Shure, Inc. v. ClearOne, Inc., No. 17 C 3078, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Aug. 25, 2018) (Chang, J.).

Judge Chang construed the remaining claims in this patent case involving audio-conferencing equipment utilizing beam microphones.

Of particular interest, the Court held as follows:

  • The Court construed “Each of the Plurality of Combined Signals Corresponding to a Different Fixed Beam” by holding that “fixed” requires that the beams parameters remain fixed during a conference.
  • The Court construed “Select With a Signal Selection Module One or More of the Combined Echo Cancelled Signals for Transmission to the Far End” as it did at the PI stage as not being means plus function language. The “signal selection module” was a structure.
  • The Court construed “Said Signal Selection Module uses the Far End Signal as Information to Inhibit said Signal Selection Module from Changing the Selection of the Combined Echo Cancelled Signals while Only the Far End Signal is Active” as having its ordinary meaning. There was no need to clarify that the information is from the far end signal. That would be clear to one of ordinary skill in the art.
  • The Court construed “Acoustically Transparent” as “provid[ing] no or minimal resistance to sound.”

The Court construed “Used in a Drop Ceiling Mounting Configuration” as “configured for use in a drop ceiling mounting configuration.”