Appeal No. 2006-1272
Application No. 10/104,615
pharmacists, then the technician at the host computer 564 issues a request to
an available pharmacist operating the pen computer 568, laptop computer 566,
or workstation 555 within the building in the first city 550, or may request the
services of a pharmacist operating an RPH workstation 559 in the third city
552 or a pharmacist at the laptop computer 561 in the second city 551.
Relevant data is exchanged and video teleconferencing is enabled between the
technician and the pharmacist or prescribing physician if appropriate. Hand
written scripts may be transferred to and from the first city 550 via facsimile
557. The facsimile image may be downloaded into the host computer 564 and
stored with relevant patient data.
In addition to the Liff disclosure of two-way video conferencing, the Echerer
reference teaches two-way video conferencing between a medical practitioner and a patient
at a remote location [Echerer, e.g., see col. 1, lines 35-59]. We note that the rejections set
forth by the examiner are based upon the combination of Echerer as modified by the
teachings of Liff. The examiner relies upon Echerer as teaching the use of a plurality of
video-conferencing stations for visual and audio communication between a central site and a
remote site [answer, pages 3 and 11]. The examiner relies upon Liff for the feature of a
single pharmacist who provides verification of prescription information at a video-
conferencing station without being physically located at the dispensing site [see answer, page
13, 2nd paragraph]. We find that the claimed “prescription information” clearly reads upon
the “relevant data,” and “handwritten scripts,” that are transferred by “facsimile image,”
between the technician and the pharmacist, as explicitly disclosed by Liff [Liff, col. 19, line
28, and col. 19, lines 34-49].
IV. Appellants argue that one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention
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