Appeal No. 2004-0551 Page 16
Application No. 09/393,256
"said shaft and said probe head having an absence of electrical circuit elements" would
have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person of ordinary skill in
the art. Thus, the examiner has not determined that the claimed subject matter of claim
8, as a whole, to have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over the teachings of
Weiland. Accordingly, the decision of the examiner to reject claim 8 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103 as being unpatentable over Weiland is reversed.
Claims 30 and 31
Independent claim 30 reads as follows:
An ultrasonic probe comprising:
a shaft for transmitting ultrasonic mechanical vibrations from a source of
ultrasonic vibrations; and
a probe head at an end of said shaft, said probe head being provided on
at least one lateral side with a recess, said probe head being provided with a
plurality of channels communicating with said recess.
In the rejection of claim 30 under appeal, the examiner (answer, p. 5) concluded
that it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of
the invention to have provided an additional through channel or bore in the device of
Weiland to route additional wire.
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