Microsoft CorporationDownload PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardMay 4, 202014089663 - (D) (P.T.A.B. May. 4, 2020) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE 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. 14/089,663 11/25/2013 Mikhail Shatalin 330581-US-CNT 7676 69316 7590 05/04/2020 MICROSOFT CORPORATION ONE MICROSOFT WAY REDMOND, WA 98052 EXAMINER HO, RUAY L ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2175 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 05/04/2020 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): chriochs@microsoft.com usdocket@microsoft.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________________ Ex parte MIKHAIL SHATALIN, GUNJAN A. SHAH, SHAWN T. OSTER, JOHNATHAN D. SHELLER, ASHARAF A. MITCHAIL, AKHILESH KAZA and ALAN C.T. LIU ____________________ Appeal 2019-003188 Application 14/089,663 Technology Center 2100 ____________________ Before ROBERT E. NAPPI, ST. JOHN COURTENAY III, and JAMES W. DEJMEK, Administrative Patent Judges. NAPPI, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appellant1 appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’s final rejection of claims 1 through 20. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We AFFIRM. 1 We use the word “Appellant” to refer to “applicant” as defined in 37 C.F.R. § 1.42(a) (2018). According to Appellant, Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, is the real party in interest. Appeal Br. 2. Appeal 2019-003188 Application 14/089,663 2 INVENTION Appellant’s invention is directed to an information display system that “separates rendering of information from receiving that information so that the rendering portion can be quickly displayed to the user and the data can arrive as it is available to provide further detail.” Spec. Abstract. Claim 1 is illustrative of the invention and is reproduced below. 1. A computing device for displaying a user interface, the computing device comprising: a memory configured to store instructions; and a processor configured to execute the stored instructions, wherein execution of the stored instructions causes the computing device to: send information retrieval requests to one or more remote devices requesting information items; prior to receiving the requested information items, render a display that includes multiple interface elements, the interface elements of the multiple interface elements each including a placeholder for a respective one of the requested information items; receive at least one of the requested information items; determine which of the multiple interface elements is associated with the at least one received information item; bind the at least one received information item to the determined interface element; and update at least one of the placeholders in the display, the updated display including the at least one received information item. Appeal 2019-003188 Application 14/089,663 3 EXAMINER’S REJECTIONS2 The Examiner rejected claims 8 through 14 under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 112, as being indefinite. Final Act. 3–4. The Examiner rejected claims 1 and 15 under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 102 as being anticipated by Baumgartner (US 2010/0153997 A1). Final Act. 4–6. The Examiner rejected claims 2 through 6, 8 through 11, 13, 14, and 16 through 19 under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Baumgartner and Matsuura (US 2006/0129636 A1). Final Act. 6–11. The Examiner rejected claims 7, 12, and 20 under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Baumgartner, Matsuura, and Bala (US 2003/0018644 A1). Final Act. 11–12. Prior PTAB Decision Appeal 2017-004541, Application No. 14/089,663, PTAB Decision mailed October 30, 2017. Examiner affirmed. ANALYSIS We have reviewed Appellant’s arguments in the Briefs, the Examiner’s rejections, and the Examiner’s response to Appellant’s arguments. Appellant’s arguments have persuaded us of error in the Examiner’s rejection of claims 8–14 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second 2 Throughout this Decision, we refer to the Appeal Brief filed November 21, 2018 (“Appeal Br.”); Reply Brief, filed March 13, 2019 (Reply Br.); Final Office Action mailed April 25, 2018 (“Final Act.”); and the Examiner’s Answer mailed January 28, 2019 (“Ans.”). Appeal 2019-003188 Application 14/089,663 4 paragraph. However, Appellant’s arguments have not persuaded us of error in the Examiner’s rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 102 and 35 U.S.C. § 103. Indefiniteness rejection of claims 8 through 14 The Examiner rejected independent claim 8 and dependent claims 9 through 14 as the claim 8 limitation “the rendered user interface including a placeholder for the at least one user interface item that has yet to be received by the computing device” is not clear. Final Act 3–4. The Examiner reasons the “limitation is a mere description of a placeholder not yet received a user interface item. Said description is not a technical feature because no operation or function or the like associated with said ‘empty’ placeholder, for example, is this placeholder displayed as a ‘black hole?’ Is this ‘empty’ placeholder displayed with a label ‘vacant’?” Id. Appellant argues the Examiner is “confusing breadth with claim indefiniteness.” Answer 6. Appellant cites the MPEP § 2173.04 as identifying that “a broad claim in not indefinite merely because it encompasses a wide scope of subject matter provided the scope is clearly defined.” Answer 7. We agree with the Appellant. Whether the placeholder is a “black hole” or a display with a label “vacant” is a question of scope. Appellant’s Specification discusses the placeholder as something that is in a display in place of an item of a fixed size. Specification ¶ 33. Thus, we consider the recitation of an empty placeholder in claim 8 to be merely a broad term and not indefinite. Accordingly, we do not sustain the Examiner’s rejection of independent claim 8 and dependent claims 9 through 14 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph. Appeal 2019-003188 Application 14/089,663 5 Anticipation rejection of independent claims 1 and 15 Appellant argues the Examiner’s rejection is in error as Baumgartner does not disclose the limitation directed to “prior to receiving the requested information items, render a display that include multiple interface elements, the interface elements of the multiple interfaces each including a placeholder for a respective one of the requested information items” as is recited in representative claim 1. Appeal Br. 8–13; Reply Br. 3–4. Appellant argues that the display of Figure 26 in Baumgartner, which the Examiner relies upon to teach this limitation, is rendered after receiving the requested display, not before as is required by claim 1. Appeal Br. 9. Further, Appellant argues that Baumgartner screen 338, in Figure 26, does not include a placeholder for the requested information as recited in the claim. Appeal Br. 9–10. Additionally, Appellant asserts that an alternative rationale where the user of the Figure 26 display is selecting COMEDY 350 from screen 338 of FIG. 26, does not meet the claim. Appeal Br. 10. Appellant argues: in Baumgartner, when the user requests an interface element on screen 338, such as selecting COMEDY 350 from screen 338 of FIG. 26, the icons representing different comedy movies are displayed after receiving the requested information times[sic]. In other words, the information/icons about the comedy movies are received by the interactive television application before being displayed. Appeal Br. 10–11. The Examiner’s rejection cites to Baumgartner, paragraph 167 and Figure 26, which depicts screen 338 as including vendor specific interface elements, as support for the finding that Baumgartner discloses the disputed Appeal 2019-003188 Application 14/089,663 6 limitation. Final Act. 5. Further, in response to Appellant’s arguments the Examiner states: The argued feature of claim 1, “prior to receiving the requested information items, render a display that includes multiple interface elements, the interface elements of the multiple interface elements each including a placeholder for a respective one of the requested information items”, is construed as “a display that includes multiple interface elements, the interface elements of the multiple interface elements each including a placeholder for a respective one of the requested information items” because “prior to receiving” means no receiving operation is performed. In other words, nothing happened. Accordingly, the argued feature is disclosed in the cited prior art, Baumgartner Figure 26. When a display receives requested information, the display gets updated, i.e., as argued “after receiving” requested information, as depicted in Figure 26 of Baumgartner. Before the display update, the display is a display with multiple interface elements without an update. After the display update, the display is a display with multiple updated interface elements. Both are disclosed in Baumgartner Answer 11. We are not persuaded of error in the Examiner’s findings by Appellant’s arguments. Initially, we note that representative claim 1 recites prior to receiving the requested information, render a display that includes multiple interface elements and that each of the interface elements includes a placeholder. Notably, the claim recites displaying the interface elements before receiving the requested information, but does not recite the temporal relation to making the request, i.e. the claim is broad enough to encompass Appeal 2019-003188 Application 14/089,663 7 the display being rendered prior to receiving the request.3 Also as discussed above with respect to the rejection under U.S.C. § 112, a placeholder is something that is in a display in place of an item of a fixed size. Based upon this interpretation, the discussion of the user selecting the “COMEDY 350” in Fig. 26 and then being presented an icon representative of different comedy movies, as discussed by Appellant on page 10 of the Appeal Brief, demonstrates that Baumgartner discloses the disputed claim limitation. Specifically, Baumgartner discloses that the user selectable interface elements are fixed in size and position, and as such remain unchanged between screens. Baumgartner ¶ 174. Further, Baumgartner disuses that the screen 338 may be one of multiple screens, and depicts in Figure 26 several interactive icons, including one with the text “COMEDY” (item 350 Fig. 26). When this icon is selected, the Figure 27 display is presented, which as identified by Appellant, includes icons representing comedy movies (items 388, 390, 392, 394 Fig 27). Baumgartner ¶ 175. Note, however, the icons for the movies in Figure 27 are in the same size and locations as the interactive icons in in Figure 26, thus the interactive icons of Figure 26 can be considered placeholders (something that is in a display in place of an item of a fixed size) for the icons representing comedy movies (the requested information) (i.e. before the requested information is received — the text 3 Throughout this opinion, we give the claim limitations the broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the Specification. See In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054 (Fed. Cir. 1997). Because “applicants may amend claims to narrow their scope, a broad construction during prosecution creates no unfairness to the applicant or patentee.” In re ICON Health and Fitness, Inc., 496 F.3d 1374, 1379 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (citation omitted). Appeal 2019-003188 Application 14/089,663 8 “FEATURED MOVIE”, and “ACTION” in Fig 26 is a placeholder for “MOVIE 1” and “MOVIE 3” in Fig 27). Accordingly, Appellant’s arguments have not persuaded us the Examiner erred in finding Baumgartner discloses the disputed limitation of representative claim 1 and we sustain the Examiner’s anticipation rejection of claims 1 and 15, grouped together. Obviousness rejections of independent claim 8 and dependent claims 2 through 6, 9 through 11, 13, 14, and 16 through 19 Appellant argues that rejection of independent claim 8 is in error as it recites limitation similar to those discussed with respect to claim 1 and that the teachings of Matsuura do not remedy the deficiencies noted in the rejection based upon Baumgartner. Appeal Br. 13. We are not persuaded of error in the Examiner’s obviousness rejection. As discussed above with respect to claim 1, Appellant’s augments have not persuaded us the Examiner erred in finding that Baumgartner discloses presenting a display of user interface elements including a placeholder for an item that has not been received. Claim 8 is similar to claim 1 in that it recites that the placeholder is displayed before an item is received. Similar to our discussion above with respect to claim 1, we find that Baumgartner teaches this feature in the flow of interfaces from Figure 26 to Figure 27. As such Appellant’s arguments have not persuaded us of error and we sustain the Examiner’s rejection of independent claim 8. With respect to the obviousness rejections of dependent claims 2 through 6, 9 through 11, 13, 14, and 16 through 19, Appellant argues that the Appeal 2019-003188 Application 14/089,663 9 rejection of these claims is in error for the same reason as independent claims 1, 8 and 15. Appeal Br. 15. As discussed above, Appellant’s arguments have not persuaded us of error in the Examiner’s rejections of independent claims 1, 8 or 15. Accordingly, we sustain the Examiner’s obviousness rejections of dependent claims 2 through 6, 9 through 11, 13, 14, and 16 through 19 for the same reasons discussed with respect to independent claims 1, 8 and 15. CONCLUSIONS We reverse the Examiner’s rejection under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 112, of claims 8–14. We affirm the Examiner’s rejection under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 102, of claims 1 and 15 We affirm the Examiner’s rejections under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 103, of claims 2–14 and 16–20. Because we have affirmed at least one ground of rejection with respect to each claim on appeal, the Examiner’s decision is affirmed. See 37 C.F.R. § 41.50(a)(1). Appeal 2019-003188 Application 14/089,663 10 Claims Rejected 35 U.S.C. § Reference(s)/Basis Affirmed Reversed 8–14 112 Indefinite 8–14 1, 15 102 Baumgartner 1, 15 2–6, 8–11, 13, 14, 16–19 103 Baumgartner, Matsuura 2–6, 8–11, 13, 14, 16– 19 7, 12, 20 Baumgartner, Matsuura, Bala 7, 12, 20 Overall Outcome 1–20 FINALITY AND RESPONSE 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 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation