Appeal 2007-0463
Application 09/896,537
1691 (holding it “obvious to combine the Bevan device with the SSR to update it
using modern electronic components in order to gain the commonly understood
benefits of such adaptation, such as decreased size, increased reliability, simplified
operation, and reduced cost”).
Furthermore, a reference may be understood by the artisan as suggesting a
solution to a problem that the reference does not discuss. See KSR, 137 S. Ct. at
1742, 82 USPQ2d at 1397 (“Common sense teaches . . . that familiar items may
have obvious uses beyond their primary purposes, and in many cases a person of
ordinary skill will be able to fit the teachings of multiple patents together like
pieces of a puzzle. . . . A person of ordinary skill is also a person of ordinary
creativity, not an automaton.”).
ANALYSIS OF THE OBVIOUSNESS REJECTION
Claim 3 reads:
3. The method of claim 1, wherein said deriving lower keys
based on the base key comprises, for a given lower level key, using a
modular exponentiation of a higher level key.
Eyer does not disclose that the key process uses modular exponentiation.
For this teaching, the Examiner relies on Arazi, which relates to devices for
applying digital signatures, to hardware for performing modular arithmetic
operations that form the basis of modern cryptography, and to methods for
performing cryptographic operations such as are carried out in the operation of
digital signature devices (DSDs) (col. 1, ll. 5-10). Arazi’s DSD comprises
hardware or software means for carrying out modular exponentiation and/or
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