Appeal No. 1998-0646
Application No. 08/485,269
examiner takes official notice that in any digital machine, all data consists of a string of
binary numbers, irregardless of how the data is transmitted, stored or displayed. . . . one of
ordinary skill in the art would have modified the operating system program of Hikita . . . ”
(See answer at page 5.) We disagree with the examiner's sweeping statements
concerning the storage and proposed modification of the prior art to Hikita. First, the
examiner is correct with respect to the binary nature of digital data, but the examiner
neglects to address the functionality of the data which is stored. The function and use of
the data are the issues which must be addressed and not its digital representation.
Second, the examiner states that the skilled artisan would have modified the “operating
system". We do not agree that the artisan would have changed the operating system. The
skilled artisan may have been motivated to modify the application program to some
degree, but the examiner’s statement proposes that a skilled artisan can modify any
computer to anything the user may need. Id. We disagree with the examiner absent a
motivation or line of reasoning within the prior art.
The examiner maintains that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art at the time of the invention to “periodically send sales records and to periodically
receive price data, as taught by Hikita.” (See final rejection at page 2 and incorporated
into the brief at page 4.) We disagree with the examiner that Hikita teaches or suggests
the storage of “transaction records” as claimed. The totals as
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