Ex parte PARK - Page 5




          Appeal No. 1998-0601                                                        
          Application 08/225,322                                                      

          reading and use by the reference power generator, which is                  
          recited in claims 4 and 11.  The reference power data PREF is               
          applied to a drive signal generator 103 where it is converted               
          into a read or write driving signal DR and then applied to a                
          light source element.  In this conventional apparatus, the                  
          light source element is operated at constant power                          
          irrespective of pickup position.  Consequently, if a tracking               
          error occurs during writing, the previously recorded data is                
          lost by overwriting additional data.  The APA does not                      
          disclose "operating the optical pickup at a power level                     
          suitable for reading data, when an abnormal tracking error                  
          occurs" as recited in claim 1 and in similar limitations in                 
          claims 4 and 11.                                                            

          Claims 1, 2, 4-6, 11, 12, and 15 over APA                                   
          and one of Yoshimoto, Ishida, Horie, or Maeda                               
               Yoshimoto (col. 14, lines 63-68), Ishida (col. 5,                      
          lines 41-59), Horie (col. 3, lines 11-16), and Maeda (col. 4,               
          lines 45-53; col. 7, lines 54-58) disclose that it was known                
          to interrupt the recording operation when the tracking error                
          exceeds either a positive or negative threshold value to avoid              
          the problem of erroneously recording over already recorded                  

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