Appeal No. 2004-0013
Application No. 09/234,889 Page 6
These showings by the examiner are an essential part of complying
with the burden of presenting a prima facie case of obviousness.
Note In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 1445, 24 USPQ2d 1443, 1444
(Fed. Cir. 1992). If that burden is met, the burden then shifts
to the applicant to overcome the prima facie case with argument
and/or evidence. Obviousness is then determined on the basis of
the evidence as a whole. See id.; In re Hedges, 783 F.2d 1038,
1039, 228 USPQ 685, 686 (Fed. Cir. 1986); In re Piasecki, 745
F.2d 1468, 1472, 223 USPQ 785, 788 (Fed. Cir. 1984); and In re
Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 1052, 189 USPQ 143, 147 (CCPA 1976).
From our review of the prior art, we find that Willmore is
directed to a loyalty program used in conjunction with an
electronic point-of-sale (EPOS) system. The retailing system
rewards purchasers for loyalty by providing discounts or other
benefits, based on a customer's purchases. Willmore discloses
that the accumulated data relating to a plurality of purchases,
that is stored on the magnetic card or token, is modified by the
terminal (page 2). From this disclosure of Willmore, we find
that the information stored will be in a transaction log, which
will include the accumulated data from a plurality of purchases.
Willmore further discloses that the terminal may have a history
store which records details of all transactions identified to the
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