Appeal No. 1997-1654 Page 15
Application No. 08/431,307
Claims 38 and 41-46 each specifies in pertinent part that
“membership in the set of overriding attributes remains
constant during execution of the program.” Although we agree
with the appellants that “the use of a dynamically accessed
database creates the possibility that membership in a set of
attributes could change while the program runs,” (Appeal Br.
at 17 (emphasis added)), such a change is not required.
Because the possibility is not a certainty, the reference
would have suggested “membership in the set of overriding
attributes remains constant during execution of the program.”
Therefore, we affirm the rejection of claims 38 and 41-46.
Next, we address the obviousness of claims 29 and 39.
Claims 29 and 39
Regarding claims 29 and 39, the appellants argue, “the
references of record do not teach the claimed modification of
source code to assign predetermined values to overriding
attributes.” (Appeal Br. at 15.) The examiner makes the
following reply.
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