Appeal No. 2006-1738 Page 2
Application No. 10/059,564
appropriate measures taken to control the population (e.g., the introduction of a termite-
killing agent). The application states that the load capacity of currently available bait
stations is restricted, requiring the stations to be refilled approximately once per month
or less. “Substantial labor saving would be realized if the monitoring intervals could be
extended to longer periods of time.” Id., page 2, lines 12-13.
As a solution to this problem, a termite bait is provided which is compacted to a
density of not less than approximately 1.033 g/cc, extending the time for monitoring
without having to refill the bait stations. Compacting to a greater density allows more
mass to be loaded into the bait station. In Table 1 (Id., page 8), various tablets are
produced under different compacting pressures. As the pressure is increased, the
density also increased, allowing more bait to be crammed into the same bait station.
Calculations were performed to show how the intervals to refill bait stations are
extended by the high-density tablets. See, e.g., Id., page 5, lines 10-18.
Discussion
1. Claim construction
Claims 1-8 are on appeal. Claims 9-24 are also pending but have been
withdrawn from consideration by the examiner. The claims were not separately argued,
and thus stand or fall together.
Claim 1, the broadest and sole independent claim on appeal, reads as follows:
A composition in compacted form for use for termite monitoring and control
comprising a cellulose material selected from the group consisting of purified
cellulose and micro-crystalline cellulose as a base bait, said composition being
compacted to a density of not less than approximately 1.033 g/cc.
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