Appeal No. 2002-1860
Application No. 09/204,275
independent claims 33, 48, and 51. As pointed out by Appellants
(Reply Brief, page 5), once the pin member 26 is removed from
sensor hole 23 in Fujiura to provide an indication of an open
state, there is no disclosure of any mechanism to control the
sensor hole to provide a second state and, in actuality, we find no
disclosure of the existence of a second state at all in Fujiura
once pin 26 is removed. In view of this fundamental deficiency in
Fujiura, we find no disclosure of the control of the sensor hole to
an inspected state as set forth in claim 33, no recording without
performing a verification process when the sensor hole is in a
second state as recited in claim 48, and no resetting of the sensor
hole to the first state from a second state based on a user command
as set forth in claim 51.
Turning to a consideration of the Examiner’s 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) rejection of appealed claims 1-5 based on the combination
of Fujiura and Akiyama, we do not sustain this rejection as well.
As stated at page 13 of the Answer, the Examiner recognizes that
Fujiura has no disclosure of any means for repeatedly opening and
closing the sensor hole 23. To address this deficiency, the
Examiner turns to the disc cartridge system disclosure of Akiyama
which describes a shutter mechanism 6 controlled by a coil spring
10 that is used to open and close spindle hole 4 and head insertion
7
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