Appeal No. 2000-0546
Application 08/509,228
We also note that Appellants’ claim 12 has a different scope
than claims 1 and 20. Claim 12 recites “a camera controller
operable . . . to receive speaker position data representing the
position of the speaker as coordinates for a point in space . . .
and to provide the camera control signals to at least one camera
such that a view of the at least one camera automatically tracks
the position of the speaker” (emphasis added). Appeal Brief,
page 14, lines 4-6 and 10-13. Appellants’ claim language, “to
receive speaker position data representing the position of the
speaker as coordinates for a point in space,” reasonably allows
for the reading of claim 12 to require a camera controller to
receive data that represents the position of the speaker as
coordinates for a point in space and to automatically track the
position of the speaker based upon the data received.
When interpreting a claim, words of the claim are generally
given their ordinary and accustomed meaning, unless it appears
from the specification or the file history that they were used
differently by the inventor. Carroll Touch, Inc. v. Electro
Mechanical Sys., Inc. 15 F.3d 1573, 1577, 27 USPQ2d 1836, 1840
(Fed. Cir. 1993). Although an inventor is indeed free to define
the specific terms used to describe his or her invention, this
must be done with reasonable clarity, deliberateness, and
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