Appeal No. 96-1659
Application 08/166,931
A.C. power lines or ordinary telephone lines for powering
loads such as smoke alarms [answer, page 9].
The examiner’s assertion that Watkins suggests the
obviousness of powering loads from ordinary telephone lines is
baseless. The telephone lines in Watkins only power the
telephone lines and nothing else. Watkins teaches that the
phone lines of a neighboring home can be accessed when the
phone lines at a given home have been cut by an intruder. The
phone lines in Watkins, however, are powered only by the
telephone company. The signal that telephone lines have been
cut in Watkins is transmitted between homes using conventional
A.C. electric wiring. Watkins never suggests that the power
available on the conventional telephone lines could or should
be used to power something other than the telephone lines.
Since claim 55 recites that building smoke alarms must be
powered by conventional telephone lines, and since Watkins
does not suggest this feature for reasons just discussed, we
do not sustain the rejection of claim 55 under 35 U.S.C. §
103.
In summary, the rejection of claims 35-41, 44-46 and
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