Appeal No. 94-3823
Application 07/812,249
sitting at a terminal writing the software for the
invention.
Answer at 4-5. Thus, the examiner views the following claim
phrases as indefinite: "predominate"; "non-predominate";
"non-distracting"; "small amount"; "permitting recognition";
and "processing." We disagree, however, with the examiner that
the foregoing claim phrases are indefinite within the meaning
of 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph, and address each of them
below.
We agree with appellants that, in view of the specification
and claim language, "predominate" is reasonably viewed, by a
person of ordinary skill in the character recognition art, to
mean that a single color is visually associated with a character
and that color is readily distinguishable by humans. See
specification at 4, lines 20-25; claim 1 ("plural pixels which
are of a first color, said first color pixels being predominate
so as to allow humans to distinguish said character"). Thus,
this claim phrase is sufficiently defined. See In re Johnson,
558 F.2d 1008, 1016, 194 USPQ 187, 194 (CCPA 1977) (only a
reasonable degree of certainty is required); In re Hammack,
427 F.2d 1378, 1382, 166 USPQ 204, 208 (CCPA 1970) (the purpose
8
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