Appeal No. 2006-2460 Page 8
Application No. 09/966,620
until the first device is in an un-configured state,” as claimed [answer, page
5; claim 1]. We note that in the rejection the examiner proffers that an
artisan would have been motivated to modify the teachings of Philippou with
Ylonen’s teaching of disabling listening for configuration packets after
configuration because “configuration data can be loaded in a reliable
manner” [answer, page 5; see also Ylonen, col. 8, lines 66 and 67, cont’d
col. 9, lines 1-9]. After careful consideration of all the evidence before us,
we acknowledge that both Philippou and Ylonen are analogous art taken
from the same field of endeavor as the instant invention (i.e., configuring
network devices). We further note that the examiner has taken the
proffered motivation to modify Philippou directly from the Ylonen reference,
at col. 2, lines 58-63:
It is therefore desirable to provide a method and apparatus for loading
configuration data into the network device in a reliable, easy-to-use manner
from a network management station controlled by an employee skilled in
configuration of new network devices [emphasis added].
Nevertheless, we agree with appellants that the examiner has failed to
present a convincing line of reasoning as to why the artisan having
knowledge of Philippou would have found the claimed invention to have been
obvious in light of the teachings of Ylonen. In particular, we note that the
examiner’s proffered motivation of loading configuration data in a reliable
manner has a weak nexus with the teaching for which Ylonen is being
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