Appeal No. 1997-1982
Application No. 08/483,886
Claim 1, the only independent claim, recites "[a] signal
transmission performance optimization device ... comprising:
... control means for controlling a relative phase between two
propagation modes transmitted via said optical link for at
least one of said send end unit and said receive end unit"
(underlining added for emphasis). Appellants argue (Brief,
page 7) that the claimed invention is directed to optimizing
the transmitted signal whereas Heichler relates to optimizing
the recovered signal. In response, the examiner asserts
(Answer, page 7) that the phrase "for at least one of said
send end unit and said receive end unit" indicates that "the
localization of the optimization can be either the send or
receive end units."
To interpret the phrase as the examiner has, to mean that
the control can be of either the transmitted or the received
signal, requires one to ignore both the specification and also
other recitations in the claim. The claim is clearly directed
to optimizing signals transmitted from the send unit, as is
the claim (as printed in the appendix to the Brief). As the examiner has not
raised as an issue any indefiniteness in the claim, we will refrain from
discussing this any further.
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