Appeal No. 96-3053
Application 08/113,194
plurality of different toll authorities. Each toll authority
would cause the IVC to debit an account associated with that toll
authority. This does not suggest that any communication takes
place between toll authorities. On the contrary, each toll
authority in Hassett is paid in advance by cash or credit card to
place an amount of money into an account for each toll authority.
If the IVC does not have enough money to pay a toll to a specific
toll authority, the operator is alerted to pay by hand. There is
no reason or suggestion why financial information would ever have
to be exchanged between different toll authorities in Hassett.
The only communication in Hassett occurs between the IVC and each
toll authority but does not occur between toll authorities.
Thus, the examiner’s basic premise that Hassett suggests the
maintenance of toll accounts among a plurality of toll
authorities is not supported by the teachings of Hassett.
Even assuming arguendo that Hassett could be said to
suggest the transfer of money between toll collection
authorities, the examiner has still failed to address the
specific steps recited in claim 9. Instead of considering the
specific recitations of claim 9, the examiner simply concludes
that “[t]he various limitations in claim 9 directed to addressing
inter-toll transactions, collecting and batching various toll
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