Appeal No. 1999-0086
Application No. 08/612,820
As to the storing of historical data in step (b) of claim
1, Appellants contend that the Rules described by Niwa are not
historical data. We do not agree. As illustrated in Figures
17(a) and 17(b)of Niwa, the proper deceleration rate for a
tool as it approaches a workpiece corner is established
according to rules stored in knowledge base 25. These rules
are developed based on the “experience and know-how of an
expert . . . .” (Niwa, column 6, line 30) and “represent the
knowledge of experts who are familiar with the characteristics
of complicated controlled object . . . .” (Niwa, column 7,
lines 7 and 8). In our view, this expert know-how would
inevitably and inherently reflect data gained through
historical experience with the machining operations in
question.
With respect to steps (c) and (d) of claim 1, Appellants
argue that the passage from Niwa (column 14, lines 24-57)
cited by the Examiner discloses only the reading by inference
section 26 of rules from knowledge base 25. We find however,
that it is precisely this description of the operation of
Niwa’s inference section which meets the requirements of steps
(c) and (d) of claim 1. In other words, parameter values such
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