Appeal No. 1998-0101
Application No. 08/253,996
the Examiner, such modification would either change the
principle of operation of the hand-off process of Kinoshita,
or would otherwise serve no useful purpose with respect to the
hand-off process.” (Brief-page 5.)
We agree with Appellants. “[A] proposed modification
[is] inappropriate for an obviousness inquiry when the
modification render[s] the prior art reference inoperable for
its intended purpose. In re Gordon, 733 F.2d 900, 902, 221
USPQ 1125, 1127 (Fed. Cir. 1984).” In re Fritch, 972 F.2d
1260, 1265-1266 n. 12, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1783 n. 12 (Fed. Cir.
1992). Kinoshita predicates hand-off on a fuzzy logic
determination of updated cell boundary and mobile unit
location. Hurst, given sufficient signal strength, ignores
cell boundary and remains with a preferred site. A list of
preferred sites is stored in Hurst’s memory, and accessed on a
first preference, second preference and third preference
basis. As argued by Appellants, to combine Hurst with
Kinoshita would destroy Kinoshita’s basic philosophy of
updated cell boundary in hand-off determination, or serve no
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