Appeal 2006-1521
Application 09/815,877
The Examiner and Appellants should also consider the patentability of
at least claims 34, 35, 54 and 56 under § 103(a) over the combination of
Dickerhoff (US 5,360,439) in view of Morten (US 5,075,910).
Dickerhoff discloses an inflatable blanket having two inlet ports (col.
2, ll. 47-59, col. 3, ll. 13-20). Dickerhoff further discloses making the inlet
ports reclosable by adding a variety of different closure devices, such as
“adhesive strips, double-sided tape, snaps, zippers, folding flaps, or a ziplock
type seal, etc.” (col. 3, lines 15-17). We note that Dickerhoff leaves open-
ended the list of possible closure devices.
Morten discloses an inflatable device having first and second valve
means (col. 4, ll. 31-32 and 56-57; the “first valve means 55” is the first inlet
port and the “second valve means 63” is the second inlet port). Morten also
discloses that at least the first valve means (i.e., first inlet port) has an
accompanying plug to prevent air from escaping the inflatable device (col. 4,
ll. 40-43). Morten further discloses “the inflatable body member 15 is
inflated using the first and/or second valve means 55, 63 [i.e., first or second
inlet port]” (col. 4, ll. 66-67). This disclosure coupled with Morten’s
disclosure that the “plug means 59” prevents “air from escaping from the
hollow interior 21 of the inflatable body member” necessarily implies that
when the second valve means (i.e., second inlet port) is used to inflate the
device, then the first valve means (i.e., the first inlet port) is plugged using
the “plug means 59.”
In view of Morten’s disclosure that it is well known to use a plug to
seal a first valve means (i.e., first inlet port), it appears that it would have
been obvious at the time the invention was made to have substituted
Morten’s valve means with a plug closure device for Dickerhoff’s inlet ports
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