Appeal No. 2006-0697
Reexamination 90/006,402
amend their claims to obviate or render inapplicable any broader interpretation. Note that in
pertinent part, 35 U.S.C. § 305 states as follows:
In any reexamination proceeding under this chapter, the patent owner will be
permitted to propose any amendment to his patent and a new claim or claims
thereto, in order to distinguish the invention as claimed from the prior art cited
under the provisions of section 301 of this title, or in response to a decision
adverse to the patentability of a claim of a patent. No proposed amended or new
claim enlarging the scope of a claim of the patent will be permitted in a
reexamination proceeding under this chapter.
At issue is the meaning of “Intelligent Communication Platform (ICP),” “Intelligent Line
Module (ILM),” and “Intelligent Routing Card (IRC).” In that regard, note the following text in
the Summary of the Invention section of the specification:
Routing devices strategically placed on this matrix of fiber optic cables shunt
packeted information to the intended destination throughout the fiber optic cable
matrix. These shunting devices are known as shared intelligent communication
platforms (ICP), intelligent line modules (ILM), and intelligent routing cards
(IRC).
Based on the strategic placement disclosed in the specification, it is evident that the ICP is a
routing device directly connected to a subscriber station, the ILM is a routing device one level
removed from the ICP; and the IRC is a routing device a further level removed from the ICP.
See Figure 1A in the appellant’s specification. Also, it is evident that these routing devices are
characterized as “intelligent” because they make decisions on which way to shunt a data packet
based on routing information contained within the data packet being transmitted. See for
example appellant’s specification in column 4, lines 52-57. Consequently, to the extent that the
appellant’s claims require the ICP, ILM, and/or IRC to determine an appropriate route for a
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