Appeal No. 1997-2947
Application No. 08/352,079
optimize.” (Appeal Brief, p. 7).5 Further, appellants argue that optimization is not “routine”
unless the prior art recognizes that the variable to be optimized is result effective.
Abe suggests that the distance between catalyst A and B is a result effective variable. At
engine start-up, Abe describes passing electricity through a heater to:
[H]eat the heater and simultaneously the HC’s [hydrocarbons] captured by zeolite begin
to be desorbed, and the main monolith catalyst and/or the catalyst supported on the heater,
generally arranged downstream of the zeolite adsorbent is momentarily heated whereby
the HC’s are reacted and purified. (Abe, p. 5, lines 21-24).
Moreover, Abe is concerned about potential pressure loss occurring in the catalytic converter.
(Abe, p. 8, lines 34-35). In addressing the heating of the catalyst and adsorbent by the heater and
the potential for pressure loss, Abe places constraints on the respective placement of the catalyst
and adsorbent. Thus, the catalyst and adsorbent of Abe must be placed at a distance from the
heater which will allow each of them to be heated in a manner that allows for the conversion of
the hydrocarbons. Furthermore, one skilled in the art reading Abe would avoid placing the
respective catalyst, heater and adsorbent at distances which could detrimentally affect the
5Contrary to appellants’ assertions, appellants’ specification describes the distance
between the three-way catalyst and the adsorption catalyst as result effective. Specifically, while
the specification states that the distance is not critical, the specification recognizes that:
When the distance [between the catalyst and adsorption catalyst] is too near, there is a
possibility of causing the degradation of engine performance due to the rise of back
pressure, while when it is too apart from each other, the temperature of the catalyst
located at the downstream side is not raised and there is a possibility of degrading the
purification performance of the dropped-off HC. (Specification, page 6-7).
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