Ex parte NILSEN - Page 10




          Appeal No. 1997-3240                                                        
          Application 08/176,940                                                      

          3, 7, 9, 13, 15 and the related input/output ports and                      
          circuitry specifically provide for the simultaneous entry of                
          the code words at a plurality of addresses for each distinct                
          encoding level.                                                             
               The Examiner has failed to set forth a prima facie case.               
          It is the burden of the Examiner to establish why one having                
          ordinary skill in the art would have been led to the claimed                
          invention by the express teachings or suggestions found in the              
          prior art, or by implications contained in such teachings or                
          suggestions.  In re Sernaker, 702 F.2d 989, 995, 217 USPQ 1, 6              
          (Fed. Cir. 1983).  “Additionally, when determining                          
          obviousness, the claimed invention should be considered as a                
          whole; there is no legally recognizable ‘heart’ of the                      
          invention.”  Para-Ordnance Mfg. v. SGS Importers Int'l, Inc.,               
          73 F.3d 1085, 1087, 37 USPQ2d 1237, 1239 (Fed. Cir. 1995),                  
          cert. denied, 519 U.S. 822 (1996) citing W.L. Gore & Assoc.,                
          Inc. v. Garlock, Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 1548, 220 USPQ 303, 309               
          (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984).                        
               We are not inclined to dispense with proof by evidence                 
          when the proposition at issue is not supported by a teaching                
          in a prior art reference or shown to be common knowledge of                 
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