Appeal No. 2005-1132
Application No. 09/738,294
stand or fall together as a single group [brief, page 3]. With
respect to representative independent claim 1, the examiner finds
that Tang teaches the claimed invention except that Tang does not
clearly show how each member of the team communicates over at
least an STN. The examiner cites Klein as teaching a virtual
switching point in a public switched telephone. The examiner
finds that it would have been obvious to the artisan to use
Klein’s virtual switching feature in Tang’s communication devices
[answer, pages 3-4].
Appellants argue that Tang fails to teach or suggest any
means for obtaining the presence, availability and activity
information respecting a workgroup member’s engagement (or
availability for engagement) in communications through a Switched
Telephone Network such as the Public Switched Telephone Network
(PSTN). Appellants assert that Tang does not even attempt to
solve the problem of providing meaningful presence and
availability information for regular telephone communications.
With respect to Klein, appellants argue that Klein is completely
silent with respect to obtaining presence and availability
information respecting users of the communications system.
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