Ex parte DEMASTER et al. - Page 5




          Appeal No. 97-3926                                                          
          Application 08/481,091                                                      

          D.  Level of skill                                                          
               The level of skill in the art is represented by the                    
          references.  See In re Oelrich, 579 F.2d 86, 91, 198 USPQ 210,              
          214 (CCPA 1978) ("the PTO usually must evaluate both the scope              
          and content of the prior art and the level of ordinary skill                
          solely on the cold words of the literature"); In re GPAC Inc.,              
          57 F.3d 1573, 1579, 35 USPQ2d 1116, 1121 (Fed. Cir. 1995)                   
          (Board did not err in adopting the approach that the level of               
          skill in the art was best determined by the references of                   
          record).                                                                    
          E.  The merits of the § 102(b) 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).                                                       
               Although the examiner states (Answer at 3) that he is                  
          relying on Siddiq's Figure 4, it is clear from his reference                
          "two set[s] of instructions" that he is actually relying on                 
          Figure 5, which shows a cleaning tape including, in series, a               
          first diagnostic/instructional segment 6, a transition segment              

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