Ex parte TANAKA et al. - Page 10




          Appeal No. 1999-0578                                                        
          Application 08/217,641                                                      


          examiner are an essential part of complying with the burden of              
          presenting a prima facie case of obviousness.  Note In re                   
          Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 1445, 24 USPQ2d 1443, 1444 (Fed. Cir.               
          1992).  If that burden is met, the burden then shifts to the                
          applicant to overcome the prima facie case with argument                    
          and/or evidence.  Obviousness is then determined on the basis               
          of the evidence as a whole and the relative persuasiveness of               
          the arguments.  See Id.; In re Hedges, 783 F.2d 1038, 1039,                 
          228 USPQ 685, 686 (Fed. Cir. 1986); In re Piasecki, 745 F.2d                
          1468, 1472, 223 USPQ 785, 788 (Fed. Cir. 1984); and In re                   
          Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 1052, 189 USPQ 143, 147 (CCPA 1976).               
          Only those arguments actually made by appellants have been                  
          considered in this decision.  Arguments which appellants could              
          have made but chose not to make in the brief have not been                  
          considered [see 37 CFR                                                      
          § 1.192(a)].                                                                
          We consider first the rejection of claims 2 and 3                           
          based on the teachings of Fukushima and Takimoto 2.  The                    
          examiner cites Takimoto 2 as teaching a spatial light                       
          modulator in which a photoconductive layer has a rectification              
          function [answer, page 5].  Appellants argue that combining                 
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