Appeal No. 1998-1386 Page 22
Application No. 08/269,156
....” Similarly, claims 12, 15, 15, and 21 each specify in
pertinent part the following limitations: “reverse-searching
the constructed paths in a direction opposite to the direction
the data was received.” In summary, claims 1, 6, 8, 12, 14,
15, and 21 each recite reverse-searching paths that comprise
character hypotheses corresponding to received data.
The examiner fails to show an unambiguous teaching of the
claimed limitations. The passage of Fujisaki relied on by the
examiner merely states, “Next, the trie is traversed from the
leaves back towards the root, summing the frequencies at each
d-node.” Col. 19, l. 67, - col. 20, l. 1. The passage is
ambiguous at best. The passage possibly could be interpreted
as teaching reverse-searching paths that comprise character
hypotheses corresponding to received data. It also could be
interpreted, however, as teaching building a vocabulary trie.
In view of the ambiguity, the examiner’s interpretation
amounts to speculation or an unfounded assumption.
Accordingly, we are not persuaded that the reference discloses
the claimed limitation of reverse-searching paths that
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