An obvious to try rationale is generally supported when there is a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success.
Background / Facts: Inventio’s patent at issue was directed to an elevator “destination dispatching” system using RFID transmitters in the lobby or hallway of a building to identify the user’s default destination floor, call an elevator, and inform the passenger of which elevator to board. Before Inventio introduced this system, its head of research and development published an article describing similar destination dispatching where “cards are entered into readers and will automatically register a destination call for a specific floor.” In addition to the integrated circuit (IC) cards and magnetic-strip cards disclosed in the article, other recognition devices had also been developed by this time, including backscatter RFID, bar code, proximity card, remote control, and capacitive coupling.
Issue(s): Whether it would have been obvious to substitute one of the other known recognition devices at the time into the known destination dispatching system to arrive at the claimed invention.
Holding(s): Yes. The court stated that this is a clear example of a “combination of familiar elements according to known methods [yielding] no more than … predictable results.” Inventio’s prior article discloses a destination dispatching system using card reader technology while the RFID prior art discloses the required information transmitter and recognition device in the form of an RFID transmitter and receiver. Because RFID, along with IC, bar code, proximity, magnetic strip, remote control, and capacitive coupling, were among the “number of identified, predictable solutions, a person of ordinary skill ha[d] good reason to pursue the[se] known options within his or her technical grasp.” Replacing the older card reader in the known destination dispatching system with the modern RFID transmitter was well within the abilities of a person of ordinary skill in the art, and required only the application “of ordinary skill and common sense.” It therefore would have been obvious to try and had a reasonable expectation of success.