Appeal No. 95-4369
Application 08/117,242
ablated by the laser beam is located, an inductively coupled
plasma source remotely located from the site of ablation, and a
detector receiving the output emission from the plasma source,
which detector is remotely located from the plasma source. In
short, both the laser and the plasma source have to be located
remote from where the material sample is ablated, and the
detector receiving emissions from the plasma source is remotely
located from the plasma source. According to the appellants and
the specification, this arrangement minimizes contamination of
persons and equipment by the material being ablated and analyzed.
The rejection of claims 45, 49-51, 55,
64, 66, 68-69 and 84 over Jowitt and Bowen
Jowitt discloses a material gathering and analyzing method
using a laser to ablate the material and a remotely located
inductively coupled plasma source to analyze the material.
According to the examiner, the only difference between Jowitt’s
system and the system of the rejected claims is that Jowitt’s
laser is not remotely located from the site of ablation of the
materials (answer at 3). The examiner relied on Bowen to show
that a laser can be remotely located from where the laser beam is
applied in a device for analyzing contaminants (answer at 3-4).
The appellants argue that the laser used in the claimed
invention is a high energy laser for ablating the material to be
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