Appeal No. 96-0153
Application No. 08/014,407
predetermined threshold value". This claim 5 limitation is
described in the paragraph bridging specification pages 5 and
6 as an improved technique for effecting the earlier mentioned
compensation while avoiding disadvantages associated with
completely reacting the stored NH . It is apparent that the
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limitations of independent claim 1 and dependent claim 5 are
incompatible. Indeed, the independent claim requirement that
stored NH be "completely reacted" is expressly repudiated by
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the
dependent claim 5 recitation that the claim 1 interruption
step "does not continue until the NH stored in the catalyst
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has completely reacted".
According to the fourth paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112, a
dependent claim "shall . . . specify a further limitation of
the subject matter claimed . . . [and] shall be construed to
incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to
which it refers". As explained above, dependent claim 5 does
not further limit or incorporate by reference all the
limitations of parent claim 1. On the contrary, this
dependent claim expressly repudiates a limitation of its
parent claim. For these reasons, we hereby invoke our
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