Appeal No. 96-2192
Application 08/306,856
embodiment, page 5, lines 8 through 10 and page 14, lines 18
through 32, as well as the general assessment at page 15,
lines
1 through 7.
From the examiner's perspective, each independent claim
recites positively a blocking element. There is, however,
only
a passive recitation of the overall monitoring device of
independent claims 30 and 31 being merely “capable of blocking
operation of a surgical instrument.” The examiner's position
as to the enablement issue appears to be based upon the
concern that while on the one hand, the Figures 1 and 2
embodiments appear to specifically teach blocking elements,
they only passively teach or suggest their application to a
surgical device or instrument, while the Figure 3 embodiment,
and specifically the Figure 3f embodiment, specifically
relates the counting device of this figure to a surgical
instrument or device at the same time it contains no explicit
teachings or showings of having the capability of a blocking
element.
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