Appeal No. 2002-2047 Page 4
Application No. 09/348,400
(b) placing the laundry truck from a first position spaced
away from a gripping device to a second position adjacent
the gripping device; and
(c) moving the laundry truck relative to movement of the
gripping device.
The Rejections Based Upon Robin, Umeda and Heinz
The examiner has concluded that the subject matter recited in independent
apparatus claims 1, 22, 54, 81 and 82, independent method claim 28, and dependent
claims 2-5, 23, 24, 29, 30, 83, 84, 113 and 114, would have been obvious2 in view of
the combined teachings of Robin, Umeda and Heinz. It is the examiner’s view that
Robin discloses all of the subject matter recited in these claims except for the means to
move the cart and the nip conveyor. However, the examiner takes the position that it
would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide means to move
the cart in the Robin system in view of the teachings of Umeda and the nip conveyor in
view of Heinz, with Heinz also cited by the examiner as providing the suggestion to add
the Umeda cart to the Robin system.
2The test for obviousness is what the combined teachings of the prior art would have suggested to
one of ordinary skill in the art. See, for example, In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425, 208 USPQ 871, 881
(CCPA 1981). In establishing a prima facie case of obviousness, it is incumbent upon the examiner to
provide a reason why one of ordinary skill in the art would have been led to modify a prior art reference or
to combine reference teachings to arrive at the claimed invention. See Ex parte Clapp, 227 USPQ 972,
973 (Bd. Pat. App. & Int. 1985). To this end, the requisite motivation must stem from some teaching,
suggestion or inference in the prior art as a whole or from the knowledge generally available to one of
ordinary skill in the art and not from the appellant's disclosure. See, for example, Uniroyal, Inc. v. Rudkin-
Wiley Corp., 837 F.2d 1044, 1052, 5 USPQ2d 1434, 1439 (Fed. Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 825 (1988).
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