<<Is this a reasonably quick process? The 3 Judges just present the case to the full circuit and they all vote? Or is another hearing? >>
It is another hearing and it can take many months. There are two well-known en bank rehearings pending before the Federal Circuit dealing with joint or divided liability, where two or more parties infringe different parts of a process patent, Akamai and McKesson. The question is whether this constitutes infringement.
The rehearing took place in November 2011, and practitioners were expected decisions in the first half of 2012, but as of yesterday, no decision. Below is a link to a memo discussing the Akamai and McKesson cases.