Appeal No. 2005-0001
Application No. 09/268,902
response to a prompt we address infra with respect to Huddleston. We add that
appellant’s specification, on page 14, line 22, equates power zones to areas of
the core, which draw more or less current. We find that Mitsuhashi teaches
setting a theoretical lattice over the circuit and breaks the circuit into sectional
regions (item 11). (See, column 3, lines 35-39 and column 7, lines 58-61). The
amount of current flowing in each of the sectional regions is calculated and the
current in the power-source lines is analyzed. (See column 14, lines 11-21). The
information is used to generate a display of current used in the sectional regions
of the integrated circuit. (See column 10, lines 61-65). Thus, we find that the
sectional regions refer to sections of the integrated circuit that consume power,
which meets the claim limitation of “power zones.”
Appellant further argues, on pages 10 and 11 of the brief that:
[e]ven assuming, arguendo, one skilled in the art would consider the
sectional regions 11 of Mitsuhashi to be similar to the presently claimed at
least one power zone, the Office Action fails to present any objective
evidence or convincing line of reasoning why one of skill in the art would
consider determining the power consumption and a current amount in
each of the sectional regions from the position of each element in a layout
database for the design to be the same as accepting information for at
least one power zone in the integrated circuit core, as presently claimed.
Specifically, determining the power consumption and a current amount in
each of the sectional regions from the position of each element in a layout
database for the design involves post-layout simulation since the layout
database must already exist. However, discovering voltage drop and
electromigration problems after post-layout simulation can add days, if not
weeks, to the design cycle time and can significantly decrease a product’s
competitive advantage. In contrast, accepting design information of an
integrated circuit core entered in response to a prompt and accepting
information for at least one power zone in the integrated circuit core, as
presently claimed, allow a designer to quickly and easily analyze power-
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