Appeal No. 97-1754
Application 08/462,133
transferring” limitation, it is not clear whether these
“means” are directed to different structures or to the same
structure. Second, “said area in which said articles are to
be accumulated for advancement downstream” (lines 12-13) and
“said inbound accumulating area” (lines 14-15) each lacks a
proper antecedent and it is not clear what these terms refer
to. Claim 3 is replete with additional terms that lack a
proper antecedent. See, for example, “said inbound
accumulator means” (lines 32-33), “said outbound accumulator
means” (line 33), and “said article group receptacle areas”
(line 34). Also, it is not clear whether “said transfer
means” (line 20 and lines 33-34) refers to the “article group
transfer means . . .” of lines
10-13, or to the “means for transferring . . .” of lines 13-
18. In short, the lack of proper antecedent for numerous
terms in claim 3 is confusing and needlessly obscures the
metes and bounds thereof. Third, it is not clear what4
It is suggested that, in the event of further prosecution, the claims4
be checked for consistency of terminology.
14
Page: Previous 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007