Appeal No. 2005-0860
Application No. 09/363,728
reflecting the concentration of the analyte in the blood, a
micro-computer 25 including electronics 24 for computing the
concentration of the analyte, a data memory 26, a reader 28 for
scanning bar codes affixed to the test strips and an interface
for transferring data to a PC. Bocker’s rather brief description
of the keypad 20 indicates that it serves merely to “operate” the
central unit 3 (see column 5, lines 42 and 43; and Figure 1).
The examiner acknowledges (see page 4 in the answer) that
Bocker lacks response to the limitation in claim 1 requiring the
keypad to be a “numeric” keypad. To supply this deficiency, the
examiner turns to Cheung.
Cheung discloses a digital biosensor (see Figure 2) similar
in many respects to the analyte monitor disclosed by Bocker. As
with Bocker, the reference appears to describe the keypad
component of the biosenser only in terms of inputting operating
instructions (see, for example, column 3, lines 15 through 19;
column 9, lines 55 through 65; and column 10, lines 46 through
48). The examiner has found that the keypad is numeric (see page
9 in the answer), but has not pointed to any specific teaching,
and none is apparent, which supports this finding. Hence, even
if the examiner’s conclusion that it would have been obvious “to
incorporate the conventional keypad as taught by Cheung et al
5
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