Appeal No. 2002-1788 Page 12
Application No. 09/217,667
used in claim language which means that the named elements are essential, but other
elements may be added and still form a construct within the scope of the claim (i.e., the
claim is of an open-ended construction). See In re Baxter, 656 F.2d 679, 686, 210
USPQ 795, 802 (CCPA 1981). As such, claim 1 is not limited to a single detection
sensor that generates a detection sensor signal that is used to automatically align the
sheet material. Thus, the limitation of claim 1 of "a detection sensor" that generates a
detection sensor signal and that the sheet material is "automatically aligned based on
said detection sensor signal" is readable on Williams' sensor 130 when the sheet
material 11 is moving in the direction indicated in Figure 2 since the claim does not
exclude additional sensors.
Second, Williams' sensor 130 is disposed behind the nips 114 and 116 (i.e., the
friction wheels) with respect to the sheet material motion as clearly shown in Figure 2.
As set forth in the appellants' disclosure (e.g., specification, p. 5), sensor 58 (shown in
Figures 1-6 as being upstream of friction wheels 34 and 36 when the strip material 12 is
moved in the feed direction indicated by feed path 24) is disposed behind the friction
wheels 34 and 36 with respect to the strip material motion indicated by the arrow.
Thus, we understand the claimed location of the detection sensor (i.e., "disposed
behind said first friction wheel and said second friction wheel with respect to direction of
motion of said strip material") to mean that the detection sensor is upstream from the
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