Ex Parte Askey

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Jun 14, 2016

11759408 (P.T.A.B. Jun. 14, 2016)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
111759,408 0610712007 Waymen J. Askey
71739 7590 06/14/2016
Concert Technology Corporation
5400 Trinity Road, Suite 303
Raleigh, NC 27607
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www .uspto.gov
ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
CT-REC-019/US (P063) 6247
EXAMINER
SONG, DAEHO D
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2141
MAILDATE DELIVERY MODE
06/14/2016 PAPER
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte WA YMEN J. ASKEY
Appeal2013-006359
Application 11/759,408 1
Technology Center 2100
Before ERIC B. GRIMES, ULRIKE W. JENKS, and RYAN H. FLAX,
Administrative Patent Judges.
FLAX, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
This is a decision on appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) involving
claims directed to a method of assigning a preference setting to a field.
Claims 1---6, 9-16, 19-26, and 29-35 are on appeal as rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 102(e). We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We affirm.
1 The Real Party in Interest is Abo Enterprises, LLC. App. Br. 3.
Appeal2013-006359
Application 11/759,408
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
The appealed claims can be found in the Claims Appendix of the
Appeal Brief. Claims 1, 11, 21, and 31 are independent claims. Claim 1 is
representative and reads as follows:
1. A method of assigning a preference setting to a field in a
category, comprising the steps of:
establishing via a computing device a plurality of groups in the
category;
determining via the computing device a group preference setting
for one of the plurality of groups; and
allowing a user to assign a field to one of the plurality of groups,
whereby the field assumes the group preference setting of the one
of the plurality of groups to which the field is assigned.
App. Br. 14 (Claims Appendix).
The following ground of rejection is on appeal:
Claims 1---6, 9-16, 19-26, and 29-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 102( e) as anticipated by Zuckerberg. 2
FINDINGS OF FACT
FF 1. Zuckerberg disclosed:
a profile generator 202 for creating the profile for the user, as
discussed herein. For example, the user may provide contact
information, friends, photos, and so forth to associate with the
profile for the user. The profile generator 202 utilizes the
information provided by the user to create the profile (i.e., the
user profile). As discussed herein, the profile may include one
or more categories or subcategories and news priority settings
2 U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. US 2008/0040474 Al (published Feb. 14,
2008) (hereinafter "Zuckerberg").
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Application 11/759,408
selections may be provided for each of the one or more categories
or subcategories.
Zuckerberg i-f 24; see also Final Action 4 (discussing Zuckerberg).
FF2. Zuckerberg disclosed "users at the user devices 102 can group
other users, events or objects according to categories, such as 'friends',
'school', 'geography', 'business', and so forth, and select a media content
preference setting applicable to an entire category; any type of grouping may
be employed by the user." Zuckerberg i-f 22; see also Final Action 3 and
Ans. 2-3 (discussing Zuckerberg).
FF3. Zuckerberg disclosed "the user may make media content
preference settings applicable to individual other users, events or objects.
For instance, the user may select media content preference settings for Jane,
media content preference settings for John, and/ or media content preference
settings for groups of users, which may or may not include Jane and John."
Zuckerberg lf 22; see also Final Action 3 and Ans. 2-3 (discussing
Zuckerberg).
FF4. Zuckerberg disclosed:
a user interested in learning about the activities of his favorite
group, such as a group of fellow college alumni near a reunion
date, may click on items of media content associated with fellow
college alumni with high frequency over a few days or weeks.
The high-frequency of user action associated with fellow college
alumni will result in a rank of high importance to the user for
items of media content associated with fellow college alumni. In
some embodiments not shown, the user may change the order of
the items of media content, for example, via a separate settings
display that allows the user to prioritize and/or filter certain items
of media content, and/or also by using a "drag-and-drop"
function to organize stories dynamically on the media content
display.
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Application 11/759,408
Zuckerberg i-f 40. Further, Zuckerberg disclosed, "items of media content
associated with fellow college alumni will be presented near the top of the
display," i.e., media content is ranked and displayed by preference according
to groups with which it is associated, under the control of the user. Id. i-f 41.
FF5. Zuckerberg disclosed "The user devices 102a-102n may
comprise any device associated with one or more users, such as a cellular
telephone, a personal digital assistant, a desktop or a laptop computer, and so
forth," i.e., devices with screens. Zuckerberg i-f 17 and, e.g., Fig. 4; see also
Final Action 3--4 and Ans. 4--5 (discussing Zuckerberg).
FF6. Zuckerberg disclosed:
the display engine/GUI 208 may display the presentation 400.
Further, as also discussed herein, the user may input selections
for various media content preference setting selections
associated with one or more relationships associated with items
of media content in the social network environment.
Accordingly, the user profile database 208 is updated with the
user's media content preference setting selections for each
relationship. The user interaction analysis and the user profile
are utilized by the media selector 302 to create the presentation
of personalized, dynamically selected media.
Zuckerberg i-f 38; see also Final Action 3 and Ans. 4--5 (discussing
Zuckerberg).
DISCUSSION
The Examiner determined the claimed invention was anticipated by
Zuckerberg. Final Action 2-5. We adopt the Examiner's findings of fact,
reasoning on scope and content of the prior art, and conclusions set out in
the Final Action and Answer. We agree that the evidence of record supports
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Application 11/759,408
the Examiner's finding that the claims are anticipated by Zuckerberg and
address Appellant's arguments below.
Appellant contends that "Zuckerberg does not disclose allowing a user
to assign a field to a group where the field assumes the group preference
setting of the group to which the field is assigned." App. Br. 7. We find that
the evidence of record does not support this argument.
As the Examiner determined, Zuckerberg explicitly disclosed users'
ability to define media content (i.e., fields of content) in groupings according
to categories, e.g., friends, school, geography, business, or fellow college
alumni- essentially any organization the user wishes. FF2-FF4. Further, as
the Examiner determined, Zuckerberg explicitly disclosed that users can
"select a media content preference setting applicable to the entire category
[i.e., group]." FF2. This is a disclosure of assigning "fields" of media
content to established "groups" - categories for media content - where the
field assumes the preference settings of the group, to use the claim terms.
Moreover, Zuckerberg explicitly disclosed that the user has control over the
"field" values (media content) assigned to "groups" (categories) and to
"prioritize and/or filter certain items of media content, and/or also by using a
'drag-and-drop' function to organize [media content]." FF4.
For the reasons above, we are not persuaded by Appellant's
arguments and the anticipation rejection of claims 1---6, 9-16, 19-26, and
29-35 is affirmed.
Appellant separately argues the patentability of claim 31. Appellant
contends "that Zuckerberg does not disclose a preference setting screen that
has a field in a category where the preference setting screen allows a user to
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Application 11/759,408
assign a field to a group in response to an action." App. Br. 10. We do not
find the evidence of record supports this argument.
In the system disclosed by Zuckerberg, the users' entire experience
with the social network system is via a screen. FF5. As discussed above,
Zuckerberg disclosed that users have complete control to create categories
for media content (the claims' "groups") within which media content (the
claims' "fields") can be organized and also have the ability to control
priority preference settings of these categories. FF2-FF3. Further,
Zuckerberg disclosed that one way of controlling these priority settings is by
"drag-and-drop" organization of media content (e.g., stories about fellow
alumni). FF4. As the Examiner determined, all this takes place via a
graphical user interface. FF6. The fact that Zuckerberg does not include a
drawing of the specific preference-setting screen with these features does not
diminish its disclosure thereof because this organization and hierarchy
functionality most certainly occurs on a screen showing information about
fields and groups. See App. Br. 10-11.
For the above reasons, we find that the evidence of record supports
the Examiner's determination that claim 31 is also anticipated by
Zuckerberg and the respective rejection is affirmed.
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SUMMARY
The rejection of claims 1---6, 9-16, 19-26, and 29-35 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 102( e) as anticipated by Zuckerberg is affirmed.
TIME PERIOD FOR RESPONSE
No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with
this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a).
AFFIRMED
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