Appeal 2007-1572
Application 09/726,831
application, the display modes including at least one of resolution modes and
color modes.
Nale teaches an address translator for a shared memory computing
system, including the ability to change display mode during operation of an
application according to its changing graphical needs (FF 10). Nale teaches
dedicating a minimal amount of system memory to the graphics controller,
and dynamically allocating additional memory to the graphics controller to
satisfy the memory requirements of a selected graphics mode (FF 10). Nale
enables a switch to a different, “more demanding” graphics mode during
operation, without the need to reboot (FF 11).
It would have been obvious to the person having ordinary skill in the
art to modify Crocker to include dynamic allocation of system memory to
the graphics controller to satisfy the memory requirements of a selected
graphics mode, as taught by Nale, because it would have allowed the
operating system to use memory space not needed by the graphics controller
(for example, when only low resolution graphics are required) for other
purposes (Nale, col. 1, ll. 33-38; col. 3, ll. 14-28).
Other Issues
The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences is a review body,
rather than a place of initial examination. We have made a rejection above
under 37 C.F.R. § 41.50(b). However, we have not reviewed claims 2-13
and 15-30 to the extent necessary to determine whether these claims are
patentable over the combination of Crocker and Nale. We leave it to the
11
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