Appeal No. 2006-1670 Page 5
Application No. 10/336,729
fastener 14 may be a series of cooperating fasteners, such as button and button holes or male and
female snaps or opposite sides of a zipper or Velcro or cohesive materials” (col. 3, ll. 11-14).
Ghanem’s upper panel 16 has a second fastener attached thereto including elements 20,
22 for engagement with corresponding fastener elements 26, 28 on a minor panel 24 for
releasably connecting the minor panel to the upper panel. The minor panel is water or liquid
proof with an absorbent layer 30 and another layer 32 that prevents passage of liquids. The
minor panel 24 protects the other parts of the bed clothes and mattress from liquid discharges.
The air permeability of the minor panel is restricted by virtue of it being water-proof.
Such lack of air permeability will normally contribute to temperature build-up because body heat
is not dissipated in the area of the minor panel. At night or during periods of lessened activity,
when most accidental discharges of bodily fluids take place, the lack of air permeability is well
tolerated. During the day, however, the presence of the minor panel may become uncomfortable
for the bedridden user. The minor panel can be removed during the day to increase air
permeability without significant disruption of the bedding. See col. 4, first full para.
The appellants argue that Ghanem does not show a continuous fastener as called for in
the appealed claims (brief, pp. 7-8). We note, in this regard, that claim 45 does not positively
recite the securing layer. Rather, claim 45 is directed only to a padded layer with a first fastener
portion mounted to an outer periphery thereof, wherein said first fastener portion is adapted to
engage a second fastener portion mounted on a securing layer to be located on side surfaces of
the mattress and wherein said first and second fastener portions are opposed, elongated,
cooperating, configured surfaces intended to directly contact and interlock with each other in a
single plane, such that movement between the securing layer and said padded panel is restricted
in the direction force is transmitted thereto and wherein said first fastener portion and second
fastener portion are easily associated or dissociated from each other in the form of a continuous,
separable fastener.
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