Appeal No. 2002-2195
Application No. 08/988,616
BACKGROUND
The invention is directed to a method for accessing data in a microcode ROM in
a microprocessor for the purpose of checking for memory faults. Representative claim
60 is reproduced below.
60. A method for reading data from a microcode ROM in a microprocessor,
the method comprising:
invoking an instruction fetch to retrieve data from a predetermined address in the
microcode ROM; and
suppressing execution of the data retrieved from the predetermined address in
the microcode ROM in response to a signal indicating a test mode,
regardless of whether the data retrieved comprises a branch or non-
branch instruction.
The examiner relies on the following reference:
Sawase et al. (Sawase) 5,175,840 Dec. 29, 1992
Claims 60-76 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102 as being anticipated by
Sawase.
We refer to the Final Rejection (Paper No. 27) and the Examiner’s Answer
(Paper No. 31) for a statement of the examiner’s position and to the Brief (Paper No.
30) for appellants’ position with respect to the claims which stand rejected.
OPINION
In accordance with appellants’ proposed grouping of the claims (Brief at 7), we
select claims 60 and 67 as representative of the invention. See 37 CFR § 1.192(c)(7).
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