Appeal No. 2000-0477
Application No. 08/834,410
before providing a succeeding layer. This appealed subject
matter is adequately illustrated by claims 6 and 7 which read as
follows:
6. A method of manufacturing a sintered structure formed of
layers of sintered particles on a substrate, said method
comprising providing said substrate with layers of a liquid
charged with particles by means of an ink jet printer,
evaporating the liquid from each layer and then by means of
a laser sintering the particles in said layer before
providing a succeeding layer.
7. A method as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the liquid is
evaporated by means of a laser.
The references set forth below are relied upon by the
examiner in the Section 102 and Section 103 rejections before us:
Masters 4,665,492 May 12, 1987
Drummond et al. (Drummond) 5,132,248 Jul. 21, 1992
Claims 7 and 8 are rejected under the second paragraph of
35 U.S.C. § 112 for failing to particularly point out and
distinctly claim the subject matter which the appellant regards
as his invention.
Claims 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being
anticipated by Masters.1
1The final office action includes an alternative Section 103
rejection of these claims over Masters. Because the answer does not
include this ground of rejection under Section 103, we consider the
rejection to have been dropped by the examiner. See Manual of Patent
Examining Procedure (MPEP) § 1208, especially the paragraph bridging
pages 1200-16 and 1200-17 (8th Ed., August 2001).
2
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