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A patent examiner searches not just subject matter but also disclosed features that
are claimed in an application-
In addition, the knowledge of a POSITA can be combined with any prior art to define what is obvious:
“[T]he focus when making a determination of obviousness should be on what a person of ordinary skill in the pertinent art [POSITA] would have known at the time of the invention, and on what such a person would have reasonably expected to have been able to do in view of that knowledge.” http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/documents/2100_2141.htm
Prior art can be either in the field of applicant's invention or be in a field reasonably pertinent to the particular problem with which the applicant was concerned. Multiple prior arts may be combined against a single claim in an invention if there is a rationale to do so.
A USPTO Examination Guide takes into account the recent the Supreme Court in KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc. (KSR), 550 U.S. ___, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). Rationales from this guide that may support a conclusion of obviousness from combining prior arts include:
(A) Combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results;
(B) Simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results;
(C) Use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way;
(D) Applying a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results;
(E) "Obvious to try" -
(F) Known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art;
(G) Some teaching, suggestion, or motivation [TSM test] in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference or to combine prior art reference teachings to arrive at the claimed invention.
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/documents/2100_2141.htm.
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