Appeal No. 96-0587
Application 07/927,543
"Satisficing" is defined as an artificial intelligence term
meaning "the process of searching for a solution that is
satisfactory, though not necessarily optimal." Academic Press
Dictionary of Science and Technology (1992) (copy provided by
appellants). Appellants argue that Sriram merely discloses that
several feasible alternatives are extracted from the solution
tree. An alternate solution is argued to not be a satisficing
solution because (Brief, pages 13-14):
The Examiner alleges that alternate is not optimal and falls
within the definition of satisficy. A satisficy solution
includes a solution that is satisfactory. Satisfactory
implies a criteria or rank of solution, yet is not
necessarily optimal. Alternate could be any solution. . . .
Clearly alternatives do not anticipate satisficing. Sriram
does not disclose satisficing.
"The examiner contends that a feasible alternative is a
satisficing solution, as feasible can be considered as at least
satisfactory; a feasible alternative is not unsatisfactory"
(Examiner's Answer, page 8).
Claim 1 recites "evaluating said current solution state and
alternatives; and choosing a satisficing solution to satisfy all
of said constraints in response to said evaluating step." The
solution tree in Sriram (e.g., figure 9) consists of "a number of
feasible solutions (structural configurations) to the design
problem" (page 187, sec. 1.3). A feasible solution (also called
a feasible alternative in Sriram) is one that satisfies all of
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