Appeal No. 1997-1249 Application 08/179,601 ordinary skill in the art would have been led to the claimed invention by the reasonable teachings or suggestions found in the prior art, or by a reasonable inference to the artisan contained in such teachings or suggestions. In re Sernaker, 702 F.2d 989, 995, 217 USPQ 1, 6 (Fed. Cir. 1983). "Additionally, when determining obviousness, the claimed invention should be considered as a whole; there is no legally recognizable 'heart' of the invention." Para-Ordnance Mfg. v. SGS Importers Int’l., 73 F.3d 1085, 1087, 37 USPQ2d 1237, 1239 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (citing W. L. Gore & Assocs. v. Garlock, Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 1548, 220 USPQ 303, 309 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984)). With regard to the rejection of claims 28 and 31, grouped together by both the Examiner (answer-page 5) and Appellant (brief-page 6), the Examiner reasons that Doehler teaches a photodetector with the claimed layered structure (Figures 3A and 3B), except that the intrinsic (i) layers are shown as the same thickness as the n and p layers. The Examiner then cites Yamazaki for its photodetector with n and p layers thinner 5Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007