Appeal No. 97-0684
Application 08/171,343
outer tubes are secured to each other and to the inner tube at
the distal end of the catheter and the annular lumen B
communicates with the interior of the balloon via radially
extending ports 12. Sugiyama does not disclose a catheter
wherein the inflation lumen (i.e., annular lumen C) is the sole
lumen in communication with the interior of the balloon, as
required for independent claim 1.
Considering first the examiner’s position that it would have
been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to attach the
inner and outer tubes of Simpson together in view of Sugiyama’s
teaching of securing tubes together (with, for example, a spacer
and opening 11 as shown by Sugiyama in Figure 6), the difficulty
we have with this rationale is that we fail to see any teaching
in the references themselves of an incentive for the proposed
modification. Nothing in Simpson indicates that the construction
illustrated, for example, in Figure 6, is for the purpose of
providing a more robust connection between the outer and
intermediate tubes, notwithstanding the examiner’s unsupported
statement that this construction is “apparently in order to
provide such a sturdy connection” (answer, page 3). Moreover,
providing such a construction in Simpson would appear to run
counter to one of Simpson’s stated objective, namely, forming the
-7-
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007