Appeal No. 2001-1866 Page 8
Application No. 08/478,606
Here, the appellants added claims 16-24 to their specification by an amendment.
(Paper No. 8.) Independent claim 16 specifies in pertinent part the following limitations:
"said electronic energy meter comprises a communications interface and one optical
test interface. . . ." In summary, the independent claim requires two, distinct elements,
viz., (1) a communications interface and (2) an optical test interface. Dependent
claim 22 further specifies that "the communications interface is an optical
communications port;" dependent claim 24 further specifies that "the test interface is an
LED." We are not persuaded that these limitations can be interpreted such that a light-
emitting-diode ("LED") of the optical communications port also serves as the optical
test interface. To the contrary, the limitations, in combination, require an LED separate
from an optical port.
It is uncontested that the original specification, which includes the original claims,
fails to disclose an LED separate from an optical port. To the contrary, although the
specification acknowledges that "[t]raditionally, electronic meters have provided a single
light emitting diode (LED) in addition to an optical port," (Spec. at 16-17), it teaches
away from having both an optical port and one or more separate test LEDs.
Specifically, "[s]uch designs add cost, decrease reliability and limit test capabilities."
(Id. at 17.) Instead of having both an optical port and one or more separate test LEDs,
the specification discloses that the appellants' "invention overcomes these limitations by
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