Samsung Galaxy S4 is accused of patent infringement in S. Korea

S. Korean inventors claimed that Sound & Shot function in Samsung Galaxy S4 infringed their patent KR101031291, titled “APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TAKING VOICE-PHOTOGRAPH BY CONTROLLING VOICE RECORDING LEVEL BASED ON THE LOCATION OF AN OBJECT.” Users can record audio clips along with still photo shots using Sound & Shot function in Samsung Galaxy S4.

KR101031291 is filed in September 7, 2010 and issued in April 29, 2011. Its inventors are AN, BAE KEUN, AHN, JUN HYUK, LEE, JONG CHUL, AN, MI SUN, JUNG, MI YOUNG, and KIM, YUN OK. The claim 1 of KR101031291 is as follows.

1. An apparatus for taking voice along with photograph, comprises

an image shooting unit for taking a picture of an object;

a voice recording unit for recording surrounding voice by a voice unit block at a predetermined time; and

a storage unit for storing the picture along with predetermined number of the voice unit blocks recorded before, at the time of, and after taking a photograph with the picture.

(음성 사진 촬영 장치에 있어서,

피사체에 대한 사진을 촬영하는 사진 촬영부,

상기 음성 사진 촬영 장치 주변의 음성을 기 설정된 시간의 음성 블록 단위로 녹음하여 저장하는 음성 분할 녹음부, 및

상기 피사체가 촬영되는 경우에, 촬영 시점에 대응되는 음성 블록 및 상기 촬영 시점에 대응되는 음성 블록 전후의 기 설정된 개수의 음성 블록을 상기 촬영된 사진과 함께 저장하는 음성 사진 저장부를 포함하는, 음성 사진 촬영 장치.)

The issue in this patent dispute will be the claim construction of the term voice: whether the voice means general surround sound including voice.

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