Appeal No. 96-3304
Application 08/279,565
under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Becker in
view of Wakatsuki, we find that Becker discloses a metering
apparatus 1 which has a tamper indicating mechanism 12, a
metering mechanism 5 and a base 3 disposed in a socket 11.
The tamper indicating mechanism 12 includes a means on a
rotating drums 21 for displaying markings 25 which may be
numerals, alphanumeric characters, or bar code. The tamper
indicating mechanism comprises a one-way ratchet for causing
the drums 21 to move to display the next marking upon either
insertion or removal of the meter base from its socket (column
5, lines 6-17). In addition, the one-way ratchet is
configured such that one who tampers with the meter “will be
unable to rotate the register drums [carrying markings 25] in
a reverse direction . . . and will also be unable to rotate
the register drums through one full turn in order to display
the original markings which was [sic, were] displayed before
any tampering had occurred” (column 5, lines 31-36).
Wakatsuki discloses a meter reading system to facilitate
the reading and recording of meter data. In pertinent part,
the Wakatsuki system includes a meter having a label 3 with a
bar-coded user number and a digital display section 4 for
4
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