Appeal No. 1998-1507
Application No. 08/499,988
In our view, the examiner has failed to establish a prima
facie case of obviousness. The mere shifting of digits in
Waggener’s shifter does not, in our view, equate to the
claimed “offset signal that programs the floating point to
fixed point conversion.” Waggener converts a floating point
number in one format to a floating point number in a different
format and does this by splitting the floating point number in
the first format into sign, exponent and fraction components
and using the exponent to shift the fractional component, if
necessary. The exponent component is modified in the shift
control block 124 according to the new floating point number
format. Waggener does not disclose or suggest the claimed
offset signal that programs the shifter to perform a floating
point to fixed point conversion.1
Even if, as the examiner asserts, the artisan recognized
a desirability to obtain a fixed point number rather than
another floating point number, the examiner has provided no
1The offset signal programs the resolution of the fixed
point number wherein a low valued offset signal provides more
accuracy in the whole number portion of the fixed point number
and a high valued offset signal provides more accuracy in the
fractional portion of the fixed point number.
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