Ex Parte I

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Jan 3, 2011

10275871 (B.P.A.I. Jan. 3, 2011)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
____________

BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS
AND INTERFERENCES
____________

Ex parte COLIN I’ANSON
____________

Appeal 2009-008887
Application 10/275,871
Technology Center 3600
____________

Before MURRIEL E. CRAWFORD, ANTON W. FETTING, and
BIBHU R. MOHANTY, Administrative Patent Judges.

MOHANTY, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL1

1 The two-month time period for filing an appeal or commencing a civil
action, as recited in 37 C.F.R. § 1.304, or for filing a request for rehearing,
as recited in 37 C.F.R. § 41.52, begins to run from the “MAIL DATE”
(paper delivery mode) or the “NOTIFICATION DATE” (electronic delivery
mode) shown on the PTOL-90A cover letter attached to this decision.

Appeal 2009-008887
Application 10/275,871

STATEMENT OF THE CASE
The Appellants seek our review under 35 U.S.C. § 134 (2002) of the
final rejection of claims 1-22 which are all the claims pending in the
application. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b) (2002).

SUMMARY OF THE DECISION
We REVERSE.

THE INVENTION
The Appellants’ claimed invention is directed to a method of
operating a communications infrastructure on a pre-payment basis (Spec. 5-
8). Claim 1, reproduced below with the numbering in brackets added, is
representative of the subject matter of appeal.
1. A method of operating a communications
infrastructure having a plurality of metered resources,
the method involving:
[1] recording pre-payment of an amount by a user
for use of the metered resources;
[2] distributing at least a portion of said amount as
credit values held in respective ones of a plurality of
user-specific virtual purses each one of which is
associated with a respective one of said plurality of
metered resources; and
[3] upon use of a metered resource by the user,
correspondingly reducing the credit value held in the
associated purse, with use of the resource being
dependent on the credit value in the purse being above a
predetermined threshold.

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Appeal 2009-008887
Application 10/275,871

THE REJECTIONS

The Examiner relies upon the following as evidence in support of the
rejections:
Hughes GB 2332337A Sept. 22, 1998
Brunner PCT WO 00/05871 Feb. 3, 2000

The following rejections are before us for review:
1. Claims 1-3, 6-8, 11-14, 17-19, and 22 are rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 102(a) as anticipated by Brunner.
2. Claims 4-5, 9-10, 15-16, and 20-21 are rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Brunner and Hughes.

THE ISSUES
With regards to the rejection of claims 1-3, 6-8, 11-14, 17-19, and 22
the issue turns on whether Brunner discloses claim limitation [2]. The
rejection of claims 4-5, 9-10, 15-16, and 20-21 turns on a similar issue.

FINDINGS OF FACT
We find the following enumerated findings of fact (FF) are supported
at least by a preponderance of the evidence:2
FF1. Brunner has disclosed a prepaid system for a prepaid subscriber of a
cellular wireless system to debit the subscribers prepaid account on a real-
time basis. (Abstract).

2 See Ethicon, Inc. v. Quigg, 849 F.2d 1422, 1427 (Fed. Cir. 1988)
(explaining the general evidentiary standard for proceedings before the
Patent Office).
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Appeal 2009-008887
Application 10/275,871

FF2. Brunner at page 8:1-3 discloses a wireless system and prepaid
networks. Brunner at page 8:22-30 discloses that links 46 carry updating
credit information to the prepaid administrative network 38. In operation,
the voice responsive unit 44 permits a prepaid subscriber to place a call into
the mobile switching center 14 and add credit to the subscriber’s prepaid
account over the communication link 46.
FF3. Brunner at page 8:1-3 and 8:22-30 does not disclose distributing at
least a portion of the credit amount as credit values held in respective ones
of a plurality of user-specific virtual purses each of which is associated with
respective one of the plurality of metered resources.

ANALYSIS
The Appellant argues that the rejection of claims 1 and 12 is improper
because Brunner does not distribute the credit balance to virtual purses
associated with different resources as required by the claims (Br. 7). The
Appellant argues that Brunner is directed to “adding credit to a subscriber’s
existing credit balance” while claim 1 requires “distribution of the credit
amount (or at least a portion of it) to a plurality of virtual purses” (Reply Br.
3-4).
In contrast, the Examiner has determined that Brunner discloses the
cited claim limitation at page 8:1-3 and 8:22-30 (Ans. 3, 12-13)
We agree with the Appellant. Claim 1 requires in part:
“distributing at least a portion of said amount as credit
values held in respective ones of a plurality of user-specific
virtual purses each one of which is associated with a
respective one of said plurality of metered resources” (Claim 1).

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Appeal 2009-008887
Application 10/275,871

Thus, the claim requires distributing at least a portion of the credit value in
respective ones of a plurality of user-specific virtual purses in some manner.
Brunner at page 8:1-3 and 8:22-30 does not disclose distributing at
least a portion of the credit amount as credit values held in respective ones
of a plurality of user-specific virtual purses each of which is associated with
respective one of the plurality of metered resources (FF3). Brunner at 8:22-
30 does disclose adding credit to the subscriber’s prepaid account (FF2), but
this single disclosed account is not a plurality of user-specific virtual purses
as claimed. The rejection of claim 1 has been made under 35 U.S.C. §
102(a) and anticipation has not been shown for the reasons given above. For
these reasons the rejection of claim 1 and its dependent claims is sustained.
Claim 12 contains a similar limitation and the rejection of this claim
and its dependent claims is sustained for these same reasons.

DECISION
The Examiner’s rejection of claims 1-22 is reversed.

REVERSED

Klh

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