Appeal No. 2002-1380
Application No. 08/786,270 Page 14
television to signatures taken from the output of the
VCR (or some other strategy) to determine if the tuner
of the television or the VCR is the source of the
program being viewed. However, the Thomas published
PCT application contains no such discussion.
We find that Thomas distinguishes between determining the name of
a program that is a time-shifted program and determining the
local source of the program. Even though Thomas can identify the
name of a program that has been time-shifted, we find no
determination in Thomas as to the local source of the program,
such as from a DVD, VHS tape, game, etc. We find a distinction,
albeit a small one, between a determination that an identified
video title is available as a rental tape, and a determination
that the local source of the video is a rental tape, in contrast
to a video that is merely time shifted. The tuning records of
Thomas, as set out in figures 4 and 6, do not indicate the local
source of the program. In addition, the records processed in
figure 7 of Thomas do not indicate the local source of the
program. Instead, the records processed indicate either the
program identified, or indicate that the attempt to determine the
program ID was unsuccessful (block 188). In addition, Thomas
specifically indicates that the program viewing records stored in
block 182 indicate those programs which were watched at the
indicated times. Accordingly, we find that Thomas does disclose
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