Appeal No. 1998-0641
Application 08/354,158
per se does not change, convert, scramble or otherwise encrypt
the raw data itself, which is desired to be kept confidential.
On the other hand, password protection systems merely control
access to the raw data itself.
As one aspect of the examiner's reliance upon the two
WordPerfect documents, the examiner asserts at page 10 of the
answer that the displaying feature of converted confidential data
reads upon password characters which have been converted to
asterisks during the entry of the password per se. This position
is misplaced since the asterisks in this context merely represent
or are in the context of passwords and do not represent the data
itself to be protected or maintained confidential. The asterisks
bear no relevance to the conversion of the confidential data, the
data desired to be kept confidential in accordance with the
WordPerfect teachings.
As appellants point out in the substitute brief and reply
brief, Karasawa is, as the title of this patent reflects, an
electronic key apparatus which first utilizes a password input by
the user to gain access to the electronic key functions of the
device. A device which has an electronic lock, thus
necessitating an electronic key, is shown in Figure 2 as the
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