Appeal 2006-1521
Application 09/815,877
portion of a person’s body,” “two inlet ports in the inflatable cover” and “a
plug removably received in at least one port of the two ports.”
The Examiner rejects claims 34, 35 and 54 under § 102(b) over
Dickerhoff (Answer 3). The Examiner states that Dickerhoff discloses a
“method for controlling airflow through an inflatable device and an
apparatus for warming a person as recited in the claims” (Answer 3). The
Examiner interprets the “snap disclosed by Dickerhoff as a means for
closing the port . . . [such that the snap is] a plug” (Answer 3).
Appellants argue that Dickerhoff’s “snap” is not equivalent to the
claimed “plug” (Br. 4). In this regard, Appellants indicate that “plug”
should be given its plain meaning because Appellants have not defined the
term in their specification (Br. 4). According to Appellants, Webster’s New
Collegiate Dictionary and the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and
Technical Terms demonstrate the plain meaning of the term (Br. 4-5).
Webster’s and McGraw-Hill define “plug” as “a piece used to fill a hole”
and “a piece of material used to fill a hole,” respectively (Br. 4-5).
Appellants further argue that Dickerhoff’s failure to define “snap”
requires this term to be given its plain meaning (Br. 5). Accordingly,
Appellants indicate that Webster’s defines “snap” as “a catch or fastening
that closes or locks with a click,” and “snap fastener” as “a metal fastener
consisting essentially of a ball and socket attached to opposed parts of an
article and used to hold meeting edges together” (Br. 5). According to
Appellants, the definitions of “plug,” “snap” and “snap fastener” indicate
that none of the definitions can be read to encompass one another (Br. 5).
Appellants also indicate that the general definition of “snap” and “snap
fastener” comport with Dickerhoff’s “sleeve-like construction of the inlet
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