Appeal No. 1999-2607
Application 08/826,618
limitations find support in the claims. The issue is whether the
combination of references would have suggested the obviousness of
selecting a three-dimensional object to display a two-dimensional
image of the selected object and navigating away from the
selected virtual object while the two-dimensional image remains
active for user input.
Appellants argue that in Linnett, once a selection is made,
the user brings up his selected program routine which he must
close out before returning to navigation in the three-dimensional
workspace (Br6). It is argued that the selected program
interface takes up the entire workspace and, thus, there is no
room for any simultaneous three-dimensional navigation in that
workspace (Br6; RBr1-2). We do not find a response by the
Examiner. However, the rejection finds that Linnett teaches
navigating away from a selected virtual object within the three-
dimensional workspace while a two-dimensional image of a selected
object remains displayed, referring to column 1, lines 27-30,
column 12, lines 10-15, and column 13, lines 9-17 (EA4).
We understand Linnett to teach that the applications
interface with the user via the balloons associated with the
personal character (col. 4, lines 34-36: "The applications 28
interact with the user via the user interface elements, such as
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