Appeal No. 2006-0981 Page 9
Application No. 10/036,618
axis, and wherein the step of moving an x-ray source and a radiation receiver on a
C-arm around said subject comprises moving said x-ray source and said radiation
receiver on said C-arm through at least approximately 190° around said angulation
axis." Giving the representative claims their broadest, reasonable construction, the
limitations require that the aforementioned C-arm has an orbital axis or an angulation
axis, respectively, around which an x-ray source and receiver can be moved
approximately 190°.
2. Obviousness Determination
The appellants admit "that the Ergun et al. reference is an example of a C-arm
x-ray apparatus of the type which Appellants acknowledged above to be known to those
of ordinary skill in the art. . . ." (Appeal Br. at 9.) We find that the reference's "C-arm
ha[s] an X-ray source and an image receptor mounted upon opposing ends to face each
other along a beam axis. . . ." Col. 16, ll. 32-34. We also find that the reference's
"C-arm may move in orbital rotation about an orbital axis," col. 16, ll. 36-37 and that an
"end of the arm is pivotally attached to the collar such that the collar is rotatable relative
to said first arm about a collar axis," id. at ll. 52-53, i.e., its angulation axis. Because the
appellants further admit that Ergun's "C-arm apparatus [is] capable of executing the
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