Appeal No. 1999-2365
Application 08/569,999
engageable with the female portions 38. As for claim 28,
Thier discloses at col. 5, lines 22 to 26, that there may be
"more than one inner bag [16]"; such a plurality of inner bags
would constitute the pluralities of first and second flexible
coverings recited in this claim.
With regard to the recitation of "[a]n emergency
care blanket" or "[a] modular emergency care blanket system"
in the first line of these claims, this recitation in the
preamble is of no patentable significance because it offers
no distinct definition of any of the claimed invention's
limitations, but merely states the purpose or intended use of
the invention. Pitney Bowes, Inc. v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 182
F.3d 1298, 1305, 51 USPQ2d 1161, 1165-66 (Fed. Cir. 1999).
Moreover, it appears that the Thier apparatus would
"accommodate an individual in need of assistance" and "protect
the individual from heat loss and against prevailing
environmental conditions," as recited in the preamble of
claims 1, 28 and 31.
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