Appeal No. 95-4369
Application 08/117,242
A reference must be considered for everything it teaches by
way of technology and is not limited to the particular invention
it is describing and attempting to protect. EWP Corp. v.
Reliance Universal Inc., 755 F.2d 898, 907, 225 USPQ 20, 25 (Fed.
Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 843 (1985). A reference must be
evaluated for all its teachings and is not limited to its
specific embodiments. In re Bode, 550 F.2d 656, 661, 193 USPQ
12, 17 (CCPA 1977); In re Snow, 471 F.2d 1400, 1403, 176 USPQ
328, 329 (CCPA 1973).
The fact that Griffin’s plasma source is located on or
within the probe does not mean all of its technical disclosures
have application only when the plasma source is located on or
within the probe. Independent of whether the plasma source is
located on or within the probe, Griffin certainly teaches that
emissions from the plasma source need not be directly observed by
a detector but, instead, may be channeled to the detector through
a fiber optic cable. As for whether the plasma source should be
located on or within the probe, that would depend on the
particular working environment or the task at hand. Based on
Griffin, one with ordinary skill in the art would have known that
indirectly providing the emissions from a plasma source to its
corresponding detector was one way to operate the detector.
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