Appeal 2007-0537
Application 10/102,902
definition, a protein qualifies as a series of molecular fragment pairs, where
each amino acid is separated by a peptide dihedral.” (Answer 7.) Likewise
the term “fragment pair” would include adjacent amino acid residues, or
triplets, connected by a peptide bond. (See Answer 7, 16-18 (A “‘triplet’
constitutes three consecutive amino acid residues in which a center residue
[is] connected to two out[er] residues, each ‘outer’ residue and the center
residue forming a fragment pair.”).)
2. “Features” of a fragment pair are not defined in the Specification.
Thus, we define this term to simply mean “characteristic[s]” (Webster’s
Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (hereafter “Webster’s) 454 (Merriam-
Webster Inc. 1990), or, in pattern recognition, “individual measurable
properties” (Wikipedia, The Free Encylcopedia, “Feature” (retrieved June
28, 2007)),2 of the fragment pair. Given this definition, the term “features”
includes chemical shifts and amino acid sequences.
3. “Descriptor” is not defined in the Specification. Thus, we define it
to mean “something used to identify an item . . . esp. in an information
retrieval system.” Webster’s 343. A mathematical representation of a
feature, such as a chemical shift or amino acid sequence, would be a
“descriptor” under this definition.
4. Appellants equate the terms “descriptor” and “feature,” consistent
with our definitions of these two terms. (Spec. 32 (“the CoMMA descriptor
Xk . . . may be called a feature”) (emphasis in original); see also claim 1
(“wherein said features . . . comprise descriptors”).)
2 Available at
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Feature&oldid=130983553).
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