Appeal No. 95-3876
Application 08/222,009
(Paper No. 1 at 10:16-20.) The flash firing control circuit 5
provides the functions (applying and removing an enabling
voltage at the gate of the IGBT, i.e., turning the IGBT ON and
OFF) claimed for the control means in claim 14 without
addition or modification. Counsel confirmed at the hearing
that the claimed control means corresponds to the flash firing
control circuit 5. The structure corresponding to the claimed
control means is defined to include transistors Q3 and Q6.
The control means includes transistor Q3
Even if we apply paragraph six to claim 14, does it
necessarily follow that transistors Q3 and Q6 must be included
as corresponding structure? After all, during prosecution,
claims are given their broadest reasonable interpretation
consistent with the specification as read by a person having
ordinary skill in the art. In re Sneed, 710 F.2d 1544, 1548,
218 USPQ 385, 388 (Fed. Cir. 1983). It is not appropriate to
interpolate limitations from the specification to avoid
unpatentability.
In re Paulsen, 30 F.3d 1475, 1480, 31 USPQ2d 1671, 1674 (Fed.
Cir. 1994) ("A limitation is extraneous if it is read into a
claim from the specification wholly apart from any need to
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