The opinion in support of the decision being entered today was not written for publication and is not binding precedent of the Board. Paper No. 13 UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________ BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS AND INTERFERENCES ____________ Ex parte KENNETH E. MERRYMAN and RONALD G. ARNOLD ____________ Appeal No. 2001-2692 Application No. 08/789,001 ____________ ON BRIEF ____________ Before BARRY, BLANKENSHIP, AND SAADAT, Administrative Patent Judges. BARRY, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL A patent examiner rejected claims 1-38. The appellants appeal therefrom under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a). We affirm-in-part. BACKGROUND The invention at issue on appeal relates to implementing input/output ("I/O") functions for an integrated circuit ("IC"). Custom and semi-custom ICs are often designed by assembling predefined components, i.e., "macro cells" selected from a design library. (Spec. at 1.)Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007