Appeal No. 95-3158
Application 08/038,424
same cable to different selectable positions. In Haskins'
telephone, each cable has only one fixed position.
Because Haskins is not within the appellants' field of
endeavor or reasonably pertinent to the problem with which the
appellants were involved, it constitutes non-analogous art and
thus is not applicable in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
However, even assuming that Haskins is analogous art and
therefore is applicable against the appellants' claims, the
appellants are correct that the combination of Aoki, Haskins, and
Kirchgessner would not have reasonably suggested the appellants'
claimed invention. The following discussion assumes that Haskins
constitutes analogous art.
Neither Aoki nor Kirchgessner discloses recessed channels on
the wall of the housing through which the cable passes. There is
no need for such recessed channels in Aoki and Kirchgessner
because in both Aoki and Kirchgessner the cable does not extend
through the bottom housing of the device. However, we find that
the basic skill intrinsically possessed by one with ordinary
skill in the art encompasses the knowledge that the cable can be
made to pass through any wall of the housing, including the
bottom wall, albeit with associated disadvantages. But even if
Aoki and Kirchgessner's cable were to extend through the bottom
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