Appeal No. 2004-0013
Application No. 09/234,889 Page 8
disclose the system being used with a plurality of merchants,
each having a unique merchant identifier.
Turning to Shinjo, we find that Shinjo is also directed to a
loyalty program used in conjunction with a POS system (col. 1,
lines 1-10). From Shinjo's disclosure of store codes and store
names (figures 3 and 5) we agree with the examiner (answer, page
5) that the disclosure of a store code represents a merchant
identifier. In addition, from the disclosure of Shinjo that a
loyalty program used in conjunction with a POS terminal can be
used with different stores (col. 1, lines 1-10) we find that an
artisan would have been motivated to utilize the loyalty program
of Willmore with plural merchants, each of which has a merchant
identifier, as taught by Shinjo.
Turning to Deo, we find that Deo is directed to an
authentication system for smart card transactions (col. 1, lines
1 and 2). Deo discloses that in conventional smart card systems,
the cards have been designed to hold just one application, such
as a banking/financial application (col. 2, lines 12-14). Due to
little or no standardization in the smart card arena, many
different non-compatible systems are in existence today. This
lack of standardization has impeded efforts to produce a smart
card capable of handling multiple applications (col. 2, lines 21-
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