Appeal No. 97-2456
Application 08/424,064
. . . Therefore, an attendant need only recognize
the reference character associated with a given group
and one of the several colored increments associated
with that group to record a specific elevation [column
3, lines 9 through 44].
There are two criteria for determining whether art is
analogous: (1) whether the art is from the field of the
inventor’s endeavor, regardless of the problem addressed, and (2)
if the reference is not within the field of the inventor’s
endeavor, whether the reference is reasonably pertinent to the
particular problem which the inventor was involved. In re Clay,
supra. In the present case, the field of the appellant’s
endeavor is measuring devices and the particular problem with
which the appellant was involved was to facilitate the
measurement of fractional lengths with a minimum of errors and
loss of time (see the passage from the appellant’s specification
reproduced above). Glaese’s jump measuring system clearly falls
within this field of endeavor and is reasonably pertinent to this
particular problem. Thus, the Glaese reference constitutes
analogous art which was properly considered by the examiner in
evaluating the obviousness of the appellant’s invention.
Jones, the examiner’s primary reference, pertains to “the
provision of rules that minimize or eliminate the tendency of
users to make inaccurate measurements when making measurements
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