Appeal No. 96-2440
Application 08/099,289
Even assuming that the term "latent periods" can refer to
non-useful or dead spaces before and after valid video within one
scanned line as is described in the specification, and also to
vertical blanking intervals between scanned lines as urged by the
examiner, that does not render the claim term "non-useful or dead
(i.e., dark) video data signals" so broad as to read on both
types of latent periods. Only the first type of latent period is
described and referred to by the appellants in connection with
the claimed "non-useful or dead (i.e., dark) video data signals."
The term "latent periods" appears nowhere in the claims. It is
the interpretation of the claim term "non-useful or dead (i.e.,
dark) video data signals" that is at issue, not the
interpretation of the term "latent periods" which simply appears
as a descriptive term in the specification.
It is unreasonable to read the above-quoted text from the
specification as describing the vertical blanking interval
between scanned lines. The examiner is wrong in finding (answer
on the top of page 5) that Hunt’s vertical blanking interval is
the same as the dead spaces in the appellants’ specification.
The appellants’ specification does not describe the vertical
blanking interval between scanned lines as the non-useful or dead
(i.e., dark) video data signals. See also original claim 11 of
5
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