Appeal No. 1996-1767 Page 22
Application No. 08/220,410
Here, claims 9-11 specify in pertinent part “a first
adder having at least two outputs, a first multiplier and a
second multiplier, each of said first multiplier and said
second multiplier being connected to each of said outputs of
said first adder ....” In short, the claims recite a first
adder with two outputs.
On first reading, claims 9-11 may appear definite. On
reading the specification, however, the claims take on an
unreasonable degree of uncertainty. Specifically, the
appellants have marked a copy of Figure 4 of their
specification to indicate that the claim language refers to
adder 209 or adder 203 of the figure. (Appeal Br. at 9.)
Rather than having two outputs as claimed, however, adders 209
and 203 each has a single output. The single output of each
adder, in turn, has two branches. Each branch is connected to
a separate multiplier. Therefore, claims 9-11 fail to
particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter
which the appellants regard as their invention. 3
3The fact that the limitation may have appeared in the
(continued...)
Page: Previous 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007