Appeal No. 95-2867 Page 3
Application 07/744,324
said signal,
detecting the noise present within said predeter-
mined spectral range, and
processing at least one portion of said AM signal
in response to the detection of a predetermined amount
of noise in said spectral range.
According to Appellants, the filtering and detecting steps correspond
to the acts performed by filter 36 and noise detector 38. (Paper 15
at 6.) The structures and functions of these components are shown in
Figures 1, 2, and 4 and are discussed in specification at pages 10-
12. The filter 36 may be a narrow bandpass filter centered at AC
power line frequency. (Paper 1 at 10:22-24.) The detector 38 has a
comparator 46 that switches from low to high when the filtered signal
exceeds a threshold voltage 48. (Paper 1 at 11:28-33.)
4. The examiner has rejected claims 34 and 39 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 102, and has rejected claim 35 under 35 U.S.C. § 103, in view of
the following reference (Paper 9 at 2-3):
Inoue 4,718,115 Jan. 5, 1988
5. The examiner identified Inoue's radio-frequency band-pass
filter (RF BPF) 11 as providing acts equivalent to Appellants'
filtering step.2 Similarly, the examiner identified Inoue's squelch
2 Since both Inoue's and Appellants' detector receive a
processed IF signal, Inoue's IF band-pass filter (IF BPF) 123 seems a
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