Appeal No. 1999-1384
Application No. 08/583,912
25. The device of claim 9, wherein, after said device has been used to
assay a first aqueous sample suspected of containing said liquid
analyte by:
flowing said first aqueous liquid sample, suspected of containing
the target analyte, normal to and through said membrane having
said complexes thereon, at a flow rate allowing the target analyte to
displace the labelled analog from the complexes under non-
equilibrium conditions to form downstream of said membrane a
liquid effluent including said displaced labelled analog, said flow
rate also providing an interaction time between said analyte and
said membrane of about 0.1 sec through about 30 sec; and
interrogating said liquid effluent for the presence of said labelled
analog therein,
said membrane may be rinsed and said device may be reused for the
steps of:
flowing a second aqueous liquid sample, suspected of containing
target analyte, normal to and through said membrane having said
complexes thereon, at a flow rate allowing the target analyte in said
second sample to displace the labelled analog from the complexes
under non-equilibrium conditions to form downstream of said
membrane a liquid effluent including said labelled analog displaced
by said target analyte in said second sample, said flow rate also
providing an interaction time between said analyte in said second
sample and said membrane of about 0.1 sec through about 30 sec;
and
interrogating said liquid effluent from said second sample for the
presence of said labelled analog displaced by said target analyte in
said second sample.
The references relied upon by the examiner are:
Ligler et al. (Ligler) 5,183,740 Feb. 2, 1993
Kidwell 5,369,007 Nov. 29, 1994
GROUNDS OF REJECTION
Claim 25 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph, as
indefinite because it is not clear what component of the device is further limited.
Claims 1-4, 7-14, 19-20 and 24-28 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103
as being unpatentable over Ligler in view of Kidwell.
We reverse.
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