Appeal No. 2005-2643
Reexamination Control No. 90/005,842
broad enough to embrace “discrete” functions, which he characterizes as being
noncontinuous (Final Action at 29; Answer at 23), he did not cite any supporting
authority. Nevertheless, it is evident from the term “step function” that a “function” need
not be continuous. See Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English
Language – Unabridged 2237 (copy enclosed) (1971 ed.) (defining “step function” as “a
function of a single real variable in mathematics that remains constant throughout each
of a series of adjacent intervals with the constant value varying from interval to
interval”). A graph of a “step function” appears as Figure 32 in Margaret L. Lial, E. John
Hornsby, Jr., and David I. Schneider, College Algebra 236-37 (copy enclosed) (7th ed.
1997). The phrase “as a function of a rate of inflation” employed in the claim therefore
does not imply a continuous function or preclude a step function.
Turning now to the step of “receiving repayment of the loan account . . . in a
manner where the funds in the loan account obtain a rate of return responsive to a rate
of inflation,” appellant relies on the following definition of “responsive to the rate of
inflation” in the specification: “Responsive to the rate of inflation, as used herein, means
directly responsive to a market indicator of prior actual inflation and it is not meant to
include the market's expectation of future inflation.” ‘673 Patent at col. 3, ll. 11-14. This
definition has several possible interpretations. It can be construed as defining (1) only
the phrase “responsive to the rate of inflation”; (2) the phrase “the rate of inflation” (our
emphasis), whether or not preceded by “responsive to”; or (3) the phrase “rate of
inflation,” whether preceded by “a” or “the.” We conclude that interpretation (3) is the
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