Ex Parte Srinivasan et al

Patent Trial and Appeal BoardApr 9, 2018

14036860 (P.T.A.B. Apr. 9, 2018)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 14/036,860 09/25/2013 15757 7590 04/11/2018 Qualcomm /Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP 2200 Ross A venue Suite 3600 Dallas, TX 75201-7932 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Chandrasekar Srinivasan 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 ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. QLXX.P0439US/l 1315675 7961 EXAMINER KUNW AR, BINOD J ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2454 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 04/11/2018 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): ocpat_uspto@qualcomm.com doipdocket@nortonrosefulbright.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte CHANDRASEKAR SRINIVASAN, UMESH PANDEY, CHANDRA MOULI POLISETTY, DEEPTI MANI, LORENZ C. MINDER, DEVIPRASAD PUTCHALA, and ARVIND SUBRAMANIAN KRISHNA Appeal2017-010853 Application 14/03 6, 860 1 Technology Center 2400 Before CATHERINE SHIANG, JOHN P. PINKERTON, and SCOTT E. BAIN, Administrative Patent Judges. SHIANG, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 134(a) from the Examiner's rejection of claims 1---6, 8-23, and 25--44, which are all the claims pending and rejected in the application. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 6(b ). We reverse. STATEMENT OF THE CASE Introduction 1 Appellants identify QUALCOMM Incorporated as the real party in interest. App. Br. 2. Appeal2017-010853 Application 14/036,860 According to the Specification, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for altering bandwidth consumption. See generally Spec. 1. Claim 1 is exemplary: 1. A method for altering bandwidth consumption when receiving content in a user device, comprising: accessing, by a content-rendering application using an adaptive streaming protocol file that identifies alternative sets of content segments for first content including a first set of content segments for the first content encoded for displaying the first content at a first content quality and an alternative second set of content segments for the first content encoded for displaying the first content at a different second content quality, one or more content segments of the first set of content segments for the first content encoded for displaying the first content at the first content quality; determining a first user device status where the first user device status indicates whether content, which is derived from the one or more content segments of the first set of content segments for the first content accessed by the content-rendering application using the adaptive streaming protocol file that identifies the alternative sets of content segments for the first content including the first set of content segments for the first content encoded for displaying the first content at the first content quality and the alternative second set of content segments for the first content encoded for displaying the first content at the different second content quality, is viewable on a display of the user device; and based on the first user device status that indicates whether the content, which is derived from the one or more content segments of the first set of content segments for the first content accessed by the content-rendering application using the adaptive streaming protocol file that identifies the alternative sets of content segments for the first content 2 Appeal2017-010853 Application 14/036,860 including the first set of content segments for the first content encoded for displaying the first content at the first content quality and the alternative second set of content segments for the first content encoded for displaying the first content at the different second content quality, is viewable on the display of the user device, accessing, by the content-rendering application using the adaptive streaming protocol file that identifies the alternative sets of content segments for the first content including the first set of content segments for the first content encoded for displaying the first content at the first content quality and the alternative second set of content segments for the first content encoded for displaying the first content at the different second content quality, one or more content segments of the second set of content segments for the first content encoded for displaying the first content at the different second content quality. References and Rejections Claims 1-5, 9, 18-22, 26, and 35--44 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 103 as being unpatentable over Shivadas (U.S. 2014/0269936 Al; pub. Sept. 18. 2014) and Filev (U.S. 2014/0068434 Al; pub. Mar. 6, 2014). Claims 6 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 103 as being unpatentable over Shivadas, Filev, and van der Schaar (U.S. 2013/0007200 Al; pub. Jan. 3, 2013). Claims 8, 10-13, 16-17, 25, 27-30, and 33-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 103 as being unpatentable over Shivadas, Filev, and Meuninck (U.S. 8,918,831 B2; iss. Dec. 23, 2014). Claims 14--15, and 31-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 103 as being unpatentable over Shivadas, Filev, and Kim (U.S. 2014/0118250 Al; pub. May 1, 2014). 3 Appeal2017-010853 Application 14/036,860 ANALYSIS We have reviewed the Examiner's rejection in light of Appellants' contentions and the evidence of record. We concur with Appellants' contention that the Examiner erred in finding the cited portions of Shivadas teach "determining a first user device status where the first user device status indicates whether content, which is derived from the one or more content segments of the first set of content segments for the first content ... , is viewable on a display of the user device," as recited in independent claim 1 (emphases added). 2 See App. Br. 10-12; Reply Br. 1. The Examiner cites Shivadas' s paragraph 94 for teaching the italicized limitation. See Final Act. 11. However, Shivadas's paragraph 94 merely states "1110 includes encoding video at a first bitrate to produce first encoded sections." Shivadas i-f 94. Therefore, we agree with Appellants that the Examiner has not shown the cited Shivadas paragraph teaches "determining a first user device status where the first user device status indicates whether content, which is derived from the one or more content segments of the first set of content segments for the first content ... , is viewable on a display of the user device," as required by claim 1 (emphases added). See App. Br. 10-12. The Examiner does not respond to Appellants' arguments. As a result, absent further explanation from the Examiner, we do not see how the cited Shivadas paragraph teaches the italicized claim limitation. 2 Appellants raise additional arguments. Because the identified issue is dispositive of the appeal, we do not reach the additional arguments. 4 Appeal2017-010853 Application 14/036,860 Because the Examiner fails to provide sufficient evidence or explanation to support the rejection, we are constrained by the record to reverse the Examiner's rejection of claim 1. Each of independent claims 18, 35, and 40 recites a claim limitation that is substantively similar to the disputed limitation of claim 1. See claims 18, 3 5, and 40. Therefore, for similar reasons, we reverse the Examiner's rejection of independent claims 18, 35, and 40. We also reverse the Examiner's rejection of corresponding dependent claims 2---6, 8-17, 19-23, 25-34, 36-39, and 41--44. Although the Examiner cites additional references for rejecting some dependent claims, the Examiner has not shown the additional references overcome the deficiency discussed above regarding the rejection of claim 1. DECISION We reverse the Examiner's decision rejecting claims 1-6, 8-23, and 25--44. REVERSED 5