Appeal No. 96-4045
Application 08/441,984
made to the examiner’s answer, page 4 for the further details
of this 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) rejection.
OPINION
We have carefully reviewed the rejections on appeal in
light of the arguments of the appellant and the examiner. As
a result of this review, we have reached the conclusion that
claim 22 is indefinite under the purview of 35 U.S.C. § 112,
second para-graph. Therefore, the rejection of this claim
will be affirmed. However, with respect to claims 4 through 6
and 21 through 23, it is our view that these claims are so
indefinite as to preclude the possibility of properly
construing them for an art rejection. Therefore, as outlined
below, pursuant to our authority under
37 CFR § 1.196(b), we will enter a rejection of these claims
under § 112, second paragraph, and reverse the rejection
thereof under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b).
Turning to the rejection of claim 22 under 35 U.S.C. §
112, second paragraph, we note that
[t]he use of the term 'means' has come to
4
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