Appeal 2006-3364
Application 10/305,972
Alcocer discloses an aircraft window shade having a pair of narrow
width, vertical pleated strips (30) of textile material sewed, stapled or
adhesively secured to vertically spaced ribs (10b) between vertically
adjacent pleats (10a) (col. 4, ll. 37-54).
The Appellant points out that Alcocer discloses sewing, stapling or
adhesively securing bands or strips, and argues that it would not appear
sufficient to adhesively secure shade material to a small cord at tiny finite
locations (Br. 7, 9-12). The Appellant’s claims do not require that the cord
is small or that the adhesive beads are tiny. The Appellant’s disclosure that
it was known to use spacer cords or straps (Spec. 2:8) indicates that spacer
cords need not be thin but, instead, can be more strap-like. Regardless,
because, in a window environment, pleated and roman shades tend to not be
subject to physical abuse, one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a
reasonable expectation that any of the alternative fastening techniques
disclosed by Alcocer would be adequate to attach a spacer cord to a pleated
or roman shade section at the vertically spaced locations in the Appellant’s
prior art figures 1 and 3.
The Appellant argues that because Alcocer uses spacer strips which
require a large amount of adhesive, Alcocer would have led to one of
ordinary skill in the art to use a large amount of adhesive to adhere a spacer
cord to a pleat such that the cord is adhesively bonded along the top and
bottom surfaces of the pleat (Br. 8-12; Reply Br. 1-2). The Appellant
4
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013