Appeal No. 2003-1725
Application No. 09/357,645 Page 16
tube (valve sleeve 10) near the jaws (15 or 16) of the occluded
tube of Figure 2 of Payne as being “a wall of a tube to be
occluded.” Moreover, to the extent the examiner is maintaining
that the jaws (15 or 16) represent the structure of Payne that
corresponds to appellants’ claimed occluding member in applying
Payne to appealed claim 5, the examiner has not fairly explained
how the jaws of Payne meet the claim 1 requirement of a force
actuator that is constructed and positioned to bend that
occluding member. Consequently, we will not sustain the
examiner’s § 103(a) rejection of claim 5.
Claims 12-19
We will not sustain the examiner’s § 103(a) rejection of
separately grouped (Group VII) and argued claims 12-19 on this
record.
All of method claims 12-16 require at least two steps: (1)
the application of a force to bend an occluding member to open a
collapsible tube; and (2) the release of that force to relax the
occluding member so as to occlude the collapsible tube.
The examiner, without pointing to any specific disclosure
other than the figures of Payne, argues that “the method of using
the occluder of Payne et al. comprises applying a force to bend
the occluding member (i.e., the spring plate) to the open
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