Appeal No. 2005-1033 Page 7
Application No. 10/236,460
enters an appropriate order (step 160). It then continues the checking process (
steps 170 and 172). As the device is shut down each day, or the user otherwise
logs off, and power is turned off, the program ends (steps 174 and 176). If
instead, the device remains on continuously, 24 hours a day, at the conclusion of
each day (step 174), as it resets its internal time clock, it resets the program to
the beginning (steps 140 and 142).
The appellant argues (brief, pp. 4-7; reply brief, pp. 2-4) that when the term
"budget" is given its correct meaning, Slotznick does not disclose that its automation
component includes a budget for payment of the order.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) applies to the verbiage
of the claims before it the broadest reasonable meaning of the words in their ordinary
usage as they would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, taking into
account whatever enlightenment by way of definitions or otherwise that may be afforded
by the written description contained in the appellant's specification. In re Morris, 127
F.3d 1048, 1054, 44 USPQ2d 1023, 1027 (Fed. Cir. 1997). See also In re Sneed, 710
F.2d 1544, 1548, 218 USPQ 385, 388 (Fed. Cir. 1983).
The appellant provides (brief, p. 4) the following definition of the term "budget"
from Webster's 3rd New International Dictionary: ''A plan for the coordination of
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