Appeal No. 97-3423
Application 08/336,134
D. The merits of the rejection
Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102 requires that each
element of the claim in issue be found, either expressly
described or under principles of inherency, in a single prior
art reference. In re King, 801 F.2d 1324, 1327, 231 USPQ 136,
138 (Fed. Cir. 1986). To be inherent, a feature must
necessarily be present. In re Robertson, 169 F.3d 743, 745,
49 USPQ2d 1949, 1950-51 (Fed. Cir. 1999).
Swindler's Figure 1 shows a notebook computer 12 for
insertion into a docking station 14, which is connected to an
external monitor 48, an external keyboard 50, and a mouse 52.
As shown in Figure 6, the docking station also includes two
floppy disc drives 72 and 74, a hard disc drive 88, and a
system planar board 90 (col. 11, lines 42-45) and also a
connector portion 44a (Fig. 6) for mating with connector
portion 44 (Fig. 3) on the notebook computer (col. 14, lines
4-9). When these connector portions have been successfully
interengaged, interconnection is provided between the notebook
computer 12, the external peripheral devices 48, 50, and 52
and the docking station drives 72, 74, and 88 (col. 26, lines
33-38).
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