Appeal No. 2001-1268
Application No. 09/100,698
corresponding structure to the stiction reducing means in Okada
is said by the examiner to be the air bearing surfaces 5 provided
to fly the slider with the air bearing surfaces and transducer
above the disc surface, and the plurality of landing pads, 9,
each having a contact surface which extends by a first height
below the ABS’s toward the disc surface, and by a second height
greater than the first height from a recessed surface farther
from the disc surface than the ABS’s (Figures 1 and 4).
Accordingly, the examiner concludes that the stiction reducing
means in Okada is structurally equivalent to that disclosed by
the instant invention.
Appellants do not dispute that the applied references each
shows a disc drive, a supportable slider and a stiction reducing
means for reducing stiction between the slider and the rotatable
disc. Rather, appellants invoke In re Donaldson, 16 F.3d 1189,
29 USPQ2d 1845 (Fed. Cir. 1994) and conclude that since the
stiction reducing means is in “means plus function” format, the
instant claimed elements must be construed as the mechanisms
explicitly disclosed or “equivalents thereof.” Appellants urge
that the claimed “stiction reducing means” must be construed as
the structure shown in Figures 4-3, 5-1 and 5-2 of the instant
application and as described in the instant specification.
-5–
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007