Opinion ID: 152228
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: DISCUSSION Claim Construction

Text: Claim construction is a question of law that is reviewed de novo. Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 52 F.3d 967, 978 (Fed.Cir.1995) (en banc). To the extent possible, claim terms are given their ordinary and customary meaning, as they would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art in question at the time of the invention. Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303, 1312-13 (Fed.Cir.2005) (en banc). Idiosyncratic language, highly technical terms, or terms coined by the inventor are best understood by reference to the specification. Id. at 1315. Such understanding is informed, as needed, by the prosecution history, if it is in evidence. Id. Construing the claims in light of the specification does not, however, imply that limitations discussed in the specification may be read into the claims. It is therefore important not to confuse exemplars or preferred embodiments in the specification that serve to teach and enable the invention with limitations that define the outer boundaries of claim scope. Id. at 1323. It is with an eye to these tenets of claim construction that we review the district court's Markman order and conclude the district court erred. We discuss each term in turn.