Appeal No. 96-0241
Application No. 07/617,740
are explained supra. However, the examiner takes the position
here that because the failure detecting means and recording means
are “well known in the art” [page 6-principal answer], it would
have been obvious to “incorporate a failure detecting means to
check the communication line since the communication line is the
essential link in transmitting and receiving data” and to
“record…upon detecting failure in a communication to have a
continuous record of all the data for future utilization” [page
6-principal answer].
While the examiner’s rationale has a certain appeal of
simplicity to it, justifying such rationale by contending that
one would, of course, wish to detect whether a communication line
had failed and, upon such failure detection, would clearly not
want to send data over a faulty line so such data should be
stored for future use or transmission, the trouble with the
rationale is that it is one of impermissible hindsight. Only
appellant’s own disclosure, and not the applied reference, taught
what the examiner contends to have been obvious. This is clearly
an improper basis for a finding of obviousness.
6
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