Appeal No. 2001-0583
Application No. 09/039,348
of Gilmore’s phase-locked loop can affect the stepped-frequency signal. We disagree
with appellants as to the affect on the stepped-frequency signal because the stepped-
frequency is input to the phase detector 116 and a tuning signal from divider 122 is also
input to the phase detector. This tuning signal from divider 122 effects, within phase
detector 116, a change in the stepped-frequency signal so that the output of the phase
detector 116 may be considered an altered stepped-frequency signal. The question,
then, is whether that altered stepped-frequency signal is a signal which is the original
stepped-frequency signal which has been varied in step size, as required by the instant
claim language.
It is appellants’ position that the phase detector does not vary the step size of the
stepped-frequency signal because the phase detector generates a direct-current output
voltage which varies with the difference, in phase, between the applied stepped-
frequency signal and the divided output of the VCO 120. However, as is clear from
Gilmore, the synthesizer output frequency is a function of the input reference (which is
the stepped-frequency signal input to the top of phase detector 116), the number of bits
in the frequency control signal and the DDS step size as determined by the frequency
control signal (See the abstract of Gilmore). As is further clear from Gilmore, (column
6, lines 56-59), the step size of the DDS driven phase lock loop varies with the divisor
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