Appeal 2007-0610
Application 09/766,357
proposed modification. Nonetheless, the “obviousness analysis cannot be
confined by … overemphasis on the importance of published articles and the
explicit content of issued patents.” KSR, 82 USPQ at 1396.
Appellant also challenges the Examiner’s reasoning for finding the
claimed combination obvious on the grounds that one of ordinary skill
practicing the Kent method would have no reason to look to Cornuejols for
the optimization models described therein. “Kent only teaches producing
mass distributed publication[s] through the creation of a plurality of
subscriber specific versions, which is a one-to-one model. Cornuejols
teaches a formal quantitative approach to problem solving.” Appeal Br. 15.
We disagree.
Kent discloses the use of an “optimization program.” FF. 8. One of
ordinary skill practicing the Kent method would have reason to look to
common optimization models to practice the Kent method.
Cornuejols describes a special type of linear programming called
network optimization. FF 9. Cornuejols discusses how one can practically
apply network optimization models to real-life situations. One of ordinary
skill reading Cornuejols would have reason to envision applying network
optimization models to solving a broad array of problems.
The only question is whether one of ordinary skill reading Kent would
be led to Cornuejols’ models as ways of optimizing Kent’s method. Kent’s
method involves a starting node (the original layout), a finish node (the final
layout), and a network in between comprising various combinations of
customer preferences and associated prioritized content. The decision on
how best to prioritize content on a publication (i.e., an ideal layout) given
customers’ preferences appears to be a problem of the type discussed in
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