Appeal No. 2005-0980 2
Application No. 09/818,228
APPEALED SUBJECT MATTER
According to the appellant (the Brief, page 7):
Claims 1, 2, 6, 8, 11-15, 20, 23...and 28 stand or fall together....
Claims 3 and 6...stand or fall together....
Claims 4 and 17...stand or fall together....
Claims 7 and 19...stand or fall together....
Claims 9, 10, 21, 22, 26 and 27...stand or fall together....
Therefore, for purposes of this appeal, we select claims 1, 3, 4, 7 and 9 as representative
of the above five groups of the claims on appeal and determine the propriety of the
grounds of rejection set forth below based on these claims alone. See 37 CFR
§ 1.192(c)(7) (2003) and 37 CFR § 41.37(c)(1)(vii)(2004). Claims 1, 3, 4, 7 and 9 are
reproduced below:
1. A nasopharyngeal catheter for open delivery of a continuous flow of air/oxygen into
a patient’s distal nasopharynx or oropharynx to supplement a patient’s spontaneous
respiration in treatment of respiratory failure, respiratory insufficiency, or sleep apnea
syndrome, said nasopharyngeal catheter comprising:
a nasal catheter having a proximal end and a distal end adapted to extend through
a patient’s nose and into the patient’s distal nasopharynx or oropharynx without restricting
the patient’s spontaneous respiration through the patient’s nasopharynx or oropharynx;
a delivery tube adapted to extend below the patient’s nostril connected to the
proximal end of the nasal catheter; and
a gas source delivering a continuous flow of air/oxygen at a rate of approximately 4
to 40 liters per minute through the delivery tube and nasal catheter into the patient’s distal
nasopharynx or oropharynx to supplement the patient’s respiration.
3. The nasopharyngeal catheter of claim 2 wherein the nasal catheter further
comprises a plurality of markings indicating a series of common lengths for the nasal
catheter.
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