Appeal No. 2004-1548
Application 09/127,954
THE REJECTION
Claims 1-10 and 19-21 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) as being unpatentable over Matsumoto and Hashimoto.
We refer to the rejection (Paper No. 18) (pages referred to
as "R__") and the examiner's answer (Paper No. 22) for a
statement of the examiner's rejection, and to the brief (Paper
No. 21) (pages referred to as "Br__") and reply brief (Paper No.
24) (pages referred to as "RBr__") for a statement of appellant's
arguments thereagainst.
OPINION
Grouping of claims
Appellant argues that the claims within each of the
following groups stand or fall together and presents arguments
for each group (Br4):
Group 1: Claims 1-6, 8, 9, and 19
Group 2: Claim 7
Group 3: Claim 10
Group 4: Claims 20 and 21
The examiner does not agree, and considers that the claims
should be deemed to stand or fall together because the
limitations in claim 7 (Group 2), claim 10 (Group 3), and claims
20 and 21 (Group 3) are said to be recited in claims 1-6, 8, 9,
and 19 (Group 1) (EA2). Appellant argues that although claims 7,
10, and 20 may include some limitations which are also included
in claim 1, the claims include other features and are entitled to
separate consideration (RBr1-2).
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