Appeal No. 97-1754
Application 08/462,133
not clear whether these “means” limitations are directed to
different structures or to the same structure. Second, it
appears that the term “storage container means” in lines 24-25
and the term “storage trays” in line 36 refer to the same
element. Likewise, it appears that the “storage area” of line
24 and the “group-receiving storage areas” of line 37-38 refer
to the same storage areas. If true, the use of multiple terms
for the same elements is confusing and needlessly obscures the
metes and bounds of the claim. On the other hand, if these
terms do not refer to the same elements, the meaning of the
claim is not clear. Third, in line 40, “the elevator shaft
area” lacks a proper antecedent and it is not clear what this
term refers to.
Turning to claim 3, lines 10-13 set forth “article group
transfer means . . . for advancement downstream” and lines 13-
18 set forth “means for transferring . . . downstream bound
articles are accumulating.” In that the disclosed
reciprocating transfer head 24 appears to perform both the
function called for in the “article group transfer means”
limitation and the function called for in the “means for
13
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Last modified: November 3, 2007