Appeal No. 95-3265
Application 08/047,162
changes necessary to effect a design rule change in an integrated
circuit mask database, as claimed. Nor do we find any suggestion
of the use of a "phantom mask," as claimed, in Morishita.
We are not convinced by the examiner's reasoning that
the existence of known software for making modifications to data
representative of graphical elements easier would, itself, have
provided sufficient motivation for applying such software in the
manner claimed. We are also not convinced by the examiner's
contention that the claimed global command is nothing more than a
macro-command used for repeated plural uses of elementary
commands which would have been obvious to implement as claimed.
Although the examiner has contended that much of the
claimed subject matter is nothing more than "pure common sense"
and what was known in the art, this has been challenged by
appellant. For example, see pages 16-17 of the brief, wherein
appellant states that the examiner "has not offered any evidence
of prior art which teaches" the use of pattern generation
software to effect global changes as claimed, making possible the
production of a single integrated circuit chip product from data
of two or more chips specified with different design rules, nor
has any evidence been offered "which suggests such database
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