Appeal 2007-0485
Application 10/457,876
ll. 19-22; p. 23, ll. 11-13). Station 20 includes three plates 222, 224, and
226, each of which index between an outermost radial position and an
innermost radial position (Khatchadourian, p. 23, 19-21; Fig. 4 showing
plate 226 indexing inner and outermost positions). The plates carry pizza
dough through sauce and topping dispensing stations (Khatchadourian,
p. 23, ll. 13-14; Figs. 1 and 4 at I-VI). At the sauce dispensing station II, a
stationary nozzle dispenses sauce downwardly while the plate carrying the
dough indexes radially and rotates about its axis (Khatchadourian, p. 26, ll.
23-28). The plate’s combination indexing and rotational movement results
in a spiral pattern of sauce on the dough (Khatchadourian, p. 26, ll. 28-29;
Fig. 22).
MacManus describes a similar nozzle and turntable dispensing
apparatus for depositing a spiral of material onto a food product through
uniform relative translational movement between the nozzle and turntable
(MacManus, col. 1, ll. 48-52). According to MacManus, “the relative
translational movement may be provided by moving the nozzle over the
turntable or by moving the turntable radially relatively to the fixed nozzle.”
(MacManus, col. 1, ll. 58-62). Therefore, MacManus describes the form of
relative translational movement used by Khatchadourian and further
describes an equivalent method for obtaining a spiral of dispensed material
by moving the nozzle instead of indexing the plate or turntable.
A claimed invention is unpatentable if the differences between it and
the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been
obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill
in the pertinent art. 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) (2000); Graham v. John Deere Co.,
383 U.S. 1, 13-14, 148 USPQ 459, 474 (1966). Here the difference is the
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