Appeal No. 1997-3911
Application 08/368,758
As Yamaguchi's PROM 6 therefore fails to satisfy all of
claim 14's limitations on the random access correcting
information storage means, it is necessary to consider the
examiner's case for substituting a RAM for Yamaguchi's PROM 6,
which relies in part on Patrick. The examiner explains:
As per the use of storing correcting information
within a RAM, it is a well known functional
equivalent to storing [sic] the information in other
storage devices (i.e. PROM, ROM, EEPROM etc.). It
would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art at the time of the invention, to replace the
Prom [sic, PROM] of Yamaguchi with a RAM for storing
correcting data. This modification would have been
obvious to one of ordinary skill because, they are
well known functional equivalents for storing data,
and [it] involves only rudimentary skill in the art
to perform such a modification. And further
because, Patrick provides the motive of storing
correction data on a more cost effective RAM.
[Final Rej. at 5-6.]
The Answer further states (at 10) that replacing Yamaguchi's
PROM 6 with a RAM "would have been obvious to one of ordinary
skill in the art as each device is a matter of design choice,
and further either would be applicable for the act of storing
data in a computer system." We will first address Patrick.
Patrick, like appellants and Yamaguchi, is concerned with
correcting errors or bugs in the programming commands stored
in the ROM (17) of a mass-produced microcomputer (10) without
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