Appeal 2007-1293
Application 10/745,124
Appellant’s originally filed Specification discusses “single event transients” being
caused by solar flares, galactic cosmic radiation, the Van Allen radiation belts or
man made radiation events. (Specification Para. 0003.) Further, Appellant’s
Specification describes these events as being manifested as a voltage spike of very
short duration. (Specification Para. 0010 - 0011.) It is clear from Appellant’s
Specification, arguments and the Examiner’s actions that these spikes are high
frequency noise. Appellant’s Specification explains that to filter out this noise an
RC filter, series resistor R1 and capacitor to ground C1, with a time constant of
approximately 3.4 us [sic, μs] is selected. While we will rely upon Appellant’s
Specification to interpret the claims, we will not read limitations from the
Specification into the claims. Thus, we do not interpret independent claim 1 as
being limited to a circuit that has a time constant of 3.4 μs, but rather read the
claim as broad as would be reasonable, and may encompass any RC circuit which
has a time constant sufficient to filter out the high frequency noise associated with
single transient events. Which is to say, claim 1 does not define the frequency
break point below which a signal passes and above which a signal is blocked.
Rather, claim 1 only recites a type of frequency blocked without indicating what is
passed.
Turning to Lieder, as discussed in our findings of fact, Lieder includes an
RC circuit between a comparator circuit and a Schmitt trigger.4 Facts 13 and 16.
Lieder teaches that the RC circuit is a low pass filter which blocks high frequency
signals. Fact 15. As recognized by Appellant, the single transient events are of
4 We note that the RC circuit of Lieder contains the same elements, including series
resistor and capacitor to ground, albeit of different values, as Appellant’s RC
circuit. Thus, while not argued, we consider the structure to meet the means-plus-
function language of claim 9.
9
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