Appeal 2007-1827
Application 10/001,324
However, the shift from gear 3 to gear 1 is legal because if the front gear assembly
is not shifted but the rear gear assembly is shifted down one gear (from 23 to 32)
the bicycle will be in gear ratio 30/32 which is 1st gear, not outside the range of
gears 1 to 3. That shift from gear 3 to gear 1 is through two speed stages.
Therefore, the Appellant’s “N” for that shift is two. Because the shift from gear 3
to gear 1 requires only one sprocket position movement the Appellant’s “M” for
that shift is one. So, M is less than N as required by the Appellant’s claims. As
indicated above, however, Browning makes that shift with regard to whether or not
the front or rear transmission is temporarily set in a speed stage outside the range
between gears 3 and 2. Consequently, Browning does not meet the “without
regard to whether or not the first transmission and the second transmission would
be temporarily set in a speed stage outside a range between the origin speed stage
and the requested destination speed stage when moving from the origin speed stage
to the requested destination speed stage” limitation in the Appellant’s independent
claims.
The Examiner argues (Answer 5):
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at
the time the invention was made to disregard the operation of both the first
transmission and the second transmission being set temporarily in a speed
stage outside of a range between the origin speed stage and the destination
speed stage when moving from the origin speed stage to the requested
destination speed stage, since it has been held that the omission of a step or
an element and its function is obvious if the function is not desired.
The Examiner does not explain why one of ordinary skill in the art would not have
desired the function of Browning’s illegal gear concept for improving cyclist
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