Appeal No. 1996-3193
Application 08/160,112
only the formation of the absolute value of a single pair of
numbers" (Br7) and "[t]he FINAL REJECTION fails to point out
any portion of Taniguchi teaching or suggesting the formation
of a sum of plural such absolute values" (Br7).
As discussed, the Examiner stated that "it was old and
notoriously well known in the art at the time of the invention
that a running sum was an appropriate method of summing
multiple values, and therefore, this modification would have
been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time
of the invention" (Paper No. 5, page 4). This discussion of a
running sum indicates that it is the Examiner's position that
the circuit of Taniguchi is applied to a series of number
pairs. As stated more clearly in the Examiner's Answer
(EA3-4):
Taniguchi's method is not limited to one particular set
of inputs X and Y to produce one and only [one] output
absolute value Z. One skilled in the art can [sic, could
have] easily recognize[d] that more than one absolute
value Z can be obtained from the selection circuit 605.
And (EA5):
[T]he exemplary embodiments disclosed by Taniguchi are
not limited to only one set of X and Y inputs for only
one absolute value Z . . . . Therefore, it would have
been an obvious modification for one of ordinary skill in
the art to input a series of first and second multi-bit
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