Appeal No. 2004-1456 Page 10
Application No. 09/624,151
[a] spacecraft inherently is a three-dimensional object and
thus inherently has a plurality of surfaces, at least one of
which is radiating and at least one of which is solar loaded.
The radiator-condenser and the heat pipe network that are
part of the heat dissipating apparatus for use on the
spacecraft are disposed on the spacecraft in one way or
another and are thus inherently coupled (directly or
indirectly) to one of the plurality of the interior and/or exterior
surfaces of the spacecraft. The compressor 33 or 33' is
inherently operationally coupled to some spacecraft power
source. Little or no patentable weight is given to the
functional language in the claims (i.e., the limitations relating
to raising the temperature of the fluid medium to a particular
operating level as claimed). A reverse Rankine
thermodynamic cycle heat pump is a standard vapor
compression cycle heat pump by definition.
As an initial matter, the examiner’s dismissal of the limitation relating to raising
the temperature of the fluid medium to a temperature above that of the at least one
solar loaded surface as deserving of little or no patentable weight is inappropriate. It is
well settled that all words in a claim must be considered in judging the patentability of
that claim against the prior art. See In re Wilson, 424 F.2d 1382, 1385, 165 USPQ 494,
496 (CCPA 1970).
While the compressors and condenser of Scaringe’s heat pump system are
thermally coupled to the radiator 20 by a heat pipe and while one of ordinary skill in the
art would most probably infer that the radiator 20 is associated with at least one external
surface of the spacecraft for heat rejection from the spacecraft, Scaringe gives
absolutely no indication that the heat pump or radiator is in thermal communication with
a solar loaded surface, which one of ordinary skill in the art would understand to mean a
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007