Appeal No. 2001-0184
Application No. 09/002,173
based only on K preceding bits but do not limit how the carry
bits for the other bitslices are generated. That being the case,
the examiner finds that Tomoji shows the broadly claimed subject
matter in Figures 1 and 2 for the reasons supra.
We agree with the examiner that the broad language of
instant claim 1 does not require the limited carry bit to be
generated based only on the same number of K preceding bits and
we agree with the examiner that the claim only requires that the
limited carry bit for the most significant bit N-1 is to be
calculated based only on K preceding bits but does not limit how
the carry bits for the other bitslices are generated. Clearly,
Tomoji discloses a “first circuit,” as claimed, since a bit SN-1
is speculatively calculated by adder 400 based only on bit AN-1
(SX4), bit BN-1 (SY4) and a limited carry bit (suspense carry CS4).
However, we fail to find, in Tomoji, the claimed “second
circuit” for calculating the limited carry bit based only on K
bits of said augend and K bits of said addend, wherein K is less
than N-1. This is so because the suspense carry bit (i.e., the
“limited carry bit”) is not calculated at all but, rather, it is
preset to either a 1 or a 0 and this suspense carry bit is always
-6-
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