Appeal No. 2002-2318
Application 09/652,520
The examiner contends that because Pouschine teaches
that not all data cells need to be pre-computed, combining
Pirolli with Pouschine to include a descendant threshold
value as a reference would “limit the pre-computation of
data cells in Pouschine” [answer, page 4].
Lastly, Appellants argue that there is no motivation or
suggestion to combine Pirolli with Pouschine [brief, pages 5
and 6]. Appellants contend that neither the prior art nor
the knowledge generally available to the skilled artisan
teaches or suggests combining the references. Moreover,
appellants assert that the examiner’s stated motivation to
combine the references in order to save storage and
processing resources is speculative [id.].
In response, the examiner notes that because Pouschine
teaches that not all data cells require pre-calculation, the
skilled artisan “would certainly look into a well known
technique of setting a threshold as taught by Pirolli when
investigating techniques for deciding what to pre-calculate”
[answer, page 5].
We will not sustain the examiner’s rejections for
essentially the same reasons argued by appellants in the
briefs. We agree with appellants that Pirolli is non-
analogous art because it is directed to a web page analysis
and prediction system – not a multidimensional database
involving selective aggregation of descendant members.
Although Pirolli’s system is not limited to web pages or
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