Ex Parte YODO

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Nov 29, 2007

09600509 (B.P.A.I. Nov. 29, 2007)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE 1
____________________ 2
3
BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS 4
AND INTERFERENCES 5
____________________ 6
7
Ex parte FUMITAKE YODO 8
____________________ 9
10
Appeal 2007-3875 11
Application 09/600,509 12
Technology Center 3600 13
____________________ 14
15
Decided: November 29, 2007 16
____________________ 17
18
Before: MURRIEL E. CRAWFORD, LINDA E. HORNER, and JOSEPH 19
A. FISCHETTI, Administrative Patent Judges. 20
21
CRAWFORD, Administrative Patent Judge. 22
23
24
DECISION ON APPEAL 25
26
STATEMENT OF CASE 27
Appellant appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134 (2002) from a final rejection 28
of claims 1, 4, 5, and 7. Claims 2, 3, 6 and 8-12 have been cancelled. We 29
have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b) (2002). A hearing was held on 30
October 25, 2007. 31
Appellant invented an accounting system which includes an 32
accounting center and a terminal device for communicating with the 33
accounting system. The terminal device includes a first and second 34
controller. The second controller is adapted (1) to transmit accounting point 35
Appeal 2007-3875
Application 09/600,509

2
information to the accounting center and (2) to set the accounting point 1
information to an initial value based on an accounting processing status 2
received by the terminal device from the accounting center (Substitute 3
Specification 56). 4
Claim 1 under appeal reads as follows: 5
1. An accounting system including an accounting center and a 6
terminal device for communicating with the accounting center, 7
comprising: 8
a first memory built in the terminal device and adapted to store 9
accounting point information; 10
a second memory included in the terminal device and adapted 11
to store information received from an external source external to the 12
terminal device; 13
a first controller included in the terminal device and adapted to 14
update the accounting point information stored in the first memory 15
and to update attributes of the received information when the received 16
information is stored in the second memory, 17
wherein when the received information is stored into the second 18
memory the first controller reduces the accounting point information 19
stored in the first memory and updates the attributes of the received 20
information from an unavailable state to an available state; and 21
a second controller included in the terminal device and adapted 22
to transmit the remaining accounting point information stored in the 23
first memory to the accounting center and to set the remaining 24
accounting point information to an initial value based on an 25
accounting processing status received by the terminal device from the 26
accounting center corresponding to the remaining accounting point 27
information, wherein the accounting center performs an accounting 28
process based on the remaining accounting point information 29
transmitted from the terminal device. 30
31
The Examiner rejected claims 1, 4, 5, and 7 under 35 U.S.C. 32
§ 103(a) as being unpatentable over Peterson in view of Kupka, Akiyama, 33
and White. 34
Appeal 2007-3875
Application 09/600,509

3
The prior art relied upon by the Examiner in rejecting the claims on 1
appeal is: 2
Akiyama US 5,539,825 Jul. 23, 1996 3
Peterson US 5,857,020 Jan. 05, 1999 4
Kupka US 6,434,535 B1 Aug. 13, 2002 5
6
White, Ron, How Computers Work 1-324 (4th Ed., Que Corp., Sep. 18, 7
1998). 8
9
The Examiner relies on Peterson for teaching the invention as claimed 10
except, in the Examiner’s view, Peterson does not explicitly describe storing 11
or updating accounting points on a user’s card. The Examiner relies on 12
Akiyama, Kupka, and White for supplying the subject matter deemed 13
missing from Peterson. 14
Appellant contends that Peterson does not disclose a second controller 15
adapted to (1) transmit remaining accounting point information stored in the 16
first memory and (2) set the remaining accounting point information to an 17
initial value based on an accounting processing status received by the 18
terminal device. 19
20
ISSUE 21
The issue is whether the Appellant has shown that the Examiner erred 22
in finding that Peterson discloses a terminal device having a second 23
controller adapted to set the remaining accounting point information to an 24
initial value based on an accounting processing status received by the 25
terminal device. 26
Appeal 2007-3875
Application 09/600,509

4
FINDINGS OF FACT 1
Appellant’s invention is an accounting system that includes a terminal 2
device having a point memory. The point memory stores accounting points. 3
A specific number of accounting points e.g., 100 points is established as an 4
initial value (Substitute Specification 32, 49). The accounting points are 5
utilized to purchase information from an information distribution center and 6
upon purchase the accounting points stored in the point memory are reduced 7
accordingly (Substitute Specification 50 to 51). The terminal device 8
includes a second controller which is adapted to periodically transmit the 9
remaining accounting point information which is stored in the point memory 10
to a remote accounting center (Substitute Specification 53). The accounting 11
center performs an accounting process based on the accounting points 12
transmitted by the second controller and prepares data for drawing from the 13
bank account of the user sufficient to restore the accounting points to their 14
original value e.g., 100 points (Substitute Specification 56). When the 15
accounting process is complete at the accounting center i.e., when the 16
amount necessary has been withdrawn from the user’s bank account, the 17
accounting center sends an OK notification to the second controller. Upon 18
receipt of the OK notification, the second controller sets the accounting 19
points in the point memory to the initial value i.e., 100 points, for example. 20
Peterson discloses, in one embodiment depicted in Figure 1, a 21
terminal device having a controller 32 that is in communication with a 22
remote accounting center 16 via a modem 40. The controller 32 transmits a 23
request to the accounting center 16 for authorization to view media content 24
(col. 8, ll. 4-5). The accounting center 16 determines whether there is a 25
Appeal 2007-3875
Application 09/600,509

5
sufficient amount of money in the user’s account to purchase the right to 1
view the content. If the accounting center 16 determines that there is a 2
sufficient amount in the user’s account to purchase the authorization to view 3
the content, the accounting center 16 sends a message to the controller 32 4
that the request is granted (col. 8, ll. 13-18). Upon receipt of the 5
authorization to view the content, the controller 32 proceeds with a 6
decryption process so that the user can view the content (col. 9, ll. 4-7). In 7
this embodiment, the accounting process and the storage of accounting 8
credits takes place at the accounting center 16. 9
In a second embodiment, Peterson discloses a terminal device which 10
operates with a smart card which stores the amount of funds prepaid by a 11
consumer and a decryption key (col. 9, ll. 45-47). The card reader on the 12
terminal device determines whether the smart card contains enough funds to 13
view a chosen content and if so adds the desired content to an authorization 14
list (col. 9, ll. 59-63). Peterson discloses that funds on the smart card may be 15
adjusted manually by a remote authorization center or through an automatic 16
online process (col. 9, ll. 48-53). Peterson does not disclose a controller in 17
the terminal device which is adapted to set the accounting points to an initial 18
value. 19
Modem 40 of Peterson is not a controller adapted to set the remaining 20
accounting point information to an initial value. Modem 40 is disclosed as 21
associated with the embodiment of Figure 1 in which the accounting funds 22
are stored at the authorization center 16. Modem 40 is a device that 23
transmits information between controller 32 and accounting center 16 but is 24
not capable of calculations necessary to set accounting information to an 25
Appeal 2007-3875
Application 09/600,509

6
initial value in the terminal device. In fact, in the embodiment of Figure 1, 1
there is no accounting point memory in the terminal device. In the 2
embodiment of Figure 3, the accounting point memory is contained on the 3
smart card. Peterson does not disclose that a modem or any other type of 4
device that may be considered a second controller is provided that is capable 5
of setting the points on the smart card to an initial value. The accounting 6
center sets the value of the accounting points on the smart card either 7
through a manual process or in an online process. 8
9
ANALYSIS 10
The Appellant has established that the Examiner erred in finding that 11
Peterson discloses a terminal device having a second controller adapted to 12
set the remaining accounting point information to an initial value. In view 13
of the foregoing, we will not sustain the rejection of the Examiner. 14
15
REVERSED 16
17
18
19
20
hh 21
22
LERNER, DAVID, LITTENBERG, 23
KRUMHOLZ & MENTLIK 24
600 SOUTH AVENUE WEST 25
WESTFIELD, NJ 07090 26
27