Appeal Number: 2006-2190
Application Number: 09/867,068
expressly disclose or inherently disclose those specific elements that are set forth in the
claims…” (Reply Br. at p. 5).
We note that, to further support the argument, the examiner pointed to numerous portions of
Roddy describing extraction of information from a work order (Answer at p. 21), to which the
appellant stated that such extraction was notoriously well known, but in itself neither created an
advance demand notice nor staged the items (Br. at p. 7).
In analyzing the arguments, we initially note that the specification provides no lexicographic
definition of an advance demand notice. It does indicate that an advance demand notice is for
products that may be required for a particular maintenance task, and that it may be created
manually (Specification at p. 9). We further note that Roddy’s teaching of scheduling
maintenance suggests creation of a work order, and pre-ordering needed parts suggests creating a
notice to the vendor of the demand for the needed parts in advance of the repair, and that the very
act of ordering inherently culminates in fulfillment of the order, which may be considered
staging. However, we find that Yang presents much more persuasive evidence of these claim
limitations.
In particular, Yang describes a scheduling function that performs these limitations.
Scheduling function 100 is preferably also responsible for coordinating with the
service request any service parts necessary in connection with the service request,
based on available service parts supply reflected in the inventory plan received
from planning function 86. As an example, the scheduling function 100 may
ensure that all necessary service parts are available at the customer site on or
before the promised service date. Accordingly, the promise is preferably
generated based on the availability of necessary service parts in addition to the
availability of suitable support personnel. (emphasis added)
(Para. 0041).
We note that the activity of coordinating with a service request any necessary service parts
creates a notification of demand in advance of the repair, and may thus be characterized as an
advance demand notice, and that ensuring all parts necessary are available at a site prior to the
date needed is a staging of parts for such use.
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