Appeal No. 95-3876
Application 08/222,009
[W]hen the enabling signal to the transistor is
merely terminated, as in the circuit of the Iwata et
al[.] patent, the enabling voltage which maintains
the transistor in a conducting state does not
dissipate until such time as the capacitance
component of the transistor has discharged. In
contrast, when the enabling voltage is removed, as
in the present invention, the voltage is actually
taken away rather than merely allowed to dissipate.
In this regard, it is to be noted that the commonly
understood meaning of the word "remove" connotes
something more than mere termination or
interruption. For example, Webster's New Collegiate
Dictionary defines the word as "to change the
location, position, station, or residence of." In
other words, removal of a physical entity means to
positively move it from its current state, rather
than merely fail to maintain it in its state.
[Original emphasis.]
Appellants’ position is unpersuasive for the following
reasons. Since neither the term "remove" nor the phrase
"removing the enabling voltage" is defined in appellants'
specification, that language must be given its broadest
reasonable interpretation consistent with appellants'
disclosure. See In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054, 44 USPQ2d
1023, 1027 (Fed. Cir. 1997) ("the PTO applies to the verbiage
of the proposed claims the broadest reasonable meaning of the
words in their ordinary usage as they would be understood by
one of ordinary skill in the art, taking into account whatever
enlightenment by way of definitions or otherwise that may be
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