Appeal No. 2000-0502
Application No. 08/890,438
when the shift selector position is changed from the low-range
portion of the shift pattern to the high-range portion, and
vice versa, but while this change in position of the shift
selector may under normal circumstances be "indicative of an
operator intent to shift" from a low-range ratio to a high-
range ratio, or vice versa, it is not necessarily indicative
of such an intent. In fact, as discussed above, appellants’
disclosed apparatus is designed to prevent shifting from a
low-range ratio to a high-range ratio (or vice versa) when the
operator erroneously or inadvertently moves the shift selector
from the low-range portion to the high-range portion of the
shift pattern (or vice versa) without intending to shift from
a low-range ratio to a high-range ratio (or vice versa). As
such, the recitation that the shift selector position is
"indicative of an operator intent to shift" seems to be
virtually the antithesis of appellants’ disclosed invention,
and thus we do not consider that the application as filed
would reasonably convey to one of ordinary skill that
appellants were in possession of the invention as claimed.
Vas-Cath, supra. In summary, while appellants’ disclosed
sensing means senses changes of position of the shift selector
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