Appeal No. 97-2762
Application No. 08/309,845
switched cellular system having many base stations
for handing off. Thus, claim 12 recites, "In an
apparatus for alternately coupling a land-line,
telephonic communication device between a land-line
link and a radio link". Since the claims are not
read in a vacuum, but in light of the specification,
the radio link is like the land-line link in that
both are separate and distinct telephone systems.
(Emphasis added).
Insofar as claim 12 is concerned, we agree with
appellants’ argument. The claim 12 apparatus for alternately
coupling a land-line, telephonic communication device between
a land-line link and a radio link comprises a wired link that
connects a land-line, telephonic communication device and the
land-line’s central station, and a radio link that connects a
land-line, telephonic communication device to a base station.
Inasmuch as the radio link that connects the land-line,
telephonic device to the base station differs from the wired
link that connects the land-line, telephonic device and the
land-line’s central station, we agree with appellants that
claim 12 is directed to "separate and distinct telephone
systems" (Brief, page 6). Shibata discloses a single
telephone system (Figure 1) in which a telephone 7 has a wired
link to a central station 8, and a radio link to a plurality
of telephones 1-1 through 1-m. Although a radio link exists
5
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