Appeal No. 98-0904
Application No. 08/500,033
environment is taught with the use of a Fresnel
lens. [Answer, pages 3 and 4.]
We will not support the examiner's position. The mere
fact that Kahl, as a broad proposition, teaches the use of
refractive lenses to redirect beams in an infrared sensor does
not serve as a proper motivation for incorporating O'Neill's
Fresnel lens into the device of Whiteside as the examiner
apparently believes. Instead, it is well settled that it is
the teachings of the prior art taken as a whole which must
provide the motivation or
suggestion to combine the references. See In re Fritch, 972
F.2d 1260, 1266, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1783-84 (Fed. Cir. 1992) and
Uniroyal, Inc. v. Rudkin-Wiley Corp., 837 F.2d 1044, 1051, 5
USPQ2d 1434, 1438 (Fed. Cir. 1988).
Here, we find no such motivation or suggestion. Whiteside
teaches an infrared detection system that includes a
transmitter and detector, and is used for controlling the
flush valve of a toilet device. As the examiner recognizes,
Whiteside does not teach the use of a refracting means that
includes a film having a plurality of prisms thereon. In an
attempt to overcome this deficiency the examiner has relied on
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