Appeal No. 2004-0440 Page 5
Application No. 10/083,171
may not include an on/off switch”(column 1, line 64) does not meet the multi-position
circuit and switch limitation recited in claims 1 and 5.
The examiner’s rejection rests in part on the examiner’s position that it would
have been obvious, in view of the teaching of a three position switch having LOW heat,
HIGH heat and OFF positions in a hair curling device by Thaler, to provide such a three
position switch in the fragrance dispenser of Stein. Even assuming that Thaler is
considered analogous prior art to appellants’ invention (see pages 5-7 of appellants’
brief), we find absolutely no suggestion therein to provide such a switch in Stein’s
fragrance dispenser. While Thaler does not articulate any advantages of using a three
position switch over a simple on/off switch, one of ordinary skill in the art would infer
that the LOW and HIGH heat settings impart different qualities to the curl being applied
to the hair by Thaler’s device, a consideration which has no relevance in Stein’s
fragrance dispenser. Neither Thaler nor Stein provides any hint or suggestion that
LOW and HIGH heat settings would be desirable or advantageous for the fragrance
dispenser of Stein.
Freidel, the additional reference relied upon by the examiner for its teaching of
the use of a circuit board in a vehicle vaporizer having a plug adapted to be received in
the socket of an automobile cigarette lighter, also fails to provide any suggestion to
place a three position switch in Stein’s automotive fragrance dispenser. In fact, Freidel
suggests a different approach to vary the output of the fragrance or vapor which does
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