Appeal No. 2006-2833
Application No. 10/334,807
The capacitor2 (50) in McKee has a conductive layer of a first type (56, as
noted by the Examiner), a conductive layer of a second type (55) and a dielectric
layer. A capacitor inherently has a dielectric layer, and the Appellant’s admitted
prior art, in his Figure 2B, clearly shows the dielectric layer (item 58 and as
described in the specification, page 4, line 23).
Although we have so far agreed with the Examiner’s establishing that the
elements recited in the claim up to this point are part of the prior art, we now
must part from his analysis. The Examiner’s Answer presents a number of ways
of interpreting the following limitation of claim 10 to be demonstrated by the
McKee reference: “wherein said first type conductive layer and second type
conductive layer are adapted to form a conductive bridge between the
motherboard and the package.”
Examiner argues that the conductive elements 55 and 56, each
respectively attached to the package or the motherboard, create a circuit for
providing power when a current is applied. This interpretation omits the function
of the dielectric, which is inherently an insulator to a power circuit. The capacitor
50 does mechanically bridge the distance between the motherboard and the
package, but the individual conductive layers (55, 56) do not span that distance.
The claim calls for the conductive layers forming a conductive bridge, and each
of the layers of McKee, 55 and 56, makes no such bridge. Indeed, in Figure 2 of
2 Item 50 in McKee is actually indicated to be a chip component, a capacitor, resistor, inductor or
equivalent. The examiner is using the capacitor variant as the reference for establishing the prior
art relevant to the claimed subject matter.
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