Appeal 2006-2263
Application 09/859,665
concentration into the materials such as non-woven materials during the
manufacturing process, adding the gelling agents “on their own” to the
absorbent article, or adding the gelling agents to the absorbent article “by
means of airlaid, airformed, wetlaid, absorbent laminates, or nonwoven
materials . . .” (Specification 33:10-15).
Because Appellants describe various alternatives (i.e., “a variety of
ways”) to incorporate the water soluble gelling agent into the nonwoven web
material, we construe the claim phrase “on at least one of at least” in claim
15 to mean that either the gelling agent is placed on “a portion of a surface
of polyolefin or pulp fibers forming said nonwoven web material” or “within
at least a portion of the interstices of said nonwoven web material” (Claim
15).
Our above claim construction is further supported by the language of
claim 15 itself. The claim language, “at least one,” plainly indicates that
only one of the application techniques (i.e., “on . . . a surface of a polyolefin
or pulp fibers forming said nonwoven web” or “within at least a portion of
the interstices of said nonwoven web material”) following such claim
language need be met to satisfy the claim feature. Accordingly, prior art that
discloses placing a water-soluble gelling agent on either “a portion of a
surface” of a fiber, or “within . . . the interstices of said nonwoven web”
would satisfy the particular claim feature.
Hamilton discloses placing chitosan (i.e., gelling agent) and nits inside
a pouch of non-woven web material, such as a spunbond polypropylene web
(Hamilton col. 25, ll. 25-48; col. 30, ll. 63-64 and col. 45, ll. 52-55).
Chitosan, in its natural form, is water-soluble. The chitosan and nits are
mixed in granular form (Hamilton, col. 29, ll. 51-55).
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