Appeal No. 2002-1395 Page 13
Application No. 08/789,702
Turning to the reference, the aforementioned identification and incorporation is
performed by a "preprocessor which replaces all macro instantiations with a microcode
segment from the corresponding macro definition to form a final output hardware
description language source code file." Col. 8, ll. 21-24. We find that Kirsch stores the
final output source code file. Specifically, "[t]he . . . output file 15 [is] stored in the
memory." Col. 3, ll. 48-49. Therefore, we affirm the anticipation rejection of claim 3.
Fourth, observing that claim 29 "is further limited by a 'placing step,'" (Appeal Br.
at 40), the appellants allege, "the prior art of record does not contain this combination."
(Id.)
Claim 29 specifies in pertinent part the following limitations: "placing the second
one of the hierarchical elements." Giving the claim its broadest, reasonable
construction, the limitations require placing at least one hierarchical element.
Turning to Kirsch, we find that the aforementioned complex digital system
comprises hierarchical elements. "An example of a complex digital system is a
microprocessor characterized by a very large number of logic gates, representing a
large finite state machine. . . ." Col. 3, ll. 3-5. In this example, the microprocessor
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