Appeal 2006-2496
Application 09/944,696
displaying all previous versions of a document, accompanied by a date and
time the version was saved, Microsoft ® Word 2000 permits a user to
display a frequency of change in edit history. By examining the quantity of
versions and the dates accompanying each version, the user can quickly
determine the frequency and “visual distinctiveness” associated with the
editing of the document.
Regarding the second argument, the Examiner agrees with Appellants
that a document generated by Microsoft ® Word 2000 is not a plan (Answer,
14). However, the Examiner asserts that Microsoft ® Word 2000 was relied
upon only for its teaching of displaying a frequency of changes in an edit
history, and that the primary reference to Boden teaches a plan (Answer, 14).
We agree with the Examiner that Boden teaches a plan as claimed, and that
one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the
teachings of Microsoft ® Word 2000 with Boden to permit users to display
one or more previous versions of a plan to determine which elements have
changed.
Moreover, we see no reason why a document generated using
Microsoft ® Word 2000 could not be a plan or be used to animate a
workflow process of a plan, as asserted by Appellants (Br. 6). A Word
document containing text and/or graphics may be a plan itself, and may also
display graphics suitable to simulate animation of an edit history.
Regarding the third argument, presented for the first time in the Reply
Brief, Appellants argue that the term “function of frequency” requires a
mathematical correspondence that assigns a value to a variable as a function
of frequency (Reply Br. 1), and direct attention to ¶186 of the Specification
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