Appeal No. 2002-1755
Application No. 09/173,286
network connected to said processor.” The claimed “voice
response unit” is said to be disclosed in Nakatsu as item 84 of
Figure 3.
With regard to claim 13, the examiner points to Nakatsu’s
audio interface device connected to a switch, and to a T1 line
leading to a PSTN, disclosed at column 3, lines 59-62, and items
22, 62 in Figure 2. The examiner also points to column 2, lines
10-14, for the audio adjunct connected to a network; and to
column 2, lines 13-14, for a service control point. Nakatsu is
also used by the examiner to teach a database connected to a toll
switching office, at column 2, lines 46-50. Finally, the
examiner contends that Nakatsu suggests an audio interface device
connected to a second data network by its teaching of an audio
interface connected to telephone lines and a LAN (Figure 1 and
Figure 2, items 62, 56, 58 and 30. It is the examiner’s position
that the teaching of a voice unit connected to voice analog data
lines and Ti lines suggests an advantage of simultaneous
integration of communication lines for handling various data.
For their part, appellants argue that Nakatsu is not
directed to a publicly accessible “data” network because the
reference is directed to a PSTN, arguing that a “data” network is
suggestive of a packet-based computer network and not telephone
-9–
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