Ex Parte Amigh et al - Page 4

              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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