Ex Parte Nystrom et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardJun 25, 201310586771 (P.T.A.B. Jun. 25, 2013) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________ Ex parte SEBASTIAN NYSTROM and CARMEN KUHL ___________ Appeal 2011-009620 Application 10/586,771 Technology Center 3600 ____________ Before JOSEPH A. FISCHETTI, MEREDITH C. PETRAVICK, and NINA L. MEDLOCK, Administrative Patent Judges. PETRAVICK, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appeal 2011-009620 Application 10/586,771 2 STATEMENT OF THE CASE Sebastian Nystrom et al. (Appellants) seek our review under 35 U.S.C. § 134 of the final rejection of 1-7, 9-11, 15-19, 22, 23, 28, and 29. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). Claims 8, 12-14, 20, 21, and 24-27 have been canceled. SUMMARY OF DECISION We REVERSE.1 THE INVENTION Claim 1, reproduced below, is illustrative of the subject matter on appeal. 1. A method, comprising: receiving, at an apparatus, context information from an external source; selecting, at said apparatus, a data record out of a plurality of data records, wherein said plurality of data records are maintained within said apparatus, wherein said selecting of said data record is performed in accordance with said received context information; supplying said selected data record to a radio frequency identification communication module within said apparatus; and providing said selected data record as an 1 Our decision will make reference to the Appellants’ Appeal Brief (“App. Br.,” filed Nov. 27, 2010) and Reply Brief (“Reply Br.,” filed Mar. 25, 2011), and the Examiner’s Answer (“Ans.,” mailed Jan. 25, 2011). Appeal 2011-009620 Application 10/586,771 3 identification information by said radio frequency identification communication module for being retrievable wirelessly by an external entity through radio frequency identification interrogation. THE REJECTION The Examiner relies upon the following as evidence of unpatentability: Fuzell-Casey US 2004/0039661 A1 Feb. 26, 2004 The following rejection is before us for review: 1. Claims 1-7, 9-11, 15-19, 22, 23, 28, and 292 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §102(e) as being anticipated by Fuzell-Casey. ISSUE The issue is whether Fuzell-Casey describes the claimed radio frequency identification communication module. FINDINGS OF FACT We find that the findings of fact, which appear in the Analysis below, are supported by at least a preponderance of the evidence. Ethicon, Inc. v. Quigg, 849 F.2d 1422, 1427 (Fed. Cir. 1988) (explaining the general evidentiary standard for proceedings before the Office). 2 We consider the Examiner’s inclusion of canceled claims 8, 12-14, 20, 21, and 24-27 and omission of claims 28 and 29 in the statement of the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e), on page 3 of the Answer to be a typographical error. We note that the body of the rejection correctly addresses all of the pending claims. See Ans. 3-10. Appeal 2011-009620 Application 10/586,771 4 ANALYSIS We are persuaded by the Appellants’ argument (App. Br. 9-12 and Reply Br. 3-5) that the Examiner erred in rejecting claims 1-7, 9-11, 15-19 22, 23, 28, and 29 as being anticipated by Fuzzell-Casey. We find that the Examiner has failed to establish that Fuzzell-Casey’s description of a wireless modem that utilizes radio waves (para. [0028]) on a portable computing device, such as a personal digital assistant (see para. [0025]) or cell phone (see para. [0030]), describes claim 1’s radio frequency identification (RFID) communication module to select a data record through radio frequency identification interrogation, when claim 1 is given its broadest reasonable meaning in light of the Specification (see Spec. 1:10 – 2:4 and 15:23-16:2). Independent claims 11 and 15 also recite similar limitations. Accordingly, the rejection of claims 1, 11, and 15, and claims 2-7, 9, 10, 16- 19, 22, 23, 28, and 29, dependent thereon, under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) as being anticipated by Fuzell-Casey is reversed. DECISION The decision of the Examiner to reject claims 1-7, 9-11, 15-19, 22, 23, 28, and 29 is reversed. REVERSED mls Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation