Ex parte EGGEN et al.

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Jan 28, 1998

07949290 (B.P.A.I. Jan. 28, 1998)

Application for patent filed September 22, 1992.1
-1-
THIS OPINION WAS NOT WRITTEN FOR PUBLICATION
The opinion in support of the decision being entered
today (1) was not written for publication in a law
journal and (2) is not binding precedent of the Board.
Paper No. 15
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
________________
BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS
AND INTERFERENCES
________________
Ex parte JOSEPHUS H. EGGEN, JOANNE H. D. M. WESTERINK
and REINDER HAAKMA
________________
Appeal No. 95-3129
Application 07/949,2901
________________
ON BRIEF
________________
Before McCANDLISH, Senior Administrative Patent Judge, COHEN and
STAAB, Administrative Patent Judges.
STAAB, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
This is a decision on an appeal from the final rejection of
claims 1-15, all the claims currently pending in the application.
Appellants’ invention pertains to an apparatus for reading
and playing back information stored on a removable information-
Appeal No. 95-3129
Application 07/949,290
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carrying medium, wherein the apparatus provides for time-wise bar
display of said information. An understanding of the invention
can be derived from a reading of exemplary claim 1, a copy of
which appears in the appendix to appellants’ brief.
The references of record relied upon by the examiner in
support of the rejections are:
Utsugi et al. (Utsugi) 5,010,437 Apr. 23, 1991
Tomoda et al. (Tomoda) 0 306 909 Mar. 15, 1989
(European Patent Application)
Claims 1-7, 10, 11 and 13-15 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 102(b) as being anticipated by Tomoda.
Claims 8, 9 and 12 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Tomoda in view of Utsugi.
The full text of the examiner’s rejections and response to
the argument presented by appellants appears in the answer (Paper
No. 13). The complete statement of appellants’ argument can be
found in the Brief (Paper No. 12).
Tomoda pertains to a compact disc player having a display
for displaying the information contained on the disc in a form
representative of how one would desire the information to be
recorded on a tape by a tape recorder attached to the Tomoda
device. To this end, the Tomoda device includes, see Figure 3, a
display 24 comprising an “A plane indicator” representative of
Appeal No. 95-3129
Application 07/949,290
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information to be recorded on the “A side” of the tape and a “B
plane indicator” representative of information to be recorded on
the “B side” of the tape. Each plane indicator includes a set of
indicia corresponding to fifteen tracks of the disc, a series of
seven-segment display units for displaying track and time
information, and several groups of discrete vertical hash marks
(presumably in the form of LEDs or the like). The “A plane
indicator” and the “B plane indicator” are separated by what
appears to be a horizontal number line starting at 0 (zero) and
going to fifty (50) indicative of the minutes of playing time of
each side of the tape. The manner in which Tomoda’s display 24
displays information is not described in detail. As we
understand it, as the edit keys 25b-25e are used to add tracks to
the play list for recording on either the “A side” or the “B
side” of the tape, the discrete vertical hash marks for the
corresponding plane indicator change their appearance from a
first state to a second state to indicate the cumulative time of
the edited play list for that tape side.
Claim 1, the sole independent claim on appeal, calls for,
inter alia, a visual display means for displaying the information
of the removable information-carrying medium as a bar, and sub-
bar display means for displaying within said bar, sub-sequences
Appeal No. 95-3129
Application 07/949,290
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of the information. The sub-bar display means is such that the
sub-sequences are displayed “each as an identifiable and discrete
sub-bar having . . . a length which is proportional to a length
of the represented sub-sequence” and such that there are “visible
separation indications between each of the sub-bar display
means.”
It is well established patent law that for a reference to be
properly anticipatory, each and every element of the rejected
claim must be found either expressly described or under the
principles of inherency in the applied reference. See, inter
alia, RCA Corp. v. Applied Digital Data Sys., Inc., 730 F.2d
1440, 1444, 221 USPQ 385, 388 (Fed. Cir. 1984). We have searched
the disclosure of Tomoda in vain for any disclosure that the
display means of Tomoda’s disc player displays the sub-sequences
(i.e., tracks) of the disc as identifiable and discrete sub-bars
having a length proportional to the length thereof and with
visible separation indications between each of the tracks, as
called for in independent claim 1. Finding no such disclosure,
the standing § 102 rejection of claims 1-7, 10, 11 and 13-15
based on Tomoda cannot be sustained.
As to the standing § 103 rejection of claims 8, 9 and 12 as
being unpatentable over Tomoda in view of Utsugi, we have also
Appeal No. 95-3129
Application 07/949,290
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carefully considered the Utsugi reference additionally relied
upon by the examiner but find nothing therein which makes up for
the above-noted deficiencies of Tomoda. Accordingly, the § 103
rejection of claims 8, 9 and 12 also cannot be sustained.
The decision of the examiner is reversed.
REVERSED
HARRISON E. McCANDLISH )
Senior Administrative Patent Judge )
)
)
)
IRWIN CHARLES COHEN ) BOARD OF PATENT
Administrative Patent Judge ) APPEALS AND
) INTERFERENCES
)
)
LAWRENCE J. STAAB )
Administrative Patent Judge )
Appeal No. 95-3129
Application 07/949,290
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Corporate Patent Counsel
U.S. Philips Corporation
580 White Plains Road.
Tarrytown, NY 10591