Appeal No. 2000-0766
Application No. 08/825,259
We REVERSE.
Each of the independent claims has a paragraph (b) which requires an
identification of the major coordinate lines (if there are any) crossing the line segment to
be displayed and that this identification is “based only upon the major axis coordinates
of the endpoints of the line segment” [emphasis added]. Moreover, independent claim
11 further narrows this to make it clearer that this identification is performed “prior to
selecting any pixel for display of the line segment.”
In applying Foley to the instant claimed invention, the examiner admits that Foley
does not explicitly disclose identifying the major coordinate lines, crossing the line
segment to be displayed, based only upon the major axis coordinates of the endpoints
of the line segment. However, the examiner contends, at page 4 of the final rejection
[Paper No. 18], that only the major coordinate lines crossing the line segment are
identified, based only upon the major axis coordinates of the endpoints of the line
segment in Foley because Foley “shows finding the next major coordinate line crossing
(i.e., intersection), by using the major coordinate line and adding the slope (on page 74,
first paragraph), thus not depending on the minor axis coordinate” [emphasis ours].
The trouble with the examiner’s reasoning is that by employing the slope of the
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