Appeal No. 1997-2008
Application No. 08/270,931
The system includes an interrogation device and a transponder
formed of a passive surface acoustic wave device. None of
them include reference elements. Schwartz, on the other hand,
describes a sensor with a sensor element and a reference
element, but each element requires a power source and,
therefore, is an active device.
The examiner asserts (Answer, page 5) that "Schwartz
suggests (col. 1, lines 22-31) that such a built-in reference
surface wave structure improves the sensitivity, resolution
and stability of the sensor while providing independence from
temperature and positional effects." The examiner concludes
(Answer, page 5) that "it would have been obvious ... to have
modified the surface wave sensor of Nysen or Skeie to a sensor
having a first surface wave structure acting as a sensor
element and a second surface wave structure acting as a
reference element, as suggested by Schwartz."
We first note that the examiner refers to the structures
of Nysen I, Nysen II, and Skeie as sensors, whereas each
reference discloses a passive interrogator label system, as
explained above. Merely that the references disclose similar
structures, namely surface acoustic wave structures, does not
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