Appeal No. 2002-2187
Application 09/149,359
is inserted through an incision in the tympanic membrane 20 by
using alligator forceps 23 to grasp and fold the arms/flanges 16
toward one another to allow them to be inserted through the
incision whereupon they are allowed to spring back to their
normal lateral position to engage the membrane when the forceps
are released.
With regard to the various prior art rejections of claims 17
through 19, the examiner relies on the deformable or deflectable
flange structures respectively disclosed by the foregoing
references as responding to the limitation in claim 17 requiring
a resiliently deflectable device body “having a substantially
uniform insertion cross-section transverse to its longitudinal
extent.” In short, however, none of Shikani’s rectangular flange
22, Blom’s diamond shape end portion 404, Bouton’s wings 3a and
3b, or Bruce’s lateral arms 16 teaches or would have suggested
this feature. The examiner’s additional determination that
Blom’s helical coil spring implant 400 constitutes a resiliently
deflectable device body having a substantially uniform insertion
cross-section transverse to its longitudinal extent because “the
cross-section taken along the diameter of the tube is reduced by
the deflection step . . . [o]therwise, it would not fit within
the capsule, which is the same diameter as the coil spring tube”
9
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