Appeal No. 1997-3930
Application 08/394,596
we find that the scope of Appellants' claim 1 requires a
spectrometer to provide an evanescent spectrum of the
hydrocarbon sample.
Turning to Silvus, we find that Silvus does not teach a
spectrometer and thus, does not meet the limitation as recited
in Appellants' claim 1 of a means to obtain an evanescent
spectrum of the hydrocarbon sample. In col. 2, lines 40-68,
Silvus discloses that the object of the invention is to
provide an instrument to determine the amount of suspended
oils in water. Thus, Silvus is not concerned with determining
what type of petroleum is in a sample. In particular, Silvus
teaches an inexpensive, reliable, easily operated and
maintained instrument which detects the concentration of oils
suspended in water by using a photodiode that translates the
amount of light transmitted through the water into an
electrical signal. The voltage of the photodiode is
proportional to the amount of suspended oils in the water.
Turning to Minekane, we find that Minekane is also
concerned with measuring the concentration of a particular
component in a sample. In particular, Minekane is interested
8
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007