Appeal No. 95-3891
Application 08/066,405
claim does not preclude the "entry initiate signal" from being
generated by operation of one of the device category keys (i.e.,
the claimed "predetermined group of keys").
The references relied on by the examiner are:
Kocher et al. (Kocher) 4,386,436 May 31, 1983
Harger et al. (Harger) 4,566,034 Jan. 21, 1986
Platte et al. (Platte) 4,728,949 Mar. 1, 1988
Claims 1-12 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
unpatentable over Platte in view of Kocher and Harger. The brief
(at 4) indicates that apparatus claims 1 and 3-9 stand or fall
together and that method claims 2 and 10-12 stand together.
Platte discloses a remote control transmitter which
minimizes the number of keys by permitting each key 3 (Fig. 1) to
perform different functions at different times, with the current
function being indicated by an associated electronically
controlled display element 2, such as an LCD element. Platte
employs, for each device to be controlled, a separate plug-in
memory element (12, 13, 14) containing the formatting data
required for that device (col. 4, lines 22-46).
In the Answer (at 2-4), the examiner quotes extensively
from a Board decision in a prior appeal in parent application
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