Appeal No. 2002-1469 Page 6
Application No. 09/317,110
For its part, Fajkowski teaches "the 'rainchecking' of coupons." Col. 20, ll. 34-35.
More specifically, "[r]ainchecking a coupon occurs when an item covered by a coupon is
out of stock and the coupon will expire before the store can restock the item." Id.
at ll. 35-37. The reference also discloses the desirability of such rainchecking. To wit,
"[r]ainchecking allows a customer to utilize the coupon after its expiration date." Id.
at ll. 37-38. Furthermore, Fajkowski's method of rainchecking "significantly increases
the speed and efficiency of the redemption process as compared with the prior art."
Col. 21, ll. 53-54. "This comprehensive method . . . will save shoppers and store
cashiers significant amounts of time. . . . By increasing the transactional speed of the
coupon redeeming procedure, the [reference's] invention greatly increases the front-end
productivity of a retail store. Existing cashiers will be able to checkout a higher volume
of customers without personnel performing other necessary tasks in the store being
forced to man additional cash registers." Id. at ll. 57-67. Because Off invites
modifications to its embodiment, and Fajkowski teaches desirability of rainchecking, we
find that the combined teachings of the references would have suggested adding
rainchecking to Off's POS system.
Second, the appellant argues, "[t]o combine with Off et al the incentive processor
of Fajkowski would now require the intervention by the customer, in participating in the
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