Ex Parte Kim et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

May 31, 2018

13835881 (P.T.A.B. May. 31, 2018)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
13/835,881 03/15/2013
15052 7590
Austin Rapp
170 South Main Street
Suite 735
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
06/04/2018
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
Lae-Hoon Kim
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.
124666U2 5884
EXAMINER
CHOI, DAVIDE
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2174
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
06/04/2018 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):
usptocorrespondence@austin-rapp.com
ocpat_uspto@qualcomm.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte LAE-HOON KIM, ERIK VISSER, PHUONG L. TON,
JEREMY P. TOMAN, and JEFFREY C. SHAW
Appeal 2017-011135
Application 13/835,881
Technology Center 2100
Before CARLA M. KRIVAK, HUNG H. BUI, and JON M. JURGOV AN,
Administrative Patent Judges.
KRIVAK, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
Appellants 1 appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from a final rejection of
claims 1-7 4, which are all the claims pending in the application. We have
jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We reverse.
1 Appellants identify the real party in interest as QUALCOMM, Inc.
Appeal 2017-011135
Application 13/835,881
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellants' invention is directed to methods and electronic devices
"for displaying a user interface" that "provid[ es] a sector selection feature
that allows selection of at least one sector of [a] coordinate system" of the
user interface, the sector corresponding to captured audio from multiple
microphones (Abstract; Spec. ,r,r 377, 394; Fig. 80).
Claims 1, 2 7, 5 3, and 60 are independent. Independent claim 1,
reproduced below, is exemplary of the subject matter on appeal.
1. A method for displaying a user interface on an
electronic device, comprising:
presenting a user interface, wherein the user interface
comprises a coordinate system, wherein the coordinate system
corresponds to physical coordinates based on sensor data;
providing a sector selection feature that allows selection
of at least one sector of the coordinate system, wherein the at
least one sector corresponds to captured audio from multiple
microphones, and wherein a sector selection comprises an audio
signal indicator;
providing a sector editing feature that allows adjusting a
size of the at least one sector based on a received input
providing an adjustment to at least one boundary of the at least
one sector of the coordinate system; and
performing an audio operation on the captured audio
corresponding to the audio signal indicator based on the sector
selection.
REFERENCES and REJECTIONS
(1) The Examiner rejected claims 1-3, 12-17, 27-29, 38--43, 46,
53, 54, 60, 61, and 67-74 under 35 U.S.C. § I03(a) based upon the teachings
of Li (US 2012/0026837 Al; published Feb. 2, 2012), Chen (US
2010/0123785 Al; published May 20, 2010), Vitte (US 2011/0054891 Al;
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Appeal 2017-011135
Application 13/835,881
published Mar. 3, 2011), and Santos-Gomez (US 2007 /0016875 Al;
published Jan. 18, 2007). 2
(2) The Examiner rejected claims 4, 5, 30, and 31 under
35 U.S.C. § I03(a) based upon the teachings of Li, Chen, Vitte, Santos-
Gomez, and Yamashita (US 2008/0269930 Al; published Oct. 30, 2008).
(3) The Examiner rejected claims 6, 7, 32, 33, 55, 56, 62, and 63
under 35 U.S.C. § I03(a) based upon the teachings of Li, Chen, Vitte,
Santos-Gomez, and Cheung (US 2011/0103614 Al; published May 5,
2011).
(4) The Examiner rejected claims 8, 9, 34, and 35 under
35 U.S.C. § I03(a) based upon the teachings of Li, Chen, Vitte, Santos-
Gomez, and Anzola (US 2009/0296991 Al; published Dec. 3, 2009).
(5) The Examiner rejected claims 18, 19, 44, and 45 under
35 U.S.C. § I03(a) based upon the teachings of Li, Chen, Vitte, Santos-
Gomez, and Thom (US 2012/0163677 Al; published June 28, 2012).
(6) The Examiner rejected claims 21, 22, 47, 48, 58, and 65 under
35 U.S.C. § I03(a) based upon the teachings of Li, Chen, Vitte, Santos-
Gomez, and Selker (US 2002/0122072 Al; published Sept. 5, 2002).
(7) The Examiner rejected claims 10, 11, 23-26, 36, 37, 49-52, 57,
59, 64, and 66 under 35 U.S.C. § I03(a) based upon the teachings of Li,
Chen, Vitte, Santos-Gomez, and Lane (US 2010/0095234 Al; published
Apr. 15, 2010).
2 Claim 68, although not listed in the statement of the rejection (see Final
Act. 3), is included in this rejection (see Final Act. 14).
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Application 13/835,881
(8) The Examiner rejected claims 20 and 46 under
35 U.S.C. § I03(a) based upon the teachings of Li, Chen, Vitte, Santos-
Gomez, and Michelstein (US 2012/0117470 Al; published May 10, 2012).
ANALYSIS
With respect to claim 1, the Examiner finds the combination of Li,
Chen, and Vitte teaches providing a sector selection feature that allows
selection of at least one sector of a coordinate system on a user interface,
wherein the at least one sector corresponds to captured audio from multiple
microphones (Final Act. 3-5; Ans. 5-7). Particularly, the Examiner finds Li
discloses a user interface comprising a coordinate system, Chen discloses
"sectors on a polar coordinate chart" shown in Figures 10, 11, and 13, and
Vitte discloses a sector corresponding to captured audio from multiple
microphones (Ans. 5; Final Act. 3, 5). The Examiner also finds Chen further
"discloses wherein a user can select an audio source by selecting a user on a
display (see at least FIG. 12 where each person potentially represents a
different 'sector')" (Ans. 5). The Examiner concludes "a combination of Li
and Chen would have allowed a user to select one of a plurality of audio
sources (as seen in FIG. 10, 11 and 13 of Chen) by touching the display (as
at least also taught in FIG. 12 of Chen)," thereby providing the claimed
sector selection feature (Ans. 5---6). We do not agree.
We agree with Appellants that Li, Chen, and Vitte, alone or in
combination, fail to teach or suggest ''providing a sector selection feature
that allows selection of at least one sector of the coordinate system, wherein
the at least one sector corresponds to captured audio from multiple
microphones," as recited in claim 1 (App. Br. 10). In particular, the
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Application 13/835,881
Examiner's rejection hinges on the interpretation that Chen's displayed
audio sources ( e.g., faces displayed as selectable audio sources, see Chen
,r 26 and Fig. 12) are equivalent to the claimed "at least one sector," because
"'sectors' can be anything reasonably resembling selecting audio sources
that are subdivided into discrete areas" (Ans. 5). We do not agree with this
unduly broad interpretation. A "sector" is "a geometric figure bounded by
two radii and the included arc of a circle" (Merriam-Webster.com (emphasis
added) 3; see also Spec. ,r,r 221,248,266 and Figs. 66, 70, 77, 80 (providing
"sector" examples)). Chen's displayed audio sources are merely images
( e.g., of people) received from a camera, not sectors of a coordinate system
that correspond to captured audio, as required by claim 1 (App. Br. 9-10
(citing Chen ,r,r 23, 29); Reply Br. 6-7). Thus, Chen does not provide a
sector selection feature allowing selection of a sector corresponding to
captured audio, as claimed (App. Br. 10).
We also do not agree with the Examiner that Chen's polar diagrams in
Figures 10, 11, and 13 "display captured audio sources" (Ans. 5). As
Appellants explain, "the polar diagrams of the microphone pickup patterns
of Chen[' s Figures 10, 11, and 13] are merely conceptual diagrams and are
not displayed on the GUI of Chen"; therefore, "the polar diagrams of Chen
do not teach or suggest the 'sector of the coordinate system' included in a
'user interface,' as recited by claim 1" (Reply Br. 7 (citing Chen ,r,r 16, 29)).
Li, Vitte, and Santos-Gomez do not make up for the above-noted
deficiencies of Chen, as none of these references disclose selecting a
displayed sector corresponding to captured audio. As noted by the
3 Merriam-Webster.com, accessed at https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/sector (last visited May 23, 2018).
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Application 13/835,881
Examiner, Li does not display any selectable sectors (Final Act. 4 ). Vitte
describes calculating a probability of speech being present by partitioning
three-dimensional space into angular sectors; however, these sectors are
neither selectable nor displayed (App. Br. 10). Santos-Gomez merely sizes
panes in a multi-pane window frame, but Santos-Gomez' window pane is
not a sector corresponding to captured audio, as claimed (Ans. 11 ).
The Examiner also has not shown the additional teachings of Lane,
Yamashita, Cheung, Anzola, Thom, Selker, and Michelstein make up for the
above-noted deficiencies of Chen, Li, Vitte, and Santos-Gomez. Thus, for
the reasons set forth above, we do not sustain the Examiner's rejection of
independent claim 1 and claims 2-26, 67, 69, 71, and 73 dependent
therefrom. We also do not sustain the Examiner's rejection of independent
claims 27, 53, and 60, argued for substantially the same reasons as claim 1,
and claims 28-52, 54--59, 61---66, 68, 70, 72, and 74 dependent therefrom
(App. Br. 13-14). Because the above-discussed issue is dispositive as to the
obviousness rejections of all claims on appeal, we do not reach additional
issues raised by Appellants' arguments as to the rejections of claims 1, 11,
and 37.
DECISION
The Examiner's decision rejecting claims 1-74 is reversed.
REVERSED
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