Ex Parte Brown

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Sep 21, 2016

13002652 (P.T.A.B. Sep. 21, 2016)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
13/002,652 01/05/2011
22879 7590 09/23/2016
HP Inc.
3390 E. Harmony Road
Mail Stop 35
FORT COLLINS, CO 80528-9544
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
Norman P. Brown
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.
82595322 2608
EXAMINER
LI, SIDNEY
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2136
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
09/23/2016 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):
ipa.mail@hp.com
barbl@hp.com
yvonne.bailey@hp.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte NORMAN P. BROWN
Appeal2015-004840
Application 13/002,652
Technology Center 2100
Before CAROLYN D. THOMAS, JEFFREYS. SMITH, and
TERRENCE W. McMILLIN, Administrative Patent Judges.
SMITH, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
Appeal2015-004840
Application 13/002,652
STATEivIENT OF THE CASE
This is an appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner's final
rejection of claims 1-15. The rejection of claims 16-20 has been
withdrawn. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We reverse.
Representative Claim
1. A method for updating a thin client operating system
(OS) image, comprising:
writing a service OS from a network device to memory of a thin
client device, the service OS being written over a first portion of an
old OS image, the first portion including a portion of a current OS of
the thin client device;
rebooting the thin client device using the service OS;
subsequent to rebooting the thin client device and using the
service OS, writing a large part of a new OS image from the network
to the memory of the thin client in a series of portions, the large part
of the ne\x1 OS image being \x1ritten over a second portion of the old
OS image without writing over the service OS in the first portion; and
writing a final small part of the new OS image over the service
OS in the first portion.
Frazer
Saliou
Skan
Prior Art
US 2005/0055595 Al
US 2005/0228978 Al
US 7,698,698 B2
Examiner's Rejections
Mar. 10, 2005
Oct. 13, 2005
Apr. 13, 2010
Claims 1, 4---6, 8, 9, 11-13, and 15 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 102( e) as anticipated by Skan.
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Appeal2015-004840
Application 13/002,652
Claims 2, 3, and 14 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Skan and Saliou.
Claims 7 and 10 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Skan and Frazer.
ANALYSIS
Section 102 rejection of claims 1, 4-6, 8, 9, 11-13, and 15
Claim 1 recites "writing a service OS from a network device to
memory of a thin client device, the service OS being written over a first
portion of an old OS image, the first portion including a portion of a current
OS of the thin client device."
The Examiner finds the update agent of Skan, which is part of the
minimal core image that is received, is written in the memory locations of
the core operating system of the device. Ans. 12 (citing Skan, col. 7, 11. 15-
40; Fig. 2). According to the Examiner, column 7 and Figure 2 of Skan
disclose the update agent is in the core operating system, therefore, it was
written over a portion of an old OS image. Id. Appellant contends the
update agent of Skan is not written over the core OS image because the
update agent already exists on the core OS image. Reply Br. 5---6.
We agree with Appellant. Skan discloses a download agent that
receives an update package, transferred over-the-air from a remote server to
a mobile device, and stores the update package in flash. Col. 6, 1. 64 to col.
7, 1. 4. The update agent accesses and decodes the update package and
applies the decoded update instructions to a firmware image stored in flash,
to convert the original image into a new image. Col. 7, 11. 8--40; Fig. 2.
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Appeal2015-004840
Application 13/002,652
Although the update agent decodes the update package, and applies
the decoded update instructions to firmware stored in the flash to convert an
original image into a new image, the update agent itself is not written over
the original image in the firmware. Rather, the decoded update instructions
are written over the original image by the update agent. Skan, col. 7, 11. 8-
40; Fig. 2. However, the Examiner does not rely on the decoded update
instructions that are written over the old image to describe the claimed
"service OS being written over a first portion of an old OS image." Instead,
the Examiner relies on the update agent itself (Final Act. 3--4; Ans. 12),
which is not written over the old image.
We do not sustain the rejection of independent claim 1 under
35 U.S.C. § 102. Claims 4---6, 8, 9, 11-13, and 15 either contain or depend
from a claim containing a limitation similar to that found in claim 1 for
which the rejection fails.
Section 103 rejections of claims 2, 3, 7, 10, and 14
The Examiner has not persuasively explained how the additional
references cited in the 103 rejections teach or suggest "writing a service OS
from a network device to memory of a thin client device, the service OS
being written over a first portion of an old OS image, the first portion
including a portion of a current OS of the thin client device," as required by
independent claims 1, 9, and 13. Accordingly, we do not sustain the
rejections of dependent claims 2, 3, 7, 10, and 14 under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
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Appeal2015-004840
Application 13/002,652
DECISION
The rejection of claims 1, 4---6, 8, 9, 11-13, and 15 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 102( e) as anticipated by Skan is reversed.
The rejection of claims 2, 3, and 14 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Skan and Saliou is reversed.
The rejection of claims 7 and 10 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Skan and Frazer is reversed.
REVERSED
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