Ex Parte Adams et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Mar 28, 2016

12803531 (P.T.A.B. Mar. 28, 2016)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
12/803,531 06/29/2010
95866 7590 03/30/2016
Fleit Gibbons Gutman Bongini & Bianco P,L,
551 NW 77th street
Suite 111
Boca Raton, FL 33487
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
Neil Patrick Adams
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.
34830-US-PAT 8964
EXAMINER
SHEDRICK, CHARLES TERRELL
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2646
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
03/30/2016 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):
ptoboca@fggbb.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte NEIL PA TRICK ADAMS and
MICHAEL STEPHEN BROWN
Appeal2013-009490
Application 12/803,531
Technology Center 2600
Before DENISE M. POTHIER, BRETT C. MARTIN, and
JEREMY J. CURCURI, Administrative Patent Judges.
CURCURI, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner's
rejection of claims 21-27. App. Br. 3. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C.
§ 6(b ).
Appeal2013-009490
Application 12/803,531
Claims 21-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as anticipated by
Vellanki (US 2009/0098870 Al; published Apr. 16, 2009). Final Act. 2--4.
We affirm.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellants' invention relates to "providing a notification for
selectively disabling certain preprogrammed wireless functions when
roaming on a cellular network." Spec. i-f 1. Claim 21 is illustrative and
reproduced below:
21. A wireless device comprising:
a memory having a plurality of roaming profile settings
stored therein;
a processor operably coupled to the memory and
configured to, in response to determining a need to employ a
roaming mode of operation, present, for only a limited period of
time, a user opportunity to disable automatic use of a particular
one of the roaming profile settings.
ANALYSIS
The Examiner finds V ellanki describes all limitations of claim 21.
Final Act. 2 (citing Vellanki, i-fi-1 4--7); see also Ans. 2--4 (citing Vellanki,
Abstract, i-f 5). Specifically, the Examiner determines "the user can modify
(e.g., remove or deselect) the current or default roaming partners in the
profile resulting [in] which is essentially disabling the automatic use of those
parameters in the profile." Ans. 4.
Appellants present the following principal argument:
Until Vellanki' s user selects a particular roaming partner,
absolutely nothing else happens. Ever. Then, once the user makes
such a selection, by one approach the selected roaming partner is
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Appeal2013-009490
Application 12/803,531
thereafter used automatically without any disablement
opportunities being offered for a "limited period of time" or
otherwise. Or, by another approach, the device later simply
displays the selected roaming partner so that the user can select
the previously-selected roaming partner for use at that later time.
App. Br. 8; see also Reply Br. 2-3 ("Vellanki will continue to display that
data-entry query to the user unless and until the user makes a choice.").
We determine the Examiner has not erred in rejecting claim 21 based
on V ellanki.
Vellanki (i-f 7) discloses:
The method includes selecting, when in a country, a roaming
partner capable of data communication from a plurality of
roaming partners operating within the country and storing the
selection in a computer-readable storage medium in the device
as a user preference. The method also includes displaying the
user's preference to a user when the device returns to the country
of the data-roaming partner and automatically or manually
selecting the user's preference.
Vellanki (Abstract) discloses: "Upon re-entering the region within
communication range of that roaming partner, the device can communicate
with the roaming partner of choice rather than the roaming partner ordinarily
selected by the device as a default."
Thus, V ellanki' s user selecting a roaming partner and storing the
selection such that, in the future, automatic use of the default roaming
partner is disabled in favor of the selected roaming partner describes the
recited (claim 1) "a user opportunity to disable automatic use of a particular
one of the roaming profile settings" because the user's selection of a
roaming partner disables automatic use of the default roaming partner. See
Vellanki, Abstract, i17. Further, Vellanki's selecting and storing are
performed when first entering a country and not upon re-entering; thus,
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Application 12/803,531
Vellanki presents the user opportunity for only a limited period of time as
recited in claim 21. See V ellanki, Abstract, i-f 7.
We, therefore, sustain the Examiner's rejection of claim 21, as well as
claims 22-27, which are not separately argued with particularity.
DECISION
The Examiner's decision rejecting claims 21-27 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)(l ).
AFFIRMED
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