Appeal No. 96-0899
Application 07/863,216
responsive to operation of a particular one of the keys to buffer
and store a key activation packet that is passed onto the central
controller in response to a polling request. The claim also
requires the central controller to generate an indicator control
packet that is sent to a particular keyboard and visual indicator
cluster controller in response to receipt of the key activation
packet.
While the examiner has cited various references for
teachings of polling, entering of physician instructions into a
computer system and electrical communication between rooms and a
central location, it is not at all clear how the examiner intends
to modify Auer with this combination of teachings in order to
arrive at the claimed subject matter. We would agree with the
examiner that polling techniques and general communication by
physicians and between rooms and central locations are generally
known. However, this does not explain how the artisan would have
been led to the very specific communication system set forth in
claim 8 wherein each of the claimed coded selectively operable
keys corresponds to a predetermined physician order, wherein a
key activation packet is buffered and stored in response to
operation of one of the keys and wherein the central controller
is responsive to the receipt of the key activation packet to
-9-
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