Appeal No. 96-2881
Application No. 08/013,646
staggered arrangement of nozzle openings taught by
Mineta to include a staggered arrangement of the
rows of nozzle openings in the auxiliary scanning
direction such that the order of rows of nozzle
openings during printing is different from the
physically arranged order, as suggested by Lee et
al. 3
We cite this statement to show that Appellants understand the
claimed elements are taught, but in different references. The
Examiner’s rejection combines Mineta with Usui "for the
purpose of higher accuracy in printing." "It should be too
well settled now to require citation or discussion that the
test for combining references in not what the individual
references themselves suggest but rather what the combination
of disclosures taken as a whole would suggest to one of
ordinary skill in the art." In re McLaughlin, 443 F.2d 1392,
170 USPQ 209 (CCPA 1971). We agree with the Examiner as to
the obviousness of combining Usui and Mineta for higher
accuracy in printing.
Although both the Appellants and the Examiner
mention the Lee et al. reference, both agree that Lee et al.
is not part of the rejection. Furthermore, our reviewing
court has stated that where a reference is relied on to
3Lee et al., 4,475,113, Oct. 2, 1984.
8
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007