Microsoft CorporationDownload PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardMay 5, 202014210109 - (D) (P.T.A.B. May. 5, 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. 14/210,109 03/13/2014 Amit K. Sinha 340222.01 8461 69316 7590 05/05/2020 MICROSOFT CORPORATION ONE MICROSOFT WAY REDMOND, WA 98052 EXAMINER LEE, JUSTIN S ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2177 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 05/05/2020 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 AMIT K. SINHA, KAVITHA BALASUBRAMANIAN, DAVID KOZLOWSKI, MICHAEL I. BOYSENKO, and STEPHEN THOMAS WELLS Appeal 2019-001257 Application 14/210,109 Technology Center 2100 Before JASON V. MORGAN, ERIC B. CHEN, and JOHN F. HORVATH, Administrative Patent Judges. HORVATH, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 134(a), Appellant1 seeks review of the Examiner’s decision to reject claims 1–20, which are all of the pending claims. 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). Appellant identifies the real party in interest as Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC. Appeal Br. 1. Appeal 2019-001257 Application 14/210,109 2 CLAIMED SUBJECT MATTER The invention is directed toward: a service application that supports a user interface to a service [and that] receives data communicated by the service and identifies at least a service item to present in at least one of various views rendered in the user interface. The service application then identifies with which of the views to associate the service item and stores the service item in association with an identified view or views. Spec. ¶ 7. Claim 1, reproduced below, is illustrative of the claimed subject matter: 1. One or more computer readable storage media having program instructions stored thereon comprising a service application for facilitating a user interface to a service that, when executed by a processing system, directs the processing system to at least: present a view of a plurality of views in the user interface to the service; identify, from data communicated by the service, at least a service item to present in at least one other view of the plurality of views; identify with which of the plurality of views to associate the service item; prior to the user navigating to the other view, translate a format of the service item into a presentation format in which the service item is displayed when the other view is rendered in the user interface; and prior to the user navigating to the other view, store the service item in the presentation format in association with at least the other view of the plurality of views identified for association with the service item. Appeal 2019-001257 Application 14/210,109 3 REJECTIONS Claims 1 and 10 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112 for failing to comply with the written description requirement. Final Act. 2–3. Claims 1–6, 9–15, 18, and 19 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Baude and Wilkin. Final Act. 4–16. Claims 7, 8, 16, and 17 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Baude, Wilkin, and Clark. Final Act. 16–18. Claim 20 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Baude, Wilkin, and Manjoo. Final Act. 18–20. OPINION We have reviewed the Examiner’s rejection in light of Appellant’s arguments that the Examiner has erred. Except as further discussed below, we disagree with Appellant’s contentions, and adopt as our own the findings and reasons set forth by the Examiner in the Final Action and Examiner’s Answer. We highlight the following for emphasis. REJECTIONS UNDER 35 U.S.C. § 112 The Examiner rejects claims 1 and 10 as failing to comply with the written description requirement. See Final Act. 2–3. Specifically, the Examiner finds the Specification fails to show Appellant was in possession of an invention in which the format of a service item (claim 1) or email (claim 10) is translated into and stored in the presentation format of another application view “prior to the user navigating to the other view.” Id. Although Appellant does not formally contest the rejection, Appellant’s Summary of Claimed Subject Matter identifies paragraph 25 as support for the subject matter of claim 1 and paragraphs 25 and 73 as support for the subject matter of claim 10. See Appeal Br. 2–4. Appeal 2019-001257 Application 14/210,109 4 We agree with Appellant that paragraphs 25 and 73 support “translating” and “storing” service items or emails prior to navigating to other application views as recited claims 1 and 10. The Specification discloses that “translating a service item to a presentation format may occur prior to storing the service item” so that the service item is ready to be “render[ed] in a user interface in the event that a corresponding view is selected by a user.” Spec. ¶ 25 (emphases added). The Specification further discloses that the “service item” may be an email. Id. ¶ 73. Although these passages do not literally state that emails and service items are translated into and stored in the presentation formation of another view “prior to the user navigating to the other view,” they fairly convey to a person skilled in the art that that is when the translating and storing is done. See In re Alton, 76 F.3d 1168, 1175 (Fed. Cir. 1996) (“If . . . the specification contains a description of the claimed invention, albeit not in ipsis verbis (in the identical words),” then to establish unpatentability for lack of written description “the examiner . . . must provide reasons why one of ordinary skill in the art would not consider the description sufficient.”). Accordingly, we do not sustain the Examiner’s rejection of claims 1 and 10 under 35 U.S.C. § 112 for lack of written description. REJECTIONS UNDER 35 U.S.C. § 103 The Examiner rejects claims 1–6, 9–15, 18, and 19 as unpatentable over Baude and Wilkin, claims 7, 8, 16, and 17 as unpatentable over Baude, Wilkin, and Clark, and claim 20 as unpatentable over Baude, Wilkin, and Manjoo. Final Act. 4–20. Appellant argues the Examiner has erred because “neither Baude nor Wilkin, either alone or in combination, teaches or suggests all the limitations Appeal 2019-001257 Application 14/210,109 5 recited in claim 1.” Appeal Br. 7. Specifically, Appellant argues that neither Baude nor Wilkin teaches or suggests “storing a service item in its presentation format prior to a user navigating to a view containing said service item.” Id. at 5. The Examiner finds Baude teaches an email application that presents different views of emails received from an email server (e.g., expanded and collapsed folder views), and that this disclosure teaches “present[ing] a view of a plurality of views in [a] user interface to [a] service,” “identify[ing] . . . at least a service item to present in at least one other view of the plurality of views,” and “identify[ing] with which of the plurality of views to associate the service item.” See Final Act. 4–6 (citing Baude ¶¶ 25, 33, Figs. 1, 3, 7A–B). That is, the Examiner finds Figure 3 of Baude discloses presenting a first email service view (i.e., one in which the “Baileys” folder is not expanded), receiving messages 1–3 from an email server, and identifying messages 1–3 as service items to present in a second or “other” email service view as shown in Figure 7A (i.e., one in which the “Baileys” folder is expanded). Id. The Examiner further finds that Figure 7A of Baude discloses that messages 1–3 are associated with the expanded folder view shown in Figure 7A because they can be displayed in that view. Id. The Examiner further finds that Baude’s email application can be modified based on Wilkin’s teaching that email applications can receive web feed articles, convert the articles from RSS (Real Simple Syndication) format into an email application format, filter the articles into an RSS folder that is different from the incoming email folder, and store the articles in the RSS folder. Id. at 7 (citing, e.g., Wilkin Figs. 3, 7). The Examiner finds that when Baude’s email application is so modified, it teaches “prior to the user navigating to the other view [expanded RSS folder], translat[ing] a format of Appeal 2019-001257 Application 14/210,109 6 the service item [RSS format] into a presentation format in which the service item is displayed [email application format] when the other view is rendered in the user interface; and . . . stor[ing] the service item in the presentation format in association with at least the other view.” Id. at 6 (citing, e.g., Wilkins ¶¶ 8, 10). That is, the Examiner finds Buade’s modified email application can receive RSS articles when viewing emails in the “inbox” of the email application, convert the received articles from RSS format to email application format, and store the articles in an RSS folder for subsequent display when the user expands the RSS folder as shown in Figure 7 of Wilkin. Id. at 6–7. Appellant admits that Wilkin teaches converting RSS messages from an RSS format to an email application format, but argues that “doing so is not the same as translating an email (i.e., service item) into its presentation format.” Appeal Br. 6. Appellant further argues that claim 1 “does not convert one item into another item, but rather translates a format of a service item into a presentation format in which the service item is displayed.” Id. We are not persuaded by Appellant’s arguments. We first note the Specification does not limit the term “service item” to an email, and does not prohibit interpreting Wilkin’s RSS article as a “service item.” See Spec. ¶ 36 (disclosing an “email, calendar item, blog post, news clip, and an instant message are non-limiting examples of a service item.”) (emphasis added). We further note the Specification does not draw the same distinction between “translating” and “converting” that Appellant now seeks to draw in its Appeal Brief. Id. ¶ 39 (disclosing “service application 102 may also translate or convert service item 105”) (emphasis added). This disclosure in Appellant’s Specification is consistent with the Examiner’s finding regarding the plain and ordinary meaning of Appeal 2019-001257 Application 14/210,109 7 “converting” and “translating.” See Ans. 8–9. Specifically, the Examiner finds, and we agree, that “there is not much of a difference in meaning between ‘converting’ and ‘translating’” because the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “converting” to mean “changing from one form, state, etc. to another” and defines “translating” to mean “changing something from one form to another.” Id. Therefore, we agree with the Examiner that converting an RSS article from RSS format to email application format reads on “translat[ing] a format of the service item into a presentation format in which the service item is displayed” as recited in claim 1. Moreover, we agree with the Examiner that Figure 3 of Wilkin teaches translating the RSS article (step 315) from RSS format to email application format prior to filtering (step 330) and storing (step 335) the article in a designated RSS folder, such as the “Apple Hot” folder 504 shown in Figure 7. See Ans. 7, 9 (citing Wilkin ¶¶ 31, 39, 41, 42, 52, Figs. 3, 5, 7). We further agree with the Examiner that Wilkin teaches performing these translating and storing steps “prior to the user navigating to the other view” because the “[u]ser can . . . provide input in the email application to navigate to the ‘Apple Hot’ 504 folder view after the conversion/storing of [the] service item is performed.” Id. at 9. Accordingly, for the reasons discussed above, we affirm the Examiner’s rejection of claim 1 as unpatentable over the combination of Baude and Wilkin. Appellant does not separately argue for the patentability of claims 2–20. See Appeal Br. 7. Therefore, we affirm the Examiner’s rejection of claims 2–20 for the same reasons. Appeal 2019-001257 Application 14/210,109 8 CONCLUSION The Examiner’s rejection of claims 1 and 10 under 35 U.S.C. § 112 for failing to comply with the written description requirement is not sustained. The Examiner’s rejection of claims 1–6, 9–15, 18, and 19 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Baude and Wilkin is sustained. The Examiner’s rejection of claims 7, 8, 16, and 17 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Baude, Wilkin, and Clark is sustained. The Examiner’s rejection of claim 20 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Baude, Wilkin, and Manjoo is sustained. DECISION SUMMARY Claims Rejected 35 U.S.C. § References/ Basis Affirmed Reversed 1, 10 112 Written Description 1, 10 1–6, 9–15, 18, 19 103 Baude, Wilkin 1–6, 9–15, 18, 19 7, 8, 16, 17 103 Baude, Wilkin, Clark 7, 8, 16, 17 20 103 Baude, Wilkin, Manjoo 20 Overall Outcome 1–20 TIME PERIOD FOR RESPONSE No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended. See 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a)(1)(iv). AFFIRMED Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation