Appeal 2007-1557
Application 10/943,536
Corio discloses all of the limitations of claim 1 except the capacitive storage
of electrical energy for back-up purposes (its back-up system stores electrical
energy in a DC battery) (Finding of Fact 2). Fangio teaches the use of a capacitive
electrical energy back-up system for emergency operation of an electromechanical
actuator (Finding of Fact 3). Fangio is specifically directed at emergency
operation of actuators that need to be placed in a fail safe condition on loss of
primary power, arguably a different problem than providing emergency power to
operate brakes on an aircraft in the event of loss of primary power. But according
to KSR, a person of ordinary skill attempting to solve a problem will not be limited
only to those elements in the prior art designed to solve the same problem. KSR,
127 S. Ct. at 1742, 82 USPQ2d at 1397 (“Under the correct analysis, any need or
problem known in the field and addressed by the patent can provide a reason for
combining the elements in the manner claimed.”). The utility of Fangio thus is not
limited to using a capacitive back up power supply to place an actuator in a fail
safe condition.
Since Corio provides the use of DC battery backup for emergency braking,
we need rely upon Fangio only for the substitution of capacitive electrical energy
storage for DC battery backup. One of skill in the art would be able to combine
these known methods to modify Corio to use capacitive backup as in the claimed
invention. Each component of the combination performs the same function in the
combination as in the base references, so the combination would yield predictable
results, leading to a conclusion that the combination likely would be obvious under
KSR. KSR at 1739, 82 USPQ2d at 1395.
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