Appeal No. 2002-0122
Application No. 08/857,756
With respect to our affirmance based on the first
interpretation (which is discussed in the sole full paragraph
which appears on page 5 of the decision), the appellants refer to
our discussion of Ito’s figure 2 embodiment wherein the degree of
inclined angles increases with distance such that the difference
of the minimum and the maximum is in the range of 5 to 70 degrees
(see the first full paragraph on page 4 of the request). The
appellants then argue that, “[h]owever, the average of a range of
5-70 degrees wherein 5 is the minimum and 70 is the maximum is
32.5” and that “[t]his does not fall in the 60-120 degree range
[defined by appealed independent claim 1]” (request, page 4,
second full paragraph).
Contrary to the appellants’ belief, Ito’s disclosed range of
5 to 70 degrees does not define patentee’s entire range of
inclined angles from the minimum (i.e., the inclined angle on the
support side) to the maximum (i.e., the inclined angle on the
surface side). Instead, this 5 to 70 degrees range defines the
difference between the minimum inclined angle and the maximum
inclined angle. See lines 28-40 in column 17. Thus, for
example, if a minimum inclined angle is 10 degrees, and the
difference between the minimum and maximum inclined angles is
70 degrees (i.e., the greatest value of the aforementioned 5 to
2
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007