Ex Parte Patton et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Oct 12, 2012

10845438 (P.T.A.B. Oct. 12, 2012)

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.
10/845,438 05/13/2004 Ronnie Neil Patton SLA1565 8317
7590 10/12/2012
Gerald W. Maliszewski
P.O. Box 270829
San Diego, CA 92198-2829
EXAMINER
BECKLEY, JONATHAN R
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2672
MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE
10/12/2012 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 RONNIE NEIL PATTON and
TANNA MARIE RICHARDSON
____________________

Appeal 2010-004431
Application 10/845,438
Technology Center 2600
____________________

Before ALLEN R. MacDONALD, JASON V. MORGAN, and
MICHAEL J. STRAUSS, Administrative Patent Judges.

MacDONALD, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL
Appeal 2010-004431
Application 10/845,438

2
STATEMENT OF CASE
Introduction
Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from a final rejection of
claims 1-2, 4-18, and 20-32. Claims 3 and 19 have been cancelled. We
have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b)(1).
We REVERSE.
Exemplary Claim
Exemplary claim 1 under appeal reads as follows (emphasis added):
1. A method for selectively emulating printer job processes, the
method comprising:
receiving a print job from a source, formatted in a protocol
selected from a group consisting of a page description language (PDL)
and a print job language (PJL), and including print job commands
defined with respect to a first version of the print job protocol;
determining a match between received print job commands
defined with respect to the first version of the print job protocol and
default print job commands defined with respect to a second version
of the print job protocol;
mapping non-matching received print job commands defined
with respect to the first version of the print job protocol to default
print job commands defined with respect to the second version of the
print job protocol; and,
printing the print job using a combination of the mapped default
print job commands and the default print job commands matching the
received the received print job commands.

Examiner’s Rejection
The Examiner rejected claims 1-2, 4-18, and 20-32 under
35 U.S.C. § 102(e) as being anticipated by Fujiwara (US 6,804,022 B2; Oct.
12, 2004).
Appeal 2010-004431
Application 10/845,438

3
Appellants’ Contention
Appellants contend that the Examiner erred in rejecting claims 1-2,
4-18, and 20-32 because:
None of the above-cited passages describe a process that
examines commands within a print job. None of these passages
describes a process that determines if any of the received
commands are different from default commands. None of these
passages describes mapping commands defined in a first
version of a particular protocol, to default commands defined
by a second version of the same protocol. Finally, none of the
above-cited passages describes printing a job using a
combination of default and mapped commands.
(App. Br. 9).

Issue on Appeal
Did the Examiner err in rejecting claims 1-2, 4-18, and 20-32 as being
anticipated because Fujiwara fails to disclose the argued limitations?

ANALYSIS
We agree with the Appellants’ above contention. The Examiner has
erred in finding that Fujiwara anticipates the claims.

CONCLUSIONS
(1) Appellants have established that the Examiner erred in rejecting
claims 1-2, 4-18, and 20-32 as being anticipated under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e).
(2) On this record, claims 1-2, 4-18, and 20-32 have not been shown
to be unpatentable.
Appeal 2010-004431
Application 10/845,438

4

DECISION
The Examiner’s rejection of claims 1-2, 4-18, and 20-32 is reversed.

REVERSED

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