N OTE : This disposition is nonprecedential. 

# United States **Court of Appeals**  **for the Federal Circuit**

______________________
DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC, Appellant

v.

OOMA, INC., Appellee

______________________

2019

- 1570

______________________ Appeal from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Patent Trial and Appeal Board in No. IPR2017

- 01541.

______________________
Decided: March 31, 2020

______________________
M ICHAEL D E V INCENZO , King & Wood Mallesons LLP, New York, NY, argued for appellant. Also represented by A NDREA P ACELLI , R OBERT W HITMAN , C HARLES W IZENFELD

.

J EFFREY C. M ORGAN , Barnes & Thornburg LLP, Atlanta, GA, argued for appellee. Also represented by M ICHAEL A NTH ONY C ARRILLO , J ONATHAN F ROEMEL , J OSEPH H. P AQUIN , J R

. , Chicago, IL; L. R ACHEL L ERMAN , Los Angeles, CA.

______________________ Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 1 Filed: 03/31/2020DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC v. OOMA , INC

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Before L OURIE , M OORE , and C HEN , Circuit Judges.
Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge C HEN

. Dissenting opinion filed by Circuit Judge M OORE

. C HEN , Circuit Judge.
Deep Green appeals from the final written decision of the United States Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board ( t he Board) in the above

- captioned inter partes review (IPR) proceeding holding claims 35, 37

– 39, 43
, 44, 46

– 48, 52
, 53, and 55

– 57 of U.S. Patent No. RE42,714 (the ’714 patent) as obvious over U.S. Patent No. 6,600,734 ( Gernert ) and U.S. Patent No. 6,452,923 (AT&T) based on the Board’s claim construction of “incoming voice signals

. ” Because w e agree with the Board ’s construction of “incoming voice signals ” under the broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) standard, we affirm

. B ACKGROUND

The ’714 pa tent describes a device for sharing telephone lines among connected telecommunications equipment such as modems, telephones, and fax machines

. ’714 patent at col. 2, ll. 24

– 35

. T he equipment can be connected to the line

- sharing device via wire or wireles sly

. Id

. at col. 6, ll. 8

– 20. The specification contemplates that the line

sharing device sends and receives voice and data signals between the telecommunications equipment and the shared telephone lines , for example employing telephony circuitry for voice calls

, id. at col. 3, l. 62

– col. 4, l. 23, or a modem to access the Internet. Id. at col. 5, ll. 6 3

– 65. Claim 35 is representative for the purposes of this appeal:
35. An apparatus for routing digital data signals among a plurality of telecommunications devices over a network, the apparatus comprising:

a network interfac e for connection to at least one network communication line

, wherein the network interface receives digital data signals over the at Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 2 Filed: 03/31/2020DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC v. OOMA , INC

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least one network communication line, the digital data signals comprising at least one voice signal ;
a discrimination circu it connected to the network interface for detecting incoming voice signals from among other digital data signals;
a wireless interface, wherein the wireless interface communicates the digital data signals between a plurality of wireless telecommunications devices; and
a processor for executing instructions to route the digital data signals between the network interface, the wireless interface, and the plurality of wireless telecommunications devices for communication over the network; and

a circuit for rout ing voice communication sessions to specific telecommunications devices.

Id

. at claim 35 (emphasis added).
The parties’ dispute focuses on the functionality of the claimed “ discrimination circuit ”

— specifically, whether “ detecting incoming voice signals” requires that the voice signals are incoming from the claimed “ network interface ” to the “plurality of wireless telecommunications devices

, ” as Deep Green urges. Under its proposed construction, Deep Green alleges that Gernert fails to dis close the claimed “incoming voice signals” because, in Deep Green’s view, Gernert ’s corresponding “discrimination circuit” only discloses detection of outgoing voice signals traveling from Gernert’s telecommunications devices to the network line

. The Board rejected Deep Green’s proposed construction of “incoming voice signals

. ” J.A. 23 . The Board explained that the claim only requires the discrimination circuit to be connected to the network interface , which does not impose the additional requirement that these voice signals are incoming from the network interface. Id

. Rather, the Board Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 3 Filed: 03/31/2020DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC v. OOMA , INC

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determined that this limitation encompasses voice signals“incoming” to the discrimination circuit from the other direction as well

— that is, from the recited telecommunication devices. Based on this understanding of “incoming voice signals,” the Board concluded that the claims at issue would have been obvious over Gernert and AT&T. J.A. 34. Deep Green appeals, and w e have jurisdicti on under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(4)(A).

D ISCUSSION

We review the Board’s claim construction 1 here de

novo because it relied only on evidence intrinsic to the ’ 714 patent. Jazz Pharm ., Inc. v. Amneal Pharm.

, LLC , 895 F.3d 1347, 1360 (Fed. Cir. 2018)

. When an IPR is instituted from a petition filed before November 13, 2018, as here, the claims are given the “broadest reasonable interpretation” consistent with the specification. Cuozzo Speed Techs., LLC v. Lee , 136 S. Ct. 2131, 2142 (2016); Changes to the Claim ConstructionStandard for Interpreting Claims in Trial Proceedings Before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board , 83 Fed. Reg. 51340 (Oct. 11, 2018). Thus, the Board’s construction must be reasonable in light of the record evidence and the understanding of one skilled in the art. See Knowles Elecs. LLC v. Iancu , 886 F.3d 1369, 1374 (Fed. Cir. 2018)

. Our anal y sis begins with the language of the claim itself. Home l and Housewares, LLC v. Whirlpool Corp. , 865 F.3d 1372, 1375 (Fed. Cir. 2017 )

. Claim 35 recites “a discrimination circuit connected to the network interface for detecting incoming voice signals from among other digital data signals.” ’714 patent at claim 35. As the Board noted,

1 Although the Board did not purport to conduct any claim construction, it effectively did so when it interpreted “incoming voice signals” as not limited to voice signals from the network interface. Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 4 Filed: 03/31/2020DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC v. OOMA , INC

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the “ discrimination circuit ” is “connected to the network interface” and its purpose is “for detecting incoming voice signals from among other digital data signals,” but the claim does not specify that the incoming voice signal s detected by the discrimination circuit must be conveyed from the network inte rface to the wireless telecommunications devices

. J.A. 23

. T he claim only requires that the “incoming voice signals” are “ detect [ ed ] .

. . from among other digital data signals

. ” ’714 patent at claim 35. And it is not clear that,in the context of the claim, these “other digital data signals” must be conveyed only in the particular direction that Deep Green urges.

The term “ d igital data signals” first appears in the preamble of claim 35 , which introduces “[ a ] n appara tus forrouting digital data signals among a plurality of telecommunications devices over a network

. ” Id. But the function of routing digital data signals over a network is agnostic as to the direction in which they are routed. Thus, the preamble imposes no constraints on the directionality of the digital data signals routed by the claimed apparatus

. Stated differently, the preamble does not exclude the apparatus from routing digital data signals from the network line to the t elecommunications devices or from the telecommunications devices to the network line

. Next, the claim requires “ a network interface ” that “ receives digital data signals over

. . . [ a ] network communication line

. ” Id. The claim does not specify whether th ese digital data signals are the same as those introduced in the preamble. For example, the network inter face limitation could have but did not recite “ said digital data signals.” That these digital data signals mentioned in this net work interface limit ation are received in a particular direction

— i.e., by the network interface from a network communication line

— still leaves open a permissible reading of the preamble as contemplating a claimed apparatus that may also route digital data signals in the oppos ite direction

— from Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 5 Filed: 03/31/2020DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC v. OOMA , INC

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the telecommunications devices to the network communication line.

Claim 35 then recites the discrimination circuit limitation at issue: “a discrimination circuit connected to the network interface for detecting incoming voice signals from among other digital data signals.” Id. While the claim limitation requires the discrimination circuit to detect voice signals from among oth er digital data signals “incoming” to the discrimination circuit, the limitation does not limit these signals as coming from any particular direction, e.g., the digital data signals received at the network interface from the network communication line

. Ag ain, w here theclaim could have referred to “said” or “the” digital data signals received at the network interface

— thereby indicatin g that these digital data signals are the same as the digitaldata signals referenced in the network interface limitation

— th e claim limitation instead simply detects incoming voice signals from among “ other ” digital data signals. The claim , as written, lacks any requir ement that the incoming voice signals detected by the discrimination circuit must be coextensive with voice si gnals received at the network interface. Rather, the breadth of the claim reasonably supports the conclusion that , like the preamble, the discrimination circuit is agnostic as to whether these voice signals are received from the network communication line

or from the telecommunications devices

. Deep Green argues that the Board erroneously interpret ed “incoming” to encompass both “incoming” and “outgoing” signals. But signals are only understood as “incoming” or “outgoing” when viewed against a particular reference point . Although it might be reasonable to interpret “incoming” signals from the perspe ctive of the telecommunications devices , such that signals are incoming to th ose device s after having been initially received from the network communication line by the network interface

, the broadly written claim language also supports the interpretation of “incoming” as incoming from the view of the Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 6 Filed: 03/31/2020DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC v. OOMA , INC

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discrimination circuit , without regard from where the signals come

. And Deep Green does not allege that the “other” digital data signals of the discrimination circuit must refer to the “digital data signals” received at the network interface. Thus, a s the Board concluded , the claim “only requires that the discrimination circuit be connected to the network interface, not that the signals being detected are incoming from that interface.” J.A. 23.

The Board’s interpretation does not, as Deep Green contends , render “incoming” superfluous. Instead , it identifies voice signals that are incoming to the discrimination circuit from external sources, as opposed to voice signals produced by or outgoing from the discrimination circuit.
Deep Green also argues that a skilled artisan would read “incoming” with a particular conception in mind in light of the specification

. It is true that the specification

uses “incoming” when describing calls r eceived from a telephone line, and “outgoing” when connecting a telephone device to a telephone line. But the directionality of these calls is described in the particular context of the telephone devices making and receiving the calls

. ’714 patent at col

. 2, ll. 38

– 42 ( describing “incoming calls to the equipment ,” defined as “ modems, telephones, fax machines, answeringmachines, or any other device that needs access to a telephone line ”) ; id

. at col. 4, ll. 24

– 28 (processing “outgoing calls” according to the “priority in which communication lines are accessed by a device”) ; id

. at col. 4, ll. 57

– 60

. In contrast, claim 35 is silent as to the source or destination of the “incoming voice signals.” With the claim lacking that concomitant context laid out in the specification, t he Board’s interpretation of “ voice signals” as incoming to the discrimination circuit is not inconsistent with the specification’s disclosure

, but instead reflects the broad scope of the cla im

. Deep Green next argues that the specification’s description of the discrimination circuit in the context of Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 7 Filed: 03/31/2020DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC v. OOMA , INC

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processing incoming calls from the network interface mandates that “incoming” be read as incoming from the network interface. The specification describes the discrimination circuit in a single sentence: “[o]ptionally, the invention can be fitted with a discrimination circuit that can detect the type of call and automatically route the communication line to the corresponding DO

. ” 2 ’714 patent at col. 5, ll. 8

– 10. But disclosure of one embodiment does not mean that broadly written claim language must be limited to that embodiment

. Innova/Pure Water, Inc. v. Safari Water Filtration Sys., Inc. , 381 F.3d 1111, 1117 (Fed. Cir. 2004 )

. T he specification never defines the word “incoming

, ” n or does it explicitly require that incoming be measured against any particular perspective. And, as explainedabove, nothing in the claim preamble restricts the data signals to being conveyed in an y particular direction , nor does Deep Green argue to the contrary.
In light of the broad language of the claim , which d oes not demand identity between the digital data signals received at the network interface and the “other” digital data signals from whic h the “incoming voice signals” are detected, it was reasonable for the Board to decline to read in to the claim a particular network direction to the “incoming voice signals

. ” Although Deep Green’s interpretation of

“ incoming ” with respect to the flow of network traffic to the telephone equipment might also be reasonable

, 3 the Board

2 “DO,” or device order setting, refers to the order inwhich downstream equipment is polled to connect incoming calls from the communications line. For exam ple, the line

- sharing device begins by ringing the first device listed in the device order setting, then the second device, and so

on. Id . at col. 4, l. 57

– col. 5, l. 4.

3 It may very well be that Deep Green’s construction better reflects the meaning of “incoming” as understood in view of the networking technology disclosed in the Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 8 Filed: 03/31/2020DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC v. OOMA , INC

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did not err in adopting the broadest of the two reasonable constructions.

C ONCLUSION

We have co nsidered Deep Green’s remaining arguments and find them unpersuasive. Deep Green relies solely on its claim construction argument in appeal ing the Board’s conclusion that the challenged claims would have been obvious over Gernert and AT&T . Significantly, Deep Green does not dispute that Gernert and AT&T teach “incoming voice signals” under the Board’s construction. Thus, f or the reasons stated above, we affirm the Board’s construction of “incoming voice signals” and the Board’s conclusion that the claims at issue are unpatentable

. AFFIRMED

specification. But claim construction in this IPR is not governed by the framework laid out in Phillips v. AWH Corp.

, 415 F.3d 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (en banc ), and the Board’s construction here is not unreasonable, nor is it inconsistent with the specification. Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 9 Filed: 03/31/2020N OTE : This disposition is nonprecedential. 

# United States **Court of Appeals**  **for the Federal Circuit**

______________________
DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC, Appellant

v.

OOMA, INC., Appellee

______________________

2019

- 1570

______________________ Appeal from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Patent Trial and Appeal Board in No. IPR2017

- 01541.

______________________
M OORE , Circuit Judge , dissenting

. The majority does not contend that the Board’s construction of “incoming voice signals” is correct , and it is not

. Instead, the majority hold s that the Board’s construction is
not wrong enough to be unreasonable. I respectfully dissent

. T he broadest reasonable interpretation standard

, while certainly broad, does not give the Board an unfettered license to interpret claim terms without regard for the full claim language and the specification

. Trivascular, Inc. v. Samuels , 812 F.3d 1056, 1062 (Fed. Cir. 2016 ). E ven under the broadest reasonable construction , “ claim Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 10 Filed: 03/31/2020DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC v. OOMA , INC

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language should be read in light of the specification as it would be interpreted by one of ordinary skill in the art.” In re Suitco Surface, Inc. , 603 F.3d 1255, 1260 (Fed. Cir. 2010)

. Indeed, t he B oard must give claims their broadest reasonable construction in view of the specification , not their broadest possible construction. T he Board therefore erred in construing the claim term “ incoming voice signals ” as not requiring that the claimed voice si gnals be the voice signals incoming from the claimed network interface.
The ’714 patent is directed to a telephony device with a telephon e line distribution system enabling connected devices to share telephone lines . ’714 patent at Abstract. The claimed device assigns outgoing usage of the telephone line according to a priority system

. Id. at 4:24

– 26. I ncoming calls , on the other hand, are processed in accordance with

a D evice O rder (DO) establishing the order in which the devices are signaled by a communications line

. Id. at 4:57

– 60. The claimed device utilizes a “discrimination circuit” that can detect the type of call and automatically route the communication line to the corresponding telecommunications devic e

. Id. at 5:8

– 10. C laim 35 is representative and recites:

35 . An apparatus for routing digital data signals among a plurality of telecommunications devices over a network, the apparatus comprising:

a network interface for connection to at least one net work communication line, wherein the network interface receives digital data signals over the at least one network communication line, the digital data signals comprising at least one voice signal ;
a discrimination circuit connected to the network interface for detecting incoming voice signals from among other digital data signals ; Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 11 Filed: 03/31/2020DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC v. OOMA , INC

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a wireless interface, wherein the wireless interface communicates the digital data signals between a plurality of wirele ss telecommunications devices; and
a processor for executing instructions to
route the digital data signals between the network interface, the wireless interface,and the plurality of wireless telecommunications devices for communication over the network; and
a circuit for routing voice communicationsessions to specific telecommunications devices.

C laim 35 recites routing digital data signals among a plurality of telecommunications devices over a network

. The claim refers to the digital data signals 6 times as itroutes them through the system. I believe that these digital data signals are the same digital data signals being routed through the system. The Board’s construction is basically that 5 of the mentioned digital data signals are the same beca use most of them are preceded by the word “the” and thus are the same digital data signals mentioned in the preamble. However, because the word “the” does not appear before the use of “digital data signals” routed through the discrimination circuit (one c omponent within the system), the Board concludes these can be any digital data signals and therefore do not have to be the same digital data signals being passed th r ough the rest of the system.

The claimed discrimination circuit is connected to t h e net work interface and detect s “incoming voice signals from among other digital data signals

. ” In light of the claim as a whole, t he only reasonable reading of th i s limitation is that the digital data signals received by the discrimination circuit are the sam e data signals (comprising at least one Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 12 Filed: 03/31/2020DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC v. OOMA , INC

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voice signal) received by the network interface

. That the claimed incoming voice and data signals are not modified by the words “said” or “the” does not mean that we can ignore the plain language of the claims . T he remaining limitations further reveal the error in the Board’s construction. T he third limitation recites a “wireless interface” that “ communicat e s the digital data signals between a plurality of wireless telecommunications devices.” Id. Likewise, the fourth limitation recites “a processor for executing instructions to route the digital data signals between the network interface, the wireless interface, and the plurality of wireless telecommunications devices

. . . .” Id. Lastly, the cla im recites a circuit for “routing voice communication sessions to specific telecommunications devices .” Id. W hen read as a whole, the functionalrelationship between the claim elements is clear: the system elements are recited in the order in which the d ata signals flow. Data signals, including at least one voice signal, are received by the network interface. The discrimination circuit is used to detect voice signals from among the other digital data signals incoming from the network interface. The wir eless interface then communicates the data signalsbetween a plurality of connected telecommunication devices according to the instructions executed by the processor. Voice signals, in particular, are routed to specific telecommunications devices. Based on the plain language of the claim, the Board’s construction that the digital data signals routed through the discrimination circuit need not be the same digital data signals routed through the rest of the system is unreasonable.

The specification strong ly reinforces Deep Green’s proposed construction that the digital data signals processed by the discrimination circuit are the same digital data signals flowing through the rest of the system. The claimed “incoming voice signals” are incoming from the net work interface. T he specification describes the signals as traveling Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 13 Filed: 03/31/2020DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC v. OOMA , INC

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in two directions: “incoming” and “outgoing.” Every use in the specification of “incoming” (and this term is used 21 times in the patent) is compatible with only one view

– that the inc oming signals are from a network communication line toward the telecommunications device s

. See, e.g. , ’714 patent at Abstract, Fig. 4, 1:48

– 50, 2:30

– 32, 2:43

– 45, 2:62

– 63, 4:57

– 62, 5:14

– 17 ; see also id. at Claims 26 , 35, 44, 53, 62, 67, 72, 77, 82, 87, 121, 12 6

. Every use of the term “outgoing” (and this term is used 5 times) likewise reflects the direction from a telecommunications device to a network communication line

. See, e.g.

, ’714 patent at Fig. 3, 2:3 8

– 4 2, 2:60

– 61, 4:24

– 29

. “ O utgoing” signals are processed in accordance with a Communications Line Use Priority (CLUP) setting. Id. at 4:24

– 26. When transmitting outgoing signals, a device accesses the communication lines according to the priority established by the CLUP and independently of the type of signal being sent. Id. at 4:26

– 27. In contrast, t he specification states that the invention“may process incoming calls” according to a DO, which “establishes the order in which the devices are signaled by a communication line.” Id. at 4:60

– 5:19. In the sole embodiment in which a discrimination circuit is used, it is contemplated that the discrimination circuit “can detect the type of call and automatically route the communication line to the corresponding D O.” Id. at 5:8

– 17.

T he specification and the claims only discuss a discrimination circuit in connection with calls that are incoming over the network communication line. And the claims make clear that the incoming voice signals are transmitted “over th e at least one network communication line” and are “rout[ed]

. . . to specific telecommunications devices.” See,
e.g. , Id. at Claim 35. Deep Green’s construction is the onlyconstruction that accurately reflects the meaning of “incoming” in view of the networking technology disclosed in the specification and claimed in the asserted claims.
I am not certain exactly where the line is. How wrong must a construction be before it becomes unreasonable? Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 14 Filed: 03/31/2020DEEP GREEN WIRELESS LLC v. OOMA , INC

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For me, this one crosses that line. I would hold that the claimed “digital data signals” are the same throughout the claim and thus the “ incoming voice signals ” are among the digital data signals which as claimed are incoming from the network interface. I respectfully dissent. Case: 19-1570 Document: 46 Page: 15 Filed: 03/31/2020