Ex Parte Younger et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardDec 31, 201814599188 (P.T.A.B. Dec. 31, 2018) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 14/599,188 01/16/2015 5251 7590 01/03/2019 SHOOK, HARDY & BACON LLP INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEPARTMENT 2555 GRAND BL VD KANSAS CITY, MO 64108-2613 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Max J. Younger 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. HALC.202316 7863 EXAMINER HUGHES, EBONI N ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2694 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 01/03/2019 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): IPDOCKET@SHB.COM IPRCDKT@SHB.COM BPARKERSON@SHB.COM PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte MAX J. YOUNGER and CHRISTIAN COCHRAN Appeal2018-005650 Application 14/599,188 Technology Center 2600 Before TERRENCE W. McMILLIN, KARA L. SZPONDOWSKI, and SCOTT B. HOWARD, Administrative Patent Judges. SZPONDOWSKI, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL This is a decision on appeal under 35 U.S.C § 134(a) of the Examiner's Non-Final Rejection of claims 1, 4, 6, 7, 9--14, and 17-25, constituting all claims currently pending in the application. 1 We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b ). We REVERSE. 1 Claim 6 remains dependent on cancelled claim 5; claim 1 7 remains dependent on cancelled claim 15; and claims 18 and 19 remain dependent on cancelled claim 16. This is a harmless typographical error that should be corrected by Appellants. Appeal2018-005650 Application 14/599,188 STATEMENT OF THE CASE Appellants' invention is directed to "systems and methods for using, a near-field communication (NFC) system for use with a mobile computing device or other smart device, such as a smart phone or camera." Spec. ,r 3. Claim 1, reproduced below with the disputed limitations in italics, is illustrative of the claimed subject matter: 1. A system for providing a near field communication (NFC) session with an NFC-tagged object, comprising: a tip-ring-ring-sleeve (TRRS) component configured to be inserted into an audio port on a smart device and including at least three channels; an NFC component for transmitting a first radio frequency (RF) signal and for receiving a second RF signal, the second RF signal including identifying information, the NFC component further configured to decode the second RF signal to determine the identifying information; and an energy-collecting component comprising an energy- collecting circuit configured to store energy from a modulated power signal, increase a voltage of the modulated power signal, and supply the stored energy in a burst to the NFC component for use in transmitting the first RF signal, wherein the energy-collecting circuit is tuned to correspond to one or more parameters of the modulated power signal, and wherein a first channel of the at least three channels is configured for receiving the modulated power signal, a second channel is configured for receiving control signals, and a third channel is configured for communicating tag value information. 2 Appeal2018-005650 Application 14/599,188 REJECTIONS ON APPEAL Claims 1, 4, 6, 7, 9-14, 17-20, and 24 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § I02(a)(l) as being anticipated by Schultz et al. (WO 2013/142913 Al; published Oct. 3, 2013) ("Schultz"). Non-Final Act. 4. Claims 21 and 25 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Schultz and Kitayoshi et al. (US 2009/012183 7 A 1; published May 14, 2009) ("Kitayoshi"). Non-Final Act. 16. Claims 22 and 23 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Schultz and Youn (US 2006/0250250 Al; published Nov. 9, 2006) ("Youn"). Non-Final Act. 17. ANALYSIS Issue: Did the Examiner err in finding that Schultz discloses "an energy-collecting component comprising an energy-collecting circuit configured to store energy from a modulated power signal, increase a voltage of the modulated power signal, and supply the stored energy in a burst to the NFC component for use in transmitting the first RF signal," as recited in independent claim 1 ( emphasis added) and commensurately recited in independent claims 7 and 14? The Examiner relies on Schultz's "stored energy in ... power supply 609 powers the near field communication circuits 604 such that near field data 606 can be transferred between the external device 630 and near field communication circuits 604" and Schultz's "near field data 1824 [ stored energy] contains pulses P 1 and P2 [bursts] used by near field communication circuits 1822 [NFC component] to generate near field ping pulses on the near field coil" to teach supplying the stored energy in a burst to the NFC 3 Appeal2018-005650 Application 14/599,188 component, as claimed. Non-Final Act. 5---6 ( citing Schultz 40, 11. 26-40; 56, 11. 8--40; Figs. 6, 18); see Ans. 3--4. According to the Examiner, "Figure 18 illustrate[ s] similar configurations [to Figure 6] despite the method of manufacture." Ans. 16. Appellants contend Schultz does not anticipate claim 1. App. Br. 15. Specifically, Appellants argue Figure 6 of Schultz "depicts a battery-less light switch, but does not describe supplying stored energy in a burst to the NFC component." App. Br. 11. Appellants further argue Figures 18 and 19B of Schultz "depict a dongle device that plugs into a mobile phone audio socket," and mentions a "burst," but "not a burst of stored energy supplied to an NFC component, but rather is a burst of [a] high-frequency audio embedded within an audio data signal that is received via a wired connection from a phone." App. Br. 12. According to Appellants, Schultz's "pulses P 1 and P2 [in Figure 18] are not bursts of stored energy supplied to an NFC component," but rather "they are data pulses that are generated by frequency measuring circuits as a result of demodulating a frequency- modulated audio signal." App. Br. 13; see App. Br. 13-15. Appellants contend the Examiner improperly combined portions of Schultz that are "not only separate, distinct teachings, but which actually describe two different types of devices." App. Br. 16. We are persuaded by Appellants' arguments. To anticipate, a reference must disclose "within the four comers of the document not only all of the limitations claimed but also all of the limitations arranged or combined in the same way as recited in the claim." Net MoneyIN, Inc. v. VeriSign, Inc., 545 F.3d 1359, 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2008). "The [prior art] ... reference must clearly and unequivocally disclose the claimed [invention] 4 Appeal2018-005650 Application 14/599,188 ... or direct those skilled in the art to the [invention] ... without any need for picking, choosing, and combining various disclosures not directly related to each other by the teachings of the cited reference." In re Arkley, 455 F.2d 586, 587 (CCPA 1972). Regarding the "battery-less light switch in close proximity to an external device" of Figure 6, Schultz describes "resulting DC power supply 609 is stored in energy storage element 625" and "power supply 609 is sufficient to power the microprocessor and memory circuits 603 and the near field communication circuits 604 such that near field data 606 can be transferred between the external device 630 and near field communication circuits 604." Schultz 40 (emphasis added). Regarding the "dongle device for use with a mobile phone audio socket" of Figure 18, Schultz describes "generat[ing] a data pulse Pl" with the "beginning of the high frequency burst at time tl determin[ing] the leading edge of the ping pulse Pl" and the "leading edge of ping pulse P 2 [being] ... generated at t3 when signal with period T2 begins," with "near field data 1824 containing pulses Pl and P2 is used by the near field communication circuits 1822 to generate near field ping pulses on the near field coil 1823." Schultz 56 (emphasis added). In other words, Schultz describes energy storage and power transmission with regard to the battery-less light switch shown in Figure 6, and separately describes data pulses and ping pulses generated from data with regard to the dongle device shown in Figure 18. However, Schultz does not describe energy storage and power transmission where the "stored energy" is supplied "in a burst," as claimed (i.e., in Figure 6 and the battery-less light switch, power transmission is not in a pulse or burst). Schultz also does not describe "stored energy" being supplied in a burst, as 5 Appeal2018-005650 Application 14/599,188 claimed (i.e., in Figure 18 and the dongle, the pulses are data pulses, but not pulses of stored energy or power). Therefore, we find the Examiner has not provided sufficient findings that Schultz's energy storage and power transmission, separate from data pulses, anticipates the claimed "supply the stored energy in a burst to the NFC component for use in transmitting the first RF signal" ( emphasis added). Accordingly, we are constrained on the record before us to reverse the Examiner's§ 102(a)(l) rejection of independent claim 1, along with the § 102(a)(l) rejection of independent claims 7 and 14, which recite limitations commensurate in scope to the disputed limitation discussed above, and dependent claims 4, 6, 9-13, 17-20, and 24. Moreover, because the Examiner has not shown that the additional references cure the foregoing deficiency, we do not sustain the obviousness rejections of dependent claims 21-23 and 25. DECISION We reverse the Examiner's decision to reject claims 1, 4, 6, 7, 9-14, and 17-25. REVERSED 6 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation