Ex parte MARUMOTO - Page 6




          Appeal No. 1998-1114                                                        
          Application 08/353,254                                                      

          relied on in the rejection, and shall explain how such                      
          limitations render the claimed subject matter unobvious over                
          the prior art.").  Cf. In re Baxter Travenol Labs.,                         
          952 F.2d 388, 391, 21 USPQ2d 1281, 1285 (Fed. Cir. 1991) ("It               
          is not the function of this court to examine the claims in                  
          greater detail than argued by an appellant, looking for                     
          nonobvious distinctions over the prior art.").                              
               The Examiner states (EA7-8):                                           
               [S]ome of the above identified differences are at least                
               partially taught by elements of the prior art.  To wit:                
                    With respect to difference (1), Yaezawa teaches the               
                    use of a comparator circuit (Fig. 1, element 6)                   
                    connected to a key memory (Fig. 1, element 2) and an              
                    input register (Fig. 1, element 4), while Wong                    
                    teaches the use of an R-S flip-flop (Fig. 4, element              
                    52).                                                              
                    Additionally, with respect to difference (2), Wong                
                    discloses the use of a tri-state buffer (Wong at                  
                    abstract and Fig. 4, element 62).                                 
                    . . .                                                             
                    Finally, with respect to differences (3) and (4), it              
               is the Examiner's position that one of ordinary skill in               
               the art would have found these differences to have been                
               obvious at the time the invention was made.  A proper                  
               analysis of these differences, therefore, begins with an               
               inquiry into who one of ordinary skill in the art would                
               be[.]                                                                  



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