Appeal No. 96-3238
Application No. 08/137,590
viewing habits. A remote monitoring unit 19 (Fig. 1) associated
with program selector unit 1 for a television receiver
accumulates data representing television usage and attempts to
transmit this data to central office computer 14 over a telephone
line 13 during a time interval determined by software stored in
the remote monitoring unit (col. 3, lines 16-22). If the line is
busy, the remote monitoring unit attempts to redial a random
interval later (col. 3, lines 63-65). No means is disclosed for
identifying a failed terminal.
Takayama discloses three embodiments of data transmission
control circuits which avoid the effects of distortion and noise.
The examiner's description of this reference as teaching
"terminating a transmission channel upon detecting the absence of
a signal" (final Office action at 3) appears to be a reference to
the third embodiment (Figs. 4-6), which activates data processing
circuit 43 only if a first synchronizing signal is followed
within a predetermined time interval by another synchronizing
signal (col. 6, lines 16-40). Regarding motivation, the examiner
contends that "the use of time-out counters are [sic] well-known"
and "one would have a desire to terminate a connection as soon as
a device fails to respond within a given time period" (final
Office action at 3).
- 5 -
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007