Appeal No. 95-4605
Application 08/076,285
the user to specify numerical values for the parameter variables,
whereas the claimed replication command is stored in an
unexecuted form with the parameters as variables which can be
assigned later. We do not agree with appellant's finding that
the ARRAY command in AutoCAD "does not perform the step of
generating a replication command having replication parameters
defined as variables" (Brief, page 14). The user apparently
"generates" the replication command in appellant's method by
typing in the command just as in AutoCAD and the parameters of
the ARRAY command (select objects, center point, number of items,
angle) exist as variables in AutoCAD until they are assigned
numerical values by the user. The difference is that AutoCAD
requires the variables to be assigned values immediately after
the ARRAY command is generated by the user, whereas the
replication command is stored in unexecuted form in claim 1 and
the variables are input at the time the command is executed. In
our opinion, the obviousness question is whether it would have
been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to store the
ARRAY command of AutoCAD in unexecuted form as part of a generic
program so that the values are assigned to the parameters at a
later time.
The examiner's position is "that HP-DESIGN, by showing the
ability to produce an underconstrained design program in which
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