Appeal No. 1997-0915
Application 08/369,853
portable monitor during said patient monitoring" because the
sensor lead permits separation between the external sensor and
the main apparatus (note that no particular distance is
recited). Sasaki discloses "coupling means for detachably
coupling" the external sensor 16 to the sensor unit 7 and it
would have been obvious to use detachable coupling for the
leads 30 in Policastro in view of the teachings of Sasaki.
Appellants' arguments do not explain why the external
sensors in Policastro and Sasaki cannot be the claimed "data
acquisition pod," that is, Appellants do not identify what
specific claim limitation is not met. The difference in
terminology between "sensor" and "data acquisition pod" is not
determinative. Appellants' argument that "[a] sensor
processing device included in a sensor is not independently
positionable, because the sensor must have a specified spatial
relationship to the patient to sense the data" (Br18) is not
understood. The processing device provides the
"conditioning." The external sensor assemblies in Policastro
and Sasaki (which correspond to the data acquisition pod) are
"independently positionable" relative to the data processor of
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