Ex parte HIRATA - Page 6




          Appeal No. 2001-2192                                                        
          Application 09/116,906                                                      


          Found. v. Genentech Inc., 927 F.2d 1565, 1576, 18 USPQ2d 1001,              
          1010 (Fed. Cir. 1991).                                                      
               A fair reading of Fontaine supports the appellant’s view               
          that the reference discloses a pressure sensitive sheet sensor              
          composed of separator 1, wire mesh contact sheets 2 and 3,                  
          conductive contacts 4 and arguably delay circuit 7.  A person               
          of ordinary skill in the art would readily appreciate that it               
          is only through the cooperative interaction of these elements               
          that the Fontaine device is capable of sensing pressure (i.e.,              
          the weight of a person sitting on the device).  The delay                   
          circuit 7 does not, in and of itself, perform this function,                
          and thus does not alone meet the “pressure sensitive sheet                  
          sensor” limitation in claim 11 as urged by the examiner.                    
          Since Fontaine does not  disclose a seat pad having a slit as               
          defined by claim 11 for                                                     
          receiving the foregoing pressure sensitive sheet sensor                     
          components, it does not respond to each and every element of                
          the invention set forth in the claim.                                       
               Accordingly, we shall not sustain the standing 35 U.S.C.               
          § 102(b) rejection of independent claim 11, and dependent                   
          claim 13, as being anticipated by Fontaine.                                 

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