Appeal No. 2001-0659
Application 08/935,368
to the flexible cover 403, not that the flexible cover 403 is
sealed to the optical fiber to provide an air-tight cavity. The
flexible cover 403 tube could be open to the atmosphere at the
other end and the diaphragm end would still be sealed. There is
no reason why an air-tight cavity would necessarily be inherent.
The examiner's reasoning that it would be hard to change the
shape of the elastic diaphragm 409 with only the blood pressure
without an air-tight cavity (apparently an implied argument of
inherency) is not convincing because it takes less force to
deflect a membrane that is open at one side to the atmosphere
than if it had to act against an air-tight cavity where the force
increases with the amount of deflection.
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