Appeal No. 2000-1944
Application 08/738,157
The Examiner relies on the following references:
Froehling et al. (Froehling) 4,497,031 January 29, 1985
Dahl et al. (Dahl) 5,233,347 August 3, 1993
Claims 1-10 and 21-30 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) as being unpatentable over Froehling and Dahl.
We refer to the final rejection (Paper No. 11) (pages
referred to as "FR__") and the examiner's answer (Paper No. 15)
(pages referred to as "EA__") for a statement of the Examiner's
rejection, and to the appeal brief (Paper No. 14) (pages referred
to as "Br__") for a statement of Appellants' arguments
thereagainst.
OPINION
The contents of the references
The contents of Froehling and Dahl are fairly summarized by
Appellants (Br4-6).
The rejection of the independent claims
The Examiner reads the "network control device" of claim 1
and the "control device" of claim 21 on the head end unit 14 in
Froehling and reads the "HVAC devices" in claims 1 and 21 on the
controllers 10 and any devices downstream therefrom. Thus, the
Examiner finds that Froehling discloses a "network control
device" or "control device" (head end unit 14) that sends
"messages" (related to "demand load control," col. 10,
lines 42-46) over a "communication network" (shown in figure 1)
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