Appeal 2007-0062
Application 10/706,797
1 Claim 58
2 Claim 58 recites the step of “grasping the opposed top edges of the
3 bag with a pair of finger assemblies that move inwardly and down to grasp
4 the top edges of the bag, the motion being with respect to the bag.” The
5 Examiner found that the steps of providing a pair of finger assemblies that
6 move inwardly and down to grasp the top edges of the bag lacks support in
7 the specification, since the specification at page 11, lines 14-31, teaches that
8 the finger assemblies are fixedly mounted to the gripper assembly 50 and
9 that only the inner fingers 67 move outwardly from each other to meet the
10 respective outer fingers 62 (FFs 6-7).
11 Applicants’ annotated claim chart indicates that the finger assembly is
12 shown as items 64 and 67 (Fig. 3) (Br. 15). Thus, the “pair of finger
13 assemblies” includes two fingers 64 and 67 on one side of the bag (also
14 shown for example attached to fixed arm 62(a) and moveable inner arm
15 66(a) of Fig. 7(h)) and two fingers 64 and 67 on the other side of the bag
16 (also shown for example, as attached to fixed arm 62(b) and moveable inner
17 arm 66(b) of Fig. 7(h)). As seen in Figs. 7(a)-7(h), in order for the finger
18 assemblies to “grasp the top edges of the bag,” the inner fingers attached to
19 the moveable inner arms 66(a) and 66(b) must move outward towards the
20 fixed fingers. Thus, the movement of the finger assemblies is not inwardly
21 and down to grasp the top edges of the bag – the inner fingers move
22 outwardly in order to grasp the bag.
9
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Last modified: September 9, 2013