Appeal No. 2005-0855 7
Application No. 10/269,807
that “one way for generating positrons is through the formation
within the specimen 18 of neutron-deficient isotopes, i.e.,
positron emitters” (page 20, emphasis added). In the same vein,
the specification describes Tables I and II (on pages 21 and 22)
as identifying “those isotopes that may be converted into
positron emitters by photon bombardment” (page 20, emphasis
added). Thus, even if the appellant’s description of
“activating” a positron emitter is somewhat inaccurate as urged
by the examiner, it is so only in the most hyper-technical sense.
Read in context, the appellant’s terminology would not pose any
enablement problem from the perspective of a person having
ordinary skill in the art.
The examiner’s concerns as to possible interference between
respective signals produced by the selected positron emitter and
non-selected positron emitters and as to the half-life of the
selected positron emitter also are unfounded, primarily because
they are not commensurate with the scope of the invention
disclosed and claimed by the appellant. In this regard, the
claims do not exclude the activation of multiple positron
emitters, and indeed the appellant’s specification (see pages 8,
13 and 14) actually allows for such activation. The claims also
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