Appeal 2007-2450
Application 10/634,871
system board and facing outward from the exterior edge. The Examiner
asserts that the placement of the connector would have been obvious in view
of Meng's statement that "changes may be made in detail, especially in
matters of shape, size and arrangement of parts within the principles of the
invention." Appellant contends (Br. 13-14) that the connector in Meng is for
connections inside the computer only, and that moving the connector to an
exterior edge would be contrary to the principles of Meng's invention.
Accordingly, Appellant contends that Meng fails to teach a connector as
claimed with a first port at an exterior edge of the system board. The issue,
therefore, is whether Meng discloses placing the connector or whether it
would have been obvious in view of the teachings of Meng to place the
connector at an exterior edge of the system board.
In The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language,1
definition 1h of "edge" is "[t]he area or part away from the middle."
According to this definition, the word "edge" encompasses more than merely
the line that forms an outermost boundary. Thus, a portion of the system
board of Meng that is not directly in the middle can be considered an edge of
the system board. Although we agree with Appellant that Meng requires the
connector to be inside the computer, we disagree that the claims require the
connector to be located at the outermost boundary of the system board.
Since Meng suggests that the connector can be arranged anywhere within the
computer, as long as the connector is to one side of the middle of the system
board and has one port facing the middle, the connector is at an exterior edge
of the system board with one port facing inward and a second port facing
1 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition, 2006, Houghton Mifflin Company.
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