Appeal No. 2005-2760
Application 09/915,963
shaped.” Thus, the only issue here is whether the artisan would
have combined the teachings of the two applied references.
The examiner has provided a rational basis for such a
combination in citing Ogot’s teaching that the employment of such
a disk shaped finite ground plane has the advantage of maximizing
the surface area of the ground plane perpendicular to the
transmission element, and providing a uniform transmission
pattern (column 5, lines 1-3, of Ogot), leading the artisan to
use such a ground plane in Wicks.
We do not find persuasive appellant’s argument that the
references “teach away” from each other. It is appellant’s
position that Wicks describes a broadband antenna “which works
best with a relatively large ground plane” and that Wicks’ ground
plane is much larger than the antenna elements. Appellant
contrasts this with Ogot’s teaching of a radar antenna in which
the diameter of a circular ground plane is between 8/8 and 8/4,
referring to column 3, lines 20-23, column 4, lines 61-64, and
column 5, lines 11-21. Therefore, appellant concludes, at page
11 of the principal brief, once the diameter of Ogot’s ground
plane is set to satisfy one wavelength, it cannot simultaneously
11
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