Appeal No. 1996-2046
Application 07/978,450
that it would have been obvious to substitute Saki’s pen and
tablet for Field’s conventional computer input. Brewer is
cited as teaching that animated icons were known in the art.
The examiner asserts that it would have been obvious to replace
Field’s conventional computer display with Brewer’s moving
images [answer, pages 3-5].
Appellant points out individual deficiencies in the
applied references and argues that the claimed invention does
not result from the combination of references as asserted by
the examiner. Appellant also argues that the examiner has
selected bits and pieces from the applied references and
assembled these bits and pieces using appellant’s own
disclosure as a guide [brief, pages 4-7].
After a careful review of the record in this case, we
agree with appellant that the collective teachings of Field,
Saki and Brewer would not have suggested the invention as
recited in independent claim 15. We agree with appellant that
this particular combination of prior art references appears to
be an improper attempt to reconstruct the invention in
hindsight. We cannot agree with the examiner that the artisan
8
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007