11
May
By Eric Schweibenz
On May 10, 2010 ALJ Carl C. Charneski issued the public version of Order No. 51 (dated April 13, 2010), in Certain Machine Vision Software, Machine Vision Systems, and Products Containing Same (Inv. No. 337-TA-680).  In the Order, ALJ Charneski denied a motion filed by Respondent MVTec Software GmbH (“MVTec”) for summary determination of non-infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 7,016,539 (the ‘539 patent) and 7,065,262 (the ‘262 patent).

MVTec argued that its Halcon software does not infringe the ‘262 patent because “there is no dispute that the accused product, the ‘shape-based matching’ portion of MVTec’s Halcon software, does not use a model with any of a field dipole list, a field, and a set of operating parameters,” and because the Halcon software “uses the exact opposite of the claimed ‘pose,’ mapping from the model to the image, instead of from the image to the model.”  MVTec argued that its software does not infringe the ‘539 patent because “Halcon stops evaluating the model points at a given pose when it becomes clear that the pose will not yield a match,” and because Halcon “computes partial match scores for poses that may yield a match, ranks the scores, and then returns a predetermined number of the highest scores, not all scores that exceed a threshold.”

In opposition, Complainants Cognex Corporation and Cognex Technology & Investment Corporation took issue with MVTec’s construction of the claim terms “model pattern” and “pose” in the ‘262 patent, and its construction of the terms “probe” and “at least one test is performed” in the ‘539 pattern.  The Commission Investigative Staff also opposed the motion, stating that “this investigation does not involve simple technology that can be easily interpreted without a detailed discussion of the claim terms.”  ALJ Charneski agreed, finding that “the motion and the oppositions have underscored the necessity of conducting a hearing to resolve the disputed material facts that exist and to provide a basis for construing the disputed claim terms.”