2. Obvious combination of features? 

2.1 Obvious and consequently non-inventive combination of features.

The invention consists merely in the juxtaposition or association of known devices or processes functioning in their normal way and not producing any non-obvious working interrelationship.

Example: A machine for producing sausages that consists of a known mincing machine and a known filling machine disposed side by side.

2.2 Not obvious and consequently inventive combination of features.

The combined features mutually support each other in their effects to such an extent that a new technical result is achieved. It is irrelevant whether each individual feature is fully or partly known by itself. However, if the combination of features is a bonus effect, e.g. the result of a "one-way street" situation, the combination might lack an inventive step.

Example: A mixture of medicines consists of a painkiller (analgesic) and a tranquilliser (sedative). It was found that adding the tranquilliser, which intrinsically appeared to have no painkilling effect, intensified the analgesic effect of the painkiller in a way which could not have been predicted from the known properties of the active substances.