Rockstar Consortium US LP et al v. Google Inc

Filing 158

CLAIM CONSTRUCTION BRIEF filed by NetStar Technologies LLC, Rockstar Consortium US LP. (Attachments: # 1 Appendix A, # 2 Exhibit 1 - 969 patent, # 3 Exhibit 2 - 245 patent, # 4 Exhibit 3 - 970 patent, # 5 Exhibit 4 - 178 patent, # 6 Exhibit 5 - 183 patent, # 7 Exhibit 6 - 883 patent, # 8 Exhibit 7 - Barron's 5th ed. - client and server, # 9 Exhibit 8 - Webster's 8th ed. - client, # 10 Exhibit 9 - Newton's Telecom - client and server, # 11 Exhibit 10 - Webster's College 1999 - interface, # 12 Exhibit 11 - Federal Standard 1037C - link, # 13 Exhibit 12 - NTC Am English Learners - correlate and match, # 14 Exhibit 13 - Webster's College 1999 - database, # 15 Exhibit 14 - Newton's Telecom - database, # 16 Exhibit 15 - Modern Dictionary of Electronics - database, # 17 Exhibit 16 Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms - database, # 18 Exhibit 17 Webster's Third Intl - refine, # 19 Exhibit 18 Webster's College 1999 - refine, # 20 Exhibit 19 - IBM Dictionary - sort, # 21 Exhibit 20 - Roget's Thesaurus - change and update)(Tribble, Max)

Exhibit 1

111111

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
US007236969Bl

United States Patent

(10)

Skillen et al.

(12)

(45)

Patent No.:
US 7,236,969 Bl
Date of Patent:
Jun. 26,2007

(54)

ASSOCIATIVE SEARCH ENGINE

(75)

Inventors: Richard Prescott Skillen, Mississauga
(CA); Frederick Caldwell Livermore,
Stittsville (CA)

(73)

Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited, St. Laurent,
Quebec (CA)

( *)

Notice:

(21)

Appl. No.: 09/351,747

* cited by examiner

(22)

Filed:

(51)

Int. CI.
G06F 17/00
(2006.01)
U.S. CI. ............................ 707/3; 707/104.1; 707/6
Field of Classification Search ............. 70711-206
See application file for complete search history.

Primary Examiner-David lung
(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Garlick Harrison &
Markison; Bruce E. Garlick

(52)
(58)
(56)

Local Web advertisement through dynamic active proxy Jing Deng;
Chi-Hung Chi; Multimedia and Expo, 2000. ICME 2000. 2000
IEEE International conference on vol. 2, Jul. 30-Aug. 2, 2000 pp.
1183-1186 vol. 2.*
Hybrid gateway advertisement scheme for connecting mobile ad
hoc networks to the Internet Jeongkeun Lee; Dongkyun Kim;
Garcia-Luna-Aceves, J.J.; Yanghee Choi; Jihyuk Choi; Sangwoo
Nam; Vehicular Technology Conference, 2003. VTC 2003-Spring.
The 57th IEEE Semiannual vol. 1, Apr. 22-25, 2003 pp. 191-195
vol. 1.*
An intelligent agent for Web advertisements; Ng, V; Kwan-Ho
Mok; Cooperative Database Systems for Advanced Applications,
2001. CODAS 2001. The Proceedings of the Third International
Symposium on Apr. 23-24, 2001 pp. 102-109.*

Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
patent is extended or adjusted under 35
U.S.c. 154(b) by 0 days.

Jui. 8, 1999

(57)

This invention relates to an advertisement machine which
provides advertisements to a user searching for desired
information within a data network. The machine receives,
from a user, a search request including a search argument
corresponding to the desired information and searches,
based upon the received search argument, a first database
having data network related information to generate search
results. It also correlating the received search argument to a
particular advertisement in a second database having advertisement related information. The search results together
with the particular advertisement are provided by the
machine to the user.

References Cited
FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
0749081 Al *

EP

5/1996

OTHER PUBLICATIONS
dpl s .dacc. wisc .edu/pubs/Newsl ettersloct96news .html. *
http://searchenginewatch.comisereport/articie.php/2205961. *
http://searchenginewatch.comisereport/articie.php/2205971. *
http://searchenginewatch.comisereport/articie.php/2153 741. *
adwords. goo gle .comiselect!advantages .html. *
en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Brin. *
en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Inc. *

32

ABSTRACT

23 Claims, 1 Drawing Sheet

Access Provider Equipment Silo

36

Rwor

12
Database
S Barch Engl n9

Sorvor
End User

"39

ormlnatl 9 Equ

III

o
~8
'-34

u.s. Patent

US 7,236,969 Bl

Juo.26,2007

20

10

"'"

12

14
Database
Search Engine

Associative
Search Engine

End User

~18

16

FIG. 1

32

Access Provider Equipment Site

36

Router

12
Database
Search Engine

Server

End User

'-39

ermlnatl 9 Equ

nI

"-44

"'8
'-34

FIG. 2

US 7,236,969 Bl
1

2

ASSOCIATIVE SEARCH ENGINE

desired information within a data network, compnsmg;
means for receiving, from the user, a search request including a search argument corresponding to the desired information; means for searching, based upon the received search
argument, a first database having data network related
information to generate search results; means for correlating
the received search argument to a particular advertisement in
a second database having advertisement related information;
and means for providing the search results together with the
particular advertisement to the user.
According to a fourth broad aspect, the invention provides
a system for searching for desired information within a data
network, comprising: means for receiving, from a user, a
search request including a search argument corresponding to
the desired information; means for searching, based upon
the received search argument and user profile data, a database of information to generate a search result; and means
for providing the search results to the user.
Conventional search engines, for example OpenText, provide a basis on which the methodology according to this
invention may be implemented. In a particular embodiment,
the invention is manifested by an advertising system including an associative search engine that may be tied into and
form an integral part of the conventional search engine.
When an end user accesses the conventional search engine,
the associative engine of the selling system examines the
user's choices and search instructions, that have been input
by the user, and formulates the necessary strategy and tactics
to offer products that would appeal to the end user based on
hislher inputs and choices up until that point in the search.
Since the process is dynamic the strategy and tactics can be
continually refined and the results presented to the end user
in a predictive order and fashion that relates to that end
user's past preferences (either for the immediate search
underway or including all prior search data stored for that
user) and a contextual database. This effectively provides
unobtrusive, related and useful data and options to the end
user who is searching for information. The processor used
for the advertising and selling mechanism can be a part of or
interconnected with the search engine.
Some examples will illustrate how this invention can have
high value to an end user. An end user's profile data may
contain such information as the make, model and year of
automobile he/she owns or leases. When tires are needed,
the manufacturers recommended tire types and options may
be considered as sort criteria provided within a contextual
database. Another example relates to when airline reservations are being sought. All of a person's preferences, which
today are normally sorted one by one through a travel agent,
could be utilized by the advertising and selling mechanism
to provide the informed response.
In addition to the search criterion, as users interacts with
the advertising system, it will continue to compile preference data (e.g. a list of keywords) for each user. All
preferences, for example, can be left in a type of default
mode or even presented to the user for him/her to edit and
re-prioritize in order to look for diversity or alternatives. The
system can detect exceptions and contradictions so that the
end user can be shown immediately that some of the options
would violate natural tendencies.
Some of the search patterns or preferences will be keyed
off of natural interests also such as: social, family, political,
technological, geographical, environmental, educational and
so on. Once these preferences are known, then an advertisement or a proposed customized product brochure can be
prepared.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED
APPLICATION
The present application claims priority pursuant to 35
U.S.c. Sec. 120 to U.S. Regular application Ser. No. 08/798,
747, filed Feb. 13, 1997, pending, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
10

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention generally relates to search engines and, in
particular, to an associative search methodology, based on a
contextual search engine, for retrieving related information.
The Intemet provides an excellent vehicle for access to
information about goods and services on a global basis. In
theory, anyone can access information about any product. In
practice, the problem is one of finding the correct information. Many techniques for solving this problem are known,
including: indexing systems such as Yahoo, graphical electronic malls, hall of malls, directories, and text search
engines, such as OpenText. These techniques and tools for
searching and retrieving information, in their present form,
can inundate the user with large amounts of unwanted
material.
This later problem can be alleviated somewhat by
enabling the user to provide search statements as a set of
criteria which are combined with logical operators, such as
'AND', 'OR' and 'NOT' operators. However, many problems still exist with this. One of them is that the user is left
to hislher own imagination to try to think of all the alternative descriptions (i.e. keywords) of a product or service.
As search engines and techniques become ever more powerful in the number and diversity of databases they can
access, the amount of information which it is possible to
present to a user can quickly become excessively large. The
problem or opportunity still remains to quickly find the
relevant information for which the user is looking.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new
and improved associative search methodology for retrieving
related information.
The invention, therefore, according to a first broad aspect
provides a method of providing advertisements to a user
searching for desired information within a data network,
comprising the steps of: receiving, from the user, a search
request including a search argument corresponding to the
desired information; searching, based upon the received
search argument, a first database having data network related
information to generate search results; correlating the
received search argument to a particular advertisement in a
second database having advertisement related information,
and providing the search results together with the particular
advertisement to the user.
According to a second broad aspect, the invention provides a method of searching for desired information within
a data network, comprising the steps of: receiving, from a
user, a search request including a search argument corresponding to the desired information; searching, based upon
the received search argument and user profile data, a database of information to generate a search result; and providing the search results to the user.
According to a third broad aspect, the invention provides
a system for providing advertisements to a user searching for

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

US 7,236,969 Bl

3

4

This invention is also enhanced by advances in technology occurring in the emerging ubiquitous data world, such
as new software languages. One example is "Java". Java is
an environment that can be exported to an end users platfonn
to run an application which may include graphics, moving
demonstrations, cartoon like explanations or even video.
The Java like environment could be used to customize with
more than name, it can be used to customize with detailed
examples.
One other opportunity presented to service providers is
the potential to create new and better ways to improve the
environment presented to end users of various classes by
remembering what was effective for a sale to occur. In this
way, key elements of a presentation or search that have
higher success can be put into a higher priority or category
for further use and therefore more rapid development
through even more intense feedback due to subsequent use.
While this invention can be integrated with traditional
Internet search engines (such as Yahoo or Lycos), full
advantage can be obtained by integrating the invention with
an Internet Access provider. An Internet Access Provider can
maintain a more complete user database. Customers are
localized, so individual databases will contain fewer users.
This allows more database space to be allocated to each user.
In addition, more detailed information can be maintained,
such as geographical location, type of home computer
system, and any additional information the user may choose
to provide to the Internet Access Provider.
It is anticipated that the Java environment will develop so
that it too will learn and adapt. As a user continues to stop
presentations at certain points, scan, re-scan, look for further
input at certain points, abort a negotiation and so on at
certain points, then such points or logic routines could be
avoided or alternatives considered. The present invention
proposes such a dynamic and relational preferences methodology in order to more rapidly and more effectively couple
a user's needs with product or service offerings.
It is also recognized that these techniques may be applied
to an educational environment where, for example, a student
may be able to have an environment that is aurally enhanced,
another one that is visually enhanced, another one that is
textually enhanced and yet another that is anecdotally as
opposed to logically enhanced. There are many other opportunities due to different personal proclivities, strengths,
skills or disabilities.

the Internet. Examples of the data processing device 12
include a personal computer (PC) or Macintosh executing an
appropriate browser application, such as, Netscape Navigator which functions as an interface to the World Wide Web
(WWW) of the Internet. Functionality provided by the
advertising machine 10 may be implemented using an
appropriately programmed conventional data processing
server platform.
The advertising machine 10, in this particular embodiment, comprises a database search engine 16 and an associative search engine 18 which may access a database 20
having contextual data 22 and product data 24. The database
search engine 18 is conventional technology, an example of
which is the OpenText engine that provides searches based
on subject, strings, boolean, text, etc. Such input search
arguments may be received from an end user via the data
processing device 12 and data link 14 and, accordingly, the
database search engine 16 effects a search of the contextual
data 22 in the database 20 and returns results of the search
to the end user, as a page displayed on the device 12. The
contextual database typically contains information relating
to the Internet, for instance, keywords associated with
respective WWW site locations.
The associative search engine 18, in accordance with the
present invention, may contain rule based software algorithms or non-precise techniques, such as, fuzzy logic that
can correlate a search argument derived from the user and
changes in the argument during a single session, to particular
product data within the product database 24. The associative
search engine 18 selects the most logical product from its
available data 24 and then provides an advertisement insert
that is added to the end user's search page, in an attempt to
present the end user with the product that is closest to the
need as determined by the associative search engine 18 of
the selling machine 10.
In operation, for example, the process effected when an
end user at the device 12 accesses the advertising machine
10 is as follows.
1) The end user device 12 sends a search request outlining
the search argument to the database search engine 16.
2) The search engine 16, having carried out a traditional
search of Internet related infonnation in the contextual data
22, passes the argument and results of the its search to the
associative search engine 18 which then looks for a match in
the product data 24 of the database 20. The associative
search engine 18 may determine a logical product fit to the
initial search argument, or it may create a logical tree
analysis of possible product fits and selects a probable best
product for an advertisement window to be displayed with
the search results.
3) The associative engine 18 passes the data of the
selected product to the search engine 16 which in turn
provides the results of the search against the given argnment
together with the initial product advertisement to the device
12 for displaying to the end user.
4) The end user refines his or her search by either clicking
on a displayed result or refining their search through additional argnments or search criteria.
5) The associative search engine 18 and the database
search engine 16 again work together in providing refined
data as in (2) above. In the case of the end user clicking on
(i.e., selecting) a specific search result, the associative search
engine 18 further refines its logical tree strategy and selects
the probable best fit product and generates an advertisement.
6) The end user search results advertisement window is
continually updated on each selection or refinement using a
technology such as Java providing the end user with a

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of an advertising machine together
with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of the advertising
machine including an associative search engine; and
FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of the advertising
machine in combination with an Internet Access Service
provider.

50

55

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring to FIG. 1, shown is an advertising machine,
generally referenced by 10, together with a data processing
device 12 and a communications link 14 through which the
device 12 interacts with the advertising machine 10. The
communications link 14 may be provided by a global data
network, typically the Internet, and the data processing
device 12 may be any conventional hardware/software combination supporting functionality for communications over

60

65

US 7,236,969 Bl
5

6

continually updated product advertisement that is considered to be most relevant (best fit) at that point in the search.
In addition, failure of the end user to click on the advertisement is used as a criterion in the logical tree in providing the
appropriate advertisement.
7) Once the end user clicks on (selects) the advertisement
displayed on the device 12, an appropriate message is sent
to the advertising machine 10 and, in particular, to the
associative search engine 18 which may automatically connect the end user to the seller of the product, for instance, by
forwarding the browser of the end user device 12 to the
WWW site address of the seller. In the product data 24 for
this seller, the associative search engine may record that this
transaction occurred, in order that a toll for bringing a buyer
and seller together may be extracted.
Moreover, user profile data may be maintained on end
user device 12 and accessed by the associative search engine
18. The profile data contains, for example, end user preferences and previous search arguments which may be used to
augment the individual search arguments received with the
search request to select a best fit product advertisement. The
associative search engine 18 retrieves and updates the profile
data on the device 12, using appropriate messages
exchanged over the communications link 14. For example,
the search arguments from the current search session may be
added to the user profile data.
Turning to the system illustrated in FIG. 2, the advertising
machine 30 (similar to the machine 10 in FIG. 1) is
integrated as part of the functionality embodied at an Internet access provider equipment site 32 which typically
includes a telephone network tenninating equipment 34, a
router 36 through which TCP/IP packets are transmitted to
and received from the Internet, and a server 38 which in
general controls operation and couples data calls terminated
by equipment 34 to router 36. The link 39 represents a data
call established through the telephone network to the access
provider site 32.
The associative search engine 40 of machine 30 contains
software algorithms or non-precise techniques, such as,
fuzzy logic that correlates a search argument derived from
the user and changes in the argument during a single session
with the product database 42 whereby the most logical
product from its available list may be selected. It then
provides an advertisement insert that is added to the end
user's search page in an attempt to offer the end user with the
product that is closest to the need as detennined by the
associative search engine 40.
The access provider site 32, incorporating the advertising
machine 30, is the sole channel available to the end user for
accessing the Internet. When an end user carries out a search
using the search engine 44 and clicks on (selects) a specific
result or chooses an alternate information site address, the
information is passed to the associative search engine 40 of
that access provider 32. Thus, not only the page with the
search results but also the home page of the access provider
can be updated with the appropriate advertisement which is
selected by the associative search engine 40 from the
product database 42. In addition, since the data processing
device 12 of the end user is connected through the access
provider site 32 for all destinations within the Internet, a
comprehensive user profile database 48 may be maintained
by the associative search engine 40, about the end users
preferences and previous search arguments which may be
used to augment the individual search argument received
with the search request to select a best fit product advertisement.

In operation, for example, the process effected when an
end user at the device 12 accesses the Internet through
access provider site 32 is as follows.
1) The end users access the search engine 44, provided as
a basic service by the access provider, and requests a search
outlining the search argument.
2) The search engine 44 passes the argument and results
of its search in database 46 to the associative search engine
40 which looks for a match in the product database 42
determining a logical product fit to the initial search argument. The associative search engine 40 creates a logical tree
analysis of possible product fits, and selects or creates a
probable best product advertisement for the advertisement
window on the search results. In this case, the associative
search engine 40 also can utilize the maintained profile on
the end user from past search sessions and/or historical data
gathered on their buying habits, in the product selection
processing. The associative search engine correlates the
user's identity to data in the user profile database 48 which
it maintains and updates with data (e.g., search argument
received with search request) from the current search sesslon.
3) The search engine 44 provides the end user with the
results of the search against the given argument including
the initial product advertisement from the associative search
engine 40. The results and advertisement are displayed by
end user device 12.
4) The end user refines hislher search by either clicking on
a result, or refining their search through additional arguments or search criteria.
5) The associative search engine 40 and the database
search engine 44 again work together in providing refined
data as in (2) above. In the case of the end user clicking on
(selecting) a specific search result the associative search
engine 40 further refines its logical tree strategy and selects
the probable best fit product and generates an advertisement.
6) The end user device 12 search results advertisement
window is continually updated on each selection or refinement using a technology such as Java, providing the end user
with a continually updated product advertisement that is
considered to be most relevant (best fit) at that point in the
search. In addition, failure of the end user to click on the
advertisement is used as a criterion in the logical tree in
providing the appropriate advertisement. The access provider's home page sent to the end user can also contain a
specialized advertisement constructed from the end user's
profile data (e.g., searches and/or buying habits).
7) Once the end user is led to click on the advertisement,
the associative search engine 40 of the selling machine 30
takes control and connects the potential buyer to the WWW
site of the seller of the product, thereby exacting a toll for the
transaction of bringing a buyer and seller together.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that various modifications and changes could be made to the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. It should
therefore be understood that the claims are not to be considered as being limited to the precise embodiments of the
selling machine set forth above, in the absence of specific
limitations directed to each embodiment.

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

The invention claimed is:
1. A method of providing advertisements to a user searching for desired infonnation within a data network, comprising the steps of:
receiving, from the user, a search request including a
search argument corresponding to the desired infonnation;

US 7,236,969 Bl
7

8

searching, based upon the received search argument, a
11. A method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the user
first database having data network related infonnation
profile data is based partially upon previous search results
to generate search results;
for the user.
correlating the received search argument to a particular
12. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the user
advertisement in a second database having advertiseprofile data includes user specified preferences.
ment related infonnation; and
13. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the step of
providing the search results together with the particular
providing the search results and the particular advertisement
advertisement to the user.
to the user includes displaying the search results as a page
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of
on a data processing device and the particular advertisement
correlating the received search argument to the particular 10
as an insert on the page.
advertisement including selecting the particular advertise14. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the step of
ment based on the received search argument and user profile
correlating the received search argument to a particular
data.
advertisement in the second database is perfonned by the
3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the user
profile data includes selections of the user from previous 15 client computer.
search arguments.
15. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein:
4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the user
the server computer is a database search engine computer;
profile data includes selections of the user from previous
and
search results.
20
the client computer is an access provider computer.
5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the user
16. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein:
profile data includes user specified preferences.
the server computer is a database search engine computer;
6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of
and
providing the search results and the particular advertisement
to the user includes displaying the search results as a page 25
the client computer is an associate search engine comon a data processing device and the particular advertisement
puter.
as an insert on the page.
17. An advertising machine for providing advertisements
7. A system for providing advertisements to a user searchto a user searching for desired information within a data
ing for desired infonnation within a data network, comprisnetwork, the advertising machine comprising:
ing:
30
a server computer coupled to the data network that
means for receiving, from the user a search request
receives a search request from the user, the search
including a search argument corresponding to the
request including a search argument corresponding to
desired infonnation;
the desired infonnation;
means for searching, based upon the received search
a database search engine coupled to the server computer
argument, a first database having data network related 35
that receives the search argument from the server
information to generate search results;
computer and searches a first database to generate
means for correlating the received search argument to a
search results, the first database having data network
particular advertisement in a second database having
related information and being contained on the server
advertisement related infonnation; and
computer;
means for providing the search results together with the 40
an associative search engine coupled to the server comparticular advertisement to the user.
puter that correlates the received search argument to a
8. A method of providing advertisements to a user searchparticular advertisement in a second database having
ing for desired infonnation within a data network, comprisadvertisement related infonnation, the second database
ing the steps of:
contained on a client computer; and
receiving, at a server, a search request sent from a user, the 45
the server computer providing the search results together
search request including a search argument correspondwith the particular advertisement to the user.
ing to the desired infonnation;
18. The advertising machine of claim 17, wherein the
searching, by the server computer based upon the received
associative search engine selects the particular advertisesearch argument, a first database to generate search 50
ment based on the received search argument and user profile
results, the first database having data network related
data.
information and being contained on the server com19. The advertising machine of claim 18, wherein the user
puter;
profile data is based partially upon previous search argucorrelating the received search argument to a particular
advertisement in a second database having advertise- 55 ments of the user.
20. The advertising machine of claim 18, wherein the user
ment related information, the second database conprofile data is based partially upon previous search results
tained on a client computer; and
for the user.
providing the search results together with the particular
21. The advertising machine of claim 18, wherein the user
advertisement to the user.
9. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the step of 60 profile data includes user specified preferences.
22. An advertising machine coupled to a data network for
correlating the received search argument to the particular
providing advertisements to a user, the advertising machine
advertisement includes selecting the particular advertisecomprising:
ment based on the received search argument and user profile
data.
a server computer coupled to the data network that
10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the user 65
receives a search request from the user, the search
profile data is based partially upon previous search argurequest including a search argument corresponding to
ments of the user.
the desired infonnation;

US 7,236,969 Bl
10

9
a database search engine coupled to the server computer
that receives the search argument from the server
computer and searches a first database to generate
search results, the first database having data network
related information and being contained on the server
computer;
an associative search engine coupled to the server computer that correlates the received search argument to a
particular advertisement in a second database having
advertisement related information, the second database
contained on a client computer;
the server computer providing the search results together
with the particular advertisement to the user;

the server computer determining whether the advertisement was successful; and
the server computer altering criteria for subsequent correlations of received search arguments to the second
database.

10

23. The advertising machine of claim 22, wherein the
associative search engine correlates the received search
argument to the particular advertisement based on the
received search argument and user profile data.

* * * * *

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION
PATENT NO.
APPLICATION NO.
DATED
INVENTOR(S)

: 7,236,969 Bl
: 09/351747
: June 26, 2007
: Richard Prescott Skillen and Frederick Caldwell Livermore

Page 1 of 1

It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent is
hereby corrected as shown below:

The paragraph beginning at column 1, line 6-9 should read:
--The present application is a continuation of and claims priority pursuant to 35 U. S. c.
Sec. 120 to U.S. Regular Application Serial No. 081798,747, filed February 13, 1997,
co-pending, issued as U.S. Patent No. 6,098,065 on August 1, 2000, which is hereby
incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.--

Signed and Sealed this
Sixth Day of November, 2007

JONW,DUDAS
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office