Ex Parte Parikh et al - Page 2

              Appeal 2007-1820                                                                     
              Application 10/659,408                                                               
              “Inflammation is present in the lungs of all patients with asthma, even when         
              they are not experiencing symptoms. When the airways become inflamed,                
              the body responds by releasing nitric oxide into the local environment”              
              (Spec. ¶ 3).                                                                         
                    “Managing asthma is an ongoing challenge for clinicians, in large part         
              because it has been difficult to accurately assess a patient's asthmatic status”     
              (Spec. ¶ 4).  “The fundamental problem with these traditional asthma                 
              monitoring techniques is their inability to directly measure airway                  
              inflammation. Given the shortcomings of the current asthma management                
              techniques, there is a need for new procedures that can be tied more directly        
              to airway inflammation” (Spec. ¶ 7).  “The present invention is a method of          
              managing asthma and other airway disorders using eNO [exhaled nitric                 
              oxide] values” (Spec. ¶ 13).                                                         
                    There are two rejections on appeal:                                            
                    1) Claims 18-27 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as obvious             
              over Moilanen (US Pat. Pub. App. 2002/0193698 A1, published Dec. 19,                 
              2002) in view of Kharitonov (Monaldi Arch. Chest Dis., 51(6): 533-537,               
              1996) (Answer 3); and                                                                
                    2) Claims 18-24 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as obvious             
              over Hampton (US Pat. Pub. App. 2003/0073919 A1, published Apr. 17,                  
              2003) in view of Moilanen (Answer 8).                                                
                    The claims within each rejection stand or fall together because                
              Appellants have not provided separate reasons for the patentability of any           
              individual claim, but instead argue the claims in each rejection as a single         
              group.  We select claim 18 as representative of each rejection to decide all         



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