T 0891/05 12-05-2009

Summary of Facts and Submissions

I. Two oppositions were filed against European patent 0 946 943, which derives from an international patent application published as WO 98 28747 A1. Both opponents relied on the grounds of opposition under Article 100(a) EPC 1973 (novelty and inventive step) as well as 100(b) and (c) EPC 1973. In its interlocutory decision the opposition division found that the subject-matter of the independent claims of the patentee's then main request extended beyond the content of the application as filed, and that the patent as amended during the oral proceedings before the opposition division according to the then auxiliary request I and the invention to which it related met the requirements of the EPC. All three parties filed notices of appeal against this decision.

II. The claims as originally filed comprised four independent claims which read as follows.

"1. A memory comprising: a memory array of storage locations; a plurality of word lines for selecting rows of the memory array, each word line comprising a plurality of segments, each segment spanning a portion of the distance of the word line; a plurality of sets of sense amplifiers, each sense amplifier of the sets of sense amplifiers selectively coupled to one storage location associated with the word line, each set of sense amplifiers corresponding to a segment; a first select logic for selecting at least one segment of a word line during a sense operation; and a second select logic for selecting at least one corresponding set of sense amplifiers."

"8. A method for accessing a memory comprising a plurality of storage locations, said method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of word lines for selecting rows of a memory array, each word line comprising a plurality of segments, each segment spanning a portion of the distance of the word line; identifying sets of sense amplifiers, each sense amplifier of the sets of sense amplifiers coupled to one storage location associated with a word line, each set of sense amplifiers corresponding to a segment; selecting at least one segment of a word line that is to be activated during a sense operation; and selecting at least one corresponding set of sense amplifiers."

"15. A memory comprising: a plurality of word lines for selecting a row of a memory array, each word line comprising a plurality of segments, each segment spanning a portion of the distance of the word line; a plurality of sets of sense amplifiers, each sense amplifier of the sets of sense amplifiers selectively coupled to one storage location associated with a word line, each set of sense amplifiers corresponding to a segment; a first select logic for selecting during a sense operation at least one segment from a first word line and at least one segment from a second word line; and a second select logic for selecting corresponding sets of sense amplifiers to access storage locations along the first segment and the second segment."

"22. A method for accessing a memory comprising a plurality of storage locations, said method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of word lines for selecting rows of a memory array, each word line comprising a plurality of segments, each segment spanning a portion of the distance of the word line; identifying sets of sense amplifiers, each sense amplifier of the sets of sense amplifiers coupled to one storage location associated with a word line, each set of sense amplifiers corresponding to a segment; selecting at least one segment of a first word line to activate during a sense operation; selecting at least one segment of a second word line that is to be activated during a sense operation; and selecting sets of sense amplifiers corresponding to the at least one segment of the first word line and at least one segment of the second word line to access storage locations along the first segment and the second segment."

III. The claims of the patent as granted comprised three independent claims which read as follows.

"1. A memory comprising: storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) arranged in rows; a first word line (100, 200, 300, ...) to select a first row of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...), the first word line (100, 200, 300, ...) including a plurality of word line segments (365, 366, ...) coupled to enable access to respective sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row; characterized by a first selection circuit to selectively activate a variable number of the word line segments (365, 366, ...) in accordance with a control value that indicates a pattern of the word line segments (365, 366, ...) to be activated."

"12. A memory comprising: a memory array of storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...); sense amplifier circuitry, including a plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) coupled to respective sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...), characterized by first selection circuitry to selectively activate a variable number of the sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) in accordance with a control value that indicates a pattern of the sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) to be activated."

"19. A method of operation in a memory, the method being characterized by receiving a control value that indicates sub-groups of a row of storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) within a first row of the memory; and activating more than one and fewer than all of a plurality of word line segments (365, 366, ...) in accordance with the control value to enable access to the corresponding sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row."

IV. In the oral proceedings before the opposition division the patentee filed an amended text for claim 19 according to the then main request which reads as follows (see point 3 of the minutes).

"A method of operation in a memory, the method being characterized by receiving a control value that indicates a number of sub-groups of a row of a [sic] storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) within a first row of the memory, and selectively activating more than one and fewer than all of a variable number of word line segments (365, 366, ...) in accordance with the control value to enable access to the corresponding sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row."

V. In the oral proceedings before the opposition division the patentee also filed amended claims 1 to 18 according to the then auxiliary request I and further sets of claims according to the then auxiliary requests II and III. The claims of auxiliary request I comprise two independent claims which read as follows.

"1. A memory comprising: storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) arranged in rows; a first word line (100, 200, 300, ...) to select a first row of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...), the first word line (100, 200, 300, ...) including a plurality of word line segments (365, 366, ...) coupled to enable access to respective sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row; said memory further comprising a plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...), the sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) coupled respectively to the sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...); and a first selection circuit to selectively activate a variable number of the word line segments (365, 366, ...) in accordance with a control value that indicates a pattern of the word line segments (365, 366, ...) to be activated; wherein the plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) are coupled to the first selection circuit and a variable number of corresponding sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) are activated in accordance with the control value."

"10. A method of operation in a memory, the method including receiving a control value that indicates a number of sub-groups of a row of storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) within a first row of the memory; and selectively activating more than one and fewer than all of a plurality of word line segments (365, 366, ...) in accordance with the control value to enable access to the corresponding sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row; wherein the memory further includes a plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) each coupled to respective sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row, the method further including transferring data from storage locations (401, 402, 403) corresponding to the selectively activated variable number of word line segments (365, 366, ...) in the first row to the corresponding variable number of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...)."

VI. According to the reasons for the decision, the patentee's main request was not allowable essentially because, while the application as originally filed, in particular each of the independent claims, consistently presented the activation of a segment of a word line and of a corresponding set of sense amplifiers in combination, such a combination had been dissected in the independent claims of the main request; claims 1 and 19 did not contain activation of a set of sense amplifiers, and claim 12 was not limited to word line segment activation. In the application as originally filed activation of a segment of a word line and of a corresponding set of sense amplifiers was consistently presented in combination and achieved each of the three objects stated at the bottom of page 2 of the description. The application as originally filed contained no express or implied disclosure that one of the elements of that combination could be omitted. Thus the invention contemplated in the application as originally filed was intended to achieve all of the stated objects of the invention and was directed to a combination of activation of word line segments and corresponding sets of sense amplifiers. Hence the subject-matter of the independent claims extended beyond the content of the application as originally filed.

VII. According to the reasons for the appealed decision, the patent amended according to auxiliary request I complied with the EPC. Regarding the requirements of Article 100(c) EPC 1973, each of independent claims 1 and 10 was limited to activation of word line segments and corresponding sets of sense amplifiers. Hence, compared with the claims as originally filed, essential integers had not been omitted from the independent claims.

VIII. The appellant patentee filed a notice of appeal and requested that the decision be set aside and the patent be maintained as granted. In a subsequently filed statement of grounds of appeal and in a further submission dated 28 February 2006 the appellant patentee argued inter alia that the terms in the patent "selectively" and "variable number" meant that controller 118 could independently turn on different numbers of word line segments and sets of sense amplifiers. As to the ground for opposition under Article 100(c) EPC 1973, the disclosure of the patent application was not bound by the preferred embodiments. Instead the invention was to be acknowledged in the light of the objective problem and the given solution in view of the whole application as originally filed. The technical teaching given therein was the selective activation of a varying or arbitrary number of either word line segments or sets of sense amplifiers in order to save power. The appellant patentee also submitted arguments concerning the grounds for opposition under Article 100(a) and (b) EPC 1973.

IX. Appellant opponent 1 filed a notice of appeal against the entire decision, requesting that the patent be revoked. In a subsequently filed statement of grounds of appeal and in a further submission dated 28 February 2006 appellant opponent 1 argued essentially, regarding the ground of opposition under Article 100(c) EPC 1973, that the patentee bore the burden of proof to show "beyond reasonable doubt" that an amendment was allowable and that the appealed decision had been wrong in finding that the amendments to the claims satisfied Article 100(c) EPC 1973 or Article 123(2) EPC. Claims 1 and 10 as maintained by the appealed decision did not read onto the original disclosure, since the application as originally filed did not contain the slightest suggestion of a modifiable control value being used to select different integer numbers of word line segments in different patterns in the single row embodiment. Neither did the original application suggest, in the single row or multiple row embodiments, that different integer numbers of sub-groups of sense amplifiers could be selected at different times. Since the amended claims clearly required that functionality, the amended claims contained added subject-matter.

X. Appellant opponent 2 also filed a notice of appeal and requested that the decision be reversed. In a subsequently filed statement of grounds of appeal and in a further submission dated 28 February 2006 appellant opponent 2 argued essentially, regarding the ground of opposition under Article 100(c) EPC 1973, that neither the single word line or multiple word line embodiments in the application as originally filed disclosed the activation of a variable number of word line segments and sets of sense amplifiers. The subject-matter of granted claims 1 and 10 was an unallowable intermediate generalisation, since multiple sub-word line and multiple sub-sensing circuitry were required, the claims not being limited to the multiple row embodiment. Moreover none of the embodiments of the application as originally filed mentioned having a "variable number" of selectable word line segments. Instead several embodiments were disclosed, each using a fixed number. Appellant opponent 2 also submitted arguments concerning the grounds for opposition under Article 100(a) and (b) EPC 1973.

XI. In an annex to a summons to oral proceedings the board set out its preliminary opinion on the case, namely that it had doubts concerning the grounds of opposition under Article 100(a) (novelty and inventive step), (b) and (c) EPC 1973. Relating to Article 100(c) EPC 1973, the board stated that a key question would be whether the European patent application (or the amended European patent) had been amended in such a way that it contained subject-matter which extended beyond the content of the application as filed, interpreted as the whole technical content. The board had doubts as to whether the possibility that the segments or the sense amplifiers could be deleted, resulting in there no longer being a correspondence, was directly and unambiguously derivable from the application as originally filed. The board also had doubts whether the application as originally filed provided a basis (see granted claim 1) for the selective activation of a variable number of the word line segments in accordance with a control value that indicates a pattern of the word line segments to be activated (emphasis added by the board). The board also had doubts concerning the basis (see granted claim 12) for the selective activation of a variable number of the sets of sense amplifiers in accordance with a control value that indicates a pattern of the sets of sense amplifiers to be activated. Similarly the board had doubts about the basis (see granted claim 19) for activating more than one and fewer than all of a plurality of word line segments in accordance with the control value to enable access to the corresponding sub-groups of the storage locations in the first row. It seemed that the terms "variable", "control value", "pattern" and "fewer than all" were not used in the application as originally filed.

XII. In a letter dated 22 January 2009 appellant opponent 2 stated that it would not attend the oral proceedings, but made no further comments as to the substance of the case.

With a letter dated 7 April 2009 the appellant patentee filed sets of amended claims according to a main request and auxiliary requests I, II, III and IV. In the letter the appellant patentee argued, regarding the ground of opposition under Article 100(c) EPC 1973, essentially that the terms "variable", "control value", "pattern" and "fewer than all" all had a basis in the application as originally filed. They derived from the disclosed signal lines and expandable (multiple bit) control signals which served to selectively and independently activate word line segments and sets of sense amplifiers. The expression "fewer than all" (of a variable number of word line segments) merely excluded the prior art case of all word line segments being activated. The appellant patentee also submitted arguments concerning the grounds for opposition under Article 100(a) and (b) EPC 1973. The claims according to the main request and auxiliary requests I, II, III and IV subsequently became those of the patentee's final auxiliary requests 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, respectively (see points XVII to XXI below).

XIII. In a letter received by fax on 6 May 2009 appellant opponent 1 stated that it would not be represented at the oral proceedings, but made no further comments as to the substance of the case.

XIV. Oral proceedings were held on 12 May 2009 in the absence of both opponent appellants, as both had announced in advance.

The appellant patentee argued, regarding the ground of opposition under Article 100(c) EPC 1973 and the requirements of Article 123(2) EPC, essentially that the control values set out in the claims were supported by the "SADR[3:0]" value in the case of word line segments (see page 6, lines 11 to 24, of the published application) and the "SUBSAP[3:0]" and (inverted) "SUBSAN[3:0]" values in the case of the sets of sense amplifiers; see page 7, lines 3 to 16, of the published application. References in the claims to selectively activating fewer than all of a variable number of word line segments disclaimed the prior art situation where a whole word line was activated.

The board raised the following objections under Article 123(2) EPC regarding the claims according to the main and auxiliary requests I to IV filed with the letter dated 7 April 2009. The independent claims of all five requests used the expressions "variable", "control value", "pattern" and "more than one and fewer than all", which had not been used in the application as originally filed. The independent claims of the main request separated the approaches of selective activation of word line segments and selective activation of sets of sense amplifiers. The memory address tag set out in the independent claims according to auxiliary requests II and III had a different function to that disclosed on page 12, last paragraph, of the description as originally filed. In claim 1 according to auxiliary requests III and IV the same control value indicated both a pattern of word line segments and sets of sense amplifiers, which was not disclosed in the application as originally filed. Claim 1 according to all five requests separated the first and second selection circuits, which had consistently been presented together in the independent apparatus claims as originally filed. Moreover, whilst the application as originally filed consistently set out a plurality of word lines, each word line comprising a plurality of segments, claim 1 of all five requests merely set out a first word line including a plurality of word line segments, thus adding the concept that the word lines other than the first one need not comprise word line segments.

After two breaks the appellant patentee submitted claims 1 to 14 of a new request, which ultimately became the appellant patentee's auxiliary request 1. The board raised the following objections against the claims of this request. The independent claims used the expressions "variable", "control value" and "pattern", which had not been used in the application as originally filed, Article 123(2) EPC. Claim 1 set out a first selection circuit and a second selection circuit both activating sense amplifiers, which was not disclosed in the application as originally filed and was also unclear, Articles 123(2) EPC and 84 EPC 1973. Moreover, whilst granted independent method claim 19 had referred to "activating more than one and fewer than all of a plurality of word line segments", independent method claim 6 of the new request set out "selectively activating at least one of a variable number of word line segments", thus extending the protection conferred by the patent, Article 123(3) EPC, in also covering the case of all the word line segments being activated. Claim 6 also did not set out a plurality of word lines, each comprising a plurality of segments, thus adding subject-matter, Article 123(2) EPC.

After a third break the appellant patentee submitted claim 1 of a new request, which ultimately became his main request. In contrast to what ultimately became auxiliary requests 1 to 6, the new request consisted of a single apparatus claim and lacked an independent method claim. The board raised the following objections against the admissibility of this request. The new request could have been filed earlier in the proceedings, for instance before the first break in the oral proceedings once the objection under Article 123(2) EPC had been raised against the expression in the independent method claims according to the requests filed with the letter dated 7 April 2009 "more than one and fewer than all" or after the second break when the objection under Article 123(3) EPC was raised against what ultimately became auxiliary request 1, rather than waiting until after the third break. The appellant patentee had also not provided any explanations as to why the new request overcame the objections already raised against the lower ranking requests.

The appellant patentee conceded that the expression "more than one and fewer than all" had been objected to before the first break. However the amendments made in what ultimately became auxiliary request 1 were not directed to overcoming this objection. The objection concerning only one word line being defined as comprising segments had however been raised in the discussion of what became auxiliary request 1. Hence further requests had not been filed at that time, although this could have been done. Moreover deleting the method claim in what became the appellant patentee's main request reduced the complexity of the procedure.

The appellant patentee's final requests were that the decision under appeal be set aside and that the patent be maintained on the basis of the following requests:

main request: claim 1 filed in the oral proceedings;

auxiliary request 1: claims 1 to 14 filed in the oral proceedings;

auxiliary request 2: claims 1 to 28 filed as "main request" with the letter dated 7 April 2009;

auxiliary request 3: claims 1 to 18 filed as "auxiliary request I" with the letter dated 7 April 2009;

auxiliary request 4: claims 1 to 24 filed as "auxiliary request II" with the letter dated 7 April 2009;

auxiliary request 5: claims 1 to 16 filed as "auxiliary request III" with the letter dated 7 April 2009 and

auxiliary request 6: claims 1 to 18 filed as "auxiliary request IV" with the letter dated 7 April 2009.

XV. The main request consists of a single claim which reads as follows.

"1. A memory comprising: storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) arranged in rows; a plurality of word lines (100, 200, 300, ...) each to select an individual row of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...), each word line (100, 200, 300, ...) including a plurality of word line segments (365, 366, ...) coupled to enable access to respective sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the individual row; characterized by a plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...), the sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) coupled respectively to the sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...); a first selection circuit to selectively activate a variable number of word line segments (365, 366, ...) of a word line (100, 200, 300) in accordance with a control value that indicates a pattern of the word line segments (365, 366, ...) to be activated; and a second selection circuit configured to selectively activate a variable number of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...)."

XVI. The claims according to auxiliary request 1 consist of fourteen claims, the independent claims reading as follows.

"1. A memory comprising: storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) arranged in rows; a plurality of word lines (100, 200, 300, ...) each to select an individual row of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...), each word line (100, 200, 300, ...) including a plurality of word line segments (365, 366, ...) coupled to enable access to respective sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the individual row; characterized by a plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...), the sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) coupled respectively to the sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...); a first selection circuit to selectively activate a variable number of word line segments (365, 366, ...) of a word line (100, 200, 300) in accordance with a control value that indicates a pattern of the word line segments (365, 366, ...) to be activated; wherein the plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) are coupled to the first selection circuit for activating a variable number of the sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) and a second selection circuit configured to selectively activate a variable number of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...)."

"6. A method of operation in a memory, the method being characterized by receiving a control value that indicates a variable number of sub-groups of a row of storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) within a first row of the memory; and selectively activating at least one of a variable number of word line segments (365, 366, ...) in accordance with the control value to enable access to the corresponding sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row; wherein the memory further includes a plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) each coupled to respective sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row, the method further including transferring data from storage locations (401, 402, 403) corresponding to the selectively activated variable number of word line segments (365, 366, ...) in the first row to the corresponding variable number of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...)."

XVII. The claims according to auxiliary request 2 consist of 28 claims, claims 1 to 18 and 20 to 28 being the same as the respective granted claims. Claim 19 reads as follows.

"A method of operation in a memory, the method being characterized by receiving a control value that indicates a variable number of sub-groups of a row of storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) within a first row of the memory; and selectively activating more than one and fewer than all of a variable number of word line segments (365, 366, ...) in accordance with the control value to enable access to the corresponding sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row."

Except for the added term "variable" in claim 19 the claims according to auxiliary request 2 were the same as those according to the main request upon which the appealed decision had been based.

XVIII. The claims according to auxiliary request 3 consist of eighteen claims, the independent claims reading as follows.

"1. A memory comprising: storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) arranged in rows; a first word line (100, 200, 300, ...) to select a first row of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...), the first word line (100, 200, 300, ...) including a plurality of word line segments (365, 366, ...) coupled to enable access to respective sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row; characterized by a plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...), the sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) coupled respectively to the sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...); a first selection circuit to selectively activate a variable number of the word line segments (365, 366, ...) in accordance with a control value that indicates a pattern of the word line segments (365, 366, ...) to be activated; wherein the plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) are coupled to the first selection circuit and a variable number of the sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) are activated in accordance with the control value."

"10. A method of operation in a memory, the method being characterized by receiving a control value that indicates a variable number of sub-groups of a row of storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) within a first row of the memory; and selectively activating more than one and fewer than all of a variable number of word line segments (365, 366, ...) in accordance with the control value to enable access to the corresponding sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row; wherein the memory further includes a plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) each coupled to respective sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row, the method further including transferring data from storage locations (401, 402, 403) corresponding to the selectively activated variable number of word line segments (365, 366, ...) in the first row to the corresponding variable number of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...)."

XIX. The claims according to auxiliary request 4 consist of 24 claims, the independent claims reading as follows.

"1. A memory comprising: storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) arranged in rows; a first word line (100, 200, 300, ...) to select a first row of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...), the first word line (100, 200, 300, ...) including a plurality of word line segments (365, 366, ...) coupled to enable access to respective sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row; characterized by a plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...), the sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) coupled respectively to the sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...); a first selection circuit to selectively activate a variable number of the word line segments (365, 366, ...) in accordance with a control value that indicates a pattern of the word line segments (365, 366, ...) to be activated and a memory address tag to store an address, the address corresponding to a first storage location (401, 402, 403, ...) of the sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...)."

"10. A memory comprising: a memory array of storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...); a sense amplifier circuitry, including a plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) coupled to respective sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...), characterized by first selection circuitry to selectively activate a variable number of the sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) in accordance with a control value that indicates a pattern of the sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) to be activated; and a memory address tag to store an address, the address corresponding to a storage location (401, 402, 403, ...) of data sensed in at least one set of the sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...)."

"16. A method of operation in a memory, the method being characterized by receiving a control value that indicates a variable number of sub-groups of a row of storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) within a first row of the memory; and selectively activating more than one and fewer that [sic] all of a variable number of word line segments (365, 366, ...) in accordance with the control value to enable access to the corresponding sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row; and storing an address in an address tag, the address tag being representative of a storage location (401, 402, 403, ...) of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row."

XX. The claims according to auxiliary request 5 consist of sixteen claims, the independent claims reading as follows.

"1. A memory comprising: storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) arranged in rows; a first word line (100, 200, 300, ...) to select a first row of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...), the first word line (100, 200, 300, ...) including a plurality of word line segments (365, 366, ...) coupled to enable access to respective sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row; characterized by a plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...), the sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) coupled respectively to the sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...); a first selection circuit to selectively activate a variable number of the word line segments (365, 366, ...) in accordance with a control value that indicates a pattern of the word line segments (365, 366, ...) to be activated; and a memory address tag to store an address, the address corresponding to a first storage location (401, 402, 403, ...) of the sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...); wherein the plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) are coupled to the first selection circuit and a variable number of the sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) are activated in accordance with the control value."

"9. A method of operation in a memory, the method being characterized by receiving a control value that indicates a variable number of sub-groups of a row of storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) within a first row of the memory; and selectively activating more than one and fewer than all of a variable number of word line segments (365, 366, ...) in accordance with the control value to enable access to the corresponding sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row; wherein the memory further includes a plurality of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...) each coupled to respective sub-groups of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row, the method further including transferring data from storage locations (401, 402, 403) corresponding to the selectively activated variable number of word line segments (365, 366, ...) in the first row to the corresponding variable number of sets of sense amplifiers (260; 361, 362, ...); the method further comprising the step of storing an address in an address tag, the address tag being representative of a storage location (401, 402, 403, ...) of the storage locations (401, 402, 403, ...) in the first row."

XXI. The claims of auxiliary request 6 consist of eighteen claims having the same wording as those of auxiliary request I on the basis of which the amended patent was found to comply with the EPC in the appealed decision (see point VII above).

XXII. At the end of the oral proceedings the board announced its decision.