Ex Parte Hoffman et al - Page 3

                Appeal 2006-2018                                                                              
                Application 09/815,731                                                                        

           1    Salvo    6,341,271  Jan. 22, 2002 (Nov. 13, 1998)                                             
           2                                                                                                  
           3          Beginning with claim 1, Applicant contends that the claimed subject                     
           4    matter would not have been obvious.  More specifically, Applicant contends                    
           5    that the reference disclosures cannot properly be combined because the                        
           6    problem of detecting problems in the manufacturing/sales process is not                       
           7    recognized in any of the references.  (Br. 7).  Applicants add (id.), that:                   
           8                 Specifically, the actual steps of “calculating a                                 
           9                 predicted amount of raw materials for a given level                              
          10                 of sales" and then performing the step of "comparing                             
          11                 an amount of raw materials sold to a store and the                               
          12                 predicted amount of raw materials for the given level                            
          13                 of sales of goods" are not disclosed in any of the references.                   
          14                                                                                                  
          15    With regard to independent claim 16, Applicant contends that the claim                        
          16    recites                                                                                       
          17                 displaying an amount of raw materials sold to a                                  
          18                 store on a same page or screen as a recipe-predicted                             
          19                 forecast for the raw material based on the amount                                
          20                 of the goods sold by the store, to thereby permit a                              
          21                 comparison and determination of variance due to                                  
          22                 errors or loss; and determining a percentage of cost                             
          23                 of the good attributable to the raw material.                                    
          24                 (Br. 8).                                                                         
          25                                                                                                  
          26          It is argued (Br. 8) that these references do not even recognize the                    
          27    problem being addressed by the present claims, so, there could hardly be                      
          28    motivation to fix such a problem.                                                             
          29          The Examiner contends that it would have been obvious to adjust the                     
          30    supply of raw materials in Hafner in view of the teachings and suggestions                    
          31    of Yamamoto, and that it would have been obvious to compare the amount                        


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