Ex Parte Couch et al - Page 10



             Appeal 2007-0559                                                                               
             Application 10/037,659                                                                         
                         In Drexler, FIG. 1 shows that the Email to Database Import                         
                   Program 40, the database association 60, and database 80 are separate                    
                   components (¶¶0025-0027).  There is no teaching or suggestion that                       
                   the association 60 is stored in the database/database system, as recited                 
                   in claims 1, 27, 53, 67, 75 and 83.  In fact, Drexler explicitly states                  
                   that the associations 60 can be found in “memory files, such as those                    
                   on a floppy diskette, on the computer’s hard drive, or a network hard                    
                   drive.” (¶0041).                                                                         
                   The table function of claims 1, 27 and 53, and the invocation mechanism of               
             claims 67, 75, and 83 are implemented in Drexler, if at all, collectively by the               
             Email to Database Import Utility Program 40 and the Association 60.  Independent               
             claims 1, 27 and 53 expressly require that the table function be stored within the             
             database system and invoked from within the database system.  Independent                      
             claims 67, 75, and 83 expressly require that the invocation mechanism be stored                
             within the database and invoked from within the database.  The burden is on the                
             Examiner to establish at least a prima facie case that in Drexler the Email to                 
             Database Import Utility Program 40 and the Association 60 are stored within a                  
             database or database system and invoked from within the database or database                   
             system.2                                                                                       
                   We look to the Examiner’s stated rationale.  According to the Examiner, the              
             entire computer system on which a database program is implemented can be                       
             reasonably called the database, including parts thereof which are not used or                  
             controlled by the database program.  In other words, the database or database                  
                                                                                                           
             2    Although the term “database” is technically broad enough to mean solely a                 
             collection of data, and not necessarily the hardware and/or software that together             
             maintain and manage the data, the appellants have used the term in their                       
             specification interchangeably with “database system” such that both terms mean                 
             “database system” and “database” is merely a short-hand for “database system”                  
             which includes the supporting hardware and/or software.                                        

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