The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB's decisions in favor of Intel regarding the term 'hardware buffer.' The recent ruling follows a 2021 decision where the CAFC found Intel met standing requirements. Key to the appeal was a clash between Intel's broader interpretation of a 'hardware buffer' as requiring physically separate memory cells and Qualcomm's narrower definition, which necessitated that the buffer's memory cells not be used for system memory. The Federal Circuit noted that both parties failed to convincingly argue their claims, prompting a deeper dive into specification and prosecution history for clarification.
Although the Federal Circuit felt that 'there is something to be said for each side's view of how to read the claim phrase 'hardware buffer,' there was no need to decide which meaning is better [in this case].
The parties generally disagreed about what is required for the buffer to be a 'hardware buffer.' Intel said that a buffer is a 'hardware buffer' if 'the memory cells used by the buffer are 'physically separate' from the memory cells into which the software is loaded.
Qualcomm proposed a narrower view, namely, that 'a buffer is a hardware buffer only if its memory cells are never used for system memory, rather than assigned to be used for that function (allocated) upon the turning on of power.'
The Federal Circuit, however, said that 'neither party provides an illuminating or persuasive explanation of its position' regarding Qualcomm's assertion that Intel's view renders 'hardware' superfluous.
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