Appeal No. 2006-0002
Application No. 09/935,531
Smith and Thong would not provide an indication of channel
activity of a communication link as claimed. In a related
argument (id., at 4), Appellants assert that neither Smith nor
Thong disclose a “time versus time” display in which data
channels or time slots are displayed along an axis orthogonal to
a time axis.
After reviewing the Smith and Thong references in light of
the arguments of record, we find no error in the Examiner’s
stated position (Answer, page 6) which concludes that the
frequency span displayed in Smith along an axis orthogonal to the
displayed time axis corresponds to the claimed data channel
display. We agree with the Examiner that, contrary to
Appellants’ contention, data channels are not necessarily defined
by time slots, but, rather, would also be recognized by the
ordinarily skilled artisan as encompassing frequency bands such
as would be defined by specified widths in the frequency span
along the horizontal axis in the display of Smith. Also, as
pointed out by the Examiner, there is no language in claim 1
which limits the claimed data channels to “time slots.” In our
view, Appellants’ arguments improperly attempt to narrow the
scope of the claim by implicitly adding disclosed limitations
which have no basis in the claim. See In re Morris, 127 F.3d
5
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