Appeal No. 2004-0636
Application No. 09/045,041
through 36, and 38 through 42, and 44 pursuant to 37 C.F.R.
§ 41.50(b).
Appellant (Brief, page 9) summarizes Chakrabarti as
disclosing "grouping together identical gate-level sub-circuits
into high-level sub-circuits based upon the characteristics of
logical operations" (emphasis ours). Appellant asserts (Brief,
page 10) that the present invention distinguishes over
Chakrabarti in that "circuit simulation is performed by
integrating a plurality of partial circuits, which are determined
to exhibit equivalent operational characteristics, into one
partial circuit" (emphasis ours).
First, we note that appellant's claims recite integrating
into one circuit, but do not specify that the one circuit is one
of the partial circuits. Thus, appellant's arguments are not
commensurate in scope with the claims.
Second, appellant's argument focuses on the claim limitation
of "integrating" plural partial circuits into one circuit. "To
integrate" is defined as:2
1. To bring together or incorporate (parts) into a
whole.
2 Random House College Dictionary Revised Edition 692 (1982).
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