Appeal No. 2001-0865
Application 08/998,781
The print engine starts when the buffer threshold is
reached, at the "print recognition time," and this time is always
less than the transmission time. Thus, the "print environment
recognition operation," which is performed at the same time as
the print engine start in the combination of Zimmerman and
Saruwatari, is performed while the print data is being received
by the printer and before the expiry of the transmission time.
Accordingly, we conclude that the combination of Zimmerman and
Saruwatari teaches "said print environment recognition operation
being performed while the print data are being received by said
printer" (claims 1, 3, 5, and 7) and "said print environment
recognition operation being commenced before the expiry of [the
transmission time]" (claim 13).
For the reasons stated above, we conclude that the
combination of Zimmerman and Saruwatari are sufficient to
establish a prima facie case of obviousness. Appellant's
arguments as to the individual teachings of the references
(Br8-12) are merely an attack on the references individually
rather than the combination and are not persuasive. See
In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 1097, 231 USPQ 375, 380 (Fed.
Cir. 1986) (one cannot show non-obviousness by attacking the
references individually where the rejection is based on a
combination of references). Appellant's arguments (e.g.,
Br13-14) that there is no motivation for the combination and that
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