Appeal No. 2005-0911 Page 6
Application No. 09/923,113
In the background of the invention, McCall discusses the proposed use in the
prior art of air chambers between resilient sleeves for an increased overall cushioning
effect. McCall explains that, while such an approach may achieve some improvements
in user comfort, the resilient sleeve is unable to undergo significant shape change when
gripped, whereby the sleeve cannot accommodate a truly customized geometry tailored
to the individual user. According to McCall,
[t]he resilient nature of the sleeve results in reaction forces
applied to the user’s fingertips urging the sleeve to spring
substantially immediately back toward a relaxed or
nondeformed state, wherein these reaction forces can
themselves contribute to writer’s fatigue over a prolonged
period of time [column 1, lines 60-65].
We agree with the examiner that McCall would have provided ample suggestion
to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of appellant’s invention to modify the tubular
cushions of Tindall by filling the tubes 5 thereof with a viscous medium as taught by
McCall to permit the cushion to deform to the anatomical contours of the individual user
in a customized manner while further enhancing user comfort and a corresponding
reduction in fatigue. For the reasons which follow, we do not find the appellant’s
arguments persuasive of the nonobviousness of the examiner’s proposed combination.
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