Ex Parte Shah et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Sep 13, 2018

13554115 (P.T.A.B. Sep. 13, 2018)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
13/554, 115 07/20/2012
15055 7590 09/17/2018
Patterson & Sheridan, L.L.P.
Qualcomm
24 Greenway Plaza, Suite 1600
Houston, TX 77046
UNITED ST A TES OF AMERICA
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
Peter J. Shah
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.
120697 9692
EXAMINER
BLOSS, STEPHANIE E
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2864
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
09/17/2018 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):
qualcomm@pattersonsheridan.com
P AIR_eOfficeAction@pattersonsheridan.com
ocpat_uspto@qualcomm.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte PETER J. SHAH and ARASH MEHRABI
Appeal 2018-000011
Application 13/554, 115
Technology Center 2800
Before CATHERINE Q. TIMM, GEORGE C. BEST, and
DEBRA L. DENNETT, Administrative Patent Judges.
TIMM, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL 1
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 134(a), Appellants2 appeal from the
Examiner's decision to reject claims 1-19 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as
anticipated by Yu. 3 We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b ).
1 In explaining our Decision, we cite the Specification of July 20, 2012 as
amended May 22, 2015 (Spec.), Final Office Action of December 27, 2016
(Final), Appeal Brief of May 12, 2017 (Appeal Br.), Examiner's Answer of
August 2, 2017 (Ans.), and Reply Brief of September 29, 2017 (Reply Br.).
2 Appellants identify the real party in interest as Qualcomm, Inc. Appeal Br.
3.
3 Yu et al., US 2012/0263313 Al, published Oct. 18, 2012 ("Yu").
Appeal 2018-000011
Application 13/554, 115
We AFFIRM-IN-PART.
The claims are directed to an apparatus, method, and non-transitory
computer-readable storage medium for automatically detecting the type of a
media plug inserted into a corresponding jack of a media device. See, e.g.,
claims 1, 13, 17, 19; Spec. ,r 2.
Audio plugs are available in at least two types of configurations: a
North American type and a European type. Spec. ,r 4. The difference
between the plugs resides in the terminals (terminals connected to the
microphone (M), ground (G), right headphone (R), and left headphone (L)).
Fig. lB, Spec. ,r 19 (MGRL versus GMRL). Appellants' apparatus, method,
and software allows the device to distinguish between the two types of
plugs. Spec. ,r 22. The apparatus includes a power amplifier having an
output coupled to a first terminal, a bias voltage block and microphone
processing block both coupled to a second terminal. See, e.g., claims 1, 17.
The apparatus is shown in Figure 2, which we reproduce below:
~00
=
VR 232
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