Ex Parte HENDERSON et al - Page 18




               Appeal No. 1997-1632                                                                   Page 18                   
               Application No. 08/138,555                                                                                       


               American Hoist & Derrick Co., 730 F.2d 1452, 1462, 221 USPQ 481, 488 (Fed. Cir.                                  
               1984)).  “[E]vidence of a suggestion, teaching, or motivation to combine may flow from                           
               the prior art references themselves, the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art, or,                      
               in some cases, from the nature of the problem to be solved. . . .”  Dembiczak, 175 F.3d                          
               at 999, 50 USPQ2d at 1617 (citing Pro-Mold & Tool Co. v. Great Lakes Plastics, Inc.,                             
               75 F.3d 1568, 1573, 37 USPQ2d 1626, 1630 (Fed. Cir. 1996); Para-Ordnance Mfg. v.                                 
               SGS Imports Int’l, Inc., 73 F.3d 1085, 1088, 37 USPQ2d 1237, 1240 (Fed. Cir. 1995)).                             


                      Here, the rejection is based on a combination of references that includes Rode                            
               and Tolson.  Rode only mentions using wired connections.  Specifically, “[a] master                              
               controller 100 is connected via a two-wire primary bus 102 to a plurality of                                     
               subcontrollers RMI1-RMI16, and each of the subcontrollers RMI1-RMI16 are in turn                                 
               connected via a two-wire secondary bus 104 to a plurality of terminal controllers RRI1-                          
               RRI16.”  Col. 2, ll. 44-49.                                                                                      


                      Tolson, however, teaches that persons skilled in the art would have been                                  
               motivated to substitute RF connections for such wired connections.  Specifically,                                
               “[w]hile wire paths are shown . . ., it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that                        
               energy paths E may equally well be of any other suitable nature, such as . . . a radio                           
               signal. . . .”  Col. 4, ll. 53-56.  Because wireless devices are easier to move than wired                       








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