The opinion in support of the decision being entered
today was not written for publication and is not binding
precedent of the Board.
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
_______________
BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS
AND INTERFERENCES
_______________
Ex parte KATSUHIRO OCHIAI,
YUTAKA KUROIWA, NAOKI SUGIMOTO
and TAKESHI HIROSE
______________
Appeal No. 2006-0297
Application 09/861,716
_______________
HEARD: February 23, 2006
_______________
Before CAROFF, WARREN and OWENS, Administrative Patent Judges.
WARREN, Administrative Patent Judge.
Decision on Appeal
This is an appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from the decision of the examiner finally
rejecting claims 1 through 6 and 9 through 16, all of the claims in the application.
Claims 1 and 15 illustrate appellants’ invention of a method for connecting glass fibers,
and are representative of the claims on appeal:
1. A method for connecting glass fibers, the method comprising:
abutting in a line an end surface of a first glass fiber and an end surface of a second glass
fiber so that a core of the first glass fiber is in direct contact with a core of the second glass fiber,
the first glass fiber having a glass transition point T1 higher than a glass transition point T2 of the
second glass fiber; and
heating the glass fiber to achieve a maximum temperature on the first glass fiber at least 1
µm from the end surface of the first glass fiber to fusion splice the glass fibers together.
- 1 -
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007