Appeal No. 2006-2723
Application No. 09/891,264
Yates’ invention is directed to reconfigurable software agents that cooperate
to provide a user with access to system services (col. 1, lines 59-64). These
software agents comprise, or have access to, a plurality of software modules (col.
2, lines 57-60). Yates teaches the following:
[F]unctionality of at least some of the software modules provides service-
independent building blocks (SIBBs) for services to be provided by means
of the system. … Service independent building blocks are then pieces of
software, generally incorporating data and functionality, which provide
supporting operations that a customer would need in addition to the services
themselves.
(Col. 3, lines 5-7, 10-13).
This passage illustrates that the modules encapsulate—or “contain”—
individual software building blocks. Yates later describes that the SIBBs are one of
the three types of software modules or objects available to an agent (col. 4, lines
3-6; col. 17, lines 17-21).
Thus, we agree that a SIBBs-type software module qualifies as the claimed
“service container” because it contains the individual SIBBs—which are pieces of
software. As such, the term “service-independent building blocks” does indicate
that this broader software module is made up of smaller pieces of software. The
fundamental operation of these smaller pieces of software is governed by rules or
polices, which are analogized to the claimed “service component”.
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