Appeal No. 2002-0366 Page 11
Application No. 08/803,692
they do not want to be disturbed, this is indicated by the icon
(figure 2). To contact another worker, the current worker
selects one or more of his icons 14, 17 and presses the contact
button (col. 8, lines 3-5). Turning to Tang'173, we find that
Tang'173 discloses various modes of awareness about other
workers. The mode of awareness is specified by each worker
independently, and controls both ends of the encounter, i.e., how
the encounter mechanism appears to the current worker, and how
the current worker appears to the encounter window 20 of the
other workers. The open mode is used by workers who are
receptive to interacting with other workers who are task
proximate (col. 6, line 66 through col. 7, line 17). From the
disclosure of Tang'173 we find that by selecting the open mode,
the worker grants permission to have himself added to the
encounter window of other subscribers. If he chooses the closed
mode, no representation of him is provided to the other workers.
Thus, by choosing the open mode, the worker grants permission to
have other logged-on workers add him to the other workers’
encounter window. In addition, we find from Tang'365 that a co-
worker is selected by selecting his icon and pressing the contact
button. Thus, we find that the combined teachings of Tang'365
and Tang'173 teach the steps set forth in the method of claim 27,
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