Appeal 2007-1202
Application 10/847,052
We are not persuaded by Appellants’ arguments which discuss limitations to
the welder performing internal diagnostics and a health status as claim 26 contains
no such limitations. While we note that independent claim 1 does contain such
limitations, Appellants have not elected under 37 C.F.R. § 41.37(c)(1)(vii) to
separately argue independent claim 1. Thus we affirm the rejection of claims 1
through 6, 8 through 21, and 23 through 32 for the reasons discussed supra with
respect to claim 26. Nonetheless, we provide the following further analysis
directed to claim 1. Claim 1 recites performing a test sequence to facilitate welder
diagnostics based upon information received from the sensor component. We find
that Brown teaches two tests which involve information received from the sensors,
in the monitoring mode the test, compares sensor input with operating limits, (see
fact 9) and upon start up the processor performs tests to see if the sensors are faulty
or not, (see fact 13.) Claim 1 also recites a diagnostic component which
determines a health status of the welder based in part on the welder diagnostics,
information received from a sensor component and the control component. We
find that Brown teaches that the microprocessor of the welder performs a self
diagnostics test and a test of the welder’s transducers. (See facts 12 and 13.)
These tests are performed by software being executed by the microprocessor and
as such meet Appellants’ claimed component. While Brown does not disclose
transmitting the results of the diagnostics tests to the remote location, we consider
Brown’s teaching that other alarms should be transmitted to a remote location and
Niedereder’s teaching of using a remote diagnosis and error checking, to provide
ample evidence that one would be motivated to transmit the results of the
diagnostics tests to a remote location. Thus, even if claim 1 were separately
argued, we find ample evidence to support the Examiner’s rejection of claim 1.
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