Appeal No. 1997-1397
Application 08/411,245
in claim language automatically renders a claim indefinite.
However, definiteness problems often arise when words of
degree are used in a claim. In such a case, it must be
decided whether one of ordinary skill in the art would
understand what is claimed when the claim is
read in light of the specification. Seattle Box Co. v.
Industrial Crating & Packing, Inc., 731 F.2d 818, 826, 221
USPQ 568, 574 (Fed. Cir. 1984).
The language of the claims questioned by the examiner is
(1) the recitation in claim 11 that the vibrations are
generated for a predetermined time period which is “many times
greater” than the time required for vibrational wave energy to
be reflected back to the earth’s surface from the deepest
subsurface earth formation of interest, and (2) the recitation
in claim 11 that the recording of the seismic signals begins
after a “relatively short delay time” that is approximately
equal to the time required for vibrational energy to be
reflected back to the earth’s surface from the deepest
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