Clear With Computers LLC v. Tesla Motors Inc
Filing
1
COMPLAINT against Tesla Motors Inc ( Filing fee $ 400 receipt number 0540-4519054.), filed by Clear With Computers LLC. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Civil Cover Sheet)(Spangler, Andrew)
Exhibit A
U.S. Patent No. 5,625,776
US005625776A
O
United States Patent [19]
[11] Patent Number:
Johnson
[45] Date of Patent:
[54]
5,625,776
*Apr. 29, 1997
ELECTRONIC PROPOSAL PREPARATION
5,056,029 10/1991 Cannon ............................ .. 364/479.03
SYSTEM FOR SELLING COMPUTER
5,072,536
EQUENIENT AND COPY MACHINES
5,099,422
3/1992 Foresman et a1. .... ..
364/401 R
5,117,354
5,212,634
5/1992 Long et a1. ........... ..
5/1993 Washizaki et a1. .
364/401 R
364/400
5,396,417
3/1995 Burks et a1.
5,493,490
2/1996 Johnson ............................ .. 364/401 R
_
[75] Inventor‘ Jmqlfnme D‘ J0hns0n’ North Manmo’
5,241,464
'
[73]
Assignee: Clear with Computers, Inc.’ Mankato.
Minn.
[* ] Notice:
‘
2177245
'
WO85/03l52
[21] Appl. No.: 268,166
[22] Filed:
... . .. 40/587
8/1993 Greulich et a1.
364/401 R
364/401
1%;
glgggalgifggonol?' '
1,1987 United Kingdom.
7/1985
WIPO .
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Jun. 29, 1994
Bob Gatty, “Setting up Shop on Computer Screens”.
Nation’s Business, Mar. 1984, pp. 57-58.
Lois Schneider, “On Your Screen !”, EPB. vol. 2. No. 5, Sep.
1984. pp. 14—16.
Related US. Application Data
[63]
Matthews et a1. ......
FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
The term of this patent shall not extend
26153113916116 exp1rat1on date of Pat. No.
’
12/1991
Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 878,602, May 5, 1992, Pat.
_
No. 5,493,490.
_
(L1st contmued on next page.)
[51]
[52]
Int. Cl.6 ........................... .. G06F 17/30; G06F 17/60
US. Cl. ........................ .. 395/227; 395/224; 395/229;
[58]
Primary Examiner__RObe1-t A. weinhardt
Assistant Examiner_Joseph Thomas
Field of Search ................................... .. 364/400, 401,
395/615
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Merchant, Gould. Smith. Edell.
Welter & Schmidt, RA.
364/402. 403. 408. 419.19; 395/600
'
[56]
'
[57]
ABSTRACT
References Cited
US‘ PATENT DOCUMENTS
4,149,246
An electronic system for creating customized product pro
posals stores a plurality of pictures and text segments to be
used as building blocks in creating the proposal. The pic
4/1979 Goldman ............................... .. 364/400
4,359,631 11/1982 Lockwood et a1. ..
4,553,206 11/1985 Smutek et a1.
4,670,798 6/1987 Campbell et a1.
4,706,212 11/1937 Toma
tllIeS may include various products, environments in which
235/381
395/600
360/12
364/41902
the products may be used, and available product options.
The text segments may include textual descriptions of the
product, environments in which the product may be used,
and its performance speci?cations. The system queries a
364/401
user to determine a customer’s needs and interests. Based
4,775,935 10/1933 YOIIIiCk
Slade .............. ..
‘1,899,292
2/1990 Montaglfa et a1
4’899’299
4’9O5’094
....
2/1990 MacPha‘l ------- "
2/1990 Pocock et a1
upon the answers to the queries, the System Selects the
395/147
appropriate picture and text building blocks to ?ll in pro
" 364/570
posal templates. The system can print the completed pro
358/342
posal templates to provide the user with a customized,
gent” et a1‘
’
’
printed proposal that describes features and bene?ts of a
0mg """" "
4,992,939
2/1991 Tyler
5,041,972
8/1991
product, in a particular environment, that are of interest to
4,992,940
364/401 R
2/1991 Dworkin
Frost
the customer who is to receive the
364/401 R
... .... ... ..
. . . . . . ..
5,053,956 10/1991 Donald et a1.
50
mom @@ Ego @
s2
5:
54
COMPUTER 1
COMPUTER
PERIPHERAL 1
COPY MACHINE 1
/
COMPUTER 2
COMPUTER
PERIPHERAL 2
COPY MACHINE 2
PART 1
COMPUTER
COMPONENT 1
COMPUTER
COMPONENT 2
COMPUTER
COMPONENT 3
COMPUTER
PERIPHERAL
coueousm 1
COMPUTER
PERIPHERAL
COMPONENT 2
COMPUTER
PERIPHERAL
COMPONENT 3
COPY MACHINE
COMPONENT 1
COPY MACHINE
COMPONENT 2
COPY MACHINE
COMPONENT s
PRODUCT
5s
s7 /
5a /
PART 5
-
63 Claims, 43 Drawing Sheets
PICTURE DATABASE
PART 2
5 31
364/401
364/401 R
s1
O
Pr P°
/
TEXTUAL DESCRIP'HONS DATABASE
[@EIEI
5,625,776
Page 2
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Miriam Rozen. “Electronic stores sell: shoes to cars”. Dun ’s
Business Month. vol. 125. Jan. 1985, p. 101.
Larry Riggs. “Direct Marketing Goes Electronic”. S&MM.
Jan. 14. 1985. pp. 59-60.
“Videodisc Product Serach System Launched for Architects
and Interior Designers”. Wdeodisc and Optical Disk, vol. 5.
No. 4. Jul-Aug. 1985. pp. 244-247.
"I‘ouchcomTM Interactive Videodisc Catalog Markets
Furnisture at Dayton’s”, Videodisc and Optical Disk, vol. 5.
No. 5. Sep.-Oct. 1985. pp. 343-345.
“Boosting Sales Electronically”. Industry Week. Mar. 31.
1986. pp. 33-351 (abstract only provided).
Paul Hurly. Boosting Sales .
.Electronically, Industry
.
Week. Mar. 31. 1986. pp. 33-35.
Emily Leinfuss. ‘"InfoWindow Display’ Shown by IBM at
NCC”. Management Information Systems Week. Jun. 23.
“EPIC Quick Reference Flip Chart”. Buick Motor Division.
General Motors Corporation (1986).
Truck Force Tools Sales and Training System Operator’s
Manual. Ford Trucks. Clear With Computers. 1992.
ISIS Isuzu Sales Information System. Australia. ISIS Opera
tor’s Manual. Clear With Computers. 1992.
Detroit Deisel Corporation. Bus Upgrade System Operator’s
Manual. Clear With Computers. 1990.
WhiteGMC Volvo. TruckMatch Read Me First. Truck
Match. Clear With Computers. 1990.
GM Truck Compass. Read Me First. Operator’s Manual.
Clear With Computers. 1991.
Mary Beth Vander Schaaf. Dealing with Dealers, Automa
1986. p. 25.
tive News. Nov. 21. 1988. p. 67.
Buick EPIC Electronic Products Information Center bro
chure.
Ronnie Telzer. The ‘Silent Salesman’. Marketing Commu
nications. vol. 14. No. 5. May 1989. pp. 20-24.
“How to Make the Most of EPIC”. user’s guide. Electronic
Product Information. Buick Motor Division. 902 East
Hamilton Avenue. Flint. Michigan 48550.
CWC SaIesand Training Systems. Copyright 1993. Clear
With Computers. Inc.. 26 pages.
US. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
Sheet 2 0f 43
5,625,776
60
ELECTRONIC PROPOSAL TEMPLATE
/
61
PICTURE 1
ENVIRONMENT 2
PRODUCT
2
PART
64
/
PART
65
TEXT 1
/
66
PICTURE 2
TEXT 2
FIG.
US. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
Sheet 3 0f 43
A
mop
A
mzobswl?
POP
A A
a
A A
mow
5,625,776
US. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
ACTIVE DATABASE
Sheet 4 0f 43
1 3
A CUSTOMIZEDATA
1_16
A CUSTOMIZEDATABASE
MA
A PROPOSALDATA
112
A PROPOSAL
11.11
FIG. 3
5,625,776
US. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
/
Sheet 5 0f 43
5,625,776
\
iTABLEOFCONTENTSDAUR‘I
31A
15K
\ '\
,/I
18.9
'\ LIFECYCLEDAT
,/'
J
FINANCEDATA \‘ '\ QUOTATIONDATA \l
US. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
Sheet 6 of 43
A TABLEOFCONTENTSDATA 1311
A PAGEDESCRIPTIONRECORD
115
FIG. 5
5,625,776
US. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
DEALERDATA ‘\
m
~ __ _
_ _
_ _
5,625,776
f
U‘LISTOFSALESPERSONSDATA‘
\
3.92
\
I
aX
/
\
Sheet 7 0f 43
-
\
- “I
\
f
I
l
' LANGUAGEDATR“)
LL‘. _ 7‘ \
f,
I‘
CUSTOMIZEDATA
\
m
I’
\
ll
\\
r ’,
\
/
'_
~_
' PASSWORDDATA \'
US. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
Sheet 8 of 43
USER INTERFACE 1Q;
FIG. 7
5,625,776
U.S. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
Sheet 10 0f 43
f 105
STATIC DATABASE
ENVIRONMENT PICTURES "\- 122
ENVIRONMENT TEXT''\ 124
PRODUCT PICTURESK 126
PRODUCT TEXT K 128
PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONSX 121
PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATION“ 123
PRICE SPECIFICATIONS"\125
TRADEMARK PICTURE“ 127
LIFE CYCLE SPECIFICATIONS"\129
PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONh 131
FIG. 9
5,625,776
US. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
Sheet 11 0f 43
[
5,625,776
104
PROCESSES AND GENERATES A CUSTOMIZED PRINTED PROPOSAL / 262
QUERIES ACTIVE DATABASEK 264
QUERIES STATIC DATABASEK 266
READS PAGE DESCRIPTION RECORDS’k 268
READS PAGE LAYOUT IDENTIFIERS'\ 270
LOCATES AND RETRIEVES ACTIVE DATAK 272
LOCATES AND RETRIEVES STATIC DATAX 274
PLACES DATA IN FIELDS ON PAGES''\ 276
PRINTS IN PLURALITY OF COLORSK 278
DEALER PERSONALIZATIONK 280
CUSTOMER PERSONALIZATIONN 282
LINKS PAGE IDENTIFIERS WITH DATA‘k 285
QUERIES REPORT DATABASE"\- 265
QUERIES DIFFERENCE DATABASE~¥ 267
FIG. 10
US‘ Patent
Apr-29, 1997
Sheet 12 0f 43
r 101
SELECTION DEVICE
MAIN MENU
110
f 172
F'LE
f 174
CONTENTS
[- 176
CUSTOMER
f 177
\
7 INFORMATION
CUSTOMIZE
f 178
PRINT
FIG. ‘11
5,625,776
US. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
Sheet 13 0f 43
5,625,776
[-170
MAIN MENU
FILE '\ 172
CONTENTS \ 114
NEW PROPOSALx 186
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 19s
RECALL PROPOSALK 188
SAVE PROPOSAL ’\ 190
CUSTOMIZE \ 177
PASSWORDS"k 224
CUSTOMER INFORMATION '\.176
DEALER NAME"k 225
CUSTOMER *\ 193
DEALER INFORMATIONK 228
LETTERK 202
STD. & OPT. EQUIP.“ 204
INTERNATIONAL'K 234
TRADEX 206
QUOTATION m 208 '
PAYMENT SCHED. & TERMS "\- 210
PRINT K 178
ECONOMICSK 212
PROPOSALK 218
FIG. 12
US. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
Sheet 14 0f 43
5,625,776
[ 174
comems
TABLE OF cormzmsm 1%
CURRENT PUBLICATION K 260
mmooucnoux 23s
COVER PAGE''\ 250
TABLE OF CONTENTS "\ 252
LETTERK 254
PRODUCT INFORMATION '\ 238
FEATURES & BENEFITS "\- 256
SPECIFICATIONS "'k 258
PERFORMANCEK 240
TRADE K 242
QUOTATION & SIGNATURE "\~ 244
PAYMENT SCHED. & TERMS K 246
ECONOMICSx 248
FIG. 13
US. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
Sheet 15 0f 43
107
DIFFERENCE DATABASE
ENVIRONMENT PICTURES ’'\~_ 122
ENVIRONMENT TEXT"\~ 124
PRODUCT PlCTURES’"\- 126
PRODUCT TEXT ’\ 128
PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONSX 121
PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONSX 123
PRICE SPECIFICATIONS-"x. 125
TRADEMARK PICTURES’M 127
LIFE CYCLE SPECIFICATIONS"k 129
PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS"\- 131 '
FIG. 14
5,625,776
U.S. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
Sheet 16 0f 43
106
REPORT DATABASE
PAGE LAYOUTS“ 120
FIG. 15
5,625,776
U.S. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
Sheet 17 0f 43
5,625,776
USER INTERFACE
FORM OBJECTS
A LETTERFORM
Z8}
A FINANCEFORM
A LIFECYCLEFORM
29.6
23.8
A TABLEOFCONTENTSFORM
A PRODUCTFORM
A PASSWORDFORM
220
30_0
A LISTOFSALESPERSONSFORM
310
A TRADEFORM
A DEALERFORM
101
A RECALLPROPOSALFORM
12
3116
A SAVEPROPOSALFORM
m
A LANGUAGEFORM
A QUOTATiONFORM
3M
2M
A CUSTOMERFORM
2&5
FIG. 16
US. Patent
Apr. 29, 1997
Sheet 18 0f 43
5,625,776
ACTIVE DATABASE
DATA OBJECTS
A LANGUAGEDATA
m
A CUSTOMIZEDATABA
A LISTOFSALESPERSONDATA
M
A PASSWORDDATA
1Q
A DEALERDATA
1i
A PROPOSAL HQ
A PRODUCTDATA
M
A TRADEDATA
m
A QUOTATIONDATA
14A
A TABLEOFCONTENTSDATA
13g
A FINANCEDATA
A COVERSHEETDATA
M
13g
A SALESPERSONDATA
13A
A LETTERDATA
A CUSTOMERDATA
115
A LIFECYCLEDATA
1A8
FIG. 17
_
135
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