Appeal No. 97-0737
Application 08/538,554
illustrative and reads as follows:
1. A patient hip guard, comprising:
a) a first hip pad and a second hip pad, each hip pad
including a cover defining an internal chamber containing a
resilient pad having a relieved region sized and configured in
correspondence to a shape of a femoral head of a user’s hip and
adapted to overlie a femoral head of a user’s hip when placed
adjacent thereto;
b) a first strap devoid of a hard object attached between
said hip pads and being adjustable in length whereby a spacing
between said hip pads may be adjusted;
c) a second strap devoid of a hard object attached between
said hip pads and being adjustable in length to accommodate to
waists of differing sizes; and
d) a rigid pad within the internal chamber engaging a face
of a respective resilient pad opposite the relieved region.
The references relied upon by the examiner as evidence of
obviousness are:
Flick 835,219 Nov. 6, 1906
Wortberg 4,573,216 Mar. 4, 1986
Valtakari 5,105,473 Apr. 21, 1992
Rice 5,431,623 Jul. 11, 1995
The claims on appeal stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
follows:
a) claims 1, 10 and 11 as being unpatentable over Flick in
view of Wortberg and Valtakari; and
b) claims 3 through 9 and 12 as being unpatentable over
Flick in view of Wortberg and Valtakari, and further in view of
Rice.
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