Appeal No. 2003-1725
Application No. 09/357,645 Page 11
pages 10-20. We start with the Group IV claims comprising claims
1-4, 6, 7 and 25.
Claims 1-4, 6, 7 and 25
Since claims 1-4, 6, 7 and 25 have been grouped as standing
or falling together, we select independent claim 1 as the
representative claim on which we shall decide this appeal with
respect to this grouping of claims. See 37 CFR § 1.192(c)(7)
(2001).
Claim 1 is directed to a flexible tube occluder comprising
an occluding member and a force actuator that is arranged to bend
the occluding member from a first configuration to a second
configuration. A tube occluder encompassed by representative
claim 1 is depicted in appellants’ drawing figures 12(e) and
12(f). As appellants note at page 2 of the supplemental brief,
element or spring plate 1152 depicted in figures 12(e) and 12(f)
is an example of an occluding member included within the scope of
representative claim 1. Furthermore, as set forth at page 3 of
the supplemental brief, inflatable bladder 1182 as shown in those
same drawing figures is a force actuator within the scope of
representative claim 1.
The occluding member of appealed claim 1 is required to have
the property of being essentially non-compliant to forces applied
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Last modified: November 3, 2007