Appeal 2007-2533
Application 09/972,434
1 all of the definitions in that dictionary, particularly the definition that defines a
2 relationship as the state of being related or interrelated (FF 03). Similarly, the
3 Appellants provide one definition of the word “define” from that same source as
4 being to fix or mark the limits of, but the Appellants fail to indicate that an
5 alternate definition shown in that same dictionary is to create on a computer (FF
6 04), arguably far more consistent with the contents of a computer file.
7 Thus, we find that the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim element
8 “defining a relationship between the user and the seller or buyer” is creating on a
9 computer a state of relation between the user and the seller or buyer.
10 Frengut creates a state of relation regarding how the user interacts with sellers
11 and their advertisements with the user profile that contains information and
12 processing rules regarding user preferences and interaction rules with
13 advertisements (FF 05-07). As broadly claimed, the agreement between the user
14 and the seller as to layout and content, i.e., which advertisements are to be served
15 to the user’s screen is, in fact, a relationship between the user and the seller based
16 on rules (a profile) recognized and stored by the seller in response to a unique
17 identifier (step 24) provided by the user’s client machine. As noted above, the
18 claim term “relationship” is broad and certainly reads on the agreement to receive
19 desired content free along with advertisement and layout chosen based on a user’s
20 inputted profile.
21 Thus, the Appellants’ arguments as to claim 1, and claims 2, 6-8, 11-13, and
22 16-18, which stand or fall with claim 1, are unpersuasive.
23 We also note that the Appellants have contended that the Examiner failed to
24 provide sufficient analysis to support the rejection. In particular the Examiner has
25 not specifically identified the teachings within Frengut that allegedly disclose the
11
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