11311772 (P.T.A.B. Feb. 19, 2013)

Ex Parte Maschke

Patent Trial and Appeal BoardFeb 19, 2013

11311772 (P.T.A.B. Feb. 19, 2013)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 11/311,772 12/19/2005 Michael Maschke 2004P16140US 9213 7590 02/20/2013 SIEMENS CORPORATION INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEPARTMENT 170 WOOD AVENUE, SOUTH ISELIN, NJ 08830 EXAMINER BEHRINGER, LUTHER G ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3766 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 02/20/2013 PAPER Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________________ Ex parte MICHAEL MASCHKE ____________________ Appeal 2011-000379 Application 11/311,772 Technology Center 3700 ____________________ Before: WILLIAM V. SAINDON, SCOTT A. DANIELS, and NEIL T. POWELL, Administrative Patent Judges. SAINDON, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appeal 2011-000379 Application 11/311,772 2 STATEMENT OF THE CASE Appellant appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from the Examiner’s decision rejecting claims 13-25. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). The Claimed Subject Matter Claim 13, reproduced below, is illustrative of the claimed subject matter. 13. A pacemaker, comprising: an implantable pacemaker housing; pacemaker circuitry positioned within the housing; a pacemaker electrode lead extending from the housing for transmitting stimulation impulses; and a detector for detecting current that is induced by an external magnetic field flowing through the pacemaker electrode lead; and a circuit element positioned along the electrode lead and configured to isolate a portion of the electrode lead from a portion of the pacemaker circuitry and thereby interrupt induced current flowing through the electrode lead based on detection of current by the detector. References The Examiner relies upon the following prior art references: Winstrom Stewart Ekwall US 4,745,923 US 5,476,501 US 5,541,507 May 24, 1988 Dec. 19, 1995 Jul. 30, 1996 Hastings Weiner Scott US 2002/0019644 A1 US 2002/0133211 A1 US 2005/0003268 A1 Feb. 14, 2002 Sep. 19, 2002 Jan. 6, 2005 Appeal 2011-000379 Application 11/311,772 3 Rejections I. Claims 13, 15, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as anticipated by Winstrom. II. Claims 17-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Winstrom and Weiner. III. Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Winstrom, Weiner, and Scott. IV. Claims 23 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Winstrom, Weiner, and Hastings. V. Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Winstrom, Weiner, Hastings, and Stewart. SUMMARY OF DECISION We REVERSE. OPINION Sole independent claim 13 requires a pacemaker having a circuit element “configured to isolate a portion of the electrode lead from a portion of the pacemaker circuitry and thereby interrupt induced current flowing through the electrode lead” (emphasis added). In the anticipation rejection of claim 13, the Examiner found that Winstrom discloses this feature when the FETs 22 and 23 of Winstrom collapse, causing a “brief time period” in which their resistance would serve to isolate a portion of the lead. Ans. 9. In Winstrom, when operating in the normal pacing/sensing mode, current flows through a low impedance path of the protection circuit 16 by passing through return lead 13, 5 ohm sensing resistor 24, and the FETs 22, 23. Winstrom, col. 5, ll. 33-36; fig. 2. In a defibrillation mode, increased current passes into the return lead 13 and through 5 ohm sensing resistor 24, which increases the voltage drop across the sensing resistor 24, thereby Appeal 2011-000379 Application 11/311,772 4 triggering transistor 25 (or 26, if the voltage drop is of the opposite sign) to connect the gate and source of the FETs 22, 23. Id., col. 6, ll. 3-16. This essentially “opens” the FETs-as-switches. However, because of the FET configuration, even if the source-to-drain connection is closed, the source-to- substrate connection acts as a diode, and current is allowed to pass through the protection current 16 in a high impedance mode, through 82K ohm resistor 32, 1K ohm resistor 27, 5 ohm sensing resistor 24, and FET 22. Id., col. 6, ll. 18-32. Given that Winstrom explicitly discusses the current flowing in either mode, Appellant’s argument asserting that there is no isolation, only a low impedance mode and a high impedance mode, is the better one. App. Br. 7; Reply Br. 2-4. The Examiner’s finding that the source-to-drain connection is momentarily interrupted does not speak to whether there is an interruption in the source-to-substrate connection used in the high impedance mode. Accordingly, the Examiner’s finding that Winstrom describes a circuit element configured to isolate the lead from the pacemaker in the manner required by claim 13 is not supported by a preponderance of the evidence. This unsupported finding is a basis for each of the Examiner’s prior art rejections. Consequently, we do not sustain any of the Examiners prior art rejections. DECISION We REVERSE the Examiner’s decision regarding claims 13-25. REVERSED hh