Appeal No. 2000-1961
Application 08/840,200
device to prevent corruption of the time-based baseline data set
generated during on-line operations of said device."
The examiner states that it would have been obvious that, in
the proper monitoring of a mechanism, all the time of life of the
mechanism would need to be monitored including the time between
shutdown and startup of the system so as to be able to
distinguish characteristics acquired when the mechanism is
on-line from characteristics acquired when the mechanism is
offline (FR7).
Appellants argue that the cited prior art are not concerned
with data generated between shutdown and startup, are incapable
of performing such a step, and neither teach nor suggest such a
step (Br11). It is argued that the step should not be determined
obvious as being of a well-known or notorious character (Br11).
The claim implies that the "time-based baseline data set"
will be corrupted by data generated between shutdown and startup
and thus implies that the "time-based baseline data set" is an
evolving data set, although this meaning does not come through
from claim 16. We agree that a reference is necessary. It is
not sufficient to make up reasons for a modification, especially
where, as here, the limitation is one of the asserted points of
novelty of the invention. Since the baseline data in the
references is fixed, and is not updated over time, it cannot be
corrupted by data generated between shutdown and startup of a
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