Appeal No. 2002-0152 Page 4
Application No. 09/004,775
used in the claims as a bracket disposed along the centerline of the backboard and rim
structure.
The AAPA (Figure 2 of the Schroeder patent) structure which is the jumping off
point of the examiner’s rejection includes a pair of mounting brackets 66 connected by
U-bolts 68 to a tubular center strut 50, a frame including a pair of vertical guides 62
connected via horizontal elements 64 to the brackets 66, a pair of slides 58 vertically
slidably mounted over the guides 62, vertical members 54 attached to the slides and
lateral supports 52 attached to the vertical members 54 using U-bolts 56, a backboard
20 mounted to the lateral supports and a rim 22 generally mounted to the backboard
structure or frame (column 4, lines 5-6).
The explanation of the examiner’s rejection, as articulated on page 3 of the
answer, is as follows:
Schroeder discloses a support mount (66) coupled to a
single support strut (50); a guide connected to the support
mount (62); a pair of slides mounted to the guide (58); a
backboard (20); a drive for positioning said slide along the
guide (70); attachment means for the rim, backboard, guide
and support (fig 2). The Schroeder art is unclear in the
exact means of attachment of the rim and backboard to the
support structure. White discloses the rim attached to the
slide apparatus (45[3]). It would have been obvious to an
ordinary person skilled in the art to have employed the
attachment means and apertures of White with the
apparatus of fig 2 in order to produce an attached rim which
3 In that White’s reference numeral 45 denotes a bolt, we presume that the examiner intended to
refer to the goal mounting members 44 as responding to the “slide.”
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Last modified: November 3, 2007