Appeal No. 1997-2774
Application No. 08/080,471
relies only upon Coutta for the last means of claim 14 (the
means for generating the electrical signal). Appellant
(Brief, pages 84-6) engages in a Donaldson analysis for the
claimed means in which he points out that the video mixer of
Coutta generates a signal from two analog signals, which
differs from appellant's generation of a signal from two
digital signals. Further, appellant clearly discloses that
the serial bit stream representing the image is "augmented at
the end by digital codes that specify the date and time of
arrival," which differs from a mixture of analog signals.
Thus, as both the methods of generating a signal and the
signal generated differ, we find the "means" for generating
the signal likewise is not an equivalent under 35 U.S.C. §
112, sixth paragraph. Consequently, we reverse the rejection
of claim 14.
Also, claims 16 through 22 and 24 through 26 all depend
from claim 14 and thus include the same limitation found
lacking from Tanaka and Coutta. Further, none of the
additional references used in the rejections of these claims
cure the deficiencies of Tanaka and Coutta. Accordingly, we
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