Application of Jack W. Hinman

SMITH, Judge.

The issue here arises under 35 U.S.C. § 103. Its resolution requires a determination of whether the differences between the claimed subject matter and the prior art were such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made. The problem in this case is complicated, however, by the highly specialized, technical nature of the claimed subject matter and by the failure of the specification so to disclose the subject matter that we might determine precisely what appellant has invented. A further…