Interference No. 105,113
"chamber," when given its ordinary meaning, refers to an enclosure which has surrounding sides
but which may or may not have a top and thus is not necessarily sealed. Although Cheung's
argument that a chamber need only be enclosed on the sides suggests that a bottom is also not
required, we need not decide this question because Cheung does not deny that the disclosed
annealing apparatus on which Ritzdorf relies has a bottom.
The next matter to address is whether a sealed enclosure is implied when "chamber" is
modified by "anneal" or “annealing.” Although neither party provided a definition of "anneal,"
we note that term is defined as follows in The Random House Dictionary of the English
Language 83 (2d ed. 1987) (copy enclosed): "1. to heat (glass, earthenware, metals, etc.) to
remove or prevent internal stress." This definition does not mention or imply a need to control
the atmosphere which surrounds the material being annealed and thus does not imply that
annealing must occur in a sealed enclosure. Nor is such a limitation implied when "chamber" is
modified by "thermal anneal." Consequently, when given their ordinary meanings, the terms
"thermal anneal chamber" and "annealing chamber" refer to an annealing apparatus which is not
necessarily sealed but which has sides for surrounding the material to be annealed.
Furthermore, nothing in Ritzdorf's claims suggests that the ordinary meaning arrived at
above is incorrect. See E-Pass Techs., Inc. v. 3Com Corp., 343 F.3d 1364, 1370, 67 USPQ2d
1947, 1949 (Fed. Cir. 2003)("When determining a claim term’s ordinary meaning, we also look
to the usage of the disputed claim term in context. Brookhill-Wilk 1, LLC v. Intuitive Surgical,
Inc., 334 F.3d 1294, 1300-01 [67 USPQ2d 1132 , 1137] (Fed. Cir. 2003). While dependent
claim 77 recites that "the thermal anneal chamber further comprises a gas inlet adapted to
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