Appeal No. 2004-2110
Application No. 09/910,654
agent coupon must be generated in Friedes which is governed by
regulations established by ARC. There is no mention, however, of
a travel agent or agent coupon in Friedes. Friedes appears to be
a smart card system for use directly with the airlines
themselves. Friedes specifically discloses that “[t]he traveler
need not go to a travel agency or airline office in order to
obtain the ticket” (column 7, lines 12-13). Friedes also
discloses that the smart card is verified by the flight
attendant, who presumably works for the airlines, and that the
smart card system eliminates the need for a separate document or
piece of paper at the conclusion of the transaction (column 7,
lines 7-12). Thus, the suggestion that Friedes somehow requires
an agent coupon is contrary to the very teachings set forth
within the reference. The premise for the examiner’s rejection
could only come from an improper attempt to reconstruct the
claimed invention in hindsight.
Since we have not sustained the examiner’s rejection with
respect to independent claims 1 and 15, we also do not sustain
the rejection with respect to any of the dependent claims.
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