Appeal No. 2003-1548 Page 4
Application No. 08/786,957
transducer element at the “back” of the diaphragm which provides an electrical signal
related to displacement of the diaphragm (column 4, line 65, to column 5, line 3). A
lumen 11 runs through the catheter for conducting air at substantially atmospheric
pressure from the open proximal end 11p of the lumen to the “back” or “reference
pressure” side of the diaphragm near the distal end 11d of the lumen so as to make the
transducer system read gauge pressure, the pressure relative to the atmosphere
(column 5, lines 5-11). The transducer system also includes electrical leads 17 running
between the transducer element and an external electronics package 20 including a
power and signal processing unit 21 with output leads 22 to a display device 23. The
electrical leads 17 may run through the lumen or be embedded in the solid wall or
center of the catheter.
The examiner concedes on page 3 of the answer that McGrail lacks a chamber
formed in the wall 35 adjacent the open end of the elongate passage having a highly
compliant exterior wall and a lumen formed in the wall extending from the chamber to a
pressure measuring apparatus for measuring airway pressure determined by movement
of the exterior wall causing compression and decompression of gas in the chamber in
response to changes in airway pressure and the presence of gas in the lumen, as
called for in claim 1. According to the examiner, it would have been obvious “to modify
the pressure monitoring lumen of McGrail to be of any well known configuration which
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