Appeal No. 2001-0331 Page 5
Application No. 09/122,982
indefinite as the term is not defined or clear from the
specification, as required by 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1). The examiner
acknowledges (answer, page 5) that "[t]he term, though, appeared
to have some support with a reading of the text relating to Fig.
2."
Appellant asserts (brief, page 4) that the system uses cron
files, and that once the cron files are set up, the computer
system automatically executes the cron files, providing clear
support for the term "automatically." Appellant (reply brief,
page 3) refers to page 656 of "A User Guide to the Unix System4,
Second Edition," © 1985) for an explanation of a cron file. It
is further argued (reply brief, page 4) that the term
automatically is being used in its ordinary meaning, and that
since one of ordinary skill in the art would understand the
intended meaning of the term "automatically," there is no reason
why the word needs to be in the specification.
We find that appellants' specification (page 12) discloses
that the steps of figure 2 are typically initiated by a
background process which accesses a cron file. A cron file
maintains a list of routines that should be run by the computer,
4 At the request of the Board, a copy of this document has been provided
to the Board by appellant, and placed in the application file.
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