Ex Parte Puli et al

Patent Trials and Appeals Board

Apr 3, 2019

14307808 - (D) (P.T.A.B. Apr. 3, 2019)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
14/307,808 06/18/2014
114324 7590 04/05/2019
Larson Newman, LP (Dell)
8200 N. Mopac Expy., Suite 280
Austin, TX 78759
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
AppaRaoPuli
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.
DC-102714 1751
EXAMINER
MEHRMANESH, AMIR
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2497
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
04/05/2019 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):
docketing@larsonnewman.com
landre@larsonnewman.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte APP ARAO PULI, HARSHA S,
and RAJESHKUMAR I. PATEL
Appeal2018-007466
Application 14/307 ,808 1
Technology Center 2400
Before ALLEN R. MacDONALD, MICHAEL J. ENGLE, and
IFTIKHAR AHMED, Administrative Patent Judges.
AHMED, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from a final rejection of
claims 1-20, which are all of the claims pending in the application. We
have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b ).
We REVERSE.
Technology
The application relates to "securely authenticating a management
server over an un-encrypted remote console connection." Spec. ,r 1.
1 According to Appellants, the real party in interest is Dell Products, LP.
Appeal Br. 2.
Appeal2018-007466
Application 14/307 ,808
Illustrative Claim
Claim 1 is illustrative and reproduced below with certain limitations at
issue emphasized:
1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a Virtual network computing (VNC) server,
a client launch request from a VNC client;
providing a log-in page for display at the VNC client in
response to receiving the client launch request, the log-in page
including display of a graphical representation of a keyboard
having a plurality of keys, wherein individual key designations
are unique and generated randomly in response to the client
launch request; and
receiving, at the VNC server, pointer device movement
coordinates from the VNC client, the movement coordinates
indicating selection of individual keys at the keyboard by a user
of the VNC client.
Appeal Br. 7 (Claim App'x).
Rejections
Claims 1-20 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as obvious over the
combination of Richardson et al. (US 2009/0037581 Al; Feb. 05, 2009) and
Gupta (US 2014/0069201 Al; Apr. 03, 2014). Final Act. 2--4.
ISSUE
Did the Examiner err in finding that Gupta teaches or suggests
"receiving, at the VNC server, pointer device movement coordinates from
the VNC client," as recited in claim 1?
ANALYSIS
Independent claim 1 recites "receiving, at the VNC server, pointer
device movement coordinates from the VNC client, the movement
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Appeal2018-007466
Application 14/307 ,808
coordinates indicating selection of individual keys at the keyboard by a user
of the VNC client." Independent claims 9 and 16 recite a commensurate
limitation.
The Examiner finds that "Gupta, in Figs. 4A-4D indicates [a] log-in
page including a graphical representation of a keyboard having a plurality of
keys and ... discloses the position of a key having a particular numeric
value or a numeric value associated with a key placed in a particular position
may be changed randomly." Ans. 3 (citing Gupta ,r,r 10, 11, 33, 49). "By
incorporating randomness in the layout ... of a keypad, a finger positioned,
for example, in a left-hand-comer of the keypad may be associated with a
numeric value of 1 in a first instance of display of the keypad [ and] with a
randomly generated numeric value of 7 in a second instance of display of the
keypad." Id. Because "Gupta clearly discloses that the keypad recognizes
(i.e. receives) the finger positioned on the keypad (i.e. pointer device
movement)," the Examiner explains, it discloses "receiving pointer device
movement coordinates from the client." Id. The Examiner does not rely on
the second reference, Richardson, as meeting this claim limitation.
Appellants argue that "Gupta says nothing about sending coordinates"
and "[r]ather than sending coordinates, Gupta sends data 'entered by a
user.'" Appeal Br. 5. According to Appellants, "[t]he data 'entered by the
user' is a letter, number or symbol," and "[t]hat data (or its ASCII code) is
then communicated." Id. (discussing Gupta ,r 52).
We agree with Appellants that the Examiner has not sufficiently
explained how Gupta teaches or suggests receiving from a client, at a server,
pointer device movement coordinates indicating selection of individual keys.
Although Gupta teaches displaying a virtual keypad, with "keys arranged in
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Appeal2018-007466
Application 14/307 ,808
a randomly generated pattern," on a mobile device to the user, accepting
user authentication data from the user through that virtual keypad, and
transmitting that data from the mobile device to a financial transaction
computer ("FTC") (Gupta ,r 52), it is not clear from the record before us that
Gupta teaches gathering movement coordinates based on the selection of
individual keys by the user, or sending any movement coordinates from the
mobile device to the FTC. Even if Gupta discloses recognizing the position
of each randomly generated key on the virtual keypad, we agree with
Appellants that the Examiner has not shown how Gupta discloses collecting
or sending that position to a server, or movement coordinates indicating
selection of individual keys.
Accordingly, given the record before us, we do not sustain the
Examiner's rejection of independent claims 1, 9, and 16, and their dependent
claims 2-8, 10-15, and 17-20.
DECISION
For the reasons above, we reverse the Examiner's decision rejecting
claims 1-2 0.
REVERSED
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