Ex Parte Almgren et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Jun 2, 2016

12747731 (P.T.A.B. Jun. 2, 2016)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
121747,731 06/11/2010 Magnus Almgren
24112 7590 06/02/2016
COATS & BENNETT, PLLC
1400 Crescent Green, Suite 300
Cary, NC 27518
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.
4015-6951 /P23856-US1 8209
EXAMINER
LINDENBAUM, ALAN LOUIS
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2466
MAILDATE DELIVERY MODE
06/02/2016 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 MAGNUS ALMGREN and PER SKILLERMARK
Appeal2015-001032
Application 12/7 4 7, 731
Technology Center 2400
Before ROBERT E. NAPPI, THU A. DANG, and SCOTT B. HOWARD,
Administrative Patent Judges.
HOW ARD, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
Appellants 1 appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from a Final Rejection of
claims 36, 38--43, 45-50, 52-57, and 59-63, which constitute all of the
claims pending in this application. Claims 1-35, 37, 44, 51, and 58 have
been cancelled. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b ).
We reverse.
1 Appellants identify Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson as the real party in
interest. App. Br. 2.
Appeal2015-001032
Application 12/747,731
THE INVENTION
The claimed invention is directed to an improved radio repeater which
repeats some, but not all, of the radio links. See generally Spec. 2: 12-24,
Claim 36, reproduced below with the relevant language italicized, is
illustrative of the claimed subject matter:
36. A method of generating radio repeater control signals at a
base station that supports a plurality of radio links, each radio
link corresponding to one of a plurality of supported wireless
terminals, the method comprising:
determining, based on analysis of signal strength in given
time slots, a subset of the radio links which require radio repeater
amplification;
forming radio repeater control messages including
amplification requests only for time slots associated with the
determined subset of radio links; and
transmitting the radio repeater control messages;
wherein the subset of radio links includes some but not all
of the radio links that are uplink radio links, or includes some
but not all of the radio links that are downlink radio links.
REFERENCES
The prior art relied upon by the Examiner as evidence in rejecting the
claims on appeal is:
Sagi us 5,623,496 Apr. 22, 1997
Niki us 5,812,933 Sept. 22, 1998
Chen us 5,832,365 Nov. 3, 1998
Dean US 2007/0015462 Al Jan. 18,2007
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Appeal2015-001032
Application 12/747,731
REJECTIONS
Claims 36, 38, 39, 43--46, 50-53, and 57---60 stand rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Dean in view of Niki. Final Act.
4--13.
Claims 40, 41, 47, 48, 54, 55, 61, and 62 stand rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Dean in view of Niki and Chen.
Final Act. 14--15.
Claims 42, 49, 56, and 63 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103(a) as
being unpatentable over Dean in view ofNiki and Sagi. Final Act. 15-16.
ANALYSIS
We have reviewed the Examiner's rejection in light of Appellants'
arguments that the Examiner erred. In reaching this decision, we consider
all evidence presented and all arguments made by Appellants.
The Examiner finds Dean teaches selectively amplifying the plurality
of radio links. Final Act. 5 (citing Dean i-f 12); Ans. 18 (same). The
Examiner further finds that a person of ordinary skill in the art would
understand that "selectively" means "selecting, for amplification, only a
subset of the communications in the forward or reverse link directions;
which has the opposite meaning of amplifying all of the communications in
the forward or reverse link directions." Ans. 18.
Appellants argue "selectively" in Dean paragraph 12 "refers to
selecting which of the UL or DL directions to repeat at any given time."
Reply Br. 6; see also App. Br. 8. According to Appellants, this selectivity
refers to a timing offset and not the amplification of some but not all of the
radio links as recited in claim 36. Reply Br. 6-7; Ans. 8.
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Appeal2015-001032
Application 12/747,731
Based on the record before us, we agree with Appellants that the
Examiner erred. Dean recites "selectively amplifying communications in
one or more of a forward link direction and a reverse link direction based at
least in part upon the schedule." Dean i-f 12 (emphasis added). Based on the
context of the entirety of paragraph 12 we find that selectively refers to the
timing of the amplification, not a determination of which radio signals will
be amplified. This selectively amplifying is discussed in more detail in
paragraph 51 :
Scheduling component 402 can relay schedule 404 to a
compensation component 408, which also receives parameters
obtained by way of sensors 406. Compensation component 408
can compensate for location and mobility of repeater 400 and/or
a user terminal to configure an amplifier 410 so that such
amplifier 410 selectively amplifies communications received by
repeater 400. In more detail, due to delays associated with
transmission of communications over a geographic distance, if
repeater 400 is mobile schedule 404 may not be able to be
strictly complied with. Rather, slight adjustments may be
necessary to desirably amplify communications in a TDD
environment between a base station and a user terminal. For a
specific example, as repeater 400 is moved further from a base
station, a communication will require a greater amount of time to
be transferred from the base station to the repeater. Without
compensation component 408, strict adherence to the schedule to
configure amplifier 410 could result in less than optimal
performance of repeater 400. Compensation component 408,
however, given schedule 404 and sensed parameters, can
dynamically make adjustments to configuration of amplifier 410
to facilitate optimal performance of repeater 400.
Dean i-f 51 (emphasis in original omitted, emphasis added). That paragraph
reinforces that Dean is referring only to the timing of the amplification, not a
selection of only some, but not all, of the radio links to be amplified
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Appeal2015-001032
Application 12/747,731
Accordingly, we are constrained on this record to reverse the
Examiner's rejection of claim 36, along with the rejections of claims 43, 50,
and 57, which are argued on the same ground, and dependent claim 38--42,
45--49, 52-56, and 59-63.
DECISION
For the above reasons, we reverse the Examiner's rejection of claims
36, 38--43, 45-50, 52-57, and 59-63.
REVERSED
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