Ex Parte RybakDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardJun 22, 201611412857 (P.T.A.B. Jun. 22, 2016) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 111412,857 0412712006 82297 7590 06/24/2016 BlackBerry Limited (Danamraj) 2200 University A venue East Waterloo, ON N2K OA 7 CANADA FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Michal A. Rybak 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. 1400-1035US 8281 EXAMINER PEREZ GUTIERREZ, RAFAEL ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2642 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 06/24/2016 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): patdoctc@fr.com portfolioprosecution@blackberry.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte MICHAL A. RYBAK Appeal2014-005459 Application 11/412,857 Technology Center 2600 Before CAROLYN D. THOMAS, JOSEPH P. LENTIVECH, and SHARON PENICK, Administrative Patent Judges. LENTIVECH, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appellant 1 seeks our review under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) of the Examiner's final rejection of claims 1 and 3-21. Claim 2 has been canceled. Br. 2. We have jurisdiction over the pending claims under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b ). We reverse. 1 According to Appellant, the real party in interest is Research in Motion Limited. Br. 2. Appeal2014-005459 Application 11/412,857 STATEMENT OF THE CASE Appellant's Invention Appellant's invention generally relates to a mobile communications device and a related data service network employing features suitable for monitoring and controlling wireless service usage. Spec. i-f 1. Claims 1 and 10, which are illustrative, read as follows: 1. A method for monitoring resource usage of a mobile communications device comprising the steps of: acquiring and storing within the mobile communication device a mobile communication plan profile associated with a subscriber, the plan profile including at least a first value representing a limit of mobile communication resource usage within a specified calendar period; acquiring and storing within the mobile communication device a second value representing a total quantity of time within the specified calendar period; acquiring and storing within the mobile communication device a third value representing a quantity of mobile communication resources used by the mobile communications device within the specified calendar period; acquiring and storing within the mobile communication device a fourth value representing a quantity of total time elapsed within the specified calendar period; calculating within the mobile communication device a first ratio between the third value and the first value; calculating within the mobile communication device a second ratio between the fourth value and the second value; and communicating the first ratio and the second ratio from the mobile communication device to an entity. 2 Appeal2014-005459 Application 11/412,857 Rejections Claims 1, 3, 5-11, and 13-21 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over the combination of Tysor (US 2002/0151293 Al; published Oct. 17, 2002) and Marsh et al. (US 7,366,493 B2; issued Apr. 29, 2008). Final Act. 3-8. Claims 4 and 12 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over the combination of Tysor, Marsh, and Ericsson (US 7,373,160 B2; issued May 13, 2008). Final Act. 8-9. Dispositive Issue on Appeal Did the Examiner err by finding that the combination of Tysor and Marsh teaches or suggests, acquiring and storing within the mobile communication device a second value representing a total quantity of time within the specified calendar period; acquiring and storing within the mobile communication device a fourth value representing a quantity of total time elapsed within the specified calendar period; calculating within the mobile communication device a second ratio between the fourth value and the second value; and communicating the first ratio and the second ratio from the mobile communication device to an entity. as recited in claim 1? 3 Appeal2014-005459 Application 11/412,857 ANALYSIS Claim 1 The Examiner finds Tysor teaches mobile terminal displaying total usage for a monthly period or billing period on the mobile terminal and, therefore, teaches or suggests acquiring and storing within the mobile communication device a second value representing a total quantity of time within the specified calendar period. Final Act. 3 (citing Tysor i-fi-1 26, 34, 44--46). The Examiner finds Marsh teaches acquiring and storing within the mobile communication device a fourth value representing a quantity of total time elapsed within the specified calendar period; calculating within the mobile communication device a second ratio between the fourth value and the second value; and communicating the first ratio and the second ratio from the mobile communication device to an entity. Final Act. 4 (citing Marsh 14:9--20, 33---64; Table 5). Based on these findings, the Examiner concludes the combination of Tysor and Marsh teaches or suggests the disputed limitations. Id. Appellant contends the Examiner erred in rejecting claim 1 because the combination of Tysor and Marsh does not teach or suggest the disputed limitations. Br. 8-16. In particular, Appellant contends "the cited excerpts of Tysor all deal with the total usage available to the user and the actual usage within the specific calendar period" and Tysor makes "no mention of quantity of time in the calendar period, e.g., number of days in the period." Br. 12-13. According to Appellant, Marsh teaches "using the call detail records associated with the user during one or more calendar periods to create a calling profile record that summarizes the usage." Br. 13 (citing Marsh 14:9--20, 33---64; Table 5). Appellant contends Marsh does not teach 4 Appeal2014-005459 Application 11/412,857 or suggest "mak[ ing] a calculation to determine the quantity of time in the current calendar period (second value) or the quantity of time elapsed in the current calendar period (fourth value)." Br. 14. Appellant contends, therefore, the combination of Tysor and Marsh fails to teach or suggest the disputed limitations. Br. 15-16. In response to Appellant's contentions, the Examiner finds A careful examination of the art as cited teaches in paragraph 12 [of Tysor], "the display may be toggled on/off with a time usage menu option and may include a decreasing time bar for each separate time period in the service plan," and in paragraph 23, "microcomputer further includes memory component (not shown) in which available minute display code and user-inputted data, including minute usage data utilized by the invention, are stored." Furthermore, described in paragraph 27 [of Tysor], "specifically, the available minutes menu may be added as a subcomponent of the air time option available on most standard cellular phone." and "by which the user may input rate plan information to setup the features of dynamic monitoring of minute usage and displaying the available minutes as provided by the present invention." Even further, described in paragraph 28 [of Tysor], "the user is prompted to enter the number of minutes allowed on the first rate tier (peak period). The user is then prompted for the associated time (beginning and end times along with the days of the week) as shown at block 305, then the associated cycle (day of the month the plan begin) at block 307. Following, the user enters the number of minutes provided on the second rate tier (off-peak period), along with the days of the week and time as depicted at block 309. Once the plan information has been inputted, the user may then select, at block 311, the method by which he wishes to view the available minutes for the first and/or second rate tier i.e., whether he desires a graphical representation or an actual numerical output, or both." Ans. 11-12. We find Appellant's contentions persuasive. Tysor teaches that the 5 Appeal2014-005459 Application 11/412,857 user enters service plan information including the time period of the plan and that this information is stored in a memory. Tysor i-f 11. Tysor, therefore, teaches, or at least suggests, acquiring and storing within the mobile communication device a second value representing a total quantity of time within the specified calendar period. However, we have reviewed the cited references as applied by the Examiner and find no mention of acquiring and storing a value representing a quantity of total time elapsed within the specified calendar period, as required by claim 1. We also do not find any teaching or suggestion of calculating the claimed second ratio. Further, the Examiner fails to persuasively show how the relied upon teachings of Tysor and Marsh can reasonably be construed to teach or suggest these limitations. As such, we are persuaded the Examiner erred in finding the combination of Tysor and Marsh teaches or suggests "acquiring and storing within the mobile communication device a fourth value representing a quantity of total time elapsed within the specified calendar period" and "calculating within the mobile communication device a second ratio between the fourth value and the second value," as recited in claim 1. Accordingly, we do not sustain the rejection of claim 1. Claims 3, 5- 11, and 13-21 recite similar limitations. Therefore, we do not sustain the rejection of these claims for the same reasons. Regarding claims 4 and 12, the Examiner does not find that Ericsson cures the deficiencies in the disclosures of Tysor and Marsh discussed supra with respect to claim 1. Accordingly, we do not sustain the rejection of claims 4 and 12 for the same reasons. 6 Appeal2014-005459 Application 11/412,857 DECISION We reverse the Examiner's rejections of claims 1and3-21. REVERSED 7 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation