Appeal No. 1997-3444
Application 08/268,728
approach the rejection as a burden of proof issue. It is the
Examiner's duty to make a prima facie case that what is
claimed is inherent in the Handbook (and the other
references). See In re King, 801 F.2d 1324, 1327, 231
USPQ 136, 138 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
It is the Examiner's position that all bipolar
transistors are inherently capable of having the three
operation regions recited in claim 21. Appellants apparently
agree because no special bipolar transistor structure is
required for operation; it is apparently only required that VCE
is high enough (compare figure 4, for V = 6.25 V, to
CE
figure 6, for V = 1 V). However, claim 21 calls for more
CE
than just a bipolar transistor having inherent operational
characteristics. Assuming that all bipolar transistors are
inherently capable of having the three operation regions
recited in claim 21, the question is whether the Examiner has
established that the circuit disclosed in the Handbook
inherently has "means for biasing," "means for varying a
voltage," and operates as recited in claim 21.
The Examiner states that figure 3-1 of the Handbook shows
"a semiconductor device comprising: 'a bipolar transistor';
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