REVERSED

2400 Networking, Mulitplexing, Cable, and Security
Ex Parte Kanefsky et al THOMAS 102(e)/103(a) AT&T LEGAL DEPARTMENT - WW
Method and apparatus for sharing wireless content
Nykanen US 6,661,784 B1 Dec. 9, 2003 (filed Mar. 2, 1999)
Darago US 6,170,014 B1 Jan. 2, 2001 (filed Mar. 18, 1999)
Osaku US 6,061,738 May 9, 2000

3700 Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing, and Products & Designs
Ex Parte Popp et al WALSH 102(a) KIMBERLY-CLARK WORLDWIDE, INC.
Fastener orientation for packaged garments having refastenable seams
Popp US 2002/0123730 A1 Sep. 5, 2002
Kuske WO 97/49618 Dec. 31, 1997

Ex Parte Damen DANG 112(1)/103(a) PATENT CAPITAL GROUP
Portable device comprising an acceleration sensor
Brejnik US 4,101,071 Jul. 18, 1978
Matsumoto US 4,911,427 Mar. 27, 1990
Sutton US 5,117,444 May 26, 1992
Yoshimura US 5,788,655 Aug. 4, 1998
Kadhiresan US 6,021,351 Feb. 1, 2000
Brown US 6,240,393 B1 May 29, 2001
Mault (Mault II) US 6,513,532 B2 Feb. 4, 2003
Mault (Mault) US 6,571,200 B1 May 27, 2003
Teller US 6,605,038 B1 Aug. 12, 2003

NUIJTEN - 37 C.F.R. § 41.50(b)

2400 Networking, Mulitplexing, Cable, and Security
Ex Parte Miller THOMAS 102(e) WOOD, HERRON & EVANS, L.L.P. (IBM)
Peer protocol status query in clustered computer system
Murphy US 6,138,251 Oct. 24, 2000

“A transitory, propagating signal is not a ‘process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter.’ Those four categories define the explicit scope and reach of subject matter patentable under 35 U.S.C. § 101.” In re Nuijten, 500 F.3d 1346, 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2007), “If a claim covers material not found in any of the four statutory categories, that claim falls outside the plainly expressed scope of § 101 even if the subject matter is otherwise new and useful.” Id. at 1354, reh’g en banc denied, 515 F.3d 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2008), cert. denied, __ U.S. __, 127 S. Ct. 70 (2008).

AFFIRMED-IN-PART

2100 Computer Architecture and Software
Ex Parte Deshpande et al MACDONALD 103(a) MHKKG/SUN AUSTIN, TX
System and method for performing patch installation via a graphical user interface
Stupek, Jr. US 5,586,304 Dec. 17, 1996
Yinger US 5,960,204 Sep. 28, 1999
Cantos US 6,529,784 B1 Mar. 04, 2003
Marino US 6,681,391 B1 Jan. 20, 2004
Curtis US 6,687,902 B1 Feb. 03, 2004

Non-functional descriptive material refers to data content that does not exhibit a functional interrelationship with the substrate and does not affect the way the computing processes are performed. See MPEP § 2106.01. In a precedential decision, an expanded Board panel recently held that elements that do not affect the claimed process are non-functional material and are merely descriptive. See Ex parte Nehls, 88 USPQ2d 1883, 1887 (BPAI 2008) (precedential).
The Examiner need not give patentable weight to descriptive material absent a new and unobvious functional relationship between the descriptive material and the substrate. See In re Lowry, 32 F.3d 1579, 1582-1583 (Fed. Cir. 1994); In re Ngai, 367 F.3d 1336, 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2004). See also Ex parte Mathias, 84 USPQ2d 1276 (BPAI 2005) (nonprecedential informative), aff'd, 191 Fed.Appx. 959 (Fed. Cir. 2006); Nonfunctional descriptive material cannot render nonobvious an invention that would have otherwise been obvious. In re Ngai, 367 F.3d at 1339.