Appeal No. 2005-2140
Application No. 09/943,355
the image read-out section. Element 451 is shown as a laser beam
source for stimulating the phosphor sheet and element 459 is a
photomultiplier for use during read-out. Although the erasing
light is on one side of the phosphor sheet when the phosphor
sheet is in light shielding element 426, and the read-out section
is on the other side of the phosphor sheet when the phosphor
sheet is in case 425, there is nothing in the claims that
requires that the two elements be on opposite sides of the
phosphor element simultaneously.
Accordingly, the only difference between Saotome II's Figure
19 and claims 1 and 9 is that Saotome II does not specify that
the erasing light source has uniform transmissivity to the
radiation. However, since the erasing light source covers the
entire surface of the phosphor sheet, and the radiation must pass
therethrough, it at least would have been obvious to make the
transmissivity of the erasing light source uniform across the
entire surface. Therefore, claims 1 and 9 would have been
obvious over Saotome II.
With regard to claims 19 and 20, since the erasing light
covers the entire surface of the phosphor sheet, it clearly
erases energy across the entire surface. Further, Saotome II
discloses (column 14, lines 52-55) that the radiation energy
8
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007