Appeal No. 2003-0293
Application No. 09/472,197 Page 11
and method for distributing and redeeming electronic coupons in a
networked environment. The consumer can connect to a source of
coupons which will transfer a book of electronic coupons to the
client (col. 1, line 61 through col. 2, line 9). The vendor's
server can recognize that the client bears a coupon which can
modify the transaction and permit the client to redeem the coupon
(col. 2, lines 16-18). The electronic book of coupons is
transmitted to the user in the form of a Cookie, which recognizes
the client, and which is stored in the memory of the client's
computer (col. 4, lines 3-5).
From the disclosure of Laor, we find that Laor discloses the
use of a book of electronic coupons that is transferred to the
user or client in the form of a cookie. From Scroggie's
suggestion of the need to identify the user's computer, we find
that an artisan would have been motivated to look to how to
identify computers, and would have been taught to use cookies to
identify a user's computer, as taught by Laor. We are not
persuaded by appellants’ query as to why it would have been
obvious to associate a cookie with an observed offline purchase
history. We find that the motivation or suggestion to combine
the teachings of Scroggie and Laor comes from the teaching of
Scroggie to identify the user's computer before transmitting the
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