Appeal No. 1999-2099
Application No. 08/475,627
the processor which is in turn in communication with all of
the machines" (answer, page 4). From this, the examiner
concludes that one of ordinary skill "would readily recognize
that such an arrangement inherently constitutes a control
network of machines in communication with each other" (id.,
pages 4 to 5). Appellants disagree with the examiner's
interpretation of the specification.
After fully considering the record in light of the
arguments presented in appellants' brief and reply brief, and
in the examiner's answer, we conclude that the AAPA does not
anticipate the network recited in rejected independent claims
1, 4, 5 and 6, and thus does not anticipate any of the claims
included in rejection (1). Contrary to the examiner, we do
not interpret the above-quoted language from page 5 of the
specification as disclosing that the controllers on each of
the machines all provide signals to single pre-programmed
processor, but rather, taken in context, that each controller
provides output signals to a separate pre-programmed
processor. This is brought out by the disclosure at page 5,
line 13 that the processor controls "the respective machine,"
and by the further disclosure at page 5, lines 14 and 15, that
5
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