Appeal 2007-1820
Application 10/659,408
“Inflammation is present in the lungs of all patients with asthma, even when
they are not experiencing symptoms. When the airways become inflamed,
the body responds by releasing nitric oxide into the local environment”
(Spec. ¶ 3).
“Managing asthma is an ongoing challenge for clinicians, in large part
because it has been difficult to accurately assess a patient's asthmatic status”
(Spec. ¶ 4). “The fundamental problem with these traditional asthma
monitoring techniques is their inability to directly measure airway
inflammation. Given the shortcomings of the current asthma management
techniques, there is a need for new procedures that can be tied more directly
to airway inflammation” (Spec. ¶ 7). “The present invention is a method of
managing asthma and other airway disorders using eNO [exhaled nitric
oxide] values” (Spec. ¶ 13).
There are two rejections on appeal:
1) Claims 18-27 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as obvious
over Moilanen (US Pat. Pub. App. 2002/0193698 A1, published Dec. 19,
2002) in view of Kharitonov (Monaldi Arch. Chest Dis., 51(6): 533-537,
1996) (Answer 3); and
2) Claims 18-24 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as obvious
over Hampton (US Pat. Pub. App. 2003/0073919 A1, published Apr. 17,
2003) in view of Moilanen (Answer 8).
The claims within each rejection stand or fall together because
Appellants have not provided separate reasons for the patentability of any
individual claim, but instead argue the claims in each rejection as a single
group. We select claim 18 as representative of each rejection to decide all
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