Ex Parte Hacid et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

May 11, 2017

13380669 (P.T.A.B. May. 11, 2017)

United States Patent and Trademark Office
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
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Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www.uspto.gov
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
13/380,669 03/29/2012 Hakim Hacid LUTZ 201383US01 5151
48116 7590 05/15/2017
FAY STTARPF/T TTf’F.NT
EXAMINER
1228 Euclid Avenue, 5th Floor LI, LIANG Y
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2143
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
05/15/2017 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):
docketing @ faysharpe.com
ipsnarocp @ nokia. com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte HAKIM HACID, JOHANN STAN, MARIA CORALIA, and
RYAN SKRABA
Appeal 2017-003242
Application 13/380,669
Technology Center 2100
Before THU A. DANG, JOHNNY A. KUMAR, and
JAMES W. DEJMEK, Administrative Patent Judges.
KUMAR, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Final Rejection
of claims 1—7, 9, and 11—22. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
WE AFFIRM.
Exemplary Claim
Exemplary claim 1 under appeal reads as follows (with disputed
language in italics):
Appeal 2017-003242
Application 13/380,669
1. A method for enriching user browsing at a
communication platform, comprising:
extracting relevant terms from a page being explored by a
user using a browser at a user terminal, the page being
accessible to the user and the user terminal from a site via a
communication network;
sending a request for enriching information from the user
terminal to a central semantic unit, the request including the
relevant terms, wherein the central semantic unit is configured
to semantically synthesize content of a plurality of social
networks to form semantic information based on the
corresponding content, wherein the plurality of social networks
are accessible to the central semantic unit via the
communication network, wherein the user is registered with at
least one social network of the plurality of social networks;
receiving the enriching information from the central
semantic unit at the user terminal in response to the request,
wherein the central semantic unit is configured to selectively
retrieve the enriching information from a portion of the
semantic information associated with the at least one social
network with which the user is registered, the central semantic
controller also configured to selectively retrieve the enriching
information based on the relevant terms;
displaying the enriching information to the user on the
user terminal such that the enriching information is displayed in
relation to the page and matching enriching information is
displayed in relation to the corresponding relevant term;
acquiring a social context for the user at the user
terminal, the social context identifying one or more social
network to which the user is registered, user information
needed to access and authenticate a user account with the
corresponding social network, and descriptive parameters
regarding user interactions with the corresponding social
network; and
dynamically acquiring knowledge of the social context
for the user at the user terminal based on the user interactions
with the one or more social networks to update the social
context for the user.
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Application 13/380,669
Rejections on Appeal
Claims 1—6, 8, 9, 11—18, and 20—22 are rejected under pre-AIA 35
U.S.C. 102(e) as being anticipated by Sokolenko et al. (US 2009/0313244
Al; pub. Dec. 17, 2009) (“Sokolenko”).
Claims 7 and 19 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being
unpatentable over Sokolenko, as applied in claims 1, and 11, in view of Zhu
et al. (US 8,126,782 Bl; iss. Feb. 28, 2012) (“Zhu”).
Appellants ’ Contentions
1. Appellants contend that the Examiner erred in rejecting claim 1
under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) because:
. . . Sokolenko appears to acquire the social context of friends
of the user for select services with which the user has an
account and the social context of select news feeds to which the
user is a fan, rather than the social context of the specific user.
In fact, it appears that Sokolenko would provide the social
context of the user to the user’s friends rather than to
the specific user. Moreover, the cited portions of Sokolenko
focus on using the user’s lists of friends in other services as
source data for building grouped lists of friends for the user’s
account in the Sokolenko system rather than the claimed
“acquiring.” [as recited in claim 1.]
App. Br. 11, Reply Br. 2—5.
2. Also, Appellants contend that the Examiner erred in rejecting
claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) because:
. . . Sokolenko does not disclose or fairly suggest a method for
enriching user browsing at a communication platform in which
the method includes dynamically acquiring knowledge of a
social context for a user at a user terminal based on user
interactions with a social network to update the social context
for the user as recited in the “dynamically acquiring” element.
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Appeal 2017-003242
Application 13/380,669
Rather, Sokolenko appears to acquire the social context of
select news feeds with which the user is a fan, rather than the
social context of the user. The cited portion of Sokolenko
focuses on periodically requesting and saving the social context
of select news feeds rather than on the claimed “dynamically
acquiring,” [as recited in claim 1.]
App. Br. 12; Reply Br. 6—11
ANALYSIS
We have reviewed the Examiner’s rejections in light of Appellants’
arguments that the Examiner has erred.1
As to Appellants’ above contention 1, the Examiner finds, Sokolenko
. . . also acquires the social context of the user. Namely,
following a feed or being a fan of a feed constitutes a user’s
interactions with a social network. Hence, the disclosure of the
acquiring of feed identifiers would constitute the acquiring
of descriptive parameters of this interaction, as claimed.
. . . the system also discloses acquiring the social context of the
user. Namely, the identifiers of feeds of which the user is a fan
is a social context of the user, and not merely the social context
of friends of the user
. . . Sokolenko uses information regarding user’s friends and
interests to build a database for providing enriching
information, however, this accessing and retrieving does not
exclude “acquiring
Ans. 13 (emphasis added), citing Sokolenko ^fl[ 108—22.
1 Appellants did not provide separate arguments with respect to the
patentability of claims 7 and 19.
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Application 13/380,669
We agree with the Examiner because the claimed “acquiring”
limitation does not preclude the Sokolenko system. In addition we agree
with the Examiner that
... the phrase “social context” includes the activities of the
friends or the feeds in which the user has shown an interest
and to which the user is connected. As the word “context” is
directed generally to a kind of background, environment, or
setting, and as the phrase “social context” does not hold, in the
art, some narrower, specialized definition, Examiner
believes that both the acquiring of information of a user’s
friends or interests and the activities of those agents would
constitute social context under a broad, reasonable
interpretation.
Ans. 14.
Further as to Appellants’ above contention 2, the Examiner finds, and
we agree, in Sokolenko
. . . the acquiring of the social context of feeds of which the user
is a fan, however, this constitutes the acquiring of the knowledge
of the social context of the user, this social context being based
on the user’s interactions (namely, friending, following, being a
fan of) within or with the social network. As user has shown an
interest in the feed, the acquiring of feed data would constitute
the acquiring of the social context of the user, and not merely
that of the user’s friends.
... the periodic acquiring of feeds of which the user is a fan
constitutes dynamically acquiring the social context of the user,
the feed being a part of the social context of the user, and not
merely the social context of the feed.
Ans. 13, citing Sokolenko 1121.
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Appeal 2017-003242
Application 13/380,669
We also agree with the Examiner that
The claim language does not restricted the invention
to the acquiring or dynamically acquiring of a live update of
the user’s activities, as Appellant seems to suggest. The claim
language merely recites that social context identifying
“descriptive parameters regarding [the user’s] interactions with
the social network” is acquired, or that social context based on a
user’s interactions is acquired (for example, based on the user
interaction of friending, being a fan of, or showing some
interest in a feed).
Ans. 14.
Appellants provided additional arguments with respect to the
patentability of claims 3—6, 13—15, 17—18, and 20-22 (App. Br. 12—19,
Reply Br. 12—16). We have considered these arguments and find them
unpersuasive. In addition, we note the Examiner has rebutted these
arguments in the Answer by a preponderance of the evidence (Ans. 6). We
agree with the Examiner’s findings and underlying reasoning and adopt
them as our own.
DECISION
We affirm the Examiner’s rejection of claims 1—6, 8, 9, 11-18, and
20-22 as being anticipated under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e).
We affirm the Examiner’s rejection of claims 7 and 19 as being
unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a).
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Appeal 2017-003242
Application 13/380,669
No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with
this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a)(l)(iv).
AFFIRMED
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