Appeal No. 1997-2569
Application No. 08/469,578
electrostatic or acoustic energy. Claim 3 is illustrative and
reads as follows:
3. A method of mixing two or more liquids, said method
comprising the steps of:
(a) forming a liquid droplet containing said two or
more liquids on a substantially planar and substantially
inelastic surface, said liquid droplet being in
containerless containment on said surface, said
surface being substantially impervious to and non-reactive
with said liquid droplet and
(b) applying electrostatic energy or acoustic energy
to said droplets thereby mixing said liquids.
The references relied upon by the examiner are:
Gibbs et al. (Gibbs) 3,854,703 Dec. 17,
1974
Woodbridge, III (Woodbridge) 4,065,263 Dec. 27,
1977
Lee et al. (Lee) 4,250,257 Feb. 10,
1981
Shibuya et al. (Shibuya) 4,988,208 Jan. 29,
1991
Smith et al. (Smith) "An Innovative Technology for 'Random-
Access' Sampling," 28 Clinical Chemistry, no. 9, 1867-72
(Tarrytown, NY, Technicon Instruments Corp., 1982).
The following rejections are at issue in this appeal:
(1) Claims 3, 4, 13, 23, 32, 33, 35-37, 39, 40 and 44
are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Gibbs and Lee and further in view of Woodbridge.
(2) Claims 5, 34, and 38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.
3
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007