Appeal No. 2003-1480
Application No. 09/127,442
As the Examiner and Appellant concede, Higasayama teaches
that a cutter path is defined by a succession of discrete points
which generated using the cutter path data (col. 1, lines 18-22).
The movement velocity of the cutter is determined by a curvature
radius of the path estimate and a space interval of the points
(col. 2, lines 1-7) whereas the acceleration and deceleration of
the cutter depends on the disposition of the points to be
followed by the cutter (col. 2, lines 42-46). Therefore, as
correctly identified by Appellant, the discrete points, even if
displayed, cannot be repositioned by a user since they are the
defining points along the cutter path and calculated based on a
“curve defining equation” (col. 12, lines 7-16). In fact, as
pointed out by Appellant (reply brief, page 2), any changes to
the movement characteristics of the cutter by altering the
discrete points defining the path would have to be performed
based on the geometry data of the work piece and not by using the
displayed points.
Turning now to Watanabe, we find that the reference also
relates to a method of setting object display attributes and a
method of generating an object motion path for three-dimensional
computer graphics (col. 1, lines 14-17). In particular, Watanabe
teaches that the position of an object, the magnitude and
direction of an object velocity and time may be dynamically
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