Appeal No. 1999-1042 Page 6
Application No. 08/781,220
ordinary skill in the art to make the columns of Russo or
Schwartz of five sides, in view of the showing of Kroon,
suggestion being found in the ability to service more patients.
The examiner further concludes that it would have been an
obvious expedient to one of ordinary skill in the art to
install gas outlets on all of the sides to establish
accessability to a plurality of patients and to place the
outlets at equal heights within the specified range. The
claimed width relationship between the panels and the gas
outlet assemblies is, in the examiner’s view, met by the
modified Russo and Schwartz devices.
A threshold argument raised by the appellant is that Kroon
is not analogous art, and therefore cannot properly be combined
with either of the two primary references. The test for
analogous art is first whether the art is within the field of
the inventor's endeavor and, if not, whether it is reasonably
pertinent to the problem with which the inventor was involved.
See In re Wood 599 F.2d 1032, 1036, 202 USPQ 171, 174 (CCPA
1979). A reference is reasonably pertinent if, even though it
may be in a different field of endeavor, it logically would
have commended itself to an inventor's attention in considering
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007