Appeal No. 2000-2146
Application No. 09/197,513
Claim 1 of Prudhon recites a cable having a circular cross-
section that includes a plurality of insulated conductor pairs
and electrical shields surrounding each of the pairs of
conductors, as recited in the appealed claim 1. The patented
claim 1 further recites a central rod with radial fins and the
peripheral shield surrounding the rod and the pairs of
conductors, as also recited in the appealed claim 1, that
separate the pairs of conductors and complete the shielding of
each pair. The patented claim 1 also requires that the central
rod comprise an insulative material covered with an exterior
metallization. However, the appealed claim 1 recites no specific
material or configuration for the central rod, which warrants the
use of any shielding configuration for the central rod.
Different materials and combinations of layers may be used for
the central rod as confirmed by Appellant’s specification stating
that the effectiveness of the shielding fins between the
conductor pairs is “proportional to the magnitude of the effect
of the pairs on each other” (specification, page 6). Therefore,
one of ordinary skill in the art would have concluded that the
invention recited in the appealed claim 1 is an obvious variation
of the invention defined in the patented claim 1.
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