Appeal No. 1999-2544 Page 11
Application No. 08/796,513
---Claim 12---
Claim 12 is directed to a respiration humidifier
comprising a plurality of hollow fibers made of a material
permeable to water vapor but impermeable to liquid water, a
water feed connected to an outer jacket, breathing lines in
connection with the interior of the fibers and "heating means
for directly and substantially evenly heating an outer
circumferential surface of said hollow fibers."2 We proceed
to determine the broadest reasonable interpretation of this
latter limitation, the "heating means...", and find that such
limitation is not taught or suggested by Jackson.
The appellant's specification at pages 4 and 5 discloses
that
[i]t is essential for the present invention that
the heater is arranged directly around the
hollow fibers in the water bath in the jacket of
the respiration humidifier, i.e., it is
integrated in the humidifier module.... The
2 The appellant argues that heater element (42) in Jackson cannot represent
the heating means of claim 12 because it only operates on the water in the
reservoir and does not directly heat an outer circumferential surface of the
hollow fibers as set forth in claim 12 (brief, pages 7 and 11).
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