Appeal No. 2002-1180
Application No. 08/924,552
been adequately addressed by the examiner.
The examiner says that the claim is broad, requiring only a
showing of positioning of the heads with regard to the relative
position of Kobayashi’s coarse (VCM) actuator and the position of
the microactuators (fine) on associated disk surfaces. The
examiner may have a point as to the relative breadth of the
claim. However, the examiner has not convinced us that Kobayashi
discloses movement of corresponding data heads based on relative
positions of Kobayashi’s voice coil motor and each of the
plurality of microactuators.
Accordingly, we will not sustain the rejection of claims 5-
7, 10 and 11 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b).
With regard to the broader independent claim 19, appellants
argue that, even assuming, arguendo, that Kobayashi discloses
“model-based” servo controllers, Kobayashi does not teach or
suggest the claimed “multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) servo
controller.”
The examiner’s position is that Kobayashi does, indeed,
disclose such a MIMO because Kobayashi described a coarse
actuator 5 and microactuators 28 as being attached together
(column 12, lines 26-32) and the microactuators move
independently (column 12, lines 24-44), “which is in accordance
-7–
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