Ex Parte Basir et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Apr 28, 2016

12781142 (P.T.A.B. Apr. 28, 2016)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
121781,142 05/17/2010
26096 7590 05/02/2016
CARLSON, GASKEY & OLDS, P,C
400 WEST MAPLE ROAD
SUITE 350
BIRMINGHAM, MI 48009
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
Otman Adam Basir
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.
60449-136 PUS2 2181
EXAMINER
PUTTAIAH, ASHA
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
3695
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
05/02/2016 ELECTRONIC
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.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address( es):
ptodocket@cgolaw.com
cgolaw@yahoo.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte OTMAN ADAM BASIR and DAVID BULLOCK
Appeal2014-001540
Application 12/781,1421
Technology Center 3600
Before, JOSEPH A. FISCHETTI, PHILIP J. HOFFMANN, and
BRUCE T. WIEDER, Administrative Patent Judges.
FISCHETTI, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellants seek our review under 35 U.S.C. § 134 of the Examiner's
final rejection of claims 11-23. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
SUMMARY OF DECISION
We AFFIRM-IN-PART.
THE INVENTION
Appellants claim a device for recording driving characteristics.
(Specification, 2)
1 Appellants identify Intelligent Mechatronic Systems Inc. as the real party
in interest. Br. 1.
Appeal2014-001540
Application 12/781, 142
Claim 11, reproduced below, is representative of the subject matter on
appeal.
11. A device for gathering vehicle usage data for use in determining a
vehicle insurance cost comprising:
a memory module for storing data indicative of vehicle operating
characteristics;
a receiver for receiving satellite signals indicative of a vehicle
position;
a power module including a connection to an external power source,
and an internal power source for powering said device independent of the
external power source;
a first sensor disposed within the device for detecting motion of said
device;
an accelerometer disposed within the device for detecting vehicle
acceleration;
a controller for governing the gathering of data stored within said
memory module according to a desired detail level of vehicle operating
characteristics, wherein the controller gathers data according to at least two
selectable levels of detail including a first detail level that includes data
indicative of vehicle operation and a second detail level includes data
indicative of vehicle location, wherein the controller detects operation of the
vehicle in the absence of power from the external power source with the first
sensor to detect errors that may affect data integrity; and a data extraction
module for forwarding data for use in determining a vehicle insurance cost.
THE REJECTION
The Examiner relies upon the following as evidence of
unpatentability:
Tano
McMillan
6,438,472 Bl
5,797,134
The following rejection is before us for review:
Aug. 20, 2002
Aug. 18, 1998
Claims 11-23 are rejected under 35U.S.C.§103(a) as being unpatentable
over Tano in view of McMillan.
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Appeal2014-001540
Application 12/781, 142
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. We adopt the Examiner's findings as set forth on pages 5-19 of
Examiner's Answer, excluding the Examiner's findings for claim 12.
2. Tano discloses that, "When the engine is turned OFF, the power
supply to the data recorder 10 is maintained (by the capacitor, for example)
until the last aggregate time has elapsed, upon which the data recording
process ends." Col. 9, 11. 39-42.
3. Tano discloses:
The data recorder 10 includes a sensor unit 11, a
card accommodating mechanism 12, a recorder
unit 13, and a setting section 14. The sensor unit
11 has angular velocity meters 111 x, 111 y, and
11 lz, accelerometers 112x, 112y, and 112z, a GPS
(Global Positioning System) receiver 113, and a
pulse acquisition mechanism 114. The angular
velocity meters 111 x, 111 y, and 111 z measure
angular velocity data (roll rate, pitch rate, and yaw
rate) around the three dimensional axes for the
vehicle equipped with the data recorder 10. The
accelerometers 112x, 112y, and 112z measure
acceleration data in longitudinal, lateral, and
vertical directions (acceleration, deceleration,
cornering acceleration, vertical acceleration, etc.)
of the vehicle. The GPS receiver 113 receives GPS
data that represents the current latitude, longitude,
speed, direction, time, etc. of the vehicle. The
pulse acquisition mechanism 114 acquires vehicle
speed pulses from vehicle meters, etc.
Col. 6, 1. 63-Col. 7, 1. 12.
4. Tano further discloses that "[t]he recorder unit 13 includes a CPU
(central processing unit) and a memory. The CPU reads and executes a
predetermined program stored in a portion of the memory, thereby
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Appeal2014-001540
Application 12/781, 142
implementing the respective functions of a preprocessor 131, an event
extracting section 132, and a data recording section 133.
Col. 7, 11. 37-42.
ANALYSIS
The Appellants argue claims 11, 14-17, and 19-23 as a group,
selecting claim 11 as the representative claim for this group, with the
remaining claims of this group standing or falling with claim 1. 37 C.F.R.
§ 41.37(c)(l)(iv).
Appellants argue,
Although the Examiner cites to Figure 1 and
columns 6-9 of Tano as disclosing the required
internal power source, no such power source is
disclosed. Instead, Tano discloses that power is
maintained to complete the current data capture
process and then end data recording when the
engine is turned off. (Tano, Col. 9, lines 39-42).
Maintaining power is not the same as providing an
internal power source. In fact, Tano specifically
discloses that when the engine is turned OFF, the
power supply to the data recorder 1 is maintained.
In other words, external power is maintained to the
data recorder. . .It is well known that battery power
is utilized to maintain vehicle functions when the
engine is turned off.
(Appeal Br. 3, Reply Br. 1-2)
We disagree with Appellants and direct Appellants' attention to line
40 of column 9 where Tano explicitly discloses the use of a capacitor, and
not the car battery as argued by Appellants, to maintain the power supply to
the data recorder when the engine is OFF. (FF. 2). We find that while a
capacitor needs to be charged by a voltage source, such as by a battery, a
capacitor by definition nevertheless stores the energy of the voltage source
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Appeal2014-001540
Application 12/781, 142
in its polarized dielectric. 2 We thus find the one having ordinary skill in the
art would understand that Tano' s use of a capacitor as part of the recording
device would anticipate the cutoff of power from the battery once the engine
is OFF to continue as a source of power to the recording device. See KSR
Int'l. Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 418 (2007). (In making the
obviousness determination one "can take account of the inferences and
creative steps that a person of ordinary skill in the art would employ.")
Appellants also argue that
[t]he capacitor cited by the Examiner is disclosed
as providing power to the data recording device,
but not as part of the data gathering device. As
appreciated, such a feature is not an internal power
supply, but is instead an additional feature of a
power supply that is external to the Tano data
gathering device.
(Appeal Br. 3-4).
We disagree with Appellants because we find that the data recorder 10
disclosed by Tano meets the claim requirement of the data gathering device.
That is, the Examiner found that Tano and McMillan disclose all the
components of the claimed data gathering device. (Answer 4-7). Except for
the capacitor issue of Tano, Appellants do not challenge these findings to the
subject matter of claim 11. Tano explicitly uses the article "the" when
referencing how the supply of power to the data recorder 10 is maintained
"by the capacitor". We interpret this passage in Tano to mean that the
2 The definition of capacitor is: a device giving cagacitance and usually
consisting of conducting plates or foils separated by thin layers of dielectric
(as air or mica) with the plates on opposite sides of the dielectric layers
oppositely charged by a source of voltage and the electrical energy of the
charged system stored in the polarized dielectric. http://www.merriam-
.w~_b-~J_~r_&Qml!;lkJj_Q!!;!fYif_9:Q_g_9-itQI (last visited 4/3/2016)
5
Appeal2014-001540
Application 12/781, 142
capacitor is one of the many listed components of the disclosed data recorder
10, and hence is internal to the device 10 to maintain power to it even when
the system is OFF. As we found supra, the data recording device 10 in Tano
includes inter alia, sensors, GPS, and a memory coupled by a CPU to effect
data recording of the vehicle. (Id.) We thus further find that Tano discloses
that the data recorder 10 remains powered by the capacitor through its
discharge, and thus maintains power to the attendant functions of the data
recorder until such discharge.
Claim 12 requires in pertinent part, wherein the first sensor comprises
a vibration sensor, and said controller actuates said vibration sensor
responsive to a loss of external power.
The Examiner found that Tano discloses this feature at "Column 6
Line 49 - Column 9, Line 61". (Answer 8).
Our review of these sections of Tano reveals no disclosure of
actuating a vibration sensor responsive to a loss of external power, because
no vibration sensor is disclosed as being part of the data recording device l 0,
which is the device which under the claim terms must be powered by the
capacitor when external power is lost.
Claim 13 requires wherein the power module senses data indicative of
vehicle ignition status for determining if the vehicle is operating in the
absence of receiving data.
The Examiner found that this feature is disclosed by Tano,
specifically citing: "Column 8, Lines 53-65, vehicle starts to move by
initiating driving .... " (Answer 8).
Appellants argue that "While Tano does disclose detection of a
vehicle ignition condition it does not disclose determining such in the
absence of data." (Appeal Br. 6).
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Appeal2014-001540
Application 12/781, 142
We disagree with Appellants. We find that Tano at column 8 lines 53-
65 explicitly discloses once the vehicle starts moving, determining over a
given period whether an event is detected using measurement data exceeding
a threshold. We find that because Tano discloses detecting an event by
determining a threshold input over a given period once the vehicle starts to
move, one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the absence of
such threshold inputs is a determination of the vehicle operating in the
absence of receiving data.
Since Appellants argue claim 18 for the same reasons set forth for
claim 11 (Appeal Br. 6), Appellant's arguments fail for the same reasons we
set forth for claim 11 above.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
We conclude the Examiner did not err in rejecting claims 11, 13-23
under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
We conclude the Examiner did err in rejecting claim 12 under 35
U.S.C. § 103.
DECISION
No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with
this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a). See 37 C.F.R.
§ 1.136(a)(l )(iv).
AFFIRMED-IN-PART
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