Appeal No. 2003-2116
Application No. 09/306,954
speakers may be adjusted based upon a changing distance
or range between the source or listener to a speaker(s)
so as to provide greater audio ambiance [answer, page
7].
The examiner’s assertion that there is no difference
conceptually between the timing of audio signals based on
movement of a sound source and the timing of audio signals based
on movement of a listener finds no support in the fair teachings
of Stevenson and Tatemi. In addition to lacking factual support,
this attempted distillation of the claimed invention and the
prior art to a common concept represents a superficial mode of
analysis which improperly disregards both express claim
limitations and specific prior art teachings. In short, the
disparate disclosures of Stevenson and Tatemi would not have
provided the artisan with any suggestion to combine them in the
manner proposed by the examiner so as to arrive at the subject
matter recited in claims 1, 11 and 17.
Therefore, we shall not sustain the standing 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) rejection of independent claims 1, 11 and 17, and
dependent claims 2 through 7, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18 through 23, 25
and 26, as being unpatentable over Stevenson in view of Tatemi.
8
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007