Opinion ID: 750685
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Language of Claim 1.

Text: 27 The crucial clause of claim 1 requires a call cost register means, including a digital display, for providing a substantially instantaneous display of cumulative call cost in dollars and cents. Because we can dispose of this appeal by construing only the call cost register means, we need not and do not construe other, unrelated clauses except to the extent they can help us establish the requirements attributed to a call cost register means by the '463 patent. We therefore focus our attention on reviewing the construction of this clause, and this clause only. 28 According to claim 1, the call cost register means provides a substantially instantaneous display of cumulative call cost in dollars and cents. Thus, it appears that a call cost register means functions to display current, accurate information about the cost of a call. It is not immediately clear, however, what the limitation substantially instantaneously requires. NTI and United suggest that it requires displayed information about the cost of the call at the same instant that charges accrue. Phonometrics argues, however, that it simply requires the display of accurate cost information immediately upon termination of the call. Fortunately, we need not rely solely on the words used in this means clause to determine the requirements of this limitation, for there are other clauses in claim 1 that inform our construction of the call cost register means and further define the functions attributed to it by the patentee. Specifically, the final three clauses of claim 1 provide such information. 29 The first of these three clauses requires an initial cost transfer means ... for applying the complete initial fixed charge data from said charge selector means to said call cost register means substantially instantaneously upon resetting of said call timing means and said call cost register (emphasis added). Thus, when the device is reset, the initial fixed charge data is transferred substantially instantaneously from the charge selector means to the call cost register means and displayed there via the digital display. 30 Claim 1 further requires (emphasis added) an incremental cost transfer means for applying the complete incremental charge data from said charge selector means to said call cost register means substantially instantaneously upon completion of timing out the initial call interval ... and for again applying the complete incremental charge data from said charge selector means to said call cost register means substantially instantaneously upon completion of timing out of each incremental call interval following said initial call interval. 31 According to this clause, if the call is still in progress when the initial call interval has expired, the incremental charge data is transferred to the call cost register means and displayed there substantially instantaneously. Additional incremental charges are transferred to the call cost register means substantially instantaneously upon the passage of additional call intervals. This process of transferring successive interval costs continues throughout the duration of the call. 32 The limitations in these clauses are revealing. The repeated use of the limitation substantially instantaneously to convey the immediacy by which the call interval cost information is transferred to the call cost register means supports our interpretation that the register displays cumulated costs as they accrue, in real time, and not only once the call has ended. A word or phrase used consistently throughout a claim should be interpreted consistently. Thus, as each cost increment is accrued, it is transferred to and displayed substantially instantaneously by the call cost register means. The phrase substantially instantaneously clarifies that the display in the register is current throughout the duration of the call; the call cost register does not merely display the cost after the call has ended. 33 Furthermore, the final clause addresses what occurs upon call termination; the claimed device includes a termination means for interrupting operation of said computer apparatus, with the cumulative call cost held in and displayed by said call cost register means, upon operation of said switch by replacement of the calling telephone. It is especially significant that, at the point at which the call is terminated, the apparatus does not perform a calculation to determine the total cost of the call. Thus, the cost displayed in the register must be accurate at all times during the call, so that regardless of the point at which the call is terminated, the cumulative cost displayed in the register will be accurate without further calculation. Phonometrics's description of its claimed device as a calculator is therefore misleading; rather, the claimed device is simply a continuous counting device, for no provision is made for any calculation upon completion of a call. 34 When the claim itself is considered in its entirety, it becomes clear that the call cost register means has two separate and equally important functions: (1) it provides the caller with real time, accurate information about the cost of the call via digital display as the long distance charges accrue during the call; and (2) it reflects the total cost of the call via the same digital display after the call has been terminated. Phonometrics argues that only the second function is claimed, or that only this second function is important for determining infringement. We disagree. Both functions are claimed explicitly in the '463 patent, and both are significant for construction. 35