Appeal No. 98-0194 Page 17
Application No. 08/132,940
In applying the test for obviousness, we reach the 4
conclusion that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary
skill in the art at the time of the appellant's invention to
provide Bowers' electrosurgical generator with an energy
measuring and control means as suggested and taught by Ensslin
so that Bowers' electrosurgical generator would be
automatically shut down in response to signals from a CPU
indicating that a predetermined amount of energy has been
dispensed either over a prescribed increment of time or since
the commencement of a procedure. In that regard, it is our
opinion that based upon the combined teachings of Bowers and
Ensslin that one skilled in the art would have (1) provided
Bowers' electrosurgical generator with a clock and an
integrator to calculate energy per unit of time based upon
Bowers' power signal 74, (2) compared the calculated energy per
4The 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).
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