Appeal No. 2002-0286
Application No. 09/113,995
OPINION
Anticipation is established only when a single prior art
reference discloses, expressly or under the principles of
inherency, each and every element of a claimed invention as well
as disclosing structure which is capable of performing the
recited functional limitations. RCA Corp. v. Applied Digital
Data Sys., Inc., 730 F.2d 1440, 1444, 221 USPQ 385, 388 (Fed.
Cir.); cert. dismissed sub nom., Hazeltine Corp. v. RCA Corp.,
468 U.S. 1228 (1984); W.L. Gore and Assoc., Inc. v. Garlock,
Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 1554, 220 USPQ 303, 313 (Fed. Cir. 1983),
cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984).
Each of the instant claims on appeal requires, in one form
or another, that a single cell includes a signal processing
circuit, a buffer circuit for buffering a signal external to the
integrated circuit in which the cell is included, and layout
information.
The examiner points to a total of five different references
and alleges that any one of these references anticipates the
instant claimed invention. However, while the examiner
ostensibly lists how each reference has elements therein which
correspond to the instant claimed elements (see pages 5-6 of the
answer), this list, along with the examiner’s explanations, is
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