Ex parte YASAR et al. - Page 7




          Appeal No. 1997-3515                                                        
          Application No. 08/390,226                                                  



          arranged substantially parallel with the track with each unit               
          being associated with one of the housings and its track                     
          segment and including means for imposing at least one magnetic              
          field within the respective housing to magnetically translate               
          the carrier through the housing along the respective track                  
          segment via the wheels, and a controller for opening and                    
          closing the valves and moving the magnetic fields according to              
          a predetermined sequence.  Independent claim 16 sets forth the              
          invention in slightly different terms, but contains the same                
          limitations.                                                                
               The examiner’s position is that all of the structure                   
          recited in claim 1 is found in either Norman or Bloomquist,                 
          except for the magnetic drive system, but that replacing the                
          mechanical drive systems disclosed in these two references                  
          would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in              
          view of the teachings of Belna, Kita and Kawaguchi.  As we                  
          assess the rejection, the dispositive issue is whether one of               
          ordinary skill in the art would have found suggestion in the                
          applied prior art to replace the mechanical transport                       
          mechanisms disclosed in Norman and Bloomquist with the                      

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