Appeal No. 97-1017
Application No. 08/391,421
located in the same outlet section as the flow control valve
provides fuel for low speed operation, and a second fuel
injector (44) located in a common chamber upstream of the
outlet sections is activated to add fuel during operation in
the high speed range. Miyano teaches an intake system having
only one outlet section and in which a single fuel injector
located in that outlet section provides all of the fuel during
both low and high speed operations, and it is upon this
teaching that the examiner’s rejection focuses. However, the
mere fact that the structure disclosed in a reference could be
modified does not make such modifications obvious unless the
prior art suggests the desirability thereof. See In re
Gordon, 733 F.2d 900, 902, 221 USPQ 1125, 1127 (Fed. Cir.
1984). To eliminate the upstream injector in Mitobe would be
contrary to this patent’s teaching that under high speed
conditions fuel should pass through both outlet sections, and
would, in our view, destroy the essence of the Mitobe
invention. We thus fail to perceive any teaching, incentive,
or suggestion in either of these references that would have
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