Appeal No. 2002-2086
Application 09/010,396
The interconnect delay constituents for each segment of
a critical path are then summed and added to those delay
constituents which are intrinsic to the components of each
segment within the critical path to calculate the overall
current delay for the critical path Dr. [Col. 11,
lines 62-66.]
See claim charts at EA4, EA5. The examiner also refers (at EA7)
to Li, column 6, lines 30-50.
Appellants argue that none of the terms involved in the
calculation of the segment delay DS discloses or remotely
suggests the present invention's feature of calculating an
interconnect delay by determining a first delay that accounts for
a contribution of a direct path between a driver and a sink and
determining a second delay that accounts for a contribution of a
portion of the net that does not include the direct path to the
interconnect delay (Br9).
The examiner's discussion of appellants' arguments in the
Response to Final Rejection (Paper No. 13) (EA6-7) indicates an
understanding of the invention. The examiner maintains that Li
at least suggests the invention (EA7). The examiner refers to
Fig. 9 of Li and finds that "[c]alculating the delay along one
segment of the critical path of net 112, e.g. from node 110 to
node 116, requires consideration of the delay contributions from
the other two branches of net 112, specifically, from node 110 to
node 124 and node 110 to node 122" (EA7-8).
The examiner does not explain the basis for finding that
calculating the delay from driver pin 110 to sink 116 requires
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