PTAB

IPR2026-00035

Samsung Electronics America Inc v. Massively Broadband LLC

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1. Case Identification

2. Patent Overview

  • Title: Ultrawideband Radio Transceiver/Repeater
  • Brief Description: The ’194 patent discloses an ultrawideband (UWB) wireless repeater designed to merge wireless and wired network devices. The invention centers on a controller that performs functions such as traffic filtering, network security, bandwidth provisioning, and interference mitigation for UWB communications.

3. Grounds for Unpatentability

Ground 1: Claims 1-5, 9-16, 18-19, and 21-25 are obvious over Ganz in view of Larrick.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Ganz (Patent 6,584,080) and Larrick (Patent 7,209,523).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner argued that Ganz disclosed a "wireless burstable communications repeater" (WBCR) that met most limitations of independent claims 1, 12, and 22. Ganz's repeater included transceivers for receiving and transmitting signals and a "computer circuit 156" acting as the controller. This controller was shown to be programmable with network information, such as unique IP addresses, Ethernet IDs, and radio ID codes for various components and users (meeting claim 2). It performed data screening via a "firewall circuit 222," which could "read IP addresses" and "authorize access by users," thereby differentiating between desired and undesired data for security and management (meeting claim 1[e]). The system collected network statistics and supported both wired (Ethernet) and wireless links, using a RAM circuit as a buffer memory (meeting claims 4 and 5). However, Ganz operated within conventional bandwidths (e.g., 20 MHz). Larrick was argued to supply the missing "ultrawideband" element, disclosing UWB transmitters and receivers operating with bandwidths of 400-500 MHz and at data rates in the "hundreds of megabits per second," thereby meeting the UWB limitations of the claims. The combination of Ganz's feature-rich repeater with Larrick's UWB physical layer allegedly rendered the claimed invention obvious.
    • Motivation to Combine: A POSITA would combine Larrick’s high-speed, wide-bandwidth UWB technology with Ganz’s repeater system to satisfy the significant industry demand for higher data rates. Ganz explicitly aimed to provide high-speed communication but was constrained by its 20 MHz bandwidth. Larrick directly addressed these limitations, providing a clear path to performance improvement with its 400+ MHz UWB system. The petition detailed how the combination would enhance modulation techniques (e.g., Larrick's frequency agility would improve upon Ganz's hopping sequences), improve multi-user capability through dynamic bandwidth allocation, and increase power efficiency via Larrick's "gated power amplifier," which would be valuable in a repeater network. The references were described as highly complementary, with Ganz providing the network-level repeater framework (MAC and network layers) and Larrick providing the advanced physical-layer communication technology needed to upgrade it.
    • Expectation of Success: Petitioner asserted a high expectation of success, as Larrick provided detailed technical schematics and operational descriptions for its UWB components. Integrating these well-defined UWB transceivers into Ganz's known repeater architecture would not have presented undue technical challenges to an ordinarily skilled artisan.

Ground 2: Claims 8 and 20 are obvious over Ganz and Larrick in further view of Engels.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Ganz (Patent 6,584,080), Larrick (Patent 7,209,523), and Engels (WO 03/058850).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: This ground added Engels to the primary Ganz/Larrick combination to address the limitations of claims 8 and 20, which recited using adaptive or steerable antennas or MIMO technologies to control transmissions. Petitioner argued that Engels explicitly taught "multiple antenna techniques" for wireless systems, including "beamforming" and "multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems." Engels described these techniques as useful for providing redundancy and improving communication between indoor and outdoor networks.
    • Motivation to Combine: The motivation was to incorporate a known technique to achieve a known benefit. A POSITA seeking to improve the performance of the proposed Ganz/Larrick UWB repeater would have been motivated to use conventional antenna technologies like MIMO, as taught by Engels, to enhance signal integrity and data throughput. These methods were well known to minimize errors, increase range, reduce dead zones, and improve overall bandwidth and capacity by leveraging spatial diversity. Adding MIMO was a predictable solution to a common problem in wireless communication systems.
    • Expectation of Success: Petitioner argued that since MIMO and beamforming were well-known, conventional technologies at the time, a POSITA would have been readily able to implement them in the Ganz/Larrick repeater with a high and reasonable expectation of success.
  • Additional Grounds: Petitioner asserted further obviousness grounds by adding single references to the Ganz/Larrick combination to teach specific claim limitations. For claims 6 and 16, which recite that the repeater is associated with an AC outlet, Petitioner added Perlman (Application # 2004/0160928), arguing it was an obvious design choice to plug a repeater into a standard electrical outlet for convenience. For claims 7 and 17, which recite controller support for position location capabilities, Petitioner added Roese (Patent 7,295,556), arguing a POSITA would find it obvious to add known location-determination features to enhance network management and security.

4. Relief Requested

  • Petitioner requests institution of an inter partes review and cancellation of claims 1-25 of Patent 7,676,194 as unpatentable.