Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 1 of 35 PageID# 1
`
`IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
`ALEXANDRIA DIVISION
`
`
`SOUNDCLEAR TECHNOLOGIES LLC,
`
`Plaintiff,
`
`Defendant.
`
` v.
`
`GOOGLE LLC,
`
`
`
`Case No. 1:24-cv-1281
`
`Jury Trial Demanded
`
`COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT
`
`Plaintiff SoundClear Technologies LLC (“SoundClear”) files this complaint against
`
`Google LLC (hereinafter collectively “Google” or “Defendant”) for infringement of United
`
`States Patent Nos. 11,069,337; 11,244,675; and 9,223,487 (the “Patents-in-Suit”), attached here
`
`as Exhibits 1-3.
`
`NATURE OF THE ACTION
`
`1.
`
`This is an action for patent infringement arising under the patent laws of the
`
`United States, 35 U.S.C. §§1 et seq.
`
`THE PARTIES
`
`2.
`
`SoundClear is a limited liability company organized under the laws of the
`
`Commonwealth of Virginia with its principal place of business at 1900 Reston Metro Plaza,
`
`Suite 600, Reston, VA 20190.
`
`
`
`1
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 2 of 35 PageID# 2
`
`3.
`
`On information and belief, defendant Google is a corporation organized and
`
`existing under the laws of the state of Delaware with a principal place of business at 1600
`
`Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California 94043.
`
`4.
`
`On information and belief, Google.com, Inc. may be served with process through
`
`its registered agent, Corporation Service Company, 251 Little Falls Drive, Wilmington,
`
`Delaware 19808, or anywhere it may be found.
`
`5.
`
`Google does business across the United States, including in the Commonwealth of
`
`Virginia and, more specifically, in the Eastern District of Virginia through at least its offices at
`
`1900 Reston Metro Plaza, Reston, Virginia 20190.
`
`6.
`
`On information and belief, Google has been authorized to transact business in the
`
`Commonwealth of Virginia and the Eastern District of Virginia since on or about October 31,
`
`2017, under Virginia Entity ID T0723124.
`
`7.
`
`On information and belief, Defendant sells and offers to sell products and services
`
`throughout Virginia, including in this judicial district, as well as throughout the United States,
`
`and introduces products and services that perform infringing processes into the stream of
`
`commerce knowing that they would be used, offered for sale, or sold in this judicial district and
`
`elsewhere in the United States.
`
`8.
`
`On information and belief, Google has made, used, offered to sell, offered to sell
`
`access to, sold, and/or sold access to products and services, including the following specifically
`
`accused products and services: (1) Google Home, Google Nest Mini (1st Gen), Google Home
`
`Mini (1st Gen), Google Home Max, Google Nest Audio, Google Nest Hub, Google Nest Hub
`
`Max, and Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen.), and Google Assistant (collectively “Google Home
`
`Products”); (2) Google Nexus/Pixel devices (all generations) (collectively “Google Nexus/Pixel
`
`
`
`2
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 3 of 35 PageID# 3
`
`Products”); (3) Google Assistant built-in smart screen products (collectively “Google Assistant
`
`Products”); (4) current or legacy products or services, which use, or have used, one or more of
`
`the foregoing products and services as a component product or component service; (5)
`
`combinations of products and/or services comprising, in whole or in part, two or more of the
`
`foregoing products and services; and, (6) all other current or legacy products and services
`
`imported, made, used, sold, or offered for sale by Google that operate, or have operated in a
`
`substantially similar manner as the above-listed products and services. (As used herein, one or
`
`more of the foregoing products and services are individually and collectively referred to as “the
`
`Google Products and Services”).
`
`9.
`
`On information and belief, Google, as well as the hardware and software
`
`components comprising the Google Products and Services and/or that enable the Google
`
`Products and Services to operate, including but not limited to servers, server software, webserver
`
`software, webserver hardware, email server hardware, email server software, website client
`
`software, mobile computing device client application software, networked communications
`
`hardware, network routers, network switches, network hubs, WIFI access point hardware, WIFI
`
`access point software, point-of-sale hardware, point-of-sale software, back-end hardware, back-
`
`end software, cloud-based software, cloud-based hardware, and other hardware and software
`
`computing systems and components infringes (literally and/or under the doctrine of equivalents)
`
`at least one claim of each of the Patents-in-Suit.
`
`JURISDICTION AND VENUE
`
`10.
`
`This civil action arises under the Patent Laws of the United States, 35 U.S.C. § 1
`
`et seq. Accordingly, this Court has subject matter jurisdiction under at least 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331
`
`and 1338(a).
`
`
`
`3
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 4 of 35 PageID# 4
`
`11.
`
`This Court has general and specific personal jurisdiction over Google because it
`
`regularly conducts and solicits business, or otherwise engages in other persistent courses of
`
`conduct in this judicial district, and/or derives substantial revenue from the use, sale, and
`
`distribution of goods and services, including but not limited to the accused Google Products and
`
`Services provided to individuals and businesses in the Eastern District of Virginia.
`
`12.
`
`Google has committed and continues to commit acts of infringement within this
`
`district and, thereby, giving rise to this action and establishing minimum contacts with this forum
`
`such that the exercise of jurisdiction over Google would not offend traditional notion of fair play
`
`and substantial justice. Google has employees, offices, and facilities in this District and has
`
`purposefully conducted and continues to purposefully conduct business in this District, as
`
`demonstrated by (a) Google’s maintenance of regular and established places of business in this
`
`District, including its office at 1900 Reston Metro Plaza, Reston, VA 20190 (see
`
`https://www.restonnow.com/2021/03/18/just-in-google-to-lease-more-space-at-reston-station/),
`
`(b) Google’s advertisement of 65 available job postings for its Reston office as of April 2023
`
`(see https://www.google.com/about/careers/applications/locations/reston/), and, (c) Google’s
`
`economic impact report stating that Google also provided “more than 475,000 Virginia
`
`businesses” with “direct connections to their customers” in 2021 including by, inter alia,
`
`providing directions requested by a user, and has invested $1.2 billion in Loudoun County, VA,
`
`including investments in the construction and maintenance of multiple data centers. (See id.;
`
`https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/loudoun-county/).
`
`13.
`
`Google has previously submitted to the jurisdiction of this Court.
`
`
`
`4
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 5 of 35 PageID# 5
`
`14.
`
`Venue is proper pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1391 and/or 1400(b), at least because
`
`Google has committed acts of infringement in this judicial district and has a regular and
`
`established places of business in this judicial district.
`
`THE ASSERTED PATENTS
`
`U.S. Patent No. 11,069,337
`
`15.
`
`On July 20, 2021, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”)
`
`duly and legally issued United States Patent No. 11,069,337 (“the ’337 patent”) entitled “Voice-
`
`Content Control Device, Voice-Content Control Method, and Non-Transitory Storage Medium”
`
`to inventor Tatsumi Naganuma.
`
`16.
`
`17.
`
`18.
`
`The ’337 patent is presumed valid under 35 U.S.C. § 282.
`
`SoundClear owns all rights, title, and interest in the ’337 patent.
`
`SoundClear has not granted Defendant an approval, an authorization, or a license
`
`to the rights under the ’337 patent.
`
`19.
`
`The ’337 relates to, among other things, a voice-content control device and
`
`method, that, “classif[ies] [an] … acquired voice as either one of a first voice and a second
`
`voice” and “adjust[s] the sound volume of voice data” based on the classification of the acquired
`
`voice. ’337 patent, Col. 19, lines 26-27, Col. 20 lines 4-9; see also, e.g., id., Col. 1, line 66
`
`through Col. 2 line 11.
`
`20.
`
` The method “calculat[es] a distance between a user and a voice-content control
`
`device” and “analyz[es] the acquired voice … based on the distance.” Id., Col. 19, lines 23-28;
`
`see also, e.g., id., Col. 1, line 66 through Col. 2 line 11.
`
`
`
`5
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 6 of 35 PageID# 6
`
`21.
`
`This manner of voice-content control allows for the “influence of the output voice
`
`to people other than the user … to be suppressed, and the content of the output voice to the user
`
`… to be made adequately understandable.” Id., Col. 1, lines 39-42.
`
`U.S. Patent No. 11,244,675
`
`22.
`
`On February 8, 2022, the USPTO duly and legally issued United States Patent No.
`
`11,244,675 (“the ’675 patent”) entitled “Word Replacement in Output Generation for Detected
`
`Intent by Voice Classification” to inventor Tatsumi Naganuma.
`
`23.
`
`24.
`
`25.
`
`The ’675 patent is presumed valid under 35 U.S.C. § 282.
`
`SoundClear owns all rights, title, and interest in the ’675 patent.
`
`SoundClear has not granted Defendant an approval, an authorization, or a license
`
`to the rights under the ’675 patent.
`
`26.
`
`The ’675 patent relates to, among other things, an output-content control device
`
`and method, that, “acquir[es] a voice spoken by a user” and “classif[ies] the voice into either a
`
`first voice or a second voice” and generating output sentences with different information based
`
`on the classification of the acquired voice. ’675 patent, Col. 22, lines 9-12 and 20-28; see also,
`
`e.g., id., Col. 1, line 62 through Col. 2 line 8.
`
`27.
`
`The method “calculat[es] a distance between the user and an output-content
`
`control device by a proximity sensor” and “classif[ies] the acquired voice … based on the
`
`calculated distance.” Id., Col. 22, lines 10-13; see also, e.g., id., Col. 1, line 63 through Col. 2,
`
`line 8.
`
`28.
`
`This manner of output-content control allows for “a content of notification in
`
`response to an inquiry of a user difficult to be understood by people other than the user when the
`
`content of the notification is output.” Id., Col. 1, lines 35-37.
`
`
`
`6
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 7 of 35 PageID# 7
`
`U.S. Patent No. 9,223,487
`
`29.
`
`On December 29, 2015, the USPTO duly and legally issued United States Patent
`
`No. 9,223,487 (“the ’487 patent”) entitled “Electronic Apparatus, Method of Controlling the
`
`Same, and Related Computer Program” to inventor Yoshie Maeda.
`
`30.
`
`31.
`
`32.
`
`The ’487 patent is presumed valid under 35 U.S.C. § 282.
`
`SoundClear owns all rights, title, and interest in the ’487 patent.
`
`SoundClear has not granted Defendant an approval, an authorization, or a license
`
`to the rights under the ’487 patent.
`
`33.
`
`The ’487 patent relates to, among other things, an electronic apparatus and
`
`method of controlling an electronic apparatus using “a touch panel superposed on the display and
`
`acquiring positions of the user’s touches to the touch panel as touch positions.” ’487 patent, Col.
`
`23, lines 52-54; see also, e.g., id., Col. 4, lines 44-62.
`
`34.
`
`The method determines “whether or not the calculated distance between the first
`
`and second touch positions decreases in accordance with the lapse of time,” and sets a
`
`“rectangular area and select[s] the object or objects contained in the rectangular area in cases
`
`where … the distance between the first and second touch positions decreases in accordance with
`
`the lapse of time, the first angle is smaller than the prescribed angle, and the second angle is
`
`smaller than the prescribed angle.” Id., Col. 23, lines 59-61; Col. 24, lines 21-27; see also, e.g.,
`
`id., Col. 4, lines 44-62.
`
`35.
`
`This manner of controlling an electronic apparatus “allow[s] a user to give a
`
`command for a process by easy operation.” Id., Col. 5, lines 20-21.
`
`
`
`7
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 8 of 35 PageID# 8
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONS
`
`36.
`
`These patents have been generated by the R&D engineers of a major audio
`
`processing product power house, namely JVC, now known as JVC Kenwood (“JVCK”).
`
`37.
`
`JVCK is well known for producing quality, leading-edge audio and associated
`
`products and has a long and esteemed history in doing so.
`
`38.
`
`The Patents-in-Suit were developed within the R&D department of JVCK, which
`
`consisted of many thousands of professional engineers spread over a number of R&D facilities.
`
`39.
`
`Over the years, JVCK employed the host of audio technologies that it developed
`
`to bring forward an array of leading-edge products to market.
`
`40.
`
`JVCK typically invested $260m in R&D per year to develop commercially viable
`
`technologies capable of generating substantial revenues.
`
`41.
`
`JVCK has, for various reasons, realigned its technology focus over recent years,
`
`which has led the company to divest a number of patents it developed.
`
`42.
`
`SoundClear has acquired these patents and has worked to identify companies that
`
`it believes are utilizing the technologies and profiting from the claimed inventions.
`
`CLAIMS FOR RELIEF
`
`COUNT I - Infringement of the ’337 patent
`
`43.
`
`SoundClear repeats, realleges, and incorporates by reference, as if fully set forth
`
`here, the allegations of the preceding paragraphs above.
`
`44.
`
`On information and belief, Defendant (or those acting on their behalf) make, use,
`
`sell, sell access to, import, offer to sell and/or offer to sell access to the Google Products and
`
`Services in the United States that infringe (literally and/or under the doctrine of equivalents) at
`
`least claim 4 of the ’337 patent.
`
`
`
`8
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 9 of 35 PageID# 9
`
`45.
`
`On information and belief, one or more components of the Google Products and
`
`Services is, employs, or provides a voice-content control method (e.g., a method for receiving
`
`and processing voice sound signals), comprising of several method steps. On information and
`
`belief and as an example, one or more Google Products and Services receive user voice inputs
`
`through a microphone, is connected to Google servers, and receives information from Google
`
`that is then relayed to the user via its speaker. See
`
`https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Google+Home+Teardown/72684;
`
`https://www.gadgetguy.com.au/google-nest-audio-sounds-pretty-good-to-me/.
`
`46.
`
`On information and belief, one or more components of the Google Products and
`
`Services is, employs, or provides a voice-content control method comprising calculating a
`
`distance (e.g., using ultrasound sensing, camera sensing, and/or an algorithm for detecting the
`
`location of the voice audio source (e.g., “neural network adaptive beamforming (NAB)”))
`
`between a user (e.g., a person within range of a Home/Nest device) and a voice-content control
`
`device (e.g., a Home/Nest device). On information and belief and as an example, one or more
`
`components of Google Products and Services use “ultrasound sensing” to “determine whether a
`
`person is approaching the device.” See
`
`https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9509981?hl=en#zippy=%2Cgoogle-nest-displays.
`
`On information and belief and as a further example, Google Products and Services perform this
`
`feature by “emit[ting] soft, inaudible ultrasonic pulses” through its speaker, which are “reflected
`
`off of nearby objects in the room and the microphones to detect these reflections.” See id. On
`
`information and belief, Google Products and Services use ultrasound sensing to determine how
`
`close a person is to the device. See id; see also
`
`https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9330256;
`
`
`
`9
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 10 of 35 PageID# 10
`
`https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/5/20996723/nest-hub-ultrasonic-proximity-sensor-explainer;
`
`https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/6/20951602/google-nest-hub-max-ultrasonic-sensing-timer-
`
`commute-weather. On information and belief and as further example, Google Products and
`
`Services use “cameras” to “detect things like motion, activity, people or gestures.” See
`
`https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9330256. On information and belief, Google
`
`Products and Services use “camera sensing” at least with its “Face Match,” “Quick Gestures,”
`
`and “Look and Talk” features. See https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9449279.
`
`Further, as an example, one or more Google Products and Services “filter[] for proximity using
`
`the detected face box size to infer distance” and when a user “looks at the Nest Hub Max within
`
`5ft of distance, gray dots appear, indicating that Assistant is ready to take user queries.” See
`
`https://research.google/blog/look-and-talk-natural-conversations-with-google-assistant/?m=1.
`
`See also https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9330256;
`
`https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9449279. On information and belief and as an
`
`example, one or more Google Products and Services include and/or utilize hardware and
`
`software that perform a “neural beamforming” technique which determines the location of the
`
`audio source. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWLcyFtni6U at 5:29-5:49. On
`
`information and belief, Google’s neural beamforming technique is also called “neural network
`
`adaptive beamforming (NAB).” See
`
`https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en/pubs/archive/45399.pdf. On
`
`information and belief and as a further example, Google’s NAB process uses “[Long Short-Term
`
`Memory] LSTM layers to predict time domain beamforming filter coefficients at each input
`
`frame,” thus allowing the algorithm to “adapt to previously unseen or changing conditions.” See
`
`id. at 1. The “responses in the target speech direction have relatively more speech-dependent
`
`
`
`10
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 11 of 35 PageID# 11
`
`variations than those in the noise direction[]” and Google Products and Services rely on
`
`“principles of delay-and-sum (DS) beamforming to perform the NAB process. See id. Further, on
`
`information and belief and as an example, Google Products and Services use a spectral distortion
`
`model for training phase-sensitive deep-neural networks for far-field speech recognition that
`
`relies on phase difference (PD) principles. See
`
`https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en/pubs/archive/46600.pdf; see
`
`also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWLcyFtni6U at 5:29-5:49. On information and belief
`
`and as an example, Google Products and Services are operably connected across devices to
`
`detect motion and have “Activity Sensors” that can detect motion, proximity, and/or presence of
`
`nearby objects. See https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9330256; see also
`
`https://www.itechpost.com/articles/113995/20220924/google-home-can-now-use-nest-hub-and-
`
`speakers-to-detect-presence.htm.
`
`47.
`
`On information and belief, one or more components of the Google Products and
`
`Services is, employs, or provides a voice-content control method comprising acquiring (e.g.,
`
`using microphones and hardware/software to receive and process voice sounds) a voice spoken
`
`by a user (e.g., a voice sound). On information and belief and as an example, Google Products
`
`and Services use microphones to acquire voice sounds, which include two microphones that form
`
`a microphone array, and which receives audio from one or more sound sources including the
`
`voice of a person. See https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Google+Home+Teardown/72684. On
`
`information and belief and as further example, Google Products and Services use additional
`
`hardware components to acquire voice sounds, such as Atmel ATSAMD21 32-bit ARM Cortext-
`
`M0+ microcontroller and a processor that controls the operation modes of a transmitter unit. See
`
`https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Google+Home+Teardown/72684. On information and belief
`
`
`
`11
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 12 of 35 PageID# 12
`
`and as an example, Google Products and Services use software components to acquire voice
`
`sounds, including software associated with Google Assistant and/or a keyword spotting system
`
`(KWS) to process voice sounds. See
`
`https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en/pubs/archive/46554.pdf;
`
`https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9325085?hl=en;
`
`https://developers.google.com/assistant/how-assistant-works/understanding-your-request;
`
`https://developers.home.google.com/local-home/overview;
`
`https://developers.google.com/assistant/sdk/device-actions-overview;
`
`https://youtu.be/LcuouG7Ofpc?si=Px-VyCovId57tyP9&t=253;
`
`https://medium.com/@sweetmantech/how-google-assistant-works-7738b7ba08aa.
`
`48.
`
`On information and belief, one or more components of the Google Products and
`
`Services is, employs, or provides a voice-content control method comprising analyzing the
`
`acquired voice (e.g., the signal representing the voice sound) to classify the acquired voice as
`
`either one of a first voice (e.g., the voice of a particular first person, or a near/close voice) and a
`
`second voice (e.g., the voice of a particular second person, or a far/distant voice) based on the
`
`distance between the user and the voice-content control device. On information and belief and as
`
`an example, one or more Google Products and Services analyze an acquired voice signal and
`
`classify it as a first voice or a second voice and is capable of classifying voices based on a Voice
`
`Match profile/model associated with individual users, which ensure personalized results such as
`
`a user’s playlist, calendar, etc. when the user’s voice is detected. See
`
`https://support.google.com/assistant/answer/9071681?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid;
`
`https://support.google.com/assistant/answer/9071681?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid#
`
`zippy=%2Chow-voice-match-works. On information and belief and as another example, one or
`
`
`
`12
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 13 of 35 PageID# 13
`
`more Google Products and Services classify a voice signal as a first voice (near) or a second
`
`voice (far) using, e.g., the ultrasound sensing feature, the camera sensing feature, and/or NAB
`
`feature. On information and belief, based on the distance calculated using the ultrasound sensing
`
`and camera sensing features, the Google Products and Services determine that the acquired voice
`
`sound is originating from a user that is near or far from device and use that information to
`
`process the voice sounds accordingly (e.g., to adjust the display/appearance of information
`
`presented in response to the acquired voice signal). On information and belief and as another
`
`example, based on the distance calculated using the NAB feature (e.g., in determining the
`
`location of the voice source and the amount of interference and noise acquired), the Google
`
`Products and Services determine that the acquired voice sound is originating from a user that is
`
`near or far from device and use that information to process the voice sounds accordingly (e.g., to
`
`apply enhanced additional noise cancelation/suppression for voice signals that originate further
`
`away from the device).
`
`49.
`
`On information and belief, one or more components of the Google Products and
`
`Services is, employs, or provides a voice-content control method comprising analyzing the
`
`acquired voice to execute processing intended by the user (e.g., processing audio signals
`
`representing voice sounds and transcribing them into text). On information and belief and as an
`
`example, one or more Google Products and Services use on-board processing to analyze the
`
`speech input provided by the user, and at least a portion of the speech recognition processing
`
`data is sent to the Google cloud for further processing. See
`
`https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en/pubs/archive/46554.pdf;
`
`https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9325085?hl=en;
`
`https://developers.google.com/assistant/how-assistant-works/understanding-your-request;
`
`
`
`13
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 14 of 35 PageID# 14
`
`https://developers.home.google.com/local-home/overview;
`
`https://developers.google.com/assistant/sdk/device-actions-overview;
`
`https://youtu.be/LcuouG7Ofpc?si=Px-VyCovId57tyP9&t=253;
`
`https://medium.com/@sweetmantech/how-google-assistant-works-7738b7ba08aa;
`
`https://support.google.com/assistant/answer/11140942?hl=en#zippy=%2Cfederated-learning;
`
`https://research.google/blog/federated-learning-collaborative-machine-learning-without-
`
`centralized-training-data/; https://cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/ondevice/docs;
`
`https://youtu.be/LcuouG7Ofpc?si=UwtobCdxAdHZr6DD&t=362.
`
`50.
`
`On information and belief, one or more components of the Google Products and
`
`Services is, employs, or provides a voice-content control method comprising generating, based
`
`on content of the executed processing, output sentence (e.g., information provided by the
`
`Home/Nest device in response to the user voice signal acquired by the Home/Nest device) that is
`
`text data for a voice to be output to the user. On information and belief and as an example, one or
`
`more Google Products and Services, after analyzing the user’s voice input by the on-board
`
`processor and the Google cloud, output a response that is presented as a text string, which can be
`
`further converted into an audio signal using a Text-To-Speech (TTS) unit and audibly output to
`
`the user through the Home/Nest device. See
`
`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcuouG7Ofpc&t=253s;
`
`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcuouG7Ofpc&t=525s;
`
`https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/7130274?hl=en;
`
`https://medium.com/@sweetmantech/how-google-assistant-works-7738b7ba08aa.
`
`51.
`
`On information and belief, one or more components of the Google Products and
`
`Services is, employs, or provides a voice-content control method comprising adjusting (e.g.,
`
`
`
`14
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 15 of 35 PageID# 15
`
`using Ambient IQ) a sound volume of voice data obtained by converting the output sentence
`
`thereinto. On information and belief and as an example, Google Products and Services use the
`
`Ambient IQ feature, which allows the automatic adjustment of volume of Google Assistant’s
`
`voice response according to the ambient noise. See https://blog.google/intl/en-
`
`in/products/hardware/made-for-music-new-nest-audio-is-here/.
`
`52.
`
`On information and belief, one or more components of the Google Products and
`
`Services is, employs, or provides a voice-content control method comprising wherein at the
`
`generating, a first output sentence (e.g., a first set of information provided by the Home/Nest
`
`device in response to the user voice signal acquired by the Home/Nest device) is generated as the
`
`output sentence when the acquired voice has been classified as the first voice, and a second
`
`output sentence (e.g., a second set of information provided by the Home/Nest device in response
`
`to the user voice signal acquired by Home/Nest device) is generated as the output sentence in
`
`which a part of information included in the first output sentence is omitted when the acquired
`
`voice has been classified as the second voice (e.g., the second set of information includes less or
`
`different information than the first set). On information and belief and as an example, one or
`
`more Google Products and Services can display and/or audibly present different information
`
`depending on whether an acquired voice has been classified as one that corresponds to one
`
`particular user or another, and Google Assistant generates personalized voice and/or visual
`
`responses using Voice Match, in order to recognize a user by their voice and provide the user
`
`with personalized results (e.g., their calendar schedule, music playlist, etc.). See
`
`https://support.google.com/assistant/answer/9071681?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid;
`
`https://support.google.com/assistant/answer/9071681?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid#
`
`zippy=%2Chow-voice-match-works;
`
`
`
`15
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 16 of 35 PageID# 16
`
`https://support.google.com/assistant/answer/9071681?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid#
`
`zippy=%2Chow-voice-match-works%2Cvoice-match-personal-results.
`
`53.
`
`On information and belief, one or more components of the Google Products and
`
`Services is, employs, or provides a voice-content control method comprising wherein at
`
`adjusting the sound volume of voice data, further adjusting the sound volume of voice data such
`
`that the sound volume of voice data obtained by converting the first output sentence thereinto
`
`differs (e.g., is output at a higher/lower volume) from the sound volume of voice data obtained
`
`by converting the second output sentence thereinto. On information and belief and as an
`
`example, Google Products and Services maintain Ambient IQ, which automatically adjusts the
`
`volume of Google Assistant’s voice response. See https://blog.google/intl/en-
`
`in/products/hardware/made-for-music-new-nest-audio-is-here/. On information and belief and as
`
`further example, if the acquired voice signal includes significant sound interference signals,
`
`Google Products and Services can increase the volume of its response compared to the volume of
`
`its response if fewer interference signals were detected. See id.
`
`54.
`
`On information and belief, Defendant directly infringe at least claim 4 of the ’337
`
`patent in violation of 35 U.S.C. § 271(a) by making, using, selling, selling access to, importing,
`
`offering for sale, and/or offering to sell access to the Google Products and Services.
`
`55.
`
`Defendant’ infringement has damaged SoundClear and caused / continues to
`
`cause it to suffer irreparable harm and damages.
`
`COUNT II - Infringement of the ’675 patent
`
`56.
`
`SoundClear repeats, realleges, and incorporates by reference, as if fully set forth
`
`here, the allegations of the preceding paragraphs above.
`
`
`
`16
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 17 of 35 PageID# 17
`
`57.
`
`On information and belief, Defendant (or those acting on their behalf) make, use,
`
`sell, sell access to, import, offer to sell and/or offer to sell access to the Google Products and
`
`Services in the United States that infringes (literally and/or under the doctrine of equivalents) at
`
`least claim 6 of the ’675 patent.
`
`58.
`
`On information and belief, one or more components of the Google Products and
`
`Services is, employs, or provides an output-content control method (e.g., a method for receiving
`
`and processing voice sound signals), comprising several method steps. On information and belief
`
`and as an example, one or more Google Products and Services receive user voice inputs through
`
`a microphone, is connected to Google servers, and receives information from Google that is then
`
`relayed to the user via its speaker. See
`
`https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Google+Home+Teardown/72684;
`
`https://www.gadgetguy.com.au/google-nest-audio-sounds-pretty-good-to-me/.
`
`59.
`
`On information and belief, one or more components of the Google Products and
`
`Services is, employs, or provides an output-content control method comprising acquiring (e.g.,
`
`using microphones and hardware/software to receive and process voice sounds) a voice spoken
`
`by a user (e.g., a voice sound). On information and belief and as an example, Google Products
`
`and Services use microphones to acquire voice sounds, which include two microphones that form
`
`a microphone array, and which receives audio from one or more sound sources including the
`
`voice of a person. See https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Google+Home+Teardown/72684. On
`
`information and belief and as further example, Google Products and Services use additional
`
`hardware components to acquire voice sounds, such as Atmel ATSAMD21 32-bit ARM Cortext-
`
`M0+ microcontroller and a processor that controls the operation modes of a transmitter unit. See
`
`https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Google+Home+Teardown/72684. On information and belief
`
`
`
`17
`
`

`

`Case 3:24-cv-00540-MHL Document 1 Filed 07/25/24 Page 18 of 35 PageID# 18
`
`and as an example, Google Produc