Appeal No. 1998-3348 Page 6
Application No. 08/541,948
531 F.2d 1048, 1051, 189 USPQ 143, 147 (CCPA 1976)).
With these principles in mind, we consider the examiner's
rejection and the appellants' argument.
The examiner makes the following assertions.
Morita recognizes the importance of determining the
resonance in the spindle motor of a disk drive
through the use of a simple mechanical model (see
Morita, col. 2, lines 1-24). Therefore, one of
ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention
was made would have found it obvious to use some
kind of mechanical model in order to gain resonant
frequency data from the spindle motor, just as
Morita does. In addition, it is not only known to
create resonant models of spindle motors but it is
also known that changing the disk thickness,
diameter, disk alloy, and clamping force effect the
resonant frequency of the spindle motor as taught by
Boutaghou et al, col. 5, lines 45-49. Therefore,
one of ordinary skill in the art would have had
sufficient motivation to model the spindle motor
while adjusting various parameters (such as the
number of disks used in the disk stack) in the
spindle motor in order to arrive at a reasonable
frequency.
(Examiner's Answer at 5-6.) The appellants argue, "neither
Morita nor Boutaghou teaches or suggests determining two
separate resonance frequencies: one associated with associated
with a disk drive having one disk and the other associated
with a disk drive having multiple disks. Also, neither Morita
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