Appeal No. 2006-0626 2
Application No. 09/316,990
stimulation of the salivary glands and/or salivary ducts” (specification, page 1).
Representative claim 1 reads as follows:
1. An article for use in treatment of xerostomia, comprising:
a driver assembly capable of producing a vibrating action at a drive frequency;
a stimulator assembly operatively connected to said driver assembly such that the
stimulator assembly vibrates in response to operation of the driver assembly, the
stimulator assembly including a stimulator member for vibrating a salivary member,
wherein the vibration of the stimulator member has such a frequency and amplitude
and wherein the stimulator member is so configured and arranged, conprising [sic]
substantially only a plurality of cylindrical elastomeric finger elements, substantially all
of which have rounded top portions with a selected length within the range of 0.2-0.5
inches and a cross-sectional diameter within the range of 0.06-0.25 inches and are made
from an elastomeric material having a durometer in the range of 20-60 shore A, which is
sufficiently flexible, resilient and soft, that when the stimulator member is brought into
contact with the salivary member, a sufficient vibrational effect is produced on the
salivary member that a significant increase in the saliva production into the oral cavity
results.1
THE PRIOR ART
The references relied on by the examiner to support the final rejection are:
Michaels 5,040,260 Aug. 20, 1991
Giuliani et al. 5,189,751 Mar. 02, 1993
(Giuliani)
Roberts et al. 5,987,688 Nov. 23, 1999
(Roberts)
1 In the event of further prosecution, the examiner should consider whether the recitations in claim 1 of the
stimulator member as “co[m]prising substantially only” a plurality of cylindrical elastomeric finger
elements and in claim 12 of a stimulator configuration suitable “only” for tissue vibration outside of the
oral cavity present issues under the first and/or second paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. § 112.
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