Appeal No. 2000-2139
Application No. 08/938,704
channels 207, 209 exert at most a minimal pressure on the
shield 211 perpendicular to the circuit board 205. Rather, as
shown in Fig. 4, they are spaced apart at their narrowest
spacing a distance less than the thickness of the shield, so
that they will exert pressure on the shield wall 401 when it
is inserted between them, i.e., a pressure parallel to the
circuit board, thereby releasably holding the shield in
position. Since the spring members 7 of the APA do not
perform any such function, and exert a pressure
perpendicular to the circuit board, we do not consider that
the APA’s disclosure of such spring members 7 would have
taught or motivated one of ordinary skill in the art to
substitute such spring members for the spring channels of
Beutler. While Beutler’s spring fingers and the spring
members 7 of the APA are both “springs”, their function and
operation is so different that the substitution of one for the
other would not have been suggested by the prior art.
The Ito reference does not supply the above discussed
deficiency in the combination of Beutler, Mendolia and the
APA.
Accordingly, the rejections of claims 9, 11 and 12 will
6
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007