Visual Memory claims survive 101 challenge by 2-1 vote at CAFC

Visual Memory, LLC appeals the district court’s dismissal
of its patent infringement complaint against
NVIDIA Corporation. The district court held that Visual
Memory’s U.S. Patent No. 5,953,740 is drawn to patent ineligible
subject matter, and therefore its complaint
failed to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
12(b)(6). We conclude instead that the ’740 patent
claims an improvement to computer memory systems and
is not directed to an abstract idea. Accordingly, we reverse
the district court and remand for further proceedings


Of the analysis:


Our analysis begins with Alice step one. Although the
two steps in the Alice framework “involve overlapping
scrutiny of the content of the claims,” the “Supreme
Court’s formulation makes clear that the first-stage filter
is a meaningful one, sometimes ending the § 101 inquiry.”
Elec. Power Grp., LLC v. Alstom S.A., 830 F.3d 1350, 1353
(Fed. Cir. 2016). In this regard, we must articulate with
specificity what the claims are directed to, Thales Visionix
Inc. v. United States, 850 F.3d 1343, 1347 (Fed. Cir.
2017), and “ask whether the claims are directed to an
improvement to computer functionality versus being
directed to an abstract idea.” Enfish, 822 F.3d at 1335
(“[S]ome improvements in computer-related technology
when appropriately claimed are undoubtedly not abstract,
such as a chip architecture, an LED display, and the
like.”).



AND


With these guideposts in mind, and cognizant of the
difficulty inherent in delineating the contours of an abstract
idea, we turn to the claims at issue here. Our
review of the ’740 patent claims demonstrates that they
are directed to an improved computer memory system, not
to the abstract idea of categorical data storage. Claim 1
requires a memory system “having one or more programmable
operational characteristics, said characteristics
being defined through configuration by said computer
based on the type of said processor,” and “determin[ing] a
type of data stored by said cache.” ’740 patent col. 6
ll. 29–38. Dependent claims 2 and 3 narrow the cache’s
programmable operational characteristic to storing certain
types of data (“only code data or . . . both code data
and non-code data”) and buffering data from certain
sources (“buffering of data solely from said bus master or
. . . both from said bus master and said processor”), respectively.
Id. at col. 6 ll. 39–51. Claim 6 recites the fast
page mode embodiment with a programmable operational
characteristic, and dependent claim 7 defines the programmable
operational characteristic as the type of data
to be stored. Id. at col. 7 ll. 3–26. None of the claims
recite all types and all forms of categorical data storage.