Appeal No. 2006-2217
Reexamination Control Nos. 90/006,789 and 90/007,420
filed September 17, 1987. The '645 patent is now assigned to LG
Electronics Inc. of the Republic of Korea (patent owner).
A second "Request for Ex Parte Reexamination," Control
No. 90/007,420 ('7420 Reexam), was filed February 14, 2005, by
Third Party Requester Mr. Hsue.
The '6789 and '7420 Reexam proceedings were merged pursuant
to 37 CFR § 1.565(c) (Paper entered April 5, 2005, p. 3: it is
noted that the decision summary mistakenly refers to the '7007
and '7371 Reexams).
LITIGATION
The '645 patent has been involved in numerous judicial
proceedings, as summarized on pages 3-4 of the brief. The most
recent decision is LG Electronics, Inc. v. Bizcom Electronics,
Inc., 453 F.3d 1364, 79 USPQ2d 1443 (Fed. Cir. 2006).
BACKGROUND
The invention of apparatus claim 1 is succinctly described
in LGE v. Bizcom, 453 F.3d at 1373, 79 USPQ2d at 1450:
The '645 patent discloses a digital computer system
that has devices called agents that are interconnected by a
system bus. The claimed system and corresponding method
require one agent, the requesting agent, to request access
to a memory stored on another agent, called the replying
agent. The requested data is organized as a matrix of
memory cells, having column and row coordinates. The
"memory controller" of the replying agent processes the
request from the requesting agent by asserting a plurality
of memory address control signals, including at least one
row address strobe ("RAS") signal and one column address
strobe ("CAS") signal. This "page mode memory access"
operates by the assertion of an entire row of data followed
by the assertion and deassertion of multiple column
addresses. By the RAS signal accessing an entire row
followed by the assertion and deassertion of particular
column addresses, this page mode memory access differs from
the conventional memory access, which separately accessed
each memory cell by asserting its individual row address and
column address. In the claimed invention, after the data is
accessed, it is then transferred to the requesting agent
over the system bus.
Dependent claims 2 and 6 of the '645 patent, which each depended
from claim 1, have been amended to put them in independent form
by incorporating the limitations of claim 1. Claim 2 adds
limitations regarding refreshing the memory and claim 6 adds
limitations regarding incrementing the row address when crossing
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