Appeal No. 1999-0041
Application 08/475,669
1784 (citing In re Gordon, 733 F.2d 900, 902, 221 USPQ 1125,
1127 (Fed. Cir. 1984)).
Here, although Undy’s Hummingbird processor “supports
both big-endian addressing, which all previous PA-RISC
processors implement, and little-endian addressing[,]” p. 17,
col. 1, the processor is neither conventional nor bi-endian.
To the contrary, it is a modification of a conventional, mono-
endian PA-RISC processor. Regarding the modified nature of
the reference’s processor, the examiner admits “the processor
taught by Undy is a modified version of the Hewlett-Packard
PA-RISC processor ....” (Examiner’s Answer at 8.) He further
admits of “the bi-endian modification of Undy to the
‘conventional’ Hewlett-Packard PA-RISC processor ....” (Id.
at 9.) For its part, the reference describes the modification
as “add[ing] a mode bit to the PA-RISC processor architecture
that selects between big- and little-endian byte addressing.”
P. 17, col. 1. Regarding the mono-endian nature of Undy’s
processor, James lists “the PA-RISC processor,” p. 14, col. 2,
as one of several “big-endian processors ....” (Id.) Relying
on James to teach “a mechanism (and the concept of specifying
9
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007