Appeal No. 1997-3276 Page 2
Application No. 08/478,567
relates to updating data. Although only some data in a given
book changes, the entire directory is updated annually.
Consequently, an enormous amount of energy and natural
resources are consumed to revise a small amount of data.
The second problem relates to advertising goods or
services. To save money, a business will often advertise in
only one section of a given book. Consequently, a potential
customer searching for a particular good or service may not
get a full listing of providers from the book.
The invention at issue in this appeal is an electronic
telephone book. A modem couples the electronic book to a
telephone line. A user may retrieve current data from a
telephone company's central office through the telephone line.
Such retrieval eliminates the need to reprint a paper
telephone book annually.
A display of the electronic book comprises output and
input circuitry. The output circuitry displays user data and
control graphics. The input circuitry generates control
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