Appeal No. 2001-1412 Paper No. 29
Application No. 08/629,177 Page 6
because Rutner et al. specifically disclose that the solid substrate containing
the labeled form of the ligand and receptor are aspirated and dried in vacuo
prior to use in the assay (column 4, lines 27-31) to provide for a one-step
assay. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to dry all of
the assay reagents in the assays taught by Deeg et al. and use fluorescent
markers on the labelled binding partner because doing so would allow for a
one-step efficient assay that could be used to detect large numbers of
samples and the dried reagents would preserve better. The use of
fluorescent markers in Deeg would eliminate the need for the addition of any
reagents after the wash step. [Answer, pp. 5-6.]
First, the examiner has not pointed out, and we do not find, where Deeg discloses
or suggests using a reaction/test well as a suitable substrate for applying reagents using
an ink-jet printer. The examiner has not stated what she considers to be the reaction wells
in Deeg or where appellants’ specification defines “reaction well” as anything other than a
conventional well, e.g., a well in a microtitration plate or a microtitration strip, as shown in
appellants’ Figs. 1A and 1B (see also specification, p. 3, l. 21; p. 5, ll. 12-13; p. 13, l. 12; p.
14, l. 17). Furthermore, although Rutner describes solid phase substrates as being “in
particulate form, sheet form or in the form of a test tube” (c. 2, ll. 41-42), Deeg only
describes “printing” reagents on one form, i.e., a sheet or “film” of plastic, using an ink-jet
printer. The examiner has not established that it would have been within ordinary skill in
the art to modify an ink-jet printer to “print” reagents inside a test tube or reaction well
instead of on a carrier film or sheet.
Second, Deeg describes multiple discrete rows of each reagent not single layers of
each reagent (brief, pp. 11-12), i.e., not an “analyte specific component [immobilized] ... in
a single continuous region of said reaction well” as claimed. The examiner argues that
“Deeg alternates reagent materials for the advantage of faster mix times upon
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