Appeal No. 1999-2649
Application 08/483,291
display SIM properties.
The Foster patent contains no disclosure concerning SMAs,
and was cited by the examiner only as evidence of the
obviousness of using a guide wire (recited in claims 21, 37
and 38). In the view we take of this case, further
consideration of Foster is unnecessary.
Each of independent claims 21, 26, 31 and 34 requires, in
varying language, a memory alloy element (claim 21) or a stent
(claims 26, 31 and 34) formed at least partly from an alloy
which displays SIM behavior.
In view of the foregoing discussion, the combination of
Balko and Kirk-Othmer would not have suggested or rendered
obvious these limitations.
Moreover, claim 21, for example, additionally recites
“wherein the alloy is selected so that the transformation can
occur without any change in temperature of the placement
device or the memory alloy element,” and similar limitations
are contained in the last three lines of claim 26, the last
six lines of claim 31, and the last two lines of claim 34.
Even if it were to be assumed that the nitinol disclosed by
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