Ibormeith IP, LLC v. Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC

889 F. Supp. 2d 677, 2012 WL 3851252, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125903
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedSeptember 5, 2012
DocketCivil No. 10-5378 (FSH)(PS)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 889 F. Supp. 2d 677 (Ibormeith IP, LLC v. Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ibormeith IP, LLC v. Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC, 889 F. Supp. 2d 677, 2012 WL 3851252, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125903 (D.N.J. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

FAITH S. HOCHBERG, District Judge.

This case comes before the Court on Defendants Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC’s and Daimler AG’s (collectively, “Mercedes”) Motion for Summary Judgment of Indefiniteness with respect to certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,313,749, titled “Sleepiness Detection for Vehicle Driver or Machine Operator,” (the “'749 patent”). The Court has reviewed the submissions of the parties and considered the motion on the papers in accordance with Fed. R.Civ.P. 78. Also pending before the Court are the parties’ submissions regarding their disputed proposed construction of several claim terms in the '749 patent.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Ibormeith IP, LLC (“Ibormeith”) brings this action for infringement of the '749 patent. The '749 patent was issued to inventors James Anthony Horne and Louise Ann Reyner on November 6, 2001 and subsequently transferred to Ibormeith, a non-practicing entity. Ibormeith asserts that Mercedes’s Attention Assist feature infringes claims 1, 5, 8 and 9 of the '749 patent. Claims 5 and 8 depend from claim 1 and therefore contain each claim limitation in that claim. Claims 1 and 9 both contain a “computational means” limitation, which the parties agree is a means-plus-function limitation performed by a computer and governed by 35 U.S.C. § 112 ¶ 6. “As such, the specification of the ['749] patent must contain an algorithm [or algorithms] to perform the function [or functions] associated with the [“computational means”] limitation, or the limitation is indefinite.” Noah Sys., Inc. v. Intuit Inc., 675 F.3d 1302, 1305 (Fed.Cir.2012).

A. The ' 749 Patent

The '749 patent claims a sleepiness monitor for vehicle .drivers or machine operators. The monitor functions by “taking account of circadian and sleep parameters of an individual vehicle driver, and/or generic or universal human physiological factors, applicable to a whole class or category of drivers” and integrating that information with “ ‘real-time’ behavioural sensing, such as of road condition and driver control action, including steering and acceleration, to provide an (audio-) visual indication of sleepiness.” '749 patent col. 2 ll. 55-62.

The specification teaches that there is a known pattern of human predisposition to sleepiness over a 24-hour period (commonly known as circadian rhythm), where likelihood of falling asleep is greatest during early morning and mid-afternoon hours. Id. at col. 2 ll. 43-50. According to the specification, the monitor functions by combining time of day predisposition to sleepiness with a number of other factors affecting a driver’s likelihood of falling asleep. The specification discloses that some of these factors are specific to the individual driver — such as recent sleep patterns — and are inputted directly by the driver into the monitor system. Other factors, such as steering behavior, light conditions, cabin temperature, road conditions, and trip duration are measured by [681]*681sensors in the vehicle. The specification teaches that these “inputs being individually weighted, according to contributory importance,” are “combined in a computational decision algorithm or model, to provide a warning indication of sleepiness.” Id. at col. 3 ll. 38-42.

The preferred embodiments section of the specification provides the following description of certain aspects of the invention:

An internal memory module may store data from various remote sensors, 13, 15, 27, 29, 31 — together with models or algorithms of human body circadian rhythms and weighting factors to be applied to individual sensory inputs.
An internal microprocessor is programmed to perform calculations according to driver and sensory inputs and to provide an appropriate (audio-)visual warning indication of sleepiness through the display screen 18.

Id. at col. 8 ll.10-17.

Mercedes contends that the two means-plus-function claim limitations in Claims 1 and 9 (set forth in bold) are indefinite, thereby rendering Claims 1 and 9 invalid. Mercedes also asserts that the two italicized claim terms in Claim 1 are indefinite:

a memory for storing an operational model that includes a physiological reference model of driver or operator circadian rhythm pattern(s) and a vehicle or machine operating model or algorithm; computational means for weighting the operational model according to time of day in relation to the driver or operator circadian rhythm pattern(s) and for deriving from the weighted model, driver or operator sleepiness condition and producing an output determined thereby; and a warning indicator triggered by the computational means output, to provide a warning indicator of driver operator sleepiness.
9. A sleepiness monitor for a driver and vehicle, comprising: a sensor for sensing a steering movement, about a reference position; a memory, for storing a circadian rhythm pattern or time-of-day physiological reference profile of predisposition to sleepiness; and
computational means for computing steering transitions and weighing that computation according to time of day, to provide a warning indication of driver sleepiness.

Id. at col. 16 ll. 13-30, 50-61 (emphasis added).

B. Procedural History

The parties filed claim construction briefs disputing the construction of five claim terms in the '749 patent and the Court held a claim construction hearing on April 25, 2012. In its claim construction briefs and at the hearing, Mercedes argued that the means-plus-function “computational means” limitations in Claims 1 and 9 are indefinite, thereby rendering Claims 1 and 9 invalid. Due to the significance of the “computational means” claim limitations to this action,1 the Court reserved its ruling on claim construction and, with their consent, instructed the parties to brief summary judgment on indefiniteness.

[682]*682II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c), a motion for summary judgment will be granted if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). In other words, “[sjummary judgment may be granted only if there exists no genuine issue of material fact that would permit a reasonable jury to find for the nonmoving party.” Miller v. Ind. Hosp., 843 F.2d 139, 143 (3d Cir.1988).

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889 F. Supp. 2d 677, 2012 WL 3851252, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125903, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ibormeith-ip-llc-v-mercedes-benz-usa-llc-njd-2012.