Appeal No. 97-1444 Page 5
Application No. 08/394,499
Webster's Third New International Dictionary, (1971)
provides the following definitions:
1. Stiffness is defined as "rigidity . . . resistance (as of a
structural beam) to bending under stresses within the elastic
limit."
2. Stiff is defined as "incapable of or resistant to being flexed
or bent."
3. Prevent is defined as "to keep from happening or existing esp.
by precautionary measures."
From our reading of the appellant's specification and the
above-noted definitions, it is our determination that the
broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the
specification of the recitation in claim 1 that "the mat provided
with sufficient stiffness to prevent wrapping around a child, to
thereby prevent suffocation" is that the mat has a rigidity that
provides sufficient resistance to bending such that the mat is
not capable of closely encircling a child's head. Likewise, our
reading of the appellant's specification and the above-noted
definitions, leads us to the conclusion that the broadest
reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification of
the recitation in claim 8 that "said bottom layer imparting
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