Ex parte HUAT - Page 6




          Appeal No. 1996-2956                                                        
          Application 08/152,192                                                      

          into account only the knowledge which was within the level of               
          ordinary skill at the time the claimed invention was                        
          conceived, and so long as the rejection does not include                    
          knowledge gleaned only from Appellant's disclosure, such a                  
          reconstruction is proper.                                                   
               The Federal Circuit states that "[t]he mere fact that the              
          prior art may be modified in the manner suggested by the                    
          Examiner does not make the modification obvious unless the                  
          prior art suggested the desirability of the modification."  In              
          re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1266 n.14, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1783-84                
          n.14 (Fed. Cir. 1992), citing In re Gordon, 733 F.2d 900, 902,              
          221 USPQ 1125, 1127 (Fed. Cir. 1984).  It is further                        
          established that “[s]uch a suggestion may come from the nature              
          of the problem to be solved, leading inventors to look to                   
          references relating to possible solutions to that problem.”                 
          Pro-Mold & Tool Co. v. Great Lakes Plastics, Inc., 75 F.3d                  
          1568, 1573, 37 USPQ2d 1626, 1630 (Fed. Cir. 1996), citing In                
          re Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 1054, 189 USPQ 143, 149 (CCPA                   
          1976)(considering the problem to be solved in a determination               
          of obviousness).  The Federal Circuit reasons in Para-Ordnance              
          Mfg. Inc. v. SGS Importers Int’l Inc., 73 F.3d 1085, 1088-89,               
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