Appeal No. 1998-1469
Application No. 08/351,045
comparison means, the transfer of digital data from the second order buffer memory (13) to the first
order block memory (10) is inhibited and the previous data in the unit block, i.e., g g of
1...8
first order block memory (10) is maintained in the first order block memory (10) and will be
rerecorded on the magnetic tape (col. 6, lines 36-42).
For the examiner’s rejection to be sustained, we would have to conclude that it would have
been obvious to have “relocated the parts” to provide the claimed interconnection between the second
memory means and the signal processing means so that the signal processing occurs prior to the data
reaching buffers i.e., second memory means (9, 11); modified the comparator to compare coded data;
deleted decoder (7), and converted the data into digital audio tape format. At the outset, we find
no suggestion or teaching to relocate the signal processing prior to the buffers (9,11) because Ichijo
teaches comparing unencoded data from blocks g - g of first order block memory (10) with decoded1 8
data reproduced by ascertaining heads (3a, 3b). We see no suggestion or teaching to store the coded
data from the signal processing means in the second memory other than from appellant's disclosure.
The examiner's proposed deletion of the decoder (7) is inconsistent with his reliance on decoder (7) for
the claimed first buffer means (final rejection, page 3). In addition, claim 1 calls for data strobe means
for receiving reproduced data from the magnetic tape. The examiner relies upon decoders (5 and 7) as
the data strobe means. However, as only decoder (7) receives reproduced data from the magnetic
tape, deletion of the decoder (7) would result in the limitation regarding the data strobe means also not
being met by Ichijo. In addition, claim 1 also calls for the second buffer to receive the reproduced
signal from the magnetic tape. The examiner relies on the encoder/decoder (5) of Ichijo for the claimed
second buffer. However, firstly, encoder/decoder (5) of Ichijo does not receive the signal reproduced
from the magnetic tape. It receives the signal that was outputted to the magnetic
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