Appeal No. 1998-0631
Application 07/957,990
basis for the views expressed in providing the elements that
are missing in the "Human Factor" reference (Br21).
Ahlert stands for the proposition that "[a]ssertions of
technical facts in areas of esoteric technology must always
be supported by citation to some reference work recognized
as standard in the pertinent art," 424 F.2d at 1091, 165
USPQ at 420 (CCPA 1970). Accord In re Pardo, 684 F.2d 912,
917, 214 USPQ 673, 677 (CCPA 1982). Ahlert is usually cited
in connection with the Examiner taking Official Notice of a
fact, which is not directly on point here. In this case,
the Examiner is relying on what would have been apparent to
one having ordinary skill in the art looking at the "Human
Factor" publication. The Examiner impliedly interprets
"collecting data from the four corners of the keyboard" to
mean that the data can come from keys at the corners of the
keyboard. Although this literal interpretation does not
appear to be what was intended, claim 206 does not
specifically state how data is collected from the four
corners of the keyboard, e.g., that there are pressure
sensors on the underneath of a circuit board supporting the
keys; thus, the Examiner's interpretation is not
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