Ex Parte 4944298 et al - Page 11

               Appeal 2007-3787                                                                            
               Reexamination 90/006,642                                                                    
               Patent 4,944,298                                                                            
           1   same rewards is typically not outside of the scope of ordinary skill.  To say               
           2   otherwise is tantamount to ruling as a matter of law that a person of ordinary              
           3   skill is incapable of applying a general teaching to any particular situation.              
           4          Berkovits and Sholder each disclose the general teaching of using a                  
           5   physiological sensor to control pacing in a pacemaker in a switched mode of                 
           6   operation initiated after the atrial rate has been detected as exceeding a                  
           7   threshold.  One with ordinary skill in the art would take that general teaching             
           8   and apply it in any circumstance that involves a pacemaker operating in a                   
           9   switched mode initiated after the atrial rate has been detected as exceeding a              
          10   threshold and expect to obtain benefits.  The fact that Berkovits and                       
          11   Sholder’s pacemaker uses only a single threshold as the trigger to change to                
          12   a switched mode of operation does not mean the general teaching of using a                  
          13   physiological sensor to control pacing during the switched mode has benefits                
          14   only if the switched mode is triggered on a first threshold and not a second.               
          15   The Applicant has not presented persuasive evidence why one with ordinary                   
          16   skill in the art would perceive the general teaching as being limited to only a             
          17   particular circumstance, one involving the exceeding of a single threshold to               
          18   initiate the switched mode of operation in a pacemaker, not two thresholds.                 
          19   As the Examiner correctly determined (Answer 16:21 to 17:13):                               
          20          It does not matter if there were one, two, or more atrial                            
          21          thresholds described in Berkovits or Sholder since the sensor is                     
          22          used to indicate the metabolic/physiological need of the patient                     
          23          when ventricular pacing is provided in the alternate pacing                          
          24          mode and not in the atrial triggered modes where the atrial                          
          25          thresholds are used. . . .  Neither Sholder [nor] Berkovits                          
          26          specifically state that the sensor should not be used with                           
          27          multiple thresholds or that the sensor should only be used with                      
          28          a single threshold.  (Emphasis in original.)                                         

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