Appeal No. 2005-1724
Application 09/758,127
attached and powered, the device should return an ACK, as
described at column 30, lines 14-18 (Br9). It is argued that the
HEARTBEAT packet is not used to determine whether the device is
ready to execute a request command (Br9) and "[s]pecifically,
whether a device is able to receive any data is quite different
from the feature of claim 92 of sending ... a signal indicating
that the portable personal device is ready to execute a request
command" (RBr5).
Bastiani does not meet the claim limitations. In Bastiani,
"[t]he HEARTBEAT signal packet is sent by the host at a very low
frequency rate to determine if a device has detached from a port
or if a port which previously had no device attached, now has a
device attached" (col. 43, lines 18-21). "The HEARTBEAT packet
can also be used to provide support for removable media devices.
A device must respond to the HEARTBEAT packet with an ACK packet
if the device is ready and there is no change in media status
since the last status read." (Col. 43, lines 31-34.) "ACK in
the case of Heartbeat indicates that the device is powered and
able to receive link or device commands." (Col. 31, line 67, to
col. 32, line 2.) The HEARTBEAT packet is not a "request
command" because the packet is not later executed, as claimed,
but is a "is the device ready?" command. Bastiani's teaching
that the ACK indicates that the device is ready and able to
receive device commands might reasonably be interpreted as a
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