Ex Parte Huyser et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardOct 24, 201311047911 (P.T.A.B. Oct. 24, 2013) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 11/047,911 01/31/2005 Brandi Jo Huyser 9974-090 (BH2106) 6867 28533 7590 10/24/2013 Alticor/BGL BRINKS GILSON & LIONE P.O. BOX 10395 CHICAGO, IL 60610 EXAMINER BRANDENBURG, WILLIAM A ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3681 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 10/24/2013 PAPER Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________ Ex parte BRANDI JO HUYSER, and KENT DICKINSON ____________ Appeal 2011-011105 Application 11/047,911 Technology Center 3600 ____________ Before: JOSEPH A. FISCHETTI, MICHAEL W. KIM, and JAMES A. TARTAL, Administrative Patent Judges. KIM, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appeal 2011-011105 Application 11/047,911 2 STATEMENT OF THE CASE This is an appeal from the final rejection of claims 11-28 and 30-411. We have jurisdiction to review the case under 35 U.S.C. §§ 134 and 6. The invention relates to providing an incentive to purchase a product from a merchant (Spec., para. [0001]). Claim 11, reproduced below, is further illustrative of the claimed subject matter. 11. A system for providing an incentive to purchase merchandise from a merchant over a computer network, the system comprising: a merchant computer coupled with a customer computer through the computer network, wherein the merchant computer has a memory area that is searchable for determining a first merchandise available for purchase; and an executable program code stored in the memory area of the merchant computer that creates an incentive program to facilitate the purchase of a second merchandise by the customer from the merchant by issuing incentive program credits for the purchase of the first merchandise wherein the program credits are redeemed toward the purchase of the second merchandise, the executable program code stored in the memory area of the merchant computer further determines a customer price of the second merchandise, determines an expense incurred by the merchant to obtain the second merchandise, and determines a minimum monetary cost to the customer that is limited by the expense incurred by the merchant, wherein the expense incurred by the merchant includes a wholesale cost and operating expenses for the second merchandise; the executable program code stored in the memory area of the merchant computer further determines a maximum 1 Our decision will make reference to the Appellants’ Appeal Brief (“App. Br.,” filed February 22, 2011) and Reply Brief (“Reply Br.” filed June 21, 2011), and the Examiner’s Answer (“Ans.,” mailed April 26, 2011). Appeal 2011-011105 Application 11/047,911 3 amount of incentive program credits that are redeemed toward the purchase of the second merchandise by subtracting the expense incurred by the merchant to obtain the second merchandise from the customer price of the second merchandise, wherein the maximum amount of incentive program credits comprises a limit on the credits that are redeemed toward the purchase of the second merchandise when the customer pays the minimum monetary cost for the second merchandise; the executable program code stored in the memory area of the merchant computer further communicates to the customer the maximum incentive program credits that the customer redeems toward the purchase of the second merchandise. Biorge US 5,806,045 Sep. 8-1998 Chien US 2001/0054003 A1 Dec. 20,-2001 Redford US 2004/0054590 A1 Mar. 18,-2004 Haugen US 2009/0024485 A1 Jan. 22, 2009 Antonucci US 2010/0010889 A1 Jan. 14, 2010 Claims 11-28 and 30-41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Chien in view of Biorge We AFFIRM. ANALYSIS After carefully reviewing and considering Appellants’ arguments, we are persuaded by the Examiner’s findings and rationales, as set forth on pages 49-64 of the Examiner’s Answer. Accordingly, we adopt them as our own. In particular, we agree with the Examiner that in determining a maximum amount of incentive credits to a customer, as required by independent claims 11, 20, 30, 38, and 40, Biorge discloses that such a maximum is calculated using a predetermined set of rules (col. 12, ll. 58-62). And while Biorge does not explicitly disclose that the price of the product Appeal 2011-011105 Application 11/047,911 4 for which the incentive credits will be redeemed is one of the predetermined set of rules, we agree with the Examiner that product price would be one of the more apparent choices. Appellants disagree, and assert that the number of choices in determining the maximum is infinite, and that it was impermissible hindsight to choose product price among those infinite choices. However, the Examiner has laid out an extensive rationale as to why it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill to have chosen product price (Ans. 53-56), which we find reasonable on its own. Moreover, the Examiner has additionally cited Antonucci, Haugen and Redford to support this rationale, to all of which Appellants have not persuasively responded. DECISION The decision of the Examiner to reject claims 11-28 and 30-41 is AFFIRMED. No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a). See 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a)(1)(iv). AFFIRMED Klh Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation