Appeal No. 2005-2512
Reexamination Control No. 90/006,431
An-Chang Deng, “Power Analysis For CMOS/BiCMOS Circuits, Workshop
Proceedings, International Workshop on Lower-Power Design, pp. 3-8 (Apr. 1994)
(“Deng”).
T. Noguchi, K. Hatanaka, and K. Maeguchi, “A Threshold Pulse Width for
Electromigration Under Pulsed Stress Conditions,” June 12-13, 1989 VMIC Conference,
VLSI Multilevel Interconnection Conference, 1989 Proceedings, Sixth International
IEEE, pp. 183-89 (“Noguchi”).
Don Stark, “Analysis of power supply networks in VSLI circuits,” PhD
dissertation, Stanford University (1991) (“Stark”).13
Gyanendra Tiwary, “Below the half-micron mark,” IEEE Spectrum, pp. 84-87
(Nov. 1994) (“Tiwary”).
F. The grounds of rejection
The grounds of rejection, as modified to reflect the examiner’s withdrawal of his
reliance on Huang and Rugen, are as follows:14
(1) Claims 1-18 stand rejected under § 102(a) as anticipated by “RailMill” as
disclosed in the three RailMill documents, which the examiner considers to be “one
13 The initial twelve pages of the version of Stark of record are out of order and
the abstract is on an unnumbered sixth page. Also, Figures 80-85 at pages 124-29 are
not clear. Clearer copies of pages 124-29 have been downloaded from http://www-
visi.stanford.edu/papers/ds_thesis.pdf and accompany this decision, as does a copy of
cover page i, which in the downloaded version contains the abstract.
14 As noted by appellant, the examiner is incorrect to hold that claims 1-18 stand
or fall together under 37 CFR § 1.192(c) for lack of a statement in the brief that they do
not stand or fall together. Ans. 3 para. 7. That provision was replaced effective
September 13, 2004, by 37 CFR § 41.37(c), which does not include such a requirement.
Rules of Practice Before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences; Final Rule, 69
Fed. Reg. 49,960, 49,960, 50,006 (Aug. 12, 2004); reprinted in 1286 Off. Gaz. Pat. &
Trademark Office 21, 21, 59-60 (Sep. 7, 2004).
14
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