Ex parte BARNS-SLAVIN et al. - Page 4




                 Appeal No. 95-4383                                                                                                                     
                 Application 08/110,456                                                                                                                 


                 rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over                                                                              
                 Barns-Slavin ('397)" (final Office action at 2; Answer at 3).                                                                          
                 As a result, we, like appellants, will consider only that                                                                              
                 reference.  See In re Hoch, 428 F.2d 1341, 1342, 166 USPQ 406,                                                                         
                 407 (CCPA 1970) (where a reference is relied on to support a                                                                           
                 rejection, even in a minor capacity, there is no excuse for                                                                            
                 not positively including the reference in the statement of the                                                                         
                 rejection).                                                                                                                            
                          Barns-Slavin discloses a carrier management system which                                                                      
                 permits the user to determine the cost of shipping parcels via                                                                         
                 a number of different carriers and classes, including any                                                                              
                 applicable discounts (col. 1, lines 7-13).   In addition to                 3                                                          
                 determining the mailing or shipping charges for a parcel, the                                                                          
                 system may be used "to print a manifest, label, tag etc.                                                                               
                 related to the shipping of the parcel" (col. 3, lines 5-9).                                                                            
                 As shown in Figure 2, the system includes, inter alia, a                                                                               
                 microprocessor 20, keyboard 14, load cell (i.e., weighing                                                                              
                 device) 23, display 15, printer(s) 24, RAM 26, removable PROM                                                                          


                          3Thus, appellants are correct to say that the examiner                                                                        
                 erred in describing Barns-Slavin a disclosing "a postage                                                                               
                 metering system" (Answer at 3).                                                                                                        
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