On May 22, 2018, Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony) filed a petition for Inter Partes Review of U.S. Patent 8,206,218 (the '218 Patent), owned by Techno View IP. The '218 Patent is related to a method for displaying stereoscopic images based on how the right-eye and left-eye view the same object. Sony is alleging that the '218 Patent is invalid because it is obvious as a result of prior art.
Claim 1 of the ’218 Patent reads:
The '218 Patent is related to U.S. Patent 7,666,096 (the '096 Patent), also owned by Techno View and also subject to an IPR petitioned by Sony. Both the '218 and '096 Patents are at the center of a lawsuit Techno View filed against Sony in the Central District of California, in which Techno View alleges that Sony's PlayStation VR infringes Techno View's patents. Sony is using the IPRs to challenge the validity of the allegedly infringed patents. Techno View is also suing Oculus VR claiming their VR system infringes the '218 and '096 Patents. Oculus was not part of the IPR petitions filed by Sony. 1. A method in a videogame system for displaying three-dimensional images, comprising the computer implemented steps of:
providing left and right backbuffers;
calculating first position coordinates of a first eye view;
storing a first eye view image captured virtually from the calculated first position coordinates of the first eye view of an object in the videogame into the left backbuffer;
determining a second eye view image of the object captured virtually from the calculated second position coordinates of the second eye view;
storing the second eye view image in the right backbuffer; and
displaying the first eye view image and the second eye view image to the user to provide a three dimensional perspective of the object from the videogame system to the user. ('218 patent, col. 13, lines 44-64).
This is the third IPR petition Sony has filed this year relating to stereoscopic images. For background on the previous two IPR petitions click here and here.
