Appeal No. 96-1421
Application 08/065,773
information reproducing apparatus based on an amount of
data stored in the memory to be read out.
11. We agree that Smith's teaching of turning off idle
devices can properly be applied to Sako's device in order to save
power. What we do not see is what would motivate the person
having ordinary skill in the art to control power to the disk-
reading apparatus based on the contents of Sako's shock-proof
memory. One would first have to decide that, despite Sako's
stated advantages for using the idle time to maintain track
position (8:40-56), that the idle time should instead be used to
save power. Second, one would have to decide to use the contents
of the shock-proof memory as a guide to the activity of the disk-
reading apparatus. Neither of these modifications are taught or
suggested.
12. We do not agree with Applicants, however, that Sako
teaches away from the claimed invention. The fact that Sako does
not contemplate using the idle time for power conservation simply
shows that it does not anticipate Applicants' invention.
Contrary assumptions in a reference do not, by themselves,
establish a teaching away at the time of the invention. In re
Geisler, 116 F.3d 1465, 1470, 43 USPQ2d 1362, 1366 (Fed. Cir.
1997). Indeed, Applicants disclose operating in an exclusively
shock-proof mode, which is Sako's mode of operation, as part of
their invention. (Paper 1 at 14-15.) Thus, the fact that Sako
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