Appeal No. 2000-0897
Application No. 08/570,373
valve member may not extend laterally beyond the support rail.
In particular with respect to (3), it would appear from the
discussion on page 9, lines 11-22, of appellant’s
specification that appellant’s tubular wall 20 (i.e.,
biological valve member) necessarily extends laterally beyond
the support wire, at least to some extent.
Looking now at the mitral valve illustrated in Figure 10
of Carpentier, we note that the valve includes a wire frame 16
that corresponds to the claimed support rail, and graft tissue
12 that corresponds to the claimed biological valve member.
As can be seen upon inspection of the upper left corner of
Figure 10, a portion of tissue 12 extends laterally to the
side and partially around wire 16, while another portion of
tissue 12 extends adjacent to and below wire 16. Based on
these findings and on our interpretation of the meaning of the
term “directly underneath,” we conclude that the biological
tissue 12 of Carpentier’s Figure 10 mitral valve extends
“directly underneath” the wire support 16 within the broad
meaning of that term. Hence, when Carpentier’s Figure 10
valve is modified in the manner proposed by the examiner,
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