Appeal No. 2000-2148 Page 9
Application No. 08/935,704
specifies in pertinent part the following limitations:
"outputting signals for producing a display with a line
connecting an image of a first file and an image of a second file
to indicate a relation between the first file and the second file
when the second file is operated, the first file using the second
file when the first file is executed." At oral hearing, the
appellants’ attorney stipulated that the obviousness of the final
phrase of claim 29, viz., “the first file using the second file
when the first file is executed,” was not contested. Giving the
representative claim its broadest reasonable construction,
therefore, the limitations merely require displaying a line that
connects an image of a first file and an image of a second file
to indicate a relation therebetween when the second file is
operated on.
Having determined what subject matter is being claimed, the
next inquiry is whether the subject matter is obvious. "’A prima
facie case of obviousness is established when the teachings from
the prior art itself would appear to have suggested the claimed
subject matter to a person of ordinary skill in the art.’" In re
Bell, 991 F.2d 781, 783, 26 USPQ2d 1529, 1531 (Fed. Cir. 1993)
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