Appeal No. 1997-3820
Application 08/336,040
incorrect to conclude that it would have been obvious to
extend Nishigaki's automatic external-keyboard detection
technique to the detection of an external monitor.
Appellant's argument on reconsideration appears to be
that claim 11 is satisfied only if it would have been obvious
to locate the monitor controller and the monitor selector
(analogous to Nishigaki's keyboard controller 23 and keyboard
selector 41) within Mesfin's docking station. We do not
agree. In our view, the "means for determining" limitation is
broad enough to read on a docking station which contains
apparatus for (a) determining whether or not an external
monitor is connected to the docking station and (b) issuing a
signal representing the result of this determination to a
portable computer which contains circuitry responsive to such
a signal for causing a display to appear on the external
monitor when one is present and otherwise on the display
device of the portable computer. Nevertheless, because the
examiner has failed to adequately explain why it would have
been obvious to provide Mesfin's docking station with
circuitry which determines whether an external monitor is
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