Appeal No. 1997-0601
Application 08/161,878
the various regions and conclude by asserting [id. 7 and 8]
that “all of the above information is common knowledge to
persons skilled in the art, as these ‘four layer diodes’ or
Shockley diodes are well known.” Appellants further elaborate
on their position and state [reply brief, page 2] that
“[s]pace-charge depletion layers surround the p-n junctions
depicted in Figure 5, ... . These depletion layers are not
depicted in Figure 5, but their existence and characteristics
are thoroughly understood by those skilled in the art.” The
Examiner makes a reference [answer, pages 6 to 7] to the July
17, 1996 [sic, 1995] amendment where “Applicant [sic]
appreciates [id. 3] the detailed examination by the Examiner,
and the pointing out of an apparent error in the drawings for
figures 5 and 10. Clearly, the additional n+ region within P
regions 88 was simply omitted from the drawing. As was noted
by the examiner, ... , these regions are required to provide
the back to back switches ..., no new matter is added by these
drawing corrections.” The Examiner notes [answer, page 7] the
omission of any drawing corrections or any explanation for
this omission.
We are of the view that Appellants admitted, as the
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