Appeal No. 1998-2941 Page 25
Application No. 08/061,985
Reexamination Control No. 90/003,682
The appellants have grouped claims 20, 22-27 and 46/20 as
standing or falling together. Thereby, in accordance with11
37 CFR § 1.192(c)(7), claims 22-27 and 46/20 fall with claim
20. Thus, it follows that the decision of the examiner to
reject claims 22-27 and 46/20 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) is also
affirmed.
Rejection (7)
We will not sustain the rejection of claims 22-24 and 30-
32 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Dunn.
The examiner determined (answer, p. 9) that
Although Dunn et al discloses a shelf life of over 28
days, it is silent as to the time which extends over 28
days. The instant claims differ in that they
specifically call for a shelf life of 8 to 36 weeks (e.g.
claim 22), 12 to 16 weeks (e.g. claim 23), or 16 to 36
weeks (e.g. claims 24). However, Dunn et al do show the
concept of manipulating the parameters such as
refrigerator temperature, pasteurization temperature, and
strategy of heating (e.g. by pulsing) to effect a greater
shelf life in the final egg product. For example, in
fig. 13, Dunn et al shows the concept of extending the
egg shelf life by decreasing the refrigerator storage
temperatures. Therefore, in view of such teachings, it
11See page 8 of the appellants' brief.
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