Appeal No. 1997-2569
Application No. 08/469,578
(3) Claim 41 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over Gibbs and Lee as applied to claim 36, and
further in view of Shibuya.
Grouping of claims
According to appellants, "Claims 3-5, 13, 23, 32-41 and
44 stand or fall together as to the rejections under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103" (Brief, p. 3). Therefore, for purposes of this appeal,
claims 4, 5, 13, 23, 32-41 and 44 stand or fall with the
patentability of claim 3. See 37 CFR § 1.192(c)(7) (1996).
Discussion
Claim 3 is directed to a method of mixing two or more
liquids comprising the steps of (1) forming a liquid droplet
containing the liquids on a surface which is impervious to and
non-reactive with the liquid droplet whereby the droplet is in
containerless containment on the surface and (2) applying
electrostatic or acoustic energy to the droplet to mix the
liquids contained therein.
Gibbs discloses a method of mixing a liquid specimen and
a liquid reagent. Drops of these liquids are applied to a
horizontal support which maintains the drops in "containerless
containment." Thereafter, a jet of gaseous fluid, preferably
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