Appeal No. 2002-2174
Application No. 09/263,166 Page 20
However, many other kinds of economic incentive may be
offered, such as a credit toward other services (e.g.,
frequent flyer points) or a credit toward an additional
rebate that may be offered if a user’s traffic for a
given month rises above a threshold.
From the disclosure of Johnson, we find that the second
parameters displayed will depend on one or more characteristics
of the computer e.g., additional rebate if the user's traffic
rises above a threshold for a given month. Accordingly, the
rejection of claim 28 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) is affirmed.
We turn next to claim 30. The examiner's position is found
on page 8 of the answer. The claim requires that a parameter of
the displayed second set of parameters depends on the set
consisting of the present time, present date, and location.
Although time, data and location are parameters for incentives,
the claim requires that a parameter of the displayed second set
of parameters consists of the above group. Johnson discloses
(col. 5, lines 30-39) that:
However, many other kinds of economic incentive may be
offered, such as a credit toward other services (e.g.,
frequent flyer points) or a credit toward an additional
rebate that may be offered if a user’s traffic for a
given month rises above a threshold. The economic
incentive could be a combination of rate and another
incentive. But the economic incentive should be
selected from a limited set authorized by the provider
of the bidding mechanism, because the incentive must be
capable of being evaluated by the software in each
subscribing switch’s adjunct computer.
Page: Previous 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007