11519400 (B.P.A.I. Mar. 9, 2012)

Ex Parte Dacosta

Board of Patent Appeals and InterferencesMar 9, 2012

11519400 (B.P.A.I. Mar. 9, 2012)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARKOFFICE 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. 11/519,400 09/11/2006 Behram Mario Dacosta 50V8364.01 6553 36738 7590 03/09/2012 ROGITZ & ASSOCIATES 750 B STREET SUITE 3120 SAN DIEGO, CA 92101 EXAMINER JEN, MINGJEN ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3664 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 03/09/2012 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 BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS AND INTERFERENCES ____________ Ex parte BEHRAM MARIO DACOSTA ____________ Appeal 2010-003685 Application 11/519,400 Technology Center 3600 ____________ Before JENNIFER D. BAHR, STEFAN STAICOVICI, and JAMES P. CALVE, Administrative Patent Judges. CALVE, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE Appellant appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from the decision of the Examiner rejecting claims 1-15 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Taniguchi (US 6,334,088 B1; iss. Dec. 25, 2001) and Kelts (US 2002/0112237 A1; publ. Aug. 15, 2002). We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6. We REVERSE. Appeal 2010-003685 Application 11/519,400 2 THE INVENTION Claims 1, 8, and 9 illustrate the claimed subject matter on appeal: 1. A display assembly comprising: a video monitor; and a processor executing logic comprising: associating data with a related geographic location; displaying a map on the monitor; and superimposing content related by virtue of geographic location on the Earth to the data over the geographic location on the map, such that content is displayed on the map according to geography not genre, the content including a video or still photo. 8. A method for indicating to a user a location of a news event, comprising: determining, using metadata accompanying data representing the news event, a geographic location related to the news event; and superimposing textual content describing the news event on a map on a monitor, the content being superimposed on the map at the geographic location. 9. A system comprising: at least one processor; at least one monitor communicating with the processor; and logic executable by the processor for superimposing content on a map that is displayed on the monitor, the content being superimposed at geographic locations on the map corresponding to the content, wherein a geographic location for content is inferred from a name of a provider of the content, and/or by voice-to-text recognition. Appeal 2010-003685 Application 11/519,400 3 ANALYSIS Claims 1-7 as obvious over Taniguchi and Kelts The Examiner found that Taniguchi discloses a display assembly with a processor executing logic that associates data with a related geographic location, displays a map on the monitor, and superimposes content related by virtue of geographic location on the Earth to the data over the geographic location on the map so that the content is displayed according to geography not genre. Ans. 3-4. The Examiner found that Taniguchi displays a road map and additional data (a vehicle position mark and travel path) on the map but does not superimpose video or a still photo on the map. Ans. 4, 9. The Examiner found that Kelts shows video and still photo content. Ans. 4, 9. The Examiner determined that it would have been obvious to provide internet media in video or photo format, as taught by Kelts, to Taniguchi to provide a practical media with respect to internet user interface. Ans. 4. Appellant argues that Taniguchi only displays symbols on a map (Fig. 7) and displays content on a separate display (Fig. 9). App. Br. 4. Appellant also argues that Taniguchi teaches away from trying to cram content over a map on its small vehicle display. App. Br. 4. Appellant further argues that Kelts groups content by genre and type on a mythical map that is a display metaphor for ease of navigation. App. Br. 4-5. Appellant also asserts that Kelts only superimposes graphical symbols on the mythical map, not content such as video or photos. App. Br. 6. The Examiner has not adequately explained how the combination of Kelts and Taniguchi would necessarily result in superimposing a video or still photo content on a geographical map according to geography, not genre. Taniguchi superimposes symbols on a map according to geography (fig. 7). Appeal 2010-003685 Application 11/519,400 4 A user can obtain information about an area, but the information is displayed in a separate window; it is not superimposed on the map. Taniguchi, col. 5, ll. 3-9; figs. 8, 9. Kelts superimposes symbols, icons, pop-up boxes, and text labels on a metaphorical “map” that includes regions representing different genres, categories, or subjects. Kelts, paras. [0048, 0067, 0068, 0089, 0090]. Content such as videos and pictures is displayed separately from the map, rather than being superimposed on the map or its regions. See Kelts, paras. [0192-0193, 0228]. As such, we cannot sustain the rejection of claims 1-7. Independent Claim 8 as obvious over Taniguchi and Kelts The Examiner found that Taniguchi superimposes content for a news event on a map. Ans. 5 (citing col. 4, l. 60 to col. 5, l. 20). The Examiner interpreted “metadata” to mean data about data for documenting actual data characteristics, name, size, location or descriptive information and found that Kelts uses dynamic HTML and XML configuration files for databases that are metadata. Ans. 9-10 (citing paras. [0055, 0054]); see also Ans. 5-6 (citing paras. [0051-0054; 0120-0126]). The Examiner determined that it would have been obvious to superimpose news event information, as taught by Kelts, on Taniguchi to provide an easy viewing access interface. Ans. 6. We agree with Appellant that Kelts does not disclose the use of any metadata accompanying data representing a news event to determine a geographic location related to the news event. App. Br. 6-9; Reply Br. 2-3. Paragraphs [0051-0054] discuss storage of user personalization data and user viewing habits and access patterns so broadcast service providers can extract critical demographic data about end users, while paragraphs [0120-0126] disclose the way in which navigation maps are requested from map servers by designating a URL for the map. Even if HTML and XML configuration Appeal 2010-003685 Application 11/519,400 5 files are considered to be metadata, these files are created and managed to allow easy connection to legacy databases (para. [0054]); the files do not accompany data for a news event or provide a geographic location for a news event. As such, we cannot sustain the rejection of claim 8. Claims 9-15 as obvious over Taniguchi and Kelts The Examiner found that Taniguchi discloses a system with logic means that infers geographic location for content from a name of a provider of content or by voice-to-text recognition. Ans. 6, 10. The Examiner also found that Kelts superimposes content on a map at locations corresponding to the content and determined it would have been obvious to provide such content on Taniguchi to provide an easy viewing access interface. Ans. 6. We agree with Appellant that neither reference discloses inferring geographic location for content from a name of a provider of content or by voice-to-text recognition. See App. Br. 9. As discussed supra, Taniguchi discloses symbols, not content, superimposed on a geographical map. See Fig. 7. Even if the name of the city “NAGOYA” that is superimposed on a map in Figure 8 of Taniguchi is considered to be content, the Examiner has not explained how the location of Nagoya is inferred from the name of a content provider (see Ans. 10) when Taniguchi discloses that any content presented comes from HTML information on a DVD-ROM or other format (see col. 5, ll. 3-28). As such, we cannot sustain the rejection of claims 9-15. DECISION The rejection of claims 1-15 is REVERSED. REVERSED Appeal 2010-003685 Application 11/519,400 6 mls