Ex Parte MalikDownload PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardMay 13, 201611315621 - (D) (P.T.A.B. May. 13, 2016) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 111315,621 12/22/2005 84326 7590 05/16/2016 AT & T LEGAL DEPARTMENT-Toler ATTN: PA TENT DOCKETING ROOM2A-207 ONEAT&TWAY BEDMINSTER, NJ 07921 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Dale Malik 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. 050342 9675 EXAMINER HOAR, COLLEEN A ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3621 MAILDATE DELIVERY MODE 05/16/2016 PAPER 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. PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte DALE MALIK Appeal2014-001266 Application 11/315,621 Technology Center 3600 Before ANTON W. PETTING, BIBHU R. MOHANTY, and ROBERT J. SILVERMAN, Administrative Patent Judges. MOHANTY, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE The Appellant seeks our review under 35 U.S.C. § 134 of the final rejection of claims 13-17, 21-29, and 33-37 which are all the claims pending in the application. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b ). SUMMARY OF THE DECISION We REVERSE. Appeal2014-001266 Application 11/315,621 THE INVENTION The Appellant's claimed invention is directed to providing an invitation to share viewer profile data with an advertiser and in tum being forwarded audio and video content (Spec. para. 7). Claim 13, reproduced below, is representative of the subject matter on appeal. 13. A method comprising: establishing, at a computing device, an interactive session with a set top box; sending, prior to sending a selected program to the set top box, a first advertising schedule associated with the selected program to the set top box, wherein the first advertising schedule identifies a first duration of advertising to be provided to the set top box in association with the selected program upon acceptance of the first advertising schedule; receiving, from the set top box, input during the interactive session indicating that a viewer associated with the set top box is willing to share a viewer profile associated with the viewer in exchange for less advertising than identified by the first advertising schedule; and in response to the input, sending, prior to sending the selected program to the set top box, a second advertising schedule associated with the selected program to the set top box, wherein the second advertising schedule identifies a second duration of advertising to be provided to the set top box in association with the selected program upon acceptance of the second advertising schedule, wherein the second duration is less than the first duration. THE REJECTION The following rejection is before us for review: Claims 13-17, 21-29, and 33-37 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 (a) as unpatentable over Ward (US 6,756, 997 Bl, iss. June 29, 2004) and Nolan (US 2006/0053049 Al, pub. Mar. 9, 2006). 2 Appeal2014-001266 Application 11/315,621 FINDINGS OF FACT We have determined that the findings of fact in the Analysis section below are supported at least by a preponderance of the evidence1. ANALYSIS The Appellant argues that the rejection of claim 13 is improper because the cited prior art fails to disclose elements of the claim identified below (numbering and bracketed matter added for clarity): [ 1] a "first advertising schedule [that] identifies a first duration of advertising to be provided to the set top box in association with the selected program upon acceptance of the first advertising schedule", [2] [an indication that the viewer] "is willing to share a viewer profile associated with the viewer in exchange for less advertising than identified by the first advertising schedule" [3] and sending a "second advertising schedule ... [that] identifies a second duration of advertising to be provided ... upon acceptance of the second advertising schedule, wherein the second duration is less than the first duration". (App. Br. 8, 9). The Appellant has also argued that the combination has not been rendered obvious by the cited rejection of record (App. Br. 14). In contrast, the Examiner has determined that the cited rejection is proper (Final Act. 2--4, Ans. 2--4). 1 See Ethicon, Inc. v. Quigg, 849 F.2d 1422, 1427 (Fed. Cir. 1988) (explaining the general evidentiary standard for proceedings before the Patent Office). 3 Appeal2014-001266 Application 11/315,621 We agree with the Appellant. In making the cited combination, the Examiner relies on Ward at column 8, lines 6-22, column 19, lines 35-50, and column 26, lines 22-24 for disclosing claim limitation [ 1] directed to providing a first advertising schedule identifying the duration of advertising in association with the selected program (Ans. 2). Ward at column 19, lines 35-50 does disclose the use of "infomercials" with a broadcast time which could be considered a "first advertising schedule". In order to meet claim limitation [2] the rejection cites to Ward at column 6, lines 40-46 and column 27, lines 25-32 (Ans. 3). In order to meet claim limitation [3] the rejection cites to Nolan at Figures 17, 18; and paras. 50, 52, 55, 78, 81, 86, 90, 100, and 101 (Ans. 3). However, these citations to Nolan show the customer receiving more advertising, not less in order to receive free or reduced fee programming. However, in the claim at issue, claim limitation [2] requires instead that the viewer is willing to share their profile in exchange for less advertising than identified by the first schedule. Claim limitation [3] is directed to the sending of the second advertising schedule that identifies a second duration of advertising that is less than the first duration. Here, the rejection before us lacks articulated reasoning without impermissible hindsight to show that the cited combination would have been obvious to meet the requirements of claim limitations [ 1], [2], and [3] in the context of the claim. In KSR Int'! Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398 (2007) the Supreme Court at 418 noted that in an obviousness analysis that"[R]ejections on obviousness grounds cannot be sustained by mere conclusory statements; instead, there must be some articulated reasoning with some rational underpinning to support the legal conclusion of 4 Appeal2014-001266 Application 11/315,621 obviousness". For these reasons the rejection of claim 13 and its dependent claims is not sustained. The remaining claims contain similar limitations to those addressed above and the rejection of these claims is not sustained for the reasons given above. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW We conclude that Appellant has shown that the Examiner erred in rejecting the claims as listed above. DECISION The Examiner's rejection of claims 13-17, 21-29, and 33-37 is reversed. REVERSED 5 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation