Appeal No. 2004-0959
Application 09/915,743
Feuerstraeter discloses an autonegotiation system and method wherein, at 10 Mbps
using fast link pulses, devices advertise their communicating ability (col. 6, lines 30-33).
Negotiation logic selects the highest rate protocol which the devices are capable of supporting
(col. 9, lines 20-21). After a protocol is selected, the devices may interexchange data (col. 9,
lines 46-48). Error detection logic monitors transmitted and received data for errors which may
be caused by, for example, substandard voltage amplitude, missing carrier signal, such as
clock, or erroneous frame check sequence (col. 8, lines 29-34).1 If the error count exceeds a
threshold value, the devices renegotiate a lower transmission rate protocol (abstract; col. 8,
lines 48-55; col. 9, lines 56-61). Then data may again be exchanged among the devices (col.
9, lines 61-63).
The appellant argues that Feuerstraeter discloses establishing a link and then detecting
errors in the transmitted data, whereas the appellant attempts and fails to establish a link
(brief, pages 5-6). The appellant argues that if a link is established it services a data
communication, whereas if a link is not established it cannot support a data communication
(brief, page 7).
During patent prosecution, claims are to be given their broadest reasonable
interpretation consistent with the specification, as the claim language would have been read by
one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the specification and prior art. See In re Zletz,
1 Similarly, Cochennec discloses that a failure at a high bit rate can be caused by
the absence of the clock, an excessive error rate or a loss of locking (col. 5, lines 18-
22).
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