Appeal No. 96-0447
Application No. 08/145,731
Tenen 3,909,666 Sep. 30, 1975
Nerone et al. 5,059,867 Oct. 22, 1991
(Nerone)
Claims 3, 5 and 9 through 18 stand rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 103. As evidence of obviousness, the examiner cites
Tenen with regard to claims 3, 5, 9, 10, 12 through 14 and 18,
adding Nerone with regard to claims 11 and 15 through 17.
A rejection of claims 5, 10 and 14 under 35 U.S.C. § 112,
second paragraph, has been withdrawn by the examiner and is
not before us on appeal.
Reference is made to the briefs and answer for the
respective positions of appellant and the examiner.
OPINION
We reverse.
Independent claims 12 and 14 are very specific in the
recitation of elements which form an improvement for an
“operating circuit” of an HID lamp. While the ballast circuit
includes both a starting circuit and an operating circuit,
these claims are specifically directed to the “operating
circuit” portion of the electronic ballast. Independent claim
18 is not so direct but, while a starting circuit is not
mentioned as being part of the electronic ballast circuit, the
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