Appeal No. 96-2994
Application 08/282,413
associative search of a database structure as taught by
Bentley has anything to do with graphically displaying a
virtual reality environment. It appears to us that the
examiner simply found two disparate documents which generally
related the terms hierarchical and partitions in order to
construct the claimed invention in hindsight. We can find no
basis for the artisan to have combined Bentley’s associative
search of a data structure with Corthout’s color picture
computer.
It should be noted that independent claims 1 and 14
recite the manner in which a first object in a virtual reality
environment moves with respect to a second object in that
environment. Not all movements within the environment result
in a change in the claimed invention. Only a movement
resulting from one of the objects crossing a first
partitioning plane gives rise to the determination of a second
partitioning plane. Neither Corthout nor Bentley relates to
the determination of partitioning planes based on the relative
movement between two objects in the virtual reality
environment. Corthout’s flight simulator would only be
concerned with observer movement rather than object movement.
8
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