Ex Parte Karaoguz et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardJan 30, 201712367142 (P.T.A.B. Jan. 30, 2017) 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. 12/367,142 02/06/2009 Jeyhan Karaoguz 14528.00376 9252 121312 7590 02/01/2017 Foley & Lardner LLP/ Broadcom Corporation 3000 K Street N.W Suite 600 Washington, DC 20007-5109 EXAMINER GATLING, STACIE D ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3622 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 02/01/2017 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): ipdocketing @ foley. com cmckenna@foley.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte JEYHAN KARAOGUZ and JAMES D. BENNETT Appeal 2014—007139 Application 12/367,142 Technology Center 3600 Before HUBERT C. LORIN, ANTON W. FETTING, and TARA L. HUTCHINGS, Administrative Patent Judges. FETTING, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE1 Jeyhan Karaoguz and James D. Bennett (Appellants) seek review under 35 U.S.C. § 134 of a final rejection of claims 1—8, 10-18, and 20-22, the only claims pending in the application on appeal. We have jurisdiction over the appeal pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). The Appellants invented a way of providing service advertisement in a communication device. Specification para. 5. 1 Our decision will make reference to the Appellants’ Appeal Brief (“Appeal Br.,” filed December 11, 2013) and Reply Brief (“Reply Br.,” filed June 11, Appeal 2014-007139 Application 12/367,142 An understanding of the invention can be derived from a reading of exemplary claim 1, which is reproduced below (bracketed matter and some paragraphing added). 1. A method for communication, the method comprising: [1] receiving by a communication device, broadcasted information communicated from a network access device that is operable to service a plurality of communication devices, wherein said broadcasted information specifies one or more advertised services provided by said network access device; [2] transmitting, by the communication device, an ad attach request message to the network access device; [3] transmitting, by the communication device, one or more service details request messages to request more information from the network access device about one or more specific services offered via the network access device; [4] receiving, by the communication device, a service details response message in response to each service details request message, the service details response message including the requested more information; [5] determining whether to connect said communication device to said network access device, based on said received broadcasted information that specifies said provided one or more advertised services and the requested more information; 2014), and the Examiner’s Answer (“Ans.,” mailed April 11, 2014), and Final Action (“Final Act.,” mailed June 26, 2013). 2 Appeal 2014-007139 Application 12/367,142 [6] performing, at the communication device, a secure attachment to the network access device to enable security or accounting operations during receipt of services by the communication device from the network access device; and [7] transmitting, by the communication device, a service request message once the secure attachment is complete. The Examiner relies upon the following prior art: Hanson US 5,974,398 McGuire US 2003/0023489 A1 Blanco US 6,539,482 B1 Tsai US 2005/0078644 A1 Oct. 26, 1999 Jan. 30, 2003 Mar. 25, 2003 Apr. 14, 2005 Claims 1—6, 10-16, and 20-22 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Tsai and McGuire. Claims 7, 8, 17, and 18 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Tsai, McGuire, and Blanco. Claims 21 and 22 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Tsai and Hanson. ISSUES The issues of obviousness turn primarily on whether McGuire and Hanson describe internal message based advertisements from a network access device. 3 Appeal 2014-007139 Application 12/367,142 FACTS PERTINENT TO THE ISSUES The following enumerated Findings of Fact (FF) are believed to be supported by a preponderance of the evidence. Facts Related to Claim Construction 01. The disclosure contains no lexicographic definition of “secure attachment.” 02. The term “secure attachment” as a term of art, refers to a psychological aspect of infant bonding.2 It is not a term of art in the computer networking arena. Facts Related to Appellants ’ Disclosure 03. The Specification describes only one example and no structural details of a secure attachment. The one example is a RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) procedure, which performs authorization and authentication and also accounting.3 See Spec. 54, 62. Facts Related to the Prior Art Tsai 04. Tsai is directed to wireless networks. Tsai para. 1. 05. Tsai describes a wireless access point transmitting a services signal to the client device. Tsai para. 13. 2 http://www.helpguide.org/articles/secure-attachment/what-is-secure- attachment-and-bonding.htm 4 Appeal 2014-007139 Application 12/367,142 06. Tsai’s reference to advertisements is in the sense of an advertisement of a particular service within the network. Tsai para. 18. That is, an advertisement is a broadcast notice of a technical function available within a network, as contrasted with a commercial advertisement for a product or service apart from the network. McGuire 07. McGuire is directed to targeted distribution of advertisements over a network. McGuire para. 2. 08. McGuire describes administrators or employees of an ad selection node creating, updating or viewing information relating to their participation in a commercial advertisement system. Means are provided allowing full or restricted access to information on an ad selection node. McGuire illustrates web- based interfaces, all of which may be collectively gathered into a secure web-based client extranet. This may be a collection of HTML pages, accessible only when an appropriate user name and password combination is supplied. McGuire para. 59. Hanson 09. Hanson is directed to user control of advertising carried by interactive information and entertainment services. Hanson 1:9— 12. 3 http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/security-vpn/remote- authentication-dial-user-service-radius/1243 3-32 .html 5 Appeal 2014-007139 Application 12/367,142 10. Hanson describes solving a problem in advertising in interactive information or entertainment services or on-line services, by combining database marketing with the concept of an auction for the customer's attention where the on-line user has final say over which advertisements are viewed. Interested users see advertiser's bids for their attention which are displayed on their computer screens, and then choose which advertisements to view. For each advertisement viewed, the advertisers' bid amount would pay for a portion of the user's service or usage charge. Hanson 1:38-46. ANALYSIS All three independent claims recite receiving advertisements regarding advertised services provided by a network access device. Claims 1 and 11 further recite performing a secure attachment. The phrase secure attachment is only a term of art in psychology, not in the computer networking arts. The phrase is undefined. Its plain meaning is an attachment that is secure, but what is meant by “attachment” cannot be discerned just from the phrase. Although we construe claims using the broadest reasonable interpretation, that interpretation must be consistent with the way the terms are used in the disclosure. The interpretation cannot be divorced from the record. In re NTP, Inc., 654 F.3d 1279, 1288 (Fed Cir 2011). The one example in the Specification clarifies that what is meant is attaching as in making a durable access, and a secure attachment is such an 6 Appeal 2014-007139 Application 12/367,142 access that is secured by authorization and authentication. The Examiner finds this in the form of a login screen described by McGuire. Final Act. 3. We agree that such a login screen asking for user ID and password is within the scope of a secure attachment, as that phrase is used in the disclosure. The problem for the Examiner is that, as Appellants argue (Appeal Br. 15), McGuire describes commercial advertisements, rather than advertising messages originating from within the network describing available network services. It is unfortunate that networking arts refer to such internal messages as advertisement, which can be confusing, but that use is a well known term of art customary to the networking arts. The Examiner has not shown why one of ordinary skill would apply McGuire’s database access of commercial advertisements to Tsai’s processing of internal message advertisements. The Examiner instead shows that one of ordinary skill would have included McGuire’s geographic location data, which is not an advertisement, as a service that Tsai might have advertised. Final Act. 3^4. As McGuire is not processing geographic location as an advertisement, the portion of McGuire relied on in the rejection would not apply to such an example. Appellants similarly are persuasive in arguing that Hanson’s advertisements are commercial advertisements as well. Appeal Br. 20. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW The rejection of claims 1—6, 10-16, and 20—22 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Tsai and McGuire is improper. 7 Appeal 2014-007139 Application 12/367,142 The rejection of claims 7, 8, 17, and 18 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Tsai, McGuire, and Blanco is improper. The rejection of claims 21 and 22 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Tsai and Hanson is improper. DECISION The rejections of claims 1—8, 10-18, and 20-22 are reversed. REVERSED 8 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation