Appeal No. 2004-1981 Page 5
Application No. 09/404,692
The examiner responds (answer, page 12) that the first
element, the marketwire, is disclosed by the “compound signals
from the multiple thermostats.” The examiner argues (answer,
page 13) that the independent claims do not “specifically define
how the marketwire signal is routed to and from the producing
units and the consuming units.” The examiner further argues
(id.) that the market price is continuously present because
Clearwater discloses that the signals from the thermostats
contain both a volume and price component. The examiner asserts
(answer, page 14) that Clearwater teaches the second element, a
producing unit responsive to a market price, because “[t]he
controller of Clearwater merely aggregates the signals from the
multiple thermostats and provides this aggregate signal to the
producing unit.”
From our review of Clearwater, we find that Clearwater
discloses (col. 1, lines 10-12) “a method and apparatus for
efficiently distributing a resource based on a computerized
auction.” Clearwater further discloses (col. 4, lines 28-30)
that “[t]he signal generated by each of the microprocessors is
classified as either a buy bid or a sell bid.” Clearwater also
teaches (col. 6, lines 8-10 and lines 18-20) that the “respective
buy bids and sell bids are plotted to form a demand curve 60 and
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