Appeal 2007-2908
Application 10/379,456
THE CLAIMS
Claims 1-3, 5-31, 34-59, and 61-74 are pending and rejected. (New
Appeal Brief in Response to Notification of Non-Compliant Appeal Brief
(Br.) 5.) Honeywell has identified two groups of claims that stand or fall
together for the purposes of this appeal: (I) 1-3, 5-28, 58, 59, and 61-65; and
(II) 29-31, 34-57, and 66-74. (Br. 5.) We select a claim from each group as
representative of the group. 37 C.F.R. § 41.37(c)(1)(vii). The claim
language is taken from the claims appendix to the brief.
Claim 1 defines the invention as:
An ozone and hydrocarbon destroying system,
comprising[:]
a core;
an active metal oxide washcoat applied to said core that
destroys ozone, wherein said active metal oxide washcoat is an
oxide of a metal selected from the group consisting of
palladium, copper, silver, iron, cobalt, nickel and combinations
thereof; and
an active metal impregnated in said active metal oxide
washcoat that destroys hydrocarbons.
The transitional term "comprising" is used, which opens the system to
the inclusion of elements not expressly listed in the claim such as additional
layers or active metals.
We must construe a claim as broadly as possible in view of the
specification. In one embodiment, the washcoat is made of "a refractory
metal oxide such as alumina, silica, titania, zirconia, or combinations
thereof" plus a first and second active metal. (Spec. ¶033.) The
specification teaches another embodiment in which the washcoat layer "may
contain oxides of the said first active metal". The embodiment includes one
example where an active metal oxide is used instead of a refractory metal
2
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