Appeal No. 96-3650
Application No. 08/222,547
invention.
Other issues
The appellant and the examiner should consider and
address
on the record whether appealed claims 16 and 17 distinguish
over Zimmer. This is because the method of Zimmer, as
represented by the Figure 10 embodiment, includes partitioning
a reservoir 603 with a fluid permeable member 615 which
defines a fluid permeable boundary between a first chamber
region, which is immediately above member 615, and a second
chamber region, which is immediately below member 615, whereby
the migration of air bubbles from the first chamber region to
the second chamber region is prevented (e.g., see lines 58
through 62 in column 6) in accordance with the appealed claim
16 method. As for appealed claim 17, the aforenoted method of
Zimmer would necessarily and inherently include a pressure
differential across the fluid permeable member 615 by virtue
of the difference between the hydrostatic pressure of the
fluid above member 615 and the greater hydrostatic pressure of
the fluid below member 615.
SUMMARY
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