Appeal 2006-2536
Application 10/611,127
B. ANTICIPATION ANALYSIS
"[A]nticipation is a question of fact." In re Hyatt, 211 F.3d 1367,
1371-72, 54 USPQ2d 1664, 1667 (citing Bischoff v. Wethered, 76 U.S. (9
Wall.) 812, 814-15, 19 L. Ed. 829 (1869); In re Schreiber, 128 F.3d 1473,
1477, 44 USPQ2d 1429, 1431 (Fed. Cir. 1997)). "A reference anticipates a
claim if it discloses the claimed invention 'such that a skilled artisan could
take its teachings in combination with his own knowledge of the particular
art and be in possession of the invention.'" In re Graves, 69 F.3d 1147,
1152, 36 USPQ2d 1697, 1701 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (quoting In re LeGrice, 301
F.2d 929, 936, 133 USPQ 365, 372 (CCPA 1962)).
Here, Burton's "FIG. 1 illustrates a computing environment," (col. 3,
l. 66), which includes "[h]osts 4a, b. . . ." (Id. l. 67.) "The hosts 4a, b each
include two host bus adaptors (HBAs) 6a, b and 6c, d, respectively."
(Col. 4, ll. 3-4.) "The HBAs 6a, b, c, d allow the hosts 4a, b to communicate
with storage controllers 14a, b via the hubs 10a, b." (Id. ll. 7-9.) "The
controllers 14a, b may comprise the IBM Fibre Channel Raid Storage
Controller or any other storage controller known in the art that provides one
or more hosts access to a single storage space or storage devices," (id. ll. 18-
20), e.g., "storage device 16." (Id. l. 29.)
The reference explains that "[a] situation may arise where the
controllers 14a, b are operational but there is a failure in the fabric between
the host 4a, b and subsystem 12, i.e., a failure in the communication line
between a host 4a, b and a hub 10a, b. . . ." (Col. 7, ll. 6-9.) A skilled
artisan would realize that such a failure could include the one identified by
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