Appeal No. 94-4061
Application 07/659,683
We are of the opinion that the language of the claims clearly
recites the role of the recirculating shift register means
especially when viewed in light of the specification.
The examiner is of the view that the language: `for
decoding said predetermined address upon the execution of a
corresponding watchdog instruction' in claim 7 would be more
accurate if "upon" is replaced by "subsequent to" because
decoding addresses of watchdog instructions and execution of
watchdog instruction cannot occur at the same time (Examiner's
Answer, pages 3 and 7). We do not agree with the examiner that
the term "upon" in claim 7 indicates that the decoding and
execution steps occur at the same time. The ordinary meaning of
the term "upon" is "immediately following or very soon after. " 4
As to claim 15, the examiner states that the term
"including" is an abstract term that does not describe physical
operation. In our view, the person of ordinary skill in the art
would understand that a plurality of watchdog instructions are
included in a program executed by a microprocessor. In any
event, we agree with the appellant that the term "including" is
generally understood to mean "to place, list, or rate as a part
4 Webster's Third New International Dictionary (G.&C. Merriam
Co. 1981).
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