Appeal No. 1997-1431
Application No. 08/323,976
This is a decision on the appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134
from the examiner’s rejection of claims 5-17, which constitute
all the claims remaining in the application.
The disclosed invention pertains to a method and
apparatus for recording various transactions on an electronic
network by a plurality of users and for billing these
transactions to the various users.
Representative claim 5 is reproduced as follows:
5. A printing machine billing system for a printing
machine electrically interconnected over a network to a
plurality of electronic workstations, each of the workstations
having user interfaces, the printing machine having a
plurality of modes of operation, each mode operable to effect
recurring events, the printing machine including apparatus for
generating a weighted total of said events by assigning
weighting factors to each event, the apparatus comprising
counting means for generating an output related to said
events, weighting means for generating a plurality of
weighting factors, the weighting factors being a function of
the events, and a totalizer responsive to the counting means,
the weighting factors, and the mode of operation to determine
a billing charge, the network including means to verify an
access code and account number from a workstation whereby the
billing charge of the totalizer is charged to said account
number.
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