Appeal No. 96-0447
Application No. 08/145,731
The primary reference to Tenen appears, at first, to
disclose a similar circuit arrangement, comprising capacitors
and diodes, as the instant invention. However, on a closer
inspection, it is seen that capacitors 27 and 28 are employed
to start the lamp but are essentially out of the circuit
during the operation of the lamp. Note column 2, lines 53-58
of Tenen, wherein it is stated:
When lamp 12 ignites, its impedance drops, the
current through it increases and the voltage between
electrodes 34 and 35 drops because most of the
current then flows through capacitors 16 and 17 of
much lower impedance
than trigger capacitors 27 and 28 so that the voltage
increasing effect of the trigger capacitors is then
negligible.
Accordingly, it does not appear that one could reasonably
conclude that capacitors 27 and 28 in Tenen are part of the
operating circuit, as defined by the instant claims and so the
examiner’s reliance on these capacitors of Tenen as somehow
being part of the operating circuit, which is separate and
distinct from the starting circuit, as claimed, is misplaced.
To the extent that one might consider the starting
circuit and operating circuit to be inseparable and that the
capacitors 27 and 28 of Tenen might be considered to be part
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