Appeal No. 99-0514
Application 08/636,421
The appealed claims are drawn to a prosthesis for the residual thigh of an above-the-knee
amputee, and are reproduced in the appendix of appellants' brief.
The reference applied in the final rejection is:
MOPR (Russian) 425,629 Apr. 30, 19742
An additional reference, of record, applied herein pursuant to 37 CFR § 1.196(b), is:
Sabolich 5,246,464 Sept. 21, 1993
Claims 5 to 14 stand finally rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over MOPR.
MOPR discloses a prosthesis for the residual thigh, in which there is an outer member
surrounding the thigh, and two series of alternatively inflatable compartments 3 and 4 within the outer
member, divided by separators 2, for improving blood flow in the thigh. The reference states that the
compartments ("subsections" or "sections") are "located along the muscles" or "located along the muscle
groups of the limb in question" (translation, page 1, lines 13, 14, 20 and 21). The examiner takes the
position that (final rejection, page 2):
It is not clear from Figure 1 [of MOPR] as to whether the compartments extend along
substantially the entire length of the residual limb; however, in view of the intended
purpose of the device, such would have been immediately obvious, if not innate, in
order to improve blood flow in the distal part of the leg, where problems often occur.
The Applicant does not present any basis for the conclusion that the compartments are
"of equal size". Figure 2 depicts a rather elliptical, asymmetric geometry in
conformance with the anatomy of the thigh itself; the separators 2 extend along
2Our understanding of this reference is based upon a translation filed by appellants on August
18, 1997.
2
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