Appeal No. 2000-0827
Application 08/466,104
Specification at 20-21 (our emphasis). That the suitable
"existing techniques" include using Sorbitol as a viscosity-
increasing agent is evident from the above-noted fact that
Sorbitol is used for this purpose in a preferred embodiment and
in Examples 1 and 6. Although this preferred embodiment and
these examples apparently employ free gas microbubbles, neither
the examiner nor Appellant construes Appellant's specification as
showing a preference for the disclosed "existing techniques"
which are useful for forming free gas microbubbles.
Appellant's specification includes two passages which
describe contrast agents which employ human protein. The first
passage (id. at 12, ll. 11-23), which does not use the term
"human protein," is a description of "Albunex (Molecular
Biosystems, Inc., San Diego, CA)" under the heading "Techniques
For Measuring Ultrasound Contrast-Enhancement Phenomena" ( id.
at 6), subheading "B. BEAM ATTENUATION" ( id. at 11). Albunex is
"a suspension of 2-4 micron encapsulated air-filled microspheres"
(id. at 12, ll. 19-20). Albunex contrast agents are discussed in
the Hilpert Chapter, which at page 33 and its footnote, under the
heading "ENCAPSULATED GAS BUBBLES" (at 32), explains that Albunex
is produced by the sonication of 5% human serum albumin. The
Hilpert Chapter's discussion of this contrast agent is briefly
addressed in the Second Hilpert Declaration at ¶ 7(1) and in the
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