Appeal No. 2006-2458
Application No. 10/147,673
“probability”) that probabilities cannot assume negative values, i.e., a
probability space only encompasses a range of probability values from zero
to one, where a value of zero indicates a zero probability and a value of one
indicates a 100 percent probability. Therefore, we agree with appellant that
each of the probabilities represented on the “Y axis” in fig. 4 has a positive
value. When we look to the instant specification for an alternate meaning,
we note that the specification provides support at page 19, lines 28-33,
cont’d page 20, lines 1 and 2:
Like the entity stack, the anti-entity stack decays over time by
applying a decaying likelihood attribute to the anti-entity. This
likelihood can be provided as a negative number such that if an
entity appears in both the entity stack and the anti-entity stack,
the likelihoods can be added together to determine if the entity
should be excluded from consideration or included as an option
[emphasis added].
We note that a negative likelihood, as supported in the instant
specification, corresponds to a negative attribute that represents the decay
of a probability over time. Nevertheless, we note that “decay over time” is
not claimed and has not been argued by appellant in the briefs. We note that
appellant has treated a negative likelihood as a probability, but has failed to
explain how a negative probability can exist. Because we find that a
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