Appeal No. 2006-1854
Application No. 09/867,174
the teachings of Landvater are applicable to the Altendahl's example of a business
company ordering computer systems on [sic: from] a seller because it would be
obvious to one of an ordinary skilled [sic.] in the art that a business company can
have several installations/stores at different geographical locations requiring [the]
same items and supplies so that they are ordered simultaneously for all the
branches to save cost of operation and get price advantage.
The examiner states, on page 12 of the answer, that the order or sequence of the steps in a
method is not a requirement unless the claim specially recites them as so. Further, on
page 14 of the answer, the examiner states:
In response to the applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain
features of applicant's invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant
relies (i.e., the geographic location in which an item that is the subject of the
order is to be positioned is not known until after the instructions evaluate each
of the constructed alternative fulfillment plans for each of a plurality of
geographic locations within a supply chain against a predetermined criteria.)
are not recited in the rejected claim(s). (emphasis original)
We disagree with the examiner’s claim interpretation and consequently with the
examiner’s determination that the claims are obvious over the combination of Altendahl
and Landvater. We concur with the examiner that the claim does not directly recite “the
geographic location in which an item that is the subject of the order is to be positioned is
not known until after the instructions evaluate each of the constructed alternative
fulfillment plans for each of a plurality of geographic locations within a supply chain
against a predetermined criteria.” Nonetheless we find that the scope of the claim is
limited to such a system. Claim 11 recites:
in response to receipt of the order for the item constructing a plurality of
alternative fulfillment plans for moving the item from a sourcing point to each of
the plurality of geographic locations within the supply chain;
evaluating each of the constructed plurality of alternative fulfillment plans
against a predetermined criteria; and
selecting for implementation one of the constructed plurality of alternative
fulfillment plans that most closely meets the predetermined criteria.
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