Appeal 2007-1416
Application 09/881,791
source file of Pavela are not sentences describing the computer program.”
(Reply 9, middle). Appellants’ first contention, that the source file is not a
specification as claimed, is difficult to find convincing. Note in FF1 above
that the program specification is defined in the patent specification as “any
specification… preferably including a plurality of assertions that can be
tested.” In the claim, it is only stated that the specification includes a
plurality of sentences describing the computer program. Sentences are not
limited to grammatically formal constructions by either the specification or
the originally filed claims3. The Examiner asserts that Pavela’s source file
#318 fits this broad definition, and we do not see error in that judgment. In
Pavela, the lines in the Objectives section indicate the nature of the operation
of the subject program and the tests that will be applied to it. The
Configuration and Procedure sections indicate some tests that will be applied
against the subject program. The details of the tests and parameters that are
being applied to the software indicate, if indirectly, what features that
software has, which will be tested.
Appellants indicate that “Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a
specification of a computer program is a conversant textual description of
the computer program’s functionality.” (Brief 14, l. 3 down). This
definition in the Brief is unsupported by the specification and contrary to the
quoted sections of the application specification (FF1, above). Appellants
argue that Table I supports their assertion. In Table I we see headings,
computer commands (e.g., “public static String toString (int i, int radix)”)
3 We note that claim 1 as filed merely required “a plurality of sentences”;
and that “describing the computer program” was added later to the claim.
Thus, that latter clause cannot rely on being based on originally filed
material in the claim.
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