Appeal No. 96-1899
Application No. 07/936,007
positive (“+”) axis direction and a “- instruction” moves it in
the opposite axis direction.
The description of Figure 8 does not explicitly address the
“-” symbol appearing in front of “323.000" and “34.000" in
display section 4 relied on by the examiner. It does say that
the data 10 in display section 4 “shows only the current position
of each axis that increases or decreases in accordance with the +
or - instruction in the coordinate system of the machine tool.”
Specification at 3, lines 13-17. One skilled in the art would
interpret that as follows.
The only data shown in Figure 8's display section 4 is the
current position. The position can be a positive decimal number
such as 716.000 or a negative decimal number such as -323.000. A
position number along one axis changes between positive and
negative when it crosses an intersecting axis. For example, tool
turret 18 is shown in Figure 8 as being to the left of where axis
Z2 intersects axis X2. The right-pointing arrow on axis Z2
indicates that positive position numbers are to the right.
Therefore, one would expect tool turret 18 to have a negative
position number along the Z2 axis. Indeed, display section 4
indicates a negative position number (-323.000) for the Z2 axis.
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Last modified: November 3, 2007