Appeal No. 2002-0638
Application 08/932,239
the movement of the scroll button is to change the view with
respect to the coordinate system utilized there.
The feature of the claim defining a scroll bar path as a
function of "N dimensional space" is problematic. This claim
appears to violate 35 U.S.C. § 112, fourth paragraph, in that it
recites the dimensions to be broader than the three dimensional
virtual world of the preamble of claim 25 on appeal.
Additionally, the recitation of N dimensional space is inclusive
of two dimensional space of the prior art.
The Macintosh reference relied upon by the examiner was
initially utilized at page 3 of the final rejection in the
formulation of the same second stated rejection. Appellant's
argument at the bottom of page 9 of the Supplemental Appeal Brief
that Macintosh does not teach or suggest the multidimensional
scroll bar is misplaced since such a feature is not recited in
any claim on appeal. Additionally, the claimed feature
apparently referenced by appellant in this argument is that the
scroll bar claimed may move along a path only as a broadly
defined "function in N dimensional space." The examiner is
correct at page 7 of the answer when the observation is made that
"a scrollbar referenced to, and moving with, the data in the
window are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Furthermore,
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