Ex Parte Karaoguz et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Jan 30, 2017

12367142 (P.T.A.B. Jan. 30, 2017)

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).
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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