Appeal No. 97-2477
Application 08/212,908
path attributes with control path information. With respect
to these features of the appellant’s claimed invention, the
examiner’s analysis is conclusory and not supported by
adequate rationale and underlying factual determinations. For
example, the examiner states (answer at page 8):
[The icons as shown in Fig. 2 of Dunn include both data
path and control path information. For instan[ce], icon
76 should have data path (data flow) and control path
(program flow) to indicate which way data flow in and out
of the icon 76. [Emphasis added.]
The above-quoted text reflects not a well reasoned analysis
but mere speculation and conjecture.
As a backup position, the examiner states (answer at page
9):
[The state table 318 as shown [in] Watkins et al is known
to be a “control information”, and paths as disclosed in
Watkins et al (e.g., 324, 326, 328) are data paths.
However, “control path” as defined in the appellant’s
specification is not simply any control information, and “data
path” as defined in the appellant’s specification is not mere
interconnections between components. The examiner has not
explained how the state table of Watkins constitutes control
path information as is defined by the appellant and how the
interconnections 324, 326, and 328 of Watkins constitute data
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