Appeal 2007-0123
Application 10/408,939
ordinary skill in the art. See In re American Academy of Science Tech
Center, 367 F.3d 1359, 1364, 70 USPQ2d 1827, 1830 (Fed. Cir. 2004).
We are in agreement with the Examiner’s conclusion that the language of
claim 1, when given its broadest reasonable construction, reads on all phase
change materials present in a network, regardless of whether they are
dissolved. (See Answer 5). Appellants have not identified any language in
the Specification or claims, or produced other evidentiary support for their
contention that the claim language requires encapsulation of the phase
change material in the thermoplastic elastomer matrix. Rather, the
Specification’s broad disclosure that the materials are “intimately mixed”
(FF 15) suggests that the claim phrase “wherein said phase change material
is contained within said network formed by said elastomer matrix”
encompasses dissolving the elastomer in the phase change material in the
same manner taught by Duvall.
In any event, the Examiner’s finding that Duvall uses the same
materials for the polymer and melting point component as Appellants use for
the thermoplastic elastomer matrix and phase change material, provides a
reasonable basis on which to conclude that Duvall’s composition and the
claimed composition possess substantially the same structure. The kinds and
amounts of materials used in the composition of Duvall are the same kinds
and amounts of materials used by Appellants, i.e., the weight percentages of
elastomer, thermally conductive filler (total), and phase change material of
Duvall overlap or encompass those of appealed claim 1 (see FF 1, 2, 5, 7 &
9). The Examiner’s position is further supported by McCullough’s
disclosure that polymer based matrices (or networks) are known in the art
(FF 13). We also concur in the Examiner’s conclusion that one of ordinary
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