Appeal No. 1999-2568
Application No. 08/640,096
time, minimizing a fall time, incrementally increasing the
voltage of the first signal and driving the first signal to a
voltage.”
Inasmuch as the drivers 6 and 7 are shown as black boxes
(Figure 2), we find that the examiner had a reasonable basis
for questioning the adequacy of the disclosure of these two
drivers. In response, appellants argue (brief, pages 7 and 8)
that:
The level of one of ordinary skill is high. Since
the level of predictability in the art is also high,
Applicants submit the teaching of constructing a
slow rise time driver and having identified the rate
at which the driver rises as a function of
propagation speed of the loaded bus such that the
off going signal propagating along the bus will,
under worst case circumstances, reach an ongoing
signal before the rising signal rises significantly
above a high threshold voltage, provides sufficient
information for one of ordinary skill in the art to
make such a driver. Moreover, since constructing a
voltage ramp does not require an expert in the art,
the quantity of experimentation needed to make or
use the invention based on the content of the
disclosure is low. As
admitted by the Examiner, “the characteristics shown in
the wave forms of Figs. 3a-3c represent a multitude of
circuits that could be designed.” (OA, 4/1/98, p.4,
l.15-16).
Figures 3a, b, and c show graphs of negative-
going wave 9 at the location of the on-going driver,
positive-going wave 8 at the location of the off-
going driver, and a composite wave 10 for one
exemplary embodiment of the instant invention
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