Appeal No. 1997-2294 Page 8
Application No. 08/284,183
30 coupled directly or indirectly to a pair of
corresponding bit lines BL-BL-; first and second
pass transistors 36p-36n; first and second local
data write driver circuits WRSEL, 38j,54T-57T, 59T-
60T, 53, 54C-57C, and 59C-60C .... (Examiner’s
Answer at 4.)
The appellant replies, “WRSEL, 38j, 54T-57T, 59T-60T, 53, 54C-
57C and 59C-60C of McClure are not local data write driver
circuits to memory cells 30.” (Reply Br. at 10.) We disagree
with the appellant and also disagree with the examiner.
The appellant errs by attempting to read limitations from
the specification into the claims. “In the patentability
context, claims are to be given their broadest reasonable
interpretations. Moreover, limitations are not to be read
into the claims from the specification.” In re Van Geuns, 988
F.2d 1181, 1184, 26 USPQ2d 1057, 1059 (Fed. Cir. 1993)
(internal citations omitted). Each of claims 22-28 specifies
in pertinent part “[a] sense amplifier arrangement for an
integrated circuit memory comprising ... first and second
local data write driver circuits ....” Things that are local,
“hav[e] a definite spatial form or location.” Webster’s Ninth
New Collegiate Dictionary 700 (1990). Giving the limitations
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