Ex Parte Yoon

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Jul 31, 2014

11297713 (P.T.A.B. Jul. 31, 2014)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARKOFFICE
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
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
11/297,713 12/08/2005 Sang-Hyeon Yoon 678-2191 3370
66547 7590 07/31/2014
THE FARRELL LAW FIRM, P.C.
290 Broadhollow Road
Suite 210E
Melville, NY 11747
EXAMINER
YALEW, FIKREMARIAM A
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2436
MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE
07/31/2014 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 SANG-HYEON YOON
____________

Appeal 2012-003047
Application 11/297,713
Technology Center 2400
____________

Before JOSEPH F. RUGGIERO, JEAN R. HOMERE, and JEFFREY S.
SMITH, Administrative Patent Judges.

SMITH, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
This is an appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’s final
rejection of claims 1–15. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We affirm.

Representative Claim
1. An apparatus for preventing contents from being recorded by an
external device in a digital broadcasting receiver, the apparatus comprising:
a code generator for generating an identification code capable of
identifying the digital broadcasting receiver;
Appeal 2012-003047
Application 11/297,713

2
an output port for outputting received digital broadcasting data to the
external device; and
a processor for controlling the identification code to be output
together with the digital broadcasting data, if the digital broadcasting data is
output to the external device through the output port, after determining
whether the received digital broadcasting data is outputted to the external
device or in the digital broadcasting receiver,
wherein the code generator generates the identification code only if
the received digital broadcasting data is outputted to the external device.

Prior Art
Dykema US 5,661,804 Aug. 26, 1997
Ozawa US 5,978,012 Nov. 2, 1999
Nishio US 6,577,347 B2 June 10, 2003
Miettinen US 6,754,834 B2 June 22, 2004

Examiner’s Rejections
Claims 1–7 and 10–15 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
being unpatentable over Nishio, Ozawa, and Dykema.
Claims 8 and 9 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being
unpatentable over Nishio, Ozawa, Dykema, and Miettinen.

ANALYSIS
Section 103 rejection of claims 1–7 and 10–15
Appellant contends Dykema does not teach “the code generator
generates the identification code only if the received digital broadcasting
data is outputted to the external device” as recited in claim 1. App. Br. 5. In
particular, Appellant contends Dykema does not teach generating a variable
code conditioned on where the data is to be output. Reply Br. 2-3.
Appeal 2012-003047
Application 11/297,713

3
Dykema teaches a signal generator transmits an activation signal and a
variable code to an external device. Abstract. The device of Dykema
generates and transmits the variable code when transmitting the
corresponding activation signal to the external device. Id.; col. 5, ll. 15-21.
Appellant has not provided persuasive evidence or argument to rebut the
Examiner’s finding (Ans. 4-6; 11-12) that the combination of Nishio,
Ozawa, and Dykema teaches “the code generator generates the identification
code only if the received digital broadcasting data is outputted to the
external device” within the meaning of claim 1.
We sustain the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 103. Appellant
does not present arguments for separate patentability of claims 2–7 and 10–
15, which fall with claim 1.

Section 103 rejection of claims 8 and 9
Appellant does not present arguments for separate patentability of
claims 8 and 9, which fall with claim 1.

DECISION
The rejection of claims 1–7 and 10–15 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
being unpatentable over Nishio, Ozawa, and Dykema is affirmed.
The rejection of claims 8 and 9 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being
unpatentable over Nishio, Ozawa, Dykema, and Miettinen is affirmed.

Appeal 2012-003047
Application 11/297,713

4
No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with
this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a)(1)(iv). See
37 C.F.R. § 41.50(f).

AFFIRMED

rwk