Ex Parte Vice - Page 5



          Appeal No. 2005-0364                                                        
          Application No. 10/072,676                                                  

          independent claim 1 includes a circuit having a feedback loop               
          with an output sampler functioning to provide a scaled sampling             
          of the output voltage of the “power line conditioner” to an                 
          amplifier input, and the second terminal of the first secondary             
          winding of the isolation transformer constitutes the output of              
          the “power line conditioner.”                                               
               If a prior art structure is capable of performing the                  
          intended use as recited in the preamble, then it meets the claim.           
          In re Schreiber, 128 F.3d 1473, 1477, 44 USPQ2d 1429, 1431 (Fed.            
          Cir. 1997).  It was the examiner’s burden to show that the                  
          circuit structure of Estes is, indeed, capable of performing the            
          function of a power line conditioner.                                       
               The reference to Estes is directed to a converter for                  
          converting square waves (shown as element 12 in Figures 1 and 2)            
          into triangle waves (shown on the right side of these figures).             
          The reference is not capable of acting as a power line                      
          conditioner, as required by the instant claims, and the examiner            
          has nowhere indicated that it may.  The examiner does not even              
          address this claim limitation in the statement of rejection                 
          appearing in the answer.  In the response section of the answer,            
          the examiner addresses this issue very briefly, merely contending           
          that the purpose of Estes is to convert the square wave source              
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