Appeal No. 96-1963
Application 08/094,296
laser beam can be used “as a spotter or tracking beam to locate
the sites to be treated” (page 13, lines 11 to 13). Buys does
not disclose any such equivalent structure. While the Buys
device contains a deflection system and a shutter, the Buys
deflection system does not deflect the laser beam per se, but
rather deflects the end 9 of the optical fiber from which the
laser beam emerges (column 14, lines 28 to 61). Also, Buys’
shutter is not constructed to allow deflection of the beam to
locate each of the spots, but rather only opens after the end 9
of the fiber is in position for the next “shot” (column 18, lines
6 to 11). In other words, appellants’ disclosed structure
deflects the laser beam across the area of the tissue to the next
spot to be “shot”, while the Buys apparatus, instead of
deflecting the beam, deflects the end of the fiber optic cable to
a position where by opening the shutter, it can then deliver the
next “shot”. The apparatus disclosed by Buys therefore does not
perform the same function as appellants’ claimed deflecting
means, and is not equivalent to the structure disclosed by
appellants for performing the recited function of the deflecting
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