Appeal No. 1998-0601
Application 08/225,322
The function of "selecting the reading drive signal if
the error signal is active ..." in claim 11 is considered to
have been obvious for the reasons stated in connection with
the limitation "operating the optical pickup at a power level
suitable for reading data, when an abnormal tracking error
occurs" in the analysis of claim 1.
Appellant further argues that Miura does not teach or
suggest a selector for selecting between two different signals
(Br17). The Examiner states that the "combination inherently
must provide a selector ... [to] provide selection between
different levels based upon an input control signal and within
the obvious combination the noted input control signal would
indicate write/read level selection" (EA5-6). Appellant
responds that inherency requires more than the mere
possibility that a certain thing may result and "it is not
necessary to provide a bi-level selector to preform [sic] the
decreasing function, nor is it the natural result flowing from
a teaching of decreasing the supply current" (RBr12).
Appellant argues that decreasing the current could be
performed in other ways such as analog means for continuously
decreasing the current.
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