Appeal 2007-0635 Application 10/176,598 We AFFIRM-IN-PART. The claimed invention (i.e., claim 2) involves a method for ranking media files found on media playback devices according to how long a user listens to or watches a media file. Specification 4: [0008]. The user’s usage of a media file is monitored and assigned a popularity metric and popularity metrics for the media files on the media playback device are created and updated. Specification 12: [0031]. The claimed invention includes the use of timestamps for indicating a last playback time (claim 10), a step of reducing a value for a popularity metric based on the timestamp and how long ago the media file was last played (claim 11), a step of relating the metric to the total duration of time the media file is played back (claim 17), and an updating step that removes a media file from the memory resource when the media file falls below a metric threshold value (claim 20). Appellant, in the Appeal Brief1, argues the claims in accordance with the following groups: • Claims 2, 4-9, 12-16 (Appeal Br. 3-5); • Claim 10 (Appeal Br. 5-6); • Claim 11 (Appeal Br. 6-7) • Claims 17-19 and 21-23 (Appeal Br. 7-9); and, • Claim 20 (Appeal Br. 9). 1 In making our decision, we consider Appellant’s Appeal Brief (“Appeal Br.,” filed Apr. 17, 2006), the Examiner's Answer (“Answer,” mailed Jul. 12, 2006) and the Reply Brief (“Reply Br.,” filed Sep. 21, 2006). 2Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013