Appeal No. 96-3615
Application 08/237,567
standing rejection of claims 23, 24, 29 and 30 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 112, second paragraph.
The 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) Rejection based on Alonso
(rejection (b))
At the outset, consistent with appellant’s specification,
we interpret the detection means called for in paragraph (b)
of claim 31 to comprise the spectroscopic means of paragraph
(c) and the conduction means of paragraph (d), rather than
means separate and distinct from that which is called for in
paragraphs (c) and (d).
Alonso pertains to an apparatus for (1) coating a coarse
granular material with a fine cohesive powder, and (2)
measuring continuously by optical means the fraction of
granular material coated by the fine powder. The mixing is
accomplished by a rotary barrel-type mixer. The measuring
means includes a series of probes which appear to be
continuously submerged in the mixture, each probe including
plastic optical fibers for transmitting light to and from the
mixture. The light reflected by the mixture is sensed by a
remote photosensitive diode. The sensed light signal is
thereafter filtered and rectified to obtain a signal
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