Ex Parte Hawaka et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardMar 28, 201713912285 (P.T.A.B. Mar. 28, 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. 13/912,285 06/07/2013 Shigekazu Hawaka JP920120021USNP(710.231) 6196 58127 7590 03/28/2017 FERENCE & ASSOCIATES LLC 409 BROAD STREET PITTSBURGH, PA 15143 EXAMINER NGUYEN, TU X ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2649 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 03/28/2017 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 SHIGEKAZU HAWAKA, MASAKI OIE, and MASAHIDE TAMURA Appeal 2017-002017 Application 13/912,285 Technology Center 2600 Before JEFFREY S. SMITH, JEREMY J. CURCURI, and DAVID J. CUTITTAII, Administrative Patent Judges. SMITH, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appeal 2017-002017 Application 13/912,285 STATEMENT OF THE CASE This is an appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Final Rejection of claims 1, 2, and 4—19, which are all the claims pending in the application. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We affirm. 1. An information handling device, comprising: one or more processors; one or more antennas; one or more proximity sensors disposed near the one or more antennas; a communication element; and a memory device that stores instructions executed by the one or more processors, the instructions being executable by the one or more processors to: recognize a geographic location within which the information handling device is operating through wireless communication received via the communication element; said wireless communication including a code associated with the geographic location; set a specific absorption rate (SAR) limit for the information handling device based on the code associated with the geographic location; determine, using the one or more proximity sensors, a relative proximity of a human body; and responsive to the determination, modulate, based on the SAR limit, a dynamic power reduction of transmission power through the antenna. Illustrative Claim Prior Art Naganuma Kazmi Ali US 2009/0253459 A1 Oct. 8, 2009 US 2012/0231784 A1 Sept. 13, 2012 US 2013/0122827 A1 May 16, 2013 2 Appeal 2017-002017 Application 13/912,285 Examiner’s Rejections Claims 1,2, and 4—19 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Kazmi, Naganuma, and Ali. ANALYSIS We adopt the findings of fact made by the Examiner in the Final Action and Examiner’s Answer as our own. We concur with the conclusions reached by the Examiner for the reasons given in the Examiner’s Answer. We highlight the following for emphasis. Claim 1 recites “set a specific absorption rate (SAR) limit for the information handling device based on the code associated with the geographic location.” Appellants contend the combination of Kazmi, Naganuma, and Ali does not teach setting the SAR limit based on the code associated with the geographic location. App. Br. 11—12. In particular, Appellants contend Naganuma does not teach setting the SAR limit for the device based on the code, because a transmission power setting is not the same as an SAR limit. App. Br. 12; Reply Br. 14, 16. Appellants’ contention against Naganuma alone does not persuasively rebut the combined teachings of Kazmi and Naganuma. See Final Act. 3. Kazmi relates to SAR requirements for radio transmission control. Kazmi 11. Kazmi teaches the value for a device’s SAR parameter can be configured based on the detected location of the device. Id. 24, 60-61. For example, after detecting the location of the device, the SAR value can be selected from a mapping table linking predetermined SAR values and associated locations where they should be used. Id. 161. After selecting the SAR value mapped to the detected location, the device implements the 3 Appeal 2017-002017 Application 13/912,285 selected SAR value and takes necessary action, i.e., reduces its maximum power. Id. Naganuma teaches using a look-up table, in which each country’s identification code is related to a transmission level value specified by the radio law of each country, to provide transmission power control that satisfies the radio law of each country. Naganuma H 52, 57. We find that detecting a location of a device, mapping the location to an associated SAR value, then implementing the mapped SAR value, as taught by Kazmi teaches “set a specific absorption rate (SAR) limit for the information handling device based on the code associated with the geographic location” within the meaning of claim 1. We find Naganuma’s teachings are cumulative to those of Kazmi, namely, that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand the geographic location stored in Kazmi’s mapping table would be represented by a “code associated with the geographic location” within the meaning of claim 1. Appellants do not provide persuasive evidence or argument to distinguish “set a specific absorption rate (SAR) limit for the information handling device based on the code associated with the geographic location” as recited in claim 1 from using a mapping table to link the detected location of the device to an associated SAR value, then implementing the associated SAR value and taking necessary action such as reducing maximum power as taught by the combination of Kazmi and Naganuma. We sustain the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 103. Appellants do not provide arguments for separate patentability of claims 2 and 4—19, which fall with claim 1. 4 Appeal 2017-002017 Application 13/912,285 DECISION The rejection of claims 1, 2, and 4—19 is affirmed. No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a). See 37 C.F.R. § 41.50(f). AFFIRMED 5 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation