Invalidity dossier
US 6614702
Semiconductor memory devices and methods including coupling and/or floating isolation control signal lines
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Added 9/21/2026, 10:33:53 AM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US 6614702 B2
Title: Semiconductor memory devices and methods including coupling and/or floating isolation control signal lines
Patent number: US 6614702 B2
Application number: US 10/136,606
Inventor: Jae-Goo Lee
Original/current assignee (as listed): Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Priority date (listed as an assumption): 2001-06-30
Filing date: 2002-05-01
Publication date: 2003-09-02 (earlier publication US 20030002373 A1 on 2003-01-02)
Legal status (as listed): Expired – Fee Related; anticipated expiration 2022-05-01
Classification: G11C 11/4091 (sense or sense/refresh amplifiers with bit-line precharging, equalizing or isolating), among others
Purpose: The device relates to semiconductor memory devices with sense amplifiers and related methods. In a conventional DRAM, isolation transistors turned on early during sense-amplifier operation increase the bitline load on the selected memory cell array block, which can degrade sense-amplifier operating characteristics and reduce amplification speed. The disclosed arrangements are described as reducing sense-amplifier loading from bitlines during early stages of operation and increasing amplification speeds.
Plain-language scope (per the excerpt): A memory device includes a memory cell array, a pair of bit lines coupled to a cell, a sense amplifier that senses and amplifies a voltage difference between its input pair, and a pair of isolation switches. Each isolation switch couples a bit line to a sense-amplifier input in response to a coupling signal on an isolation control signal line coupled to the switches' control electrodes. A control switch may couple that line to the sense amplifier's power voltage node during a first period of sense-amplifier operation. Alternatively, an isolation control signal generator may generate the coupling signal and allow the isolation control signal line to float relative to the generator during a first period of sense-amplifier operation. The excerpt names first, second, and third embodiments (FIGS. 4–11).
What the excerpt does not establish: The full claim set and claim language; the complete specification and figures; the precise scope of any claim limitations; the identity or content of prior-art references; drawings/figures contents beyond captions; any litigation, ownership transfers, or validity determinations (not researched, per instructions).
Generated 10/1/2026, 10:01:25 PM
Cases on file (0)
Specific litigation cases in our database that name US patent 6614702. The free-form analysis below may also discuss cases beyond this list.
No cases on file mention this patent. Upload a CSV or add a case manually in Admin → Manage litigation cases.
Litigation summary
Past and pending lawsuits — plaintiffs, defendants, jurisdictions, outcomes, and notable rulings.
Proceedings on file (0)
All PTAB activity →AIA trial proceedings (IPR / PGR / CBM) filed at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board against this patent. Sourced from the USPTO Open Data Portal and refreshed every six hours; each proceeding number deep-links to the PTAB E2E docket.
No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.