Appeal No. 2004-0546
Application No. 09411793
shaft for positioning the valve member. In addition, the
assembly comprises a valve member position sensor, such as a
rotary potentiometer, which senses the linear displacement of the
rack and generates an output signal representative of the valve
member position.
Appealed claims 1, 3-11, 14-18, 21, 22, 24, 29 and 36-40
stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Ewing in view of Kawai.
Also, claims 39 and 40 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112,
second paragraph.
Appellants submit that with respect to the § 103 rejection,
"the claims may be grouped" (page 5 of Brief). Appellants
further submit that "[g]iven this grouping, arguments are
provided herein with respect to only independent claim 1" (page 6
of Brief, second paragraph). Accordingly, with respect to the
§ 103 rejection, all the appealed claims stand or fall together
with claim 1, and we will limit our consideration to the
examiner's rejection of claim 1.
We have thoroughly reviewed each of appellants' arguments
for patentability. However, we are in complete agreement with
the examiner that the claimed subject matter would have been
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art within the meaning of
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