Appeal No. 96-3374
Application No. 08/115,974
The obviousness issue
The test for obviousness is what the combined teachings
of the references would have suggested to one of ordinary
skill in the art. See In re Young, 927 F.2d 588, 591, 18
USPQ2d 1089, 1091 (Fed. Cir. 1991) and In re Keller, 642 F.2d
413, 425, 208 USPQ 871, 881 (CCPA 1981). Moreover, in
evaluating such references it is proper to take into account
not only the specific teachings of the references but also the
inferences which one skilled in the art would reasonably be
expected to draw therefrom. In re Preda, 401 F.2d 825, 826,
159 USPQ 342, 344 (CCPA 1968).
The appellants have provided three groups of claims as
follows: Group I, claims 1 through 3 and 5 through 12; Group
II, claims 13 through 18; and Group III, claim 20. See pages
5-7 of the appellants' brief. In accordance with 37 CFR §
1.192(c)(7), we have selected claims 1, 13 and 20 from the
appellants' three groups of claims to decide the appeal on the
rejections under
35 U.S.C. § 103.
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