Appeal No. 2004-2166
Application No. 09/492,557
as obvious over Hurst considered with Chen; and claim 42 under
35 U.S.C. § 103 as obvious over Chen in view of Torok.
OPINION
We reverse the aforementioned rejections. We need to
address only the sole independent claim, i.e., claim 34.1
Rejection over Chen considered with Aharoni
The appellant’s claim 34 requires a keeper structure having
a proximity to a sense layer which provides a flux closure path
between the edge regions of the sense layer.
Chen applies a magnetic field to the ends of a layer of
magnetic material in a magnetic memory cell to move magnetic end
vectors in the magnetic material at the ends into a fixed
direction, and disposes pinning material adjacent to the ends to
maintain the magnetic end vectors in the magnetic material at the
ends in the fixed direction (col. 2, lines 30-35; figure 5). The
pinning material is positioned adjacent only to the ends so as to
not affect the magnetic material in the major domain or domains
between the ends (col. 4, lines 52-55).2
1 The examiner does not rely upon Torok for any disclosure
that remedies the deficiency in Chen as to the independent claim
(answer, pages 8-9).
2 The examiner relies upon Aharoni for the meaning of
“exchange” and “exchange energy” (answer, page 4).
3
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