of claim 15 is based on a false premise and a misunderstanding of the
`concepts of power, energy and charge with respect to a battery. As
`described in the 831 patent, power sources such as batteries store energy as
`opposed to power. The petition was granted with respect to claim 15 based
`on an argument with the premise that reducing power enables the use of a
`smaller size battery power source without losing data due to insufficient
`back-up power as described here on slide 47. Petitioners argue that this
`premise would motivate one to reduce power in a power loss situation and
`that one way to reduce power in a VMS is by reducing the operating
`frequency to DRAM. But Petitioner's premise is incorrect because reducing
`power to vital components in a power loss situation will not reduce energy
`consumption and will not allow a smaller battery. In these vital operations
`the same amount of energy is just consumed over a longer period of time.
`
`1
`2
`3
`4
`5
`6
`7
`8
`9
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`
`
`
`13
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`
`In Ashmore and Long, for example, power is shut off to unneeded
`non-vital components. This allows energy savings which can reduce the
`battery size required for necessary functions, but none of Ashmore, Long or
`Bonella teaches reducing the amount of energy consumed by necessary
`operations in vital components. As I will discuss, Petitioner's proposed
`power reduction by reducing clock frequency to DRAM during data flush
`would not save energy and hence, would not allow for a reduction in battery
`size. Since all of the DRAM must be flushed in Petitioner's scenario the
`same amount of energy is used and the same amount of work is performed.
`Turning now to slide 48. Dr. Baker testified that energy, not power, is
`the appropriate metric when considering the sufficiency and size of a back-
`up power source. Power is the rate at which energy is used. As Dr. Baker
`explained to enable the use of a smaller sized back-up power source energy
`consumption must be reduced. As Dr. Baker also explained reducing power
`by half will not lead to a reduction in energy consumption because the time
`over which the power must be supplied is doubled. As Dr. Baker explained,
`based on Long and Ashmore one would not be motivated to reduce power to
`vital components during a power loss situation because energy consumption
`would not be reduced. Long and Ashmore reduced energy consumption by
`not performing certain tasks and spreading out the same work requires the
`same energy and hence the same battery size. Dr. Baker explained that the
`terms power and energy are frequently used interchangeable. Though such
`use is incorrect this is the error that's apparent here in the petition.
`Turning now to slide 49. Slide 49 provides excerpts from paragraph
`101 of Bonella's own power loss algorithm. As Dr. Baker explained,
`
`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
`
`
`
`14
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`Bonella teaches correctly that battery size is dependent on the amount of
`data that must be moved, not the operating frequency. The top half of
`Bonella's table here shows the constant parameters in Bonella's DRAM flush
`to Flash design and note that Bonella correctly uses the term power here in
`milliwatts and the bottom half of Bonella's table shows that energy reserves
`required by Bonella's battery are based on the amount of data to be moved.
`So looking, for example, at the bottom in the blue boxes, for example, look
`at the right two blue boxes on the bottom of the table. Here when you move,
`for example, one gigabyte of DRAM in the furthest right box that requires
`twice the energy as moving 512 megabytes. In Bonella moving twice the
`data doubles the time required because power stays constant and here 512
`megabytes takes 50 seconds to move and the 1024 megabytes takes 100
`seconds. Likewise, moving twice the data also doubles the charge required
`because voltage stays constant and energy is the product of charge and
`voltage. The petition argues that Bonella teaches that frequency reduction
`will obviously lead to a smaller battery. This is incorrect for the reasons just
`discussed.
`Turning now to slide 50. Petitioner's expert opinion was based on a
`motivation to reduce the size of the back-up battery when power down or a
`power loss situation is detected. The Petitioner's expert was asked about this
`back-up power source described in the petition and he provided a series of
`non-answers. He was asked,
`"Will your battery have a fixed amount of power or a fixed amount of
`charge when you begin the power down mode?"
`
`1
`2
`3
`4
`5
`6
`7
`8
`9
`10
`11
`12
`13
`14
`15
`16
`17
`18
`19
`20
`21
`22
`23
`24
`
`
`
`15
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`
`Petitioner's expert refused to squarely acknowledge that his battery
`has a fixed amount of charge when the power loss occurs. He answered,
`"Well, the battery it has neither fixed amount of power or charge
`because it depends on, let's say, the temperature depends what the situation
`and you're talking about when you're trying to power down you can't really
`talk about it in that way. I mean it's a question. Why are you doing power
`down? If your batter is leaking then it wouldn't be a fixed amount either.
`Depends on the circumstance."
`Petitioner's expert was asked again about the back-up power source
`described in the petition. He was asked,
`"When you go into power down mode and use a back-up battery now,
`a different source, is it the power of that different source or is it the energy
`of that different source that determines how much data can be moved?"
`Petitioner's expert was again evasive and dodged the question. He
`answered,
`"I think it's neither because let's say you have a situation that the
`battery is leaking so then it will have a fixed amount of neither."
`As I discussed, Petitioner's own reference illustrates that energy
`capacity determines how much data can be moved. Battery leakage was not
`discussed in the petition or in their expert's declaration. This type of non-
`answer was common throughout the deposition. Why did he do this?
`Because his analysis was obviously faulty.
`Turning now to slide 53. The petition cites to Long as an example of
`reducing power, but what allows for a smaller battery in Long is that Long
`saves energy which is power integrated over time. If non-vital areas are
`
`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
`
`
`
`16
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`merely turned off, the energy requirement in grey here on slide 53 can be
`completely removed. Overall energy can be saved and a smaller battery can
`be used. But note, what Long is doing is just completely eliminating these
`tasks here in grey. He's not saying I'm going to provide a lower frequency
`for these tasks, he's just completely eliminating. So they're not being done
`during this power loss situation. So there's no data being moved here in
`grey. The data being moved is in the blue. Likewise, Long teaches that
`energy consumed by a controller while running a magnetic disk drive can be
`eliminated because these drives are not used during Long's power loss mode.
`Turning now to slide 54. Similar to Long, Ashmore saves energy by
`turning off non-critical memory banks. It should be noted that Long and
`Ashmore use the terms power when they mean energy. This adds another
`level of misunderstanding to Petitioner's combination of art. Petitioner's
`slide 38 shows a statement in the POR that is from the decision denying the
`649 IPR. In the 649 IPR decision the Board described Ashmore's "general
`motivation to reduce battery power during power loss." Ashmore uses the
`term "battery power" when referring to energy. Likewise, Long uses the
`term "power consumption" to refer to energy consumption and this is even
`more apparent when, for example, in claim 2 in Long where he's talking
`about power consumption rate. That's not something in science. He's really
`referring to power. Power consumption rate, see he ran out of terms when
`he was talking about the rate at which energy was moved. He really was
`referring to power here.
`Turning now to slide 55. As Dr. Baker described, lowering the
`DRAM operating frequency does not reduce energy and data will be lost if
`
`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
`
`
`
`17
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`energy or charge is insufficient. Therefore Ashmore and Long do not
`provide a motivation to use Bonella's lower frequency for DRAM flow
`because it does not allow for a smaller battery. As he depicted here in the
`blue areas, the same amount of energy is used regardless of the operating
`frequency. On the left the power is used for time T and on the right half of
`that power is used for time 2T.
`Turning now to slide 56. Dr. Baker described that lowering the
`DRAM operating frequency does not reduce energy. Rather, energy is a
`well-studied metric that does not change as a function of the operating
`frequency and you heard the Petitioner say that we've conceded that all the
`old operations put together, you know, is their new theory, but no, we have
`not conceded that. We're showing here that there's just no motivation to do
`this operation. There's no teaching here that the DRAM operating frequency
`will reduce energy.
`Turning now to slide 57. Petitioner's expert agreed that "the reading
`out of the DRAM could end up taking longer at lower frequency." In
`summary, the logic in the petition is fundamentally incorrect. Petition fails
`to treat power as the rate of energy consumption. The Petitioner's expert did
`not understand that battery size is determined by the available energy rather
`than power and nothing in the record shows that power of the back-up
`battery is limited. Ashmore and Long do not provide a motivation to use
`Bonella's lower frequency for DRAM flush because lowering power without
`reducing power consumption does not allow for a smaller battery.
`Turning now to slide 59. On reply, Petitioners did not rebut the fact
`that a lower operating frequency would not save energy for a DRAM flush.
`
`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
`
`
`
`18
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`Instead they added a new theory. On reply beginning at page 22, Petitioners
`propose a new idle period theory about energy consumption. This new
`theory is not responsive to the POR, it's untimely, and lacks support from
`their expert. Patent Owner therefore objects to this as a new theory.
`Moreover, the technology in this case is complex and Petitioner's reply is
`based only on attorney argument. But even considering it, Petitioner's idle
`period theory is incorrect and unsupported because Petitioner's have failed to
`show that the same memory can be refreshed at a lower power regardless of
`the operating frequency so therefore there's always this threshold that needs
`to be held for power for refreshing regardless of what speed the DRAM is
`operating at.
`Turning now to slide 60. If the power is reduced to the DRAM, the
`same energy is distributed over a longer time. Therefore even with this new
`idle mode theory a lower operating frequency does not guarantee a smaller
`battery. Having made no reference to this argument in their demonstratives,
`Petitioners have apparently recognized that this, their only remaining
`argument, is unsupported. Now turning back to slide 9 and the meaning of
`memory module.
`JUDGE CLEMENTS: Counsel, before we go to the memory
`modules.
`MR. BRADLEY: Sure.
`JUDGE CLEMENTS: Petitioner says in reply basically Flash is the
`rate-limiting component here, the data transfer rates to and from Flash are
`much slower than data transfer rates to and from the DRAM, so that being
`the case why clock the DRAM at 100 times the data rates of the Flash when
`
`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
`
`
`
`19
`
`

`

`Case IPR2017-00692
`Patent 8,874,831
`
`you could lower it down to ten times the data rates of the Flash and not take
`up any additional time, but use less power because you're clocking the
`DRAM slower. That argument I have to admit seems fairly persuasive to
`me. What do you say in response to that?
`MR. BRADLEY: They would be using a lower power, yes, but for a
`longer period of time. If you flush, as described in the patent, into a buffer
`then you only are operating the DRAM for a short period of time. So it's
`just a trade off between time and power but the same amount of energy will
`be consumed out of the battery.
`JU

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