Appeal 2006-3163
Application 09/747,661
ll. 3-14; col. 7, ll. 60-61). Health care clinics having a room for diagnosing
ailments can be interconnected through communications links to provide a
health care clinic network distributed throughout a country (col. 6, ll. 33-36;
col. 11, ll. 57-59). A master processor receives inputs from within clinics
through real-time sensors directly from test equipment (col. 6, ll. 56-60; col.
31, ll. 27-30). The master processor automatically and in real time manages,
controls and stores information on patients, employees, equipment, functions
and resources throughout the clinics (col. 20, ll. 48-51; col. 21, ll. 9-23; col.
22, ll. 10-15).
The Appellants argue that Crane’s data is clerical (Br. 13; Reply
Br. 3). Crane’s data is for evaluating and controlling the efficiency of a
medical resource (col. 1, ll. 10-17; col. 5, ll. 3-12) and, therefore, is
comparable to the Appellants’ productivity data. Crane discloses that the
data includes data for resources such as test equipment (col. 6, ll. 56-60;
col. 20, ll. 48-51; col. 22, ll. 10-11; col. 31, ll. 27-30), and that rooms in the
clinic are for diagnosing ailments and conducting tests such as EKG and x-
ray (col. 11, ll. 49-59; col. 18, ll. 46-50). That equipment for diagnosis and
testing is comparable to the Appellants’ diagnostic system equipment such
as an x-ray system (Spec. 2:4-8)
Crane’s disclosures that clinics can be interconnected through
communication links (col. 6, ll. 33-36) and that test data can be obtained in
real time directly from test equipment and can be communicated to a
doctor’s office via a communications room (col. 31, ll. 27-32) would have
led one of ordinary skill in the art, through no more than ordinary creativity,
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