Appeal No. 96-1890
Application No. 08/111,176
tape, and reading and decoding the pattern information.
The combination of Irby and Thomas appears, to us, to be
improper since the tape in Figure 3 of Thomas (having the
stripes parallel to the length of the tape) appears to relate
to linear recording whereas Irby is concerned with arcuate
recording. Therefore, the skilled artisan would not have
combined these disparate recording methods.
Nevertheless, and more importantly, independent claims 1
and 7, as well as claim 18, all require that the magnetically
polarized stripes have a “uniform and continuous” direction of
magnetic polarization in the plane of the tape and
substantially perpendicular to the length of the tape.
Neither Irby nor Thomas contains such a teaching or
suggestion. The examiner relies on Akiyama for such a
teaching. More specifically, the examiner points to Figure 3
of Akiyama for a teaching of recording transversely spaced
stripes parallel to the length of the tape having a transverse
direction of magnetization.
It is clear to us in reviewing Figure 3, as well as every
other Figure of Akiyama, that Akiyama shows the direction of
magnetic polarization as alternating rather than “uniform and
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