PTAB

IPR2021-00927

Tile Inc v. Linquet Technologies Inc

Key Events

Petition

petition

Title: System for Detecting Placement or Misplacement of an Object
Brief Description: The ’318 patent discloses a system for tracking wireless tags attached to objects using electronic devices, such as mobile phones. The system determines whether a tag is within a predetermined range of an associated device and utilizes a network of other electronic devices to locate tags that are outside that range, reporting location and status information to an external server.

Prior Art Relied Upon: Teller (Patent 8,810,392) in view of the knowledge of a person of ordinary skill in the art (POSA).
Core Argument for this Ground:
- Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner argued that Teller discloses a peer-to-peer lost-and-found network containing all core elements of the claimed system. Teller’s "monitoring devices" (a "first electronic device") track associated wireless tags, determine their own position, and detect when a tag is outside a pre-set "proximity requirement" (the claimed "predetermined range"). Upon this detection, Teller’s device transmits the tag's "lost" status and its location to a central "monitoring-support system" (the "external electronic device"). Teller also teaches that other, unassociated monitoring devices in the network (a "second electronic device") can detect lost tags and report their location and a "found" status to the server.
- Motivation to Combine: The petition asserted that combining the various disclosed functionalities within the single Teller reference to arrive at the claimed invention would have been an obvious design choice for a POSA.
- Expectation of Success: Petitioner argued that a POSA would have had a reasonable expectation of success in combining Teller's disclosed elements because they are all described as components of a single, cohesive system designed for the same purpose.

Prior Art Relied Upon: Teller (Patent 8,810,392), Huang (Patent 8,704,657).
Core Argument for this Ground:
- Prior Art Mapping: This ground was presented to address any potential shortcomings in Teller, particularly regarding the transmission of a tag's status when it is within the predetermined range. Huang was cited for its teaching of a system where a communication device continuously updates a tag's location to a server whenever a connection is established. Huang also discloses a tag that enters a "discoverable mode" when it loses connection with its paired device, which Petitioner mapped to the limitation of rendering a tag detectable.
- Motivation to Combine: A POSA would combine these teachings to improve the functionality of Teller’s system. Specifically, incorporating Huang’s continuous updates would ensure the server always has the most current location information for a tag, thereby improving the accuracy and utility of the lost-and-found network.
- Expectation of Success: Petitioner asserted that the combination involved applying a known technique (Huang's updates and discoverable mode) to a similar system (Teller) to achieve the predictable result of a more robust tracking system.

Prior Art Relied Upon: Teller (Patent 8,810,392), Yan (Application # 2011/0234399).
Core Argument for this Ground:
- Prior Art Mapping: This ground focused on adding specific functionalities to the wireless tag itself. Yan was cited for disclosing a tag ("local sensor") with an integrated "logic control unit" that allows it to autonomously change its own status profile (e.g., from private to publicly "detectable") when it moves out of range of its paired device. Yan also taught the encryption of communications and a user interface that provides navigation to a found item's location.
- Motivation to Combine: A POSA would be motivated to integrate Yan's tag-side intelligence into Teller's tags to give them an active role in being found and to enhance security through selective detectability. Adding Yan's encryption and navigation features were presented as obvious improvements to enhance the security and user convenience of Teller's system.
- Expectation of Success: The petition argued success was predictable, as the combination merely integrated known features for their known purposes into an existing system.
Additional Grounds: Petitioner asserted additional obviousness challenges based on combinations including Wassingbo (Patent 7,248,167) and Thorn (Patent 7,843,343) to teach features such as displaying a map to a lost item and symmetrical, peer-to-peer device-to-tag tracking functionalities.

"predetermined range": Petitioner proposed this term be construed as "a pre-set or pre-configured allowable distance between a tag and electronic device." This construction was argued as critical to mapping Teller's disclosure of user-configurable distance alerts to the claim limitation, contrasting with the Patent Owner's alleged position that mere signal detection satisfies the limitation.
"render the wireless tag detectable": Petitioner argued this phrase requires the tag's controller to actively cause the tag to change from an undetectable state to a detectable one. This construction was used to map teachings from references like Huang and Yan, which disclose tags entering a "discoverable mode" after losing connection with a primary device.

Petitioner argued against discretionary denial under 35 U.S.C. §325(d) because none of the asserted prior art references were cited or considered by the examiner during prosecution of the ’318 patent.
The petition also contended that denial under the Fintiv factors was inappropriate. Key arguments included that the parallel district court litigation was in its earliest stages, with no answer yet filed or significant discovery conducted. Petitioner asserted that a stay of the litigation was highly likely given the presiding judge's record and that the scheduled trial date was likely to slip past the IPR's statutory deadline for a final written decision (FWD).

Petitioner requests institution of inter partes review and cancellation of claims 1-21 of the ’318 patent as unpatentable.