Appeal No. 2004-0326 Page 2
Application No. 09/651,019
BACKGROUND
The appellants' invention relates generally to improvements to electronic price
label (EPL) systems, and more specifically to systems and methods for handling
alternate information by EPLs (specification, p. 1). A copy of the dependent claims
under appeal is set forth in the appendix to the appellants' brief. Claims 1 and 9, the
independent claims on appeal, read as follows:
1. A computerized method for displaying alternate information on an
electronic price label comprising the steps of:
(a) reading, from a first data file, a record for a merchandise item
associated with an electronic price label, the record comprising a first field for the
item's regular price and a second field for alternate data;
(b) determining whether the electronic price label is to display the item's
unit price or an alternate message based on the alternate data for the item;
(c) if the item's unit price is to be displayed, transmitting a message to the
electronic price label, containing the unit price and a command to display the unit
price;
(d) if the item's unit price is not to be displayed, determining if the alternate
data comprises the alternate message or the alternate data comprises one or
more instructions directing the creation of the alternate message;
(e) if the alternate data comprises the alternate message, transmitting to
the electronic price label the alternate message and a command to display the
alternate message; and
(f) if the alternate data comprises one or more instructions directing the
creation of the alternate message, creating the alternate message utilizing the
one or more instructions and transmitting to the electronic price label the
alternate message and the command to display the alternate message.
9. A computerized system for handling alternate information on electronic
price labels comprising:
a first data file comprising a record for a merchandise item associated with
an electronic price label, the record comprising a first field for the item's regular
price and a second field for alternate data;
means for reading the record from the first data file;
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