Appeal No. 96-0908
Application 08/160,118
condition bits (status bits) can be set by the ALU, including,
as shown in Table 1(a), a Carry (CA) bit as recited in
claims 4 and 16, an Overflow (OV) bit as recited in claims 5
and 17, a Compares Equal, Zero Value (EQ) bit as recited in
claims 6 and 18, and a Logical Greater Than (LG) bit, which
one skilled in the art would recognize as corresponding to
Diefendorff's condition bit.
The examiner took official notice that "[d]ifferent types
of condition status bits and combination[s] of these bits have
also been used in prior arts for controlling the execution of
instructions" (FR6). We agree with the finding that one of
ordinary skill in the art would have known that the claimed
carry status bit (claims 4 and 16), overflow status bit
(claim 5), and zero status bit (claims 6 and 18) are well
known and conventional status (or flag or condition) bits in
the computer art. See Microprocessors (Intel Corp. 1989),
pages 4-11 to 4-14 (copy attached) (showing flags register for
Intel 486 microprocessor). One skilled in the art would have2
This reference is cited to show what was known by2
those of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Boon,
439 F.2d 724, 727-28, 169 USPQ 231, 234 (CCPA 1971) (standard
work cited to support an officially noticed fact which plays a
minor role does not raise a new ground of rejection).
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