Appeal 2007-1799
Application 10/036,991
In addition, the Examiner finds that Call teaches a system wherein a filtered
transition area is present on either side of the sanitation section (id.).
Call teaches that the incoming mail handling equipment and outgoing
mail handing equipment associated with screened mail are generally
conventional and well known in the art (Call 10: ¶ 0127; ‘674 11:16-18 and
14:1-3). According to Call,
[m]ail to be screened for contaminants enters containment
chamber . . . via a feeder . . . (generally a conveyor belt similar
to those employed in conventional mail processing rooms and
baggage handling systems in airports). Feeder . . . moves
incoming mail . . . through a first seal . . . into containment
chamber . . . . The mail passes through the width of
containment chamber . . . and out through a second seal . . . .
Screened mail . . . that has passed through the system is then
available for further processing. Feeder . . . and other
conventional equipment necessary to sort and manipulate mail
to enable items of mail to be individually fed into containment
chamber . . . are well known in the art; such equipment is
hereinafter referred to as “the incoming mail handler.”
(Call 7-8: ¶ 0109; see also ‘674 11:5-19.) Call teaches that “[t]he incoming
mail handler separates the mail into individual envelopes or packages, which
enter into [the] containment chamber . . . in single file” (Call 8: ¶ 0111; ‘674
11:19). Accordingly, Call teaches a component for singulating and feeding a
mailpiece along a feed path of the system – e.g., an incoming mail handler.
Therefore, we are not persuaded by Appellants’ assertion that Call does not
teach a component for singulating mail pieces (Br. 13).
As discussed above, Call teaches that the incoming mail handler feeds
individual mailpieces into a containment chamber. Call teaches a
decontamination subsystem in the containment chamber that applies
decontamination fluid as a spray to a contaminated parcel and the
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Last modified: September 9, 2013