Ex Parte Smith et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Aug 28, 2013

11748716 (P.T.A.B. Aug. 28, 2013)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
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BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
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Ex parte JOHN RICHARD SMITH and JELENA TESIC
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Appeal 2011-000960
Application 11/748,716
Technology Center 2400
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Before ROBERT E. NAPPI, DEBRA K. STEPHENS, and MIRIAM L.
QUINN, Administrative Patent Judges.

STEPHENS, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL

Appeal 2011-000960
Application 11/748,716

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STATEMENT OF CASE
Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from a final rejection of
claims 1-20. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We REVERSE.

Introduction
According to Appellants, the invention relates to a method and
apparatus for analyzing social and content networks to identify new
relationships among users and content and link users to content (Abstract).

Exemplary Claim
Claim 1, reproduced below, is illustrative of the claimed subject
matter:
(1) A method for analyzing integrated social and content
networks comprising the steps of:

specifying a social network comprising multiple user
nodes, at least some of the user nodes being joined to one
another by one or more internal links;

specifying a content network comprising multiple content
nodes, wherein at least some of the content nodes
comprise multimedia content, and the multimedia content
nodes further comprise first multimedia content nodes
and second multimedia content nodes, wherein the
multimedia content of each first multimedia content node
is of a type that is different from the multimedia content
of each second multimedia content node, and at least a
given one of the user nodes is joined to one of the first
multimedia content nodes by a first hybrid link, and at
least one user node other than the given user node is
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joined to one of the second multimedia content nodes by
a second hybrid link;

analyzing data elements associated with respective nodes
of the user and content networks, in order to identify a set
of nodes comprising at least first and second user nodes
and at least a first multimedia content node and a second
multimedia content node, wherein two of the nodes
comprise end nodes;

further analyzing the data elements to identify at least
three commonality links that collectively join all the
nodes of the set together into a structure that defines an
open loop extending between the end nodes; and

determining whether a further link is a valid
commonality link, wherein the further link is initially
inferred to extend between the two end nodes of the set,
and to cooperatively join with the at least three identified
commonality links to form a closed loop.

REFERENCES
Espelien
Partovi
US 2007/0226315 A1
US 2008/0052371 A1
Sep. 27, 2007
Feb. 28, 2008

REJECTIONS
The Examiner made the following rejection:
Claims 1-20 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C §103(a) as being
unpatentable over Partovi and Espelien (Ans. 4).

ISSUE
35 U.S.C. § 103(a): Claims 1-20
Appellants assert Partovi does not teach two distinct networks – a
social network and a content network, each comprising multiple content
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nodes – as recited in claim 1 (App. Br. 22). Instead, according to
Appellants, Partovi teaches a music library database located at a personal
computer of a user, and thus, teaches that the user and content nodes are
combined and that all data is contained in a single database (App. Br. 22-
23). Appellants thus contend the database is not a network and would not be
interpreted by an ordinarily skilled artisan to be a content network (App. Br.
23).

Issue: Has the Examiner erred in finding the combination of Partovi
and Espelien teaches or suggests “specifying a content network comprising
multiple content nodes, wherein at least some of the content nodes comprise
multimedia content, and the multimedia content nodes further comprise first
multimedia content nodes and second multimedia content nodes, wherein the
multimedia content of each first multimedia content node is of a type that is
different from the multimedia content of each second multimedia content
node . . . ” as recited in claim 1?

ANALYSIS
We initially determine the term “content network” has not been
explicitly defined in the Specification. However, we do not construe the
term as narrowly as suggested by the Examiner. The Examiner indicates
each user’s music library in Partovi’s database 306 is interpreted as a content
network and the music files are interpreted as content nodes (Ans. 4).
However, this interpretation would not be consistent with the claim
recitation which requires a content network comprising multiple content
nodes at least a first and second of which are multimedia content nodes
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having multimedia content (claim 1). Additionally, although Appellants
provide no explicit definition of content network in the Specification, the
examples provided (see e.g., ¶¶ [0018], [0021]), as well as the Figure 1,
require more than a database. Therefore, when broadly, but reasonably
construed, in light of the Specification, we find that Partovi’s database does
not teach a content network as recited.
Accordingly, we are constrained to find the combination of Partovi
and Espelien does not teach or suggest the limitations as recited in
independent claim 1, 13, and 17. Dependent claims 2-12, 14-16, and 18-20
stand with their respective independent claims. Therefore, we cannot sustain
the rejection of claims 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) for obviousness over
Partovi and Espelien.

DECISION
The Examiner’s rejection of claims 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
being unpatentable over Partovi and Espelien is reversed.

REVERSED

msc