Appeal No. 2002-2015 Page 4
Application No. 09/232,138
independent claims and the independent claims are all argued
together on the basis of that illustrative claim.” Consistent
with this statement, appellant's arguments are directed to
independent claim 6. Accordingly, we consider claim 6 to be
representative of the group. However, to the extent that
appellant (brief, pages 24 and 25) additionally argues the term
“plurality” in independent claim 18, claim 18 will be separately
considered.
With respect to claims 4, 5, 12, 13, 17, and 20, rejected
under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a), appellant states (brief, page 9) that
"the claims are all argued together." Accordingly, we select
claim 4 as representative of the group of claims rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 103(a).
As a preliminary matter, appellant asserts (brief, page 7)
that the examiner's refusal to enter the amendment submitted
subsequent to the final rejection was an “abuse of discretion.”
Appellant provides two appendices to the brief. The first,
Appendix I, shows the claims with the proposed amendment entered.
Appendix II shows the claims of record, as they stand without
entry of the proposed amendment. Appellant asks (brief, page 12)
that we “rule that the amendment should have been entered and
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