Appeal No. 1998-1133
Application 08/382,296
Accordingly, we conclude that the examiner has not
carried the burden of establishing a prima facie case of
obviousness of the system recited in claim 21. We therefore
reverse the rejection of this claim and the claims which
depend therefrom.
Rejection of claim 22
Dunne discloses a method for treating exhaust gases of an
engine which can be an internal combustion engine (col. 4,
lines 34-39). At a point in the method where hydrocarbons are
being desorbed from an adsorbent bed which is followed by a
catalytic bed (which corresponds to the appellants’ igniter),
a minor portion of the exhaust gases is passed through the
adsorbent and catalytic bed, and a major portion of the
exhaust gases is bypassed around the adsorbent and catalytic
bed (abstract; col. 10, lines 1-14). The catalytic bed
converts hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide
and water (col. 10, lines 7-9). These combustion reactions
necessarily increase the temperature of the exhaust gases
passing through the catalytic bed. The exhaust gases from the
catalytic bed are passed to a catalytic converter after the
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