Appeal No. 2001-1955
Application 08/989,917
'selection signal determining how many of the delay stages are
included in the path of propagation' as is required by claim 1."
Although this view has some merit when considering the labeled
stages 1-N of McKinney's figure, we are persuaded to affirm this
rejection by the examiner's views expressed at page 6 of the
answer that the claimed delay stages are met by the reference
when each of the respective stages 1-N is considered in the
context of the delay elements 10-20-80 as comprising the claimed
delay stages. By the use of the delay select bits LSB-MSB
feeding the respective multiplexers 12, 22 and 82 in McKinney's
figure, a selection signal is provided that determines how many
of the respective delay stages, that is, the delay elements
10-20-80, are included in the path of propagation for the SIGNAL,
its input on the left to its output on the right. From our
perspective, what is telling is not whether the examiner may
interpret a given claim with respect to the teachings and
showings in McKinney different as to one claim verses another
claim, but what the reference actually teaches in total with
respect to any given independent claim, for example, on appeal.
We are equally unpersuaded by appellants' arguments at pages
7 and 8 of the principal brief on appeal regarding independent
claim 23. Appellants' assert at the top of page 8 and again at
4
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007