Appeal No. 1999-0243
Application 08/434,457
or suggestions. In re Sernaker, 702 F.2d 989, 995, 217 USPQ 1, 6
(Fed. Cir. 1983). The Federal Circuit states that “[t]he mere
fact that the prior art may be modified in the manner suggested
by Examiner does not make the modification obvious unless the
prior art suggested the desirability of the modification.” In re
Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1266 n.14, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1783-84 n.14
(Fed. Cir. 1992), citing In re Gordon, 733 F.2d 900, 902, 221
USPQ 1125, 1127 (Fed. Cir. 1984).
Appellants argue that neither Greenberg nor Hikita teaches
or suggests generating logical sectors from physical sectors, as
set forth in each of the pending independent claims on appeal.
Appellants point out that Hikita teaches a technique for
generating target sector numbers and not for locating actual
sector numbers. In addition, Appellants assert4 that Hikita is
useful in the operation of multiple hard drives of differing
formats and is not for translating sectors within a track or
segment to compensate for defective sectors.
In the answer5, the Examiner admits that Greenberg does not
translate a physical sector number into a logical sector number,
4 Brief, page 10.
5 Pages 3-4.
4
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