Appeal No. 2005-0015 Page 3
Application No. 09/788,274
In reaching our decision in this appeal, we have given careful consideration to
the appellant's specification and claims, to the applied prior art reference, and to the
respective positions articulated by the appellant and the examiner. As a consequence
of our review, we make the determinations which follow.
We turn our attention first to the rejection of independent claim 1 as being
anticipated by Ketchum. Ketchum discloses a leak point wetness sensor for urological
investigations comprising a body 11 having a passage 12 therethrough to pass a
catheter 13, a receptacle 21 formed in the body to receive liquid which leaks from the
urethra past the inserted catheter, a thermistor 28 mounted to the inside of the passage
12 where it will be contacted by leaked liquid, a reference thermistor 25 bonded to the
body where it will be exposed to ambient temperature, and a detector and amplifier
circuit which detects a difference in the resistance of the thermistors and produces an
output signal in response to the difference in the outputs of the two thermistors and
provides a signal to output indicators 40 to indicate when the difference between the
two thermistor outputs exceeds a predetermined number of degrees, thereby indicating
a leak has occurred.
With respect to claim 1, the sole issue in dispute appears to be whether Ketchum
discloses “a circuit adapted to generate and provide a reference output simulative of a
selected temperature below that of an anticipated temperature of said leaked liquid.”
We agree with the examiner that the circuit formed by the reference thermistor 25 and
leads 35 therefrom fully responds to this limitation. Specifically, the resistance of the
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