Appeal 2006-2523
Application 10/206,496
Appellants further state that in adding water to “a liquid [ethanol]-
based reaction solution,”
[i]f the water is added to the reaction solution too rapidly, the
metal oxide will begin to form more quickly. In this situation, the
metal oxide will begin to form a continuous network which will
cause [sic] liquid solution to become a gel or to precipitate pure
metal oxide particles without coating the particles. The result
will be undesirable suspended metallic particles in a continuous
gel or in solution.
Specification, [0006] (emphasis supplied).
In describing the disclosed method, Appellants state that
water is slowly and precisely metered to the reaction solution to
polymerize the metal oxo-hydroxide species at a rate that avoids
forming a gel . . . . This polymerization reaction initiated by the
addition of water, coupled with the surfactant properties of the
phosphates in the solution causes a dense contiguous metal oxide
coating to form on the surface of the metal substrates that are
suspended in the metal oxo-hydroxide solution, but without the
formation of a gel within the solution. If the rate of water
addition is too high, precipitates begin to form in the solution
and gelation occurs. . . .
Specification, [0016] (emphasis supplied). Similarly, claims 1 and 6 as
originally filed contain the language
adding water to the reaction solution, at a rate sufficient to
polymerize the metallic precursors while avoiding the formation
of a gel to deposit a contiguous metal oxide layer on surfaces of
the suspended substrate particles . . . .
Specification, pages 11 and 12 (emphasis supplied).
Based on this disclosure in the specification, we determine the claim
language “avoiding the formation of precipitates in the solution and of a gel”
is reasonably interpreted as specifying avoiding (1) the formation of a gel in
a sol-gel solution and (2) the formation of precipitates in solution leading to
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