Appeal No. 2000-0431 Page 17
Application No. 08/789,127
“alcoves,” col. 3, l. 44, or inside “a large branching hallway
66.” Col. 4, l. 2. Figures 2 and 3 of the secondary reference,
however, show that the aforementioned area 40 includes neither
alcoves nor hallways. When cleaning the area 40, therefore, the
robot 10 cleans the entire accessible surface of the area.
Third, as mentioned regarding the first pont of contention,
the examiner asserts, “in column 3, Bancroft discloses the size
(or width) of the running or working are, [sic, area] i.e. are
[sic, area] to be cleaned.” (Examiner’s Answer at 4-5.) The
appellants argue that none of the references “teach[] the
operation means that determines a prescribed pitch, let alone a
prescribed pitch based upon input parameters of the area to be
cleaned and the position of the apparatus, recited in claim 11.”
(Appeal Br. at 35-36.)
“In the patentability context, claims are to be given their
broadest reasonable interpretations. Moreover, limitations are
Page: Previous 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007