Appeal No. 1998-3369
Application No. 08/546,295
been motivated to combine the two references, as stated by
appellants (Brief, page 8), the references use "circuitry that
differs both in structure and operation from circuitry that
includes the voltage generation and retractions [sic,
retraction] means recited in the ... claims."
35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 6, states that an element
expressed only as a means-plus-function is to be construed to
cover the corresponding structure described in the
specification and equivalents thereof. Thus, in construing
means-plus-function language in a claim one must interpret
that language in light of the corresponding structure
described in the specification, and equivalents thereof. See
In re Donaldson Co., 16 F.3d 1189, 1193, 29 USPQ2d 1845, 1849
(Fed. Cir. 1994).
Claims 1 and 8 each recite a voltage generation means and
a retraction means. Turning to appellants' drawings and
specification, we find that the claimed voltage generation
means corresponds to voltage generator 84, which generates
multiple voltages which are provided to analog multiplexor 88
each via a separate signal path. The claimed retraction means
corresponds to 4 bit counter 86 and analog multiplexors 88 and
5
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