Appeal No. 2004-1002
Application No. 09/682,001
to its initial HOME position after being placed at the center
position. We agree with appellant that while the HOME position
may be either at the head or the foot of the patient, the
reference does not teach that the HOME position changes during
multiple exposures.
The examiner sets forth the following rationale at page 8 of
the answer:
When acquiring a series of medical images it is
essential to perform the imaging as quickly as possible
because movement of the patient or movement of organs
within the patient during the procedure could result in
faulty images and erroneous diagnosis. For this reason,
it is common practice to minimize scan time by scanning
a patient alternately beginning at opposite ends of the
table (ie the end of one scan is the beginning of the
next scan). To always start a scan from the head end
of the table as appellant argues Khutoryansky does
would take twice as much time and would likely yield
misleading images.
However, while the examiner’s reasoning has a certain logical
appeal, it is in contradistinction to the specific teaching of
Khutoryansky of returning the system to the center position after
each tomographic exposure.
Since claims 6 and 7 depend on, and further limit, claim 1,
we will also not sustain the examiner’s rejection of claims 6 and
7 under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
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