Appeal No. 2005-0097 Application No. 09/645,172 prior preference. When a SelectButtonDown event is detected and the mouse pointer is over the “fast” region of the slider bar control button 700 (i.e., section 702), no change is made in the gain setting [specification, pages 13 and 14]. The examiner (see pages 4 and 13 in the answer) advances several explanations as to how and why Ubillos meets the foregoing limitations. None is persuasive, however, as each is predicated on an unreasonable interpretation of both the claim language at issue and the Ubillos disclosure. Moreover, all of the examiner’s explanations rest on a finding that the Ubillos scale controllers 17 and 18 constitute second and third sections for fine adjustment up and down, respectively, as recited in independent claims 13, 32 and 40. Ubillos, however, provides no factual support for this finding. Hence, the examiner’s position that the subject matter recited in independent claims 13, 32 and 40, and dependent claims 9 through 12 and 28 through 31, is anticipated by Ubillos is not well taken. II. The 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) rejection of claims 2 through 4, 21 through 23 and 39 as being unpatentable over Ubillos in view of Rosenberg As indicated above, independent claim 2 recites a method comprising, inter alia, the step of providing a thumbwheel control button on a graphical user interface. Independent claims 21 and 39 contain similar limitations. Understood in light of 7Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007