Appeal 2006-2970
Application 09/224,340
assembly" (Br. 8), the PCB modules in Mazura have a faceplate and plug
into plug-in connections on a rear wall plate (col. 4, ll. 11-13) and, so, the
PCBs must each have a connector assembly. We assume that the "rear wall
plate" in Mazura refers to some sort of backplane in the chassis. If
Appellant intends to argue that his invention does not use a common
backplane to connect the PCBs, this is not claimed. Claim 1 only recites a
connector assembly on the PCB modules and says nothing about how the
PCB modules are connected. As a further matter of claim interpretation,
claim 1 merely states that the PCB includes a connector assembly and does
not require a connector assembly separate from the PCB (compare claim 9).
Appellant secondly argues that Mazura does not disclose the
limitation that "said plurality of printed circuit board modules creates a seal
with said chassis," as recited in claim 1, because the spring contact seal in
Mazura is between plug-in modules only and not between plug-in modules
and the component carrier (Br. 8; Br. 22).
The Examiner responds that Mazura discloses a seal to the component
carrier at column 1, lines 30-40, and column 4, lines 1-6 (Answer 8-9).
The limitation of "said plurality of printed circuit board modules
creates a seal with said chassis" only requires that the plurality of modules
create a seal with the chassis, and does not require a seal to the chassis all
around the periphery of each faceplate. The top and bottom of the faceplate
in Mazura inherently create "a seal" with the chassis by contact of the
faceplate with the chassis at the upper and lower module rails 3, just as in
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