Appeal No. 1997-2385
Application No. 08/271,571
original water content prior to rehydration; (c) rehydrating the harvested plant to 95% of the
water content at the time of harvest; and, (d) recovering at least 90% of the therapeutic
active ingredient(s) present in the plants at the time of harvest. The examiner has not
pointed out, and we do not find, where these limitations are disclosed or suggested in the
applied prior art.
Palmer discloses a process for producing fruit products exhibiting improved
organoleptic and visual properties (c. 2, ll. 14-17) by forming a wet blend of solids
(including hydrated cereal grains), drying and forming the blend into shaped pieces
(c. 6, ll. 19-21). Palmer's process may include subjecting the wet blend with the flake
grains to a soaking step to hydrate the flakes (c. 6, ll. 23-25). The wet blend is then
dehydrated with conventional dehydrating techniques, such as microwave heating (c. 6, ll.
32-37). Palmer states that the invention is applicable to edible plants (c. 3, ll. 10-14).
Sugisawa discloses a process of drying foods under reduced pressure (c. 1, ll.
6-7). Sugisawa includes vegetable plants as a type of food that can be processed (c. 2, l.
29). According to this process, the food is swelled by vaporizing the water under reduced
pressure and then dried "while retaining the swelled condition" (c. 2, ll. 59-62). The drying
step can be effected by infrared rays or microwaves (c. 3, l. 66 - c. 4, l. 2).
Lioutas discloses "improved methods for preparing dried green vegetables of
improved color stability" (c. 3, ll. 55-57). According to Lioutas' method, vegetables are first
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