Appeal No. 1998-1661
Application No. 08/409,244
and Yb-doped media that do have these properties and excludes
those that don’t. Clearly, claim 1, as well as claim 11, is
definite with respect to which Nd- and Yb-doped gain media are
to be used by the instant invention.
With regard to the examiner not being clear as to whether
the simple passing of the MO beam through the Yb-doped gain
medium will produce the claimed MOPA system, that is
appellants’ claimed invention, i.e., a MOPA laser wherein the
MO beam is passed through the Yb-doped gain medium, wherein
the Nd-doped gain medium and the Yb-doped gain medium have
certain specific properties.
The examiner further explains that claims 9 and 11 are
indefinite and incomplete because if the MO is to generate a
laser beam, it must be pumped and the recitation of “for
generating a MO beam” is a recitation of a function but it is
not in a “proper means-plus-function format.” The examiner
applies similar reasoning for objecting to the “for amplifying
the MO beam” language on line 5 of claims 9 and 11. As
explained supra, there is no requirement that functional
language must be employed in a claim in a “means-plus-
function” format. If the functional language serves to
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