Appeal No. 1998-0165
Application 08/566,270
data stream 23', has an “on” state (saturation mode ) and an2
“off” state. The impedance of the combination including PIN
diode 27' and inductor 26' changes in accordance with the “on”
and “off” state of transistor switch 29. In the terms of
appellant’s Claims 1 and 10, the PIN diode forms a part of the
“first or a second impedance” selected by the “switching
device,” which includes transistor switch 29. The argued
differences between the claims and Anderson are thus found in
the reference.
Appellant’s main argument regarding the reference appears
to be that the Anderson device requires a PIN diode for proper
operation. The argument is simply irrelevant with respect to
the claims as drafted. Appellant appears to be comparing
disclosure to disclosure, rather than addressing the claims at
issue. However, claims are to be given their broadest
reasonable interpretation during prosecution, and the scope of
a claim cannot be narrowed by reading disclosed limitations
The artisan knew that a transistor used as a switch -- as opposed to2
functioning as a linear amplifier -- most commonly operates in saturation mode
when “on.” See, e.g., Raymond B. Yarbrough, Electrical Engineering Reference
Manual, Fifth Edition (1990) at 10-9 (“Most logic circuits use these two
extreme regions [i.e., saturation and cutoff regions for an NPN transistor] to
define the two states needed in binary logic.”)(copy enclosed).
- 6 -6
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007