Appeal No. 1996-2413
Application No. 08/120,194
in the disclosure of this reference “[t]here is no freeze-
drying step at all” (brief, page 9). This argument is
unpersuasive.
Contrary to the appellant’s belief, Japanese ‘526
discloses “aloe (leaf, stem)” as an example of the plant
materials envisioned for treatment by the process of this
reference (see the second full paragraph on translation page
7) and discloses freeze-drying to a dried powder the liquid
obtained from the plant material (see the last sentence in the
paragraph bridging translation pages 9 and 10). From our
perspective, the teachings of Japanese ‘526 including the
aforementioned disclosures would have suggested a vacuum
freeze-dried mass consisting essentially of freeze dried
ingredients of an entire leaf from an aloe plant in accordance
with the appellant’s independent claim 1. Moreover, it is
reasonable to consider the freeze dried powder obtained from
an aloe leaf in accordance with the Japanese reference as
corresponding to the here claimed freeze dried mass
particularly in view of the correspondence between the process
steps by which these respective products are made (e.g.,
compare the Japanese grinding step to the appellant’s claimed
4
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