Appeal 2007-2193
Application 10/816,369
Absent factual evidence that Appellants’ rectangular inlet orifice is
critical to the claimed invention (i.e., unexpected or unpredictable), it is
appropriate to consider that the particular shape of the inlet orifice is merely
one of numerous configurations a person of ordinary skill in the art would
have found obvious for connecting the collection chamber to the reception
chamber of a vacuum cleaner as evinced by Yip’s disclosure. Dailey,
357 F.2d at 672-73, 149 USPQ at 50.
Accordingly, we affirm the Examiner’s § 103(a) rejection of argued
claim 13 and 19 and non-argued dependent claims 3, 14, 16-18, and 20-22
over Kuwahara in view of Yip.
DEPENDENT CLAIM 15
Appellants argue that neither Yip nor Kuwahara discloses forming the
air guide funnel, the partition, and the intervention guard as a single
integrally formed structural part (Br. 16).
We have considered Appellants’ argument and are unpersuaded for
the reasons below.
The Examiner determined that forming the air guide funnel, the
partition, and the intervention guard element as a single integrally structural
part would have been obvious because such is “within the purview of those
skilled in the art” (Answer 6). Citing to In re Hotte, 475 F.2d 644, 647,
177 USPQ2d 326, 328 (CCPA 1973), the Examiner further states in the
“Response to Arguments” section of the Answer that an integrally formed
structural part can be made of multiple pieces that, when assembled as a
unit, make a single element (Answer 13). We agree.
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