Appeal No. 2004-0868
Application 09/742,980
the claim. Indeed, the ordinary dictionary definition of the terms “set” and “apart,” in context
alone and together,4 do not support the examiner’s position.
Considering now the ground of rejection under § 102(e) over Hwang, it is apparent that
the examiner is relying only on guiding rods or guide elements 24 in plug connector 20 and
receiving passages or recesses 14 in mating connector 10 as shown in Hwang FIGS. 1-4, and
cites Hwang col. 2, lines 46-48 in support of the proposition that the “plug connector is movable
to [sic] with regard to the mating connector when both mated” (Paper No. 14, page 2; answer,
page 4; second paragraph, second sentence). The passage of Hwang cited by the examiner reads
as follows:
Floatable means 30 is arranged [sic] the plug connector 20 such that when the plug
connector 20 is moveable to the corresponding receptacle connector 10 [sic] when
both are mated. [Col. 2, lines 46-48.]
Appellants submit that the passage cited by the examiner “is at best incoherent and
ambiguous” and that “a more understandable description of the floating means” is found at col. 1,
lines 46-53:
Floatable means arranged at least on the first connector such that when the first
(floatable) connector is mated to the corresponding second connector of the second
substrate, the first (floatable) connector is moveable [sic] respect to the corresponding
second connector to compensate any misalignment therebetween ensuring an electrical
connection between the first and second connectors. [Brief, pages 6-7.]
Appellants argue that “the floating means, as disclosed in Hwang, allows the entire plug
connector (20) to move or ‘float’ with respect to the substrate (41) of which the connector is
attached so that both connectors can remain attached to one another when the associated
substrates are not fully aligned. (See Hwang, FIG. 5; col. [2, ll.] 49-60)” (brief, page 7, lines 3-7).
The examiner takes the position that
both statements of Hwang suggest the same – the designed movement of the
4 “apart . . . 2. a. Separately or at a distance in time, place of position . . . 4. Separately or aside
for a particular function or purpose . . . ;” “set . . . 1. To put in a specified position; place . . .
–phrasal verbs. . . . set apart. 1. To reserve for a specific use. . . .” The American Heritage
Dictionary, Second College Edition 117, 1121-22 (Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982);
see also Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary 115, 1067 (Boston, The Riverside
Publishing Company. 1984).
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