That was pretty good. I don't have the ability to do what you just did, but I can recognize it when I see it.

From Despain:

47. Further, I believe that the Plaintiffs’ construction is correct because the entire ring oscillator is "capable of operating at speeds that can change." The changes in the "speed" of the ring oscillator, which in this context refers to its frequency, track the corresponding changes in the CPU because both devices are on the same semiconductor substrate, which is a key point of the invention of the ‘336 patent. The specification provides an example of the capability of the ring oscillator to operate at different speeds, depending on the ambient temperature: "The ring oscillator frequency is determined by the parameters of temperature, voltage, and process. At room temperature, the frequency will be in the neighborhood of 100 MHz. At 70 degrees Centigrade, the speed will be 50 MHz." '336, 16:59-63. (Room temperature is approximately 20 degrees Centigrade.) The specification also notes that the speed of the ring oscillator and the CPU may vary up to four-fold: "The CPU 70 executes at the fastest speed possible using the adaptive ring counter clock 430. Speed may vary by a factor of four depending upon temperature, voltage, and process." '336, 19-22. Similar statements were made in the prosecution history. See Amd. 7/03/97 at 4-5, Ex. 8 and Amd. 2/06/98 at 3-4, Ex. 9. Thus, based on these passages, I believe that one of ordinary skill understands that the entire ring oscillator is "capable of operating at speeds that can change."

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What our invention accomplishes: (From Patent literature)

LOW SYSTEM COST.

In this embodiment, the microprocessor can be thought of as 20 MIPS for 20 dollars. Important distinguishing features of the microprocessor are:

Uses low-cost commodity DYNAMIC RAMS to run 20 MIPS

4 instruction fetch per memory cycle

On-chip fast page-mode memory management

Runs fast without external cache

Requires few interfacing chips

Crams 32-bit CPU in 44 pin SOJ package

The instruction set is organized so that most operations can be specified with 8-bit instructions. Two positive products of this philosophy are:

Programs are smaller,

Programs can execute much faster.

The bottleneck in most computer systems is the memory bus. The bus is used to fetch instructions and fetch and store data. The ability to fetch four instructions in a single memory bus cycle significantly increases the bus availability to handle data

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336 deals with one aspect of these goals and that is variable speed clocking.

From Despain:

21. Modern microprocessors have millions or even hundreds of millions of transistors, which together conduct countless logical functions, each of which has to be precisely
coordinated with the others so as to avoid a collision in operations. An analogy is the conductor of a symphony. If the conductor does not provide a timing reference for the beat of the music by waving a conducting baton, then the result will not be highly-coordinated symphonic music, but a cacophony. Similarly, a microprocessor needs its own timing reference, which is usually provided as a clock signal. A clock signal is generally a sinusoidal or square wave that is regularly varying, and which provides a rising or falling edge from which the central processing unit ("CPU") can derive its own "beat." The speed of the modern microprocessor is much faster than a conductor could ever wave a baton, however − generally on the order of millions or even billions of cycles a second. There are many different sources of clock signals − e.g., quartz crystal oscillators, voltage- and current-controlled oscillators, and ring oscillators. They are all similar in that they provide an alternating output.
22. One function that microprocessor systems use a clocking mechanism for is to coordinate moving data into and out of the microprocessor. This data typically moves into and out of the microprocessor through an input/output interface, which is the microprocessor's means to communicate with the outside world. The data rate itself may be based on a clock signal that is much slower than the system clock signal that is timing the operation of the CPU. Prior to the invention of the '336 patent, the system clock would have to be synchronous with the slower input/output clock, slowing all operations of the microprocessor. The '336 patent teaches a technique o "decouple" the slower input/output clock from the system clock, allowing them to run independently and therefore for the system clock to run faster.
23. Prior to the invention of the '336 patent, the source of the system clock signal in a microprocessor system was typically an off-chip crystal, which generally has a fixed frequency. In contrast, the '336 patent teaches the use of a variable-speed oscillator circuit to provide a system clock that is on the same chip as the microprocessor, and which is therefore subject to the same variations in operating conditions, such as temperature and voltage, and in manufacturing processes. As a result, these variations affect both the on-chip oscillator circuit and the microprocessor, causing the speed of the oscillator and the range of speeds the microprocessor can operate at to vary together, ensuring that the output of the microprocessor remains valid.
24. In common parlance, the term "clock" has multiple uses, as a noun, adjective, and verb. For instance, one may speak of a "wall clock" (noun), a "clock signal" (adjective), or "clocking a racehorse" (verb). Similarly, in the field of electronic circuit design, the term "clock" is used in multiple ways, such as "a clock signal" (an electrical signal used for timing) or a "clock circuit" (a circuit that generates electrical signals used for timing). Electrical engineers of ordinary skill in the art use the noun "clock" to describe both a clock signal and a clock circuit, and to those of ordinary skill in the art, which is meant is clear from the larger context in which the term is used.
25. The specification of the '336 patent follows this convention with regard to the use of the noun "clock." In some places the noun "clock" refers to a signal, and in other places to the circuit. It is always clear from the context whether a particular occurrence of the term refers to a signal or a circuit. The specification of the '336 patent also occasionally uses the verb "to clock" to describe the action of providing a timing signal to a circuit or circuit component.
26. Rather than relying on a larger context as electrical engineers customarily do, I will endeavor to use the term "clock circuit" and "clock signal" as appropriate in different contexts

336 deals with one aspect of these goals and that is variable speed clocking.