Ex parte BRUCE R. BOWMAN et al. - Page 6




          Appeal No. 96-0935                                                          
          Application 08/157,737                                                      


          Bowman also discloses means for detecting that switch components            
          are not operating in the required manner, in which case an alarm            
          is sounded (column 5, lines 18 through 29).                                 
               Brownlee discloses a cardiac pacing apparatus of the type              
          that can operate in two modes.  The first of these is the demand            
          mode, that is, in response to a patient's cardiac rate dropping             
          below a desired level.  In the second mode the rate is set to be            
          fixed and continuous.  The problem to which Brownlee is directed            
          is that of protecting the patient from the effect of non-                   
          physiologically unduced EMI signals, such as 60 Hz, that mimic              
          normal cardiac rates when such actually is not present, which               
          could cause the pacer not to respond to the patient's cardiac               
          emergency (columns 1 through 3).  To solve this problem, an EMI             
          detector is provided in addition to the controller on the pacer.            
          Upon detection of EMI, the pacer controller is signaled to                  
          override the demand mode and switch the device to the safer,                
          alternative, fixed and continuous mode.                                     
               In the Howson system a cardiac monitoring device is used in            
          conjunction with the non-physiologically induced EMI signal of a            
          pain-mitigating device, the latter of which could adversely                 
          effect the detecting capabilities of the former.  To avoid this             
          problem, a detector senses the presence of the EMI and disables             

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