Appeal 2007-2127
Reexamination Control No. 90/006,621
therefore, the '604 patent is not entitled to the priority filing date of the 1982
application.
f. Editor and compiler are not in same program
The 1982 application also fails to disclose "multithreading" because
the editor and compiler programs are not part of the same program. The
'604 patent's definition of "multithreading" requires "execution of a plurality
of threads of instructions located within the same software program." While
the compiler and editor cooperate as if they were part of the same program,
they are, in fact, separate programs. Even if it was possible for the compiler
and editor to execute concurrently, which it is not, and even if the editor was
a thread that was interruptible, which it is not, this is not "multithreading"
because the compiler and editor are not part of the same program.
The compiler is the main program, which is stored at a certain
location in memory. The editor interrupt routine is a program stored in a
different part of memory that the compiler, i.e., the compiler program does
not contain any editor program instructions. The compiler is started and
continuously executed by the CPU. Whenever a keyboard- or clock-
activated interrupt occurs, an interrupt sequence causes the CPU to go to one
of eight possible locations in a "vector table" indicated by the RST (restart)
instruction (see description of Z80 microprocessor in the section on why the
editor is not interruptible). The entry in the "vector table" is an address of
another location in memory where the actual editor service routine is stored.
When the editor interrupt service routine is finished, a RET (return)
instruction returns control to the compiler and processing continues at the
first instruction following the interrupted instruction. The editor interrupt
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