Appeal No. 2003-1509
Application 09/853,575
Crossland does not teach a specific backing layer
construction, since it only shows side views of the backing
layer, although it is implied that the backing layer is a
rectangular sheet of transparent material which can be lit from
the back, shown at 61, or from the edge, shown at 57. We find
that one of ordinary skill in the art had sufficient skill to
recognize that other light sources could be used to backlight the
LCD array in Crossland. The content of the prior art includes
not only what the references expressly teach, but also the
inferences which one of ordinary skill in the art would
reasonably have been expected to draw therefrom. See Merck &
Co., Inc. v. Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. , 874 F.2d 804, 807, 10
USPQ2d 1843, 1846 (Fed. Cir. 1989); In re Jacoby, 309 F.2d 513,
516, 135 USPQ 317, 319 (CCPA 1962) (one of ordinary skill in the
art must be presumed to know something about the art apart from
what the references expressly disclose). The light source could
provide direct uniform illumination perpendicular to the back of
the LCD, as suggested by light 61, or could provide illumination
from the edge, as suggested by light 57. The light source could
also consist of individual light sources at each of the LC cells
because the purpose of the openings in the reflective layer 21
and the protuberances 47 is to direct light to the individual
cells (e.g., p. 14, lines 1-5). Nevertheless, there must still
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