Appeal No. 2006-2083
Reexamination Control No. 90/006,352
“receiving means”), and (5) a means for confirming that the electronic coins have not been
previously spent (hereinafter “confirming means”).
The “emint” described in the specification implements the creating means, the
transmitting means, the receiving means, and the confirming means. In column 4, lines 45-49,
of Patent 5,983,207, it is stated:
The “emint” is a computer and communications system which creates,
distributes and verifies the authenticity of ecoins, and which receives information
from the storage sites regarding gold held there for storage and specifically
identified for use in the digital cash system.
An “ecoin” is defined in the specification in column 3, lines 42-50, as follows:
As used herein, “ecoin” is the electronic representation of a valuable
commodity, preferably, a precious metal such as gold, platinum, palladium, or
silver, which is held for safekeeping at a storage site. Each ecoin comprises a
unique serial number, a measure of the valuable commodity (for example, grams
or ounces, and fractions thereof) that it represents, the name of a specific storage
site where the valuable commodity is stored, and a date/time stamp of when the
ecoin was created. Each ecoin may appear as a string of alphanumeric characters
which may also be encrypted and/or digitally signed for security.
In the context of the above-quoted disclosure, ecoins are the electronic coins in claim 1.
Claim 1 explicitly defines electronic coins as comprising electronic data identifying a
unique serial number and a specified amount of the valuable commodity, and having a
digital signature for verifying that the electronic coins were created by the recited
computer system. It appears that a computer also implements the maintaining means.
Ohta discloses a system that implements electronic cash. It is not disputed by the
patentee that in Ohta’s system the electronic cash is created by a computer, transmitted to
a user through a communication system, received by the computer from a payee through
a communication system, and verified for its authenticity by the computer. In that
connection, note Figure 1 of Ohta which illustrates the bank 100, users 200, and shops
5
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