Appeal No. 95-3830
Application No. 07/942,460
We can observe no basis for the examiner's finding (answer
at 3) that:
The ultrafiltrate monitor (Fig. 2) uses the data from
the [pressure] sensors to calculate the membrane
clearance for ultrafiltrate impurity. The UF control
124 controls the flow rate as claimed. The
ultrafiltrate rate is related to the transmembrane
pressure.
Figure 2 of Shouldice et al. merely shows that data from pressure
sensors 94 and 96 are inputted to the ultrafiltrate monitor 130.
We find no discussion anywhere in Shouldice et al. concerning
calculation of a clearance for "a type of impurity" based on the
data from pressure sensors 94 and 96, and the examiner has cited
none. The closest Shouldice et al. comes to that is the
following (column 5, lines 9-13):
A TMP (transmembrane pressure) that is too high
indicates that the operator is trying to pull too much
ultrafiltrate (in which event he can lower the
ultrafiltration rate) or that the membrane is clogged
(in which event use of the clogged dialyzer must be
discontinued).
Shouldice et al., in column 3, lines 13-14, defines the term
"ultrafiltrate" as that liquid passing through the membrane in
dialyzer 20 from blood to dialysate. Transmembrane pressure is
not the same as either the fresh dialysis liquid pressure or the
used dialysis liquid pressure as measured by pressure sensors 94
and 96. Even assuming that the transmembrane pressure can be
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