Ex Parte Lang et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardJan 31, 201813572469 (P.T.A.B. Jan. 31, 2018) Copy Citation United States Patent and Trademark Office 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 APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 13/572,469 08/10/2012 Yue Lang HUAW02-56291 2615 90073 7590 Docket Clerk/HTCL P.O. Drawer 800889 Dallas, TX 75380 EXAMINER LAO, LUNSEE ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2655 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 02/02/2018 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): patents @ munckwilson. com uspatent@huawei.com rmccutcheon @ munckwilson. com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte YUE LANG, WENHAI WU, LEI MIAO, and ZEXIN LIU Appeal 2017-003313 Application 13/572,4691 Technology Center 2600 Before ELENI MANTIS MERCADER, JOHN P. PINKERTON, and JOYCE CRAIG, Administrative Patent Judges. CRAIG, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’s Final Rejection of claims 1—7 and 10.2 We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We reverse. 1 According to Appellants, the real party in interest is Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. App. Br. 2. 2 Claims 8 and 9 have been allowed (Final Act. 16), and claims 11—24 have been cancelled {id. at 23). Appeal 2017-003313 Application 13/572,469 INVENTION Appellants’ invention relates to encoding and decoding multi-channel signals. Abstract. Claim 1 is illustrative and reads as follows: 1. A method for encoding multi-channel signals, the method comprising: determining a category of an index corresponding to a channel level difference which needs to be quantized in a current frame of the multi-channel signals, wherein the category of the index is only one of odd frequency bands and even frequency bands, or the category of the index is only one of an odd group and an even group; quantizing a channel level difference of at least one frequency band whose index category is the same as the determined category of the index in the current frame, to obtain quantized data; and sending the quantized data. App. Br. 14 (Claim App’x). REJECTIONS Claims 1 and 7 stand rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) as anticipated by Bums et al. (US 8,521,540 B2; Aug. 27, 2013) (“Bums”). Final Act. 3^4. Claims 1, 6, 7, and 10 stand rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over the combination of Jung et al. (WO 2007/037613 Al; published Apr. 5, 2007) and Bums. Final Act. 4—7. Claims 2—5 stand rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over the combination of Jung, Bums, and Brennan et al. (US 6,240,192 Bl; issued May 29, 2001) (“Brennan”). Final Act. 8—16. ANALYSIS We have reviewed the rejections of claims 1—7 and 10 in light of Appellants’ arguments that the Examiner erred. We have considered in this 2 Appeal 2017-003313 Application 13/572,469 decision only those arguments Appellants actually raised in the Briefs. Any other arguments that Appellants could have made but chose not to make in the Briefs are deemed waived. See 37 C.F.R. § 41.37(c)(l)(iv). Anticipation Rejection of Claims 1 and 7 Regarding the anticipation rejection of claims 1 and 7, Appellants contend the Examiner erred because Bums does not disclose the limitation “determining a category of an index corresponding to a channel level difference which needs to be quantized in a current frame of the multi-channel signals, wherein the category of the index is only one of odd frequency bands and even frequency bands, or the category of the index is only one of an odd group and an even group,” as recited in claim 1. App. Br. 9. Appellants argue all of the cited sub bands are encoded in Bums, and Bums is silent with respect to quantizing only some of the channel level differences (CLDs). Id. at 10. We agree with Appellants that the Examiner erred. The Examiner has not clearly identified where in Bums the category of index corresponding to the channel level difference that needs to be quantized is determined. See Ans. 3; Final Act. 3 (citing generally Bums Figs. 4—6, col. 14:33—col. 15:67, claim 35). We have reviewed the portions of Bums cited by the Examiner and agree with Appellants that those portions do not disclose determining a category of an index corresponding to a channel level difference which needs to be quantized in a current frame of the multi-channel signals, wherein the category of the index is only one of odd frequency bands and even frequency bands, or the category of the index is only one of an odd group and an even group. For these reasons, we are persuaded of Examiner error in the rejection of independent claim 1, as well as independent claim 7, which contains a similar limitation and for which the Examiner made the same findings. Final 3 Appeal 2017-003313 Application 13/572,469 Act. 3^4. Therefore, we do not sustain the 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) rejection of claims 1 and 7. Obviousness Rejections of Claims 1—7 and 10 In rejecting claims 1—7 and 10 for obviousness, the Examiner relied on the same portions of Bums, discussed above, as teaching or suggesting the “determining” step of claim 1, also discussed above. Final Act. 5, 7 (claims 1, 6, 7, and 10), 8 (claims 2—5). Because we do not find that the cited portions of Bums teach or suggest the disputed “determining” step recited in claim 1, and because the Examiner made no findings that either Jung or Brennan supply the teachings missing from Bums, on the record before us, we do not sustain the 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) rejections of independent claims 1 and 7, or of claims 2—6 and 10, dependent thereon. DECISION The Examiner’s decision to reject claims 1—7 and 10 is reversed. REVERSED 4 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation