Appeal No. 2001-0390
Application 08/932,238
We will sustain the examiner’s rejection. The question
comes down to whether fibers 1301, windows 1510 or opening
portions 1625 of the admitted prior art constitute light emission
portions within the meaning of claim 1. Appellants’ argument is
based on the fact that in their invention, the points where light
originates are aligned with respective light receiving elements
whereas, this is not true of the admitted prior art. Claim 1,
however, recites a light source having a plurality of light
emission portions and the light emission portions include a light
blocking layer. Thus, claim 1 specifically sets forth that
elements which block the passage of light are to be considered as
part of the light source which includes the light emission
portions. In our view, the examiner has simply applied this same
definition to the admitted prior art. Specifically, the examiner
has considered the light blocking and passing elements of the
admitted prior art to form part of the light source as defined in
claim 1. Therefore, fibers 1301, windows 1510 and opening
portions 1625 are considered to form part of the light source.
Since these elements determine where the light will be emitted,
they are light emission portions as defined in claim 1. Since
the examiner is correct that fibers 1301, windows 1510 and
opening portions 1625 are substantially aligned with
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