Appeal No. 97-4425
Application 08/619,418
appellants assert (Reply at 3, lines 14-15) that in case there is
some delay along the sense line, control signals can still be
provided along the conductive element without incurring a delay.
On page 10 of the answer, the examiner identifies what he
considers to be the conductive element in Kohno, i.e., conductive
line element L32. However, as is discussed by Kohno in column
13, lines 49-60, conductive element L32 is formed in a second
wiring layer formed above the memory cell. Thus, the appellants
are correct that L32 is not formed on the major surface of the
substrate.
On page 11 of the answer, the examiner inexplicably switched
what he regards as the conductive element. Here, he regards the
unnamed connection between line L1 and the sense amplifier as the
conductive element. It is inappropriate to switch in mid-stream
without re-establishing all that is required of the conductive
element as claimed, e.g., connection to the first and second
nodes. What is true for L32 is not automatically true for the
unnamed segment connecting L1 to the sense amplifier. As is
shown in Kohno’s Figure 11, L32 and the unnamed element are
clearly different elements.
The appellants are correct that there is no basis for the
examiner to assume that the unnamed element connecting the line
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