Ex parte BAAS

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Nov 6, 1997

08097697 (B.P.A.I. Nov. 6, 1997)

Application for patent filed July 27, 1993. According1
to appellant, this application is a National stage application under
35 U.S.C. § 371 of PCT/EP92/00229 filed February 4, 1992.
1
THIS OPINION WAS NOT WRITTEN FOR PUBLICATION
The opinion in support of the decision being entered today
(1) was not written for publication in a law journal and
(2) is not binding precedent of the Board.
Paper No. 18
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
__________
BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS
AND INTERFERENCES
__________
Ex parte DIETER BAAS
__________
Appeal No. 95-4547
Application 08/097,6971
__________
ON BRIEF
__________
Before KRASS, MARTIN, and FLEMING, Administrative Patent Judges.
KRASS, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
This is a decision on appeal from the final rejection of
claims 1 through 18, all of the claims pending in the application.
The invention is directed to an optical
recording/reproducing apparatus having servo compensation for
detected defects and external shocks. More particularly, tracking
control signals are continuously sampled at intervals around a
Appeal No. 95-4547
Application No. 08/097,697
2
compact disc and samples of the tracking control signal for at least
the last 360 degrees of tracking are stored in memory. When a
disturbance or defect is detected, the stored tracking signal is
substituted for the real time tracking signal.
Independent claim 1 is reproduced as follows:
1. In a data recovery apparatus having a light beam which
is focused onto a rotating recording medium by a regulation circuit
and is guided along data tracks of the rotating recording medium by a
tracking regulation circuit, where a regulating signal of a
regulation circuit is stored in a memory and the regulating signal
present in the memory is applied to an actuator of the regulation
circuit for the duration of a disturbance, improvements comprising:
means for successively storing regulating signal values, at
predetermined intervals, in memory for at least the last most prior
one rotation of the rotating recording medium;
means for detecting mechanical shock incurred by the
apparatus; and
means for substituting the regulating signal stored in
memory for the regulating signal in response to detecting said
mechanical shock.
The examiner relies on the following references:
Baba et al. (Baba) 4,703,468 Oct. 27, 1987
Ohtake et al. (Ohtake) 4,785,442 Nov. 15, 1988
Anderson et al. 5,241,443 Aug. 31, 1993
(Anderson) (Effective filing date of Apr. 17, 1990)
Claims 1 through 18 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
unpatentable over Ohtake in view of Anderson and Baba.
Appeal No. 95-4547
Application No. 08/097,697
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Reference is made to the brief and answer for the
respective positions of appellant and the examiner.
OPINION
At the outset, we note that while appellant chooses not to
argue the rejection of claims 8 and 15 through 18 [brief, bottom of
page 1], this may only be interpreted to mean that appellant is
willing to let them stand or fall together with the claims argued.
The examiner may not presume [answer, bottom of page 6] that
appellant acquiesces with respect to the rejection of these claims.
We have carefully considered the evidence before us
including, inter alia, the arguments of appellant and the examiner
and we conclude therefrom that the examiner has failed to establish a
prima facie case of obviousness with regard to the instant claimed
subject matter. Accordingly, we will not sustain the rejection of
claims 1 through 18 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 based on the evidence
provided by the applied references and the examiner's rationale.
The examiner's position is that Ohtake teaches the claimed
subject matter but for the storing of servo signals of at least the
entire prior one rotation of the disc, means for detecting mechanical
Appeal No. 95-4547
Application No. 08/097,697
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shock and means for detecting defects in the reproduced data signal
using envelope detection and that Anderson teaches the generation of
supplemental position error signal values from a plurality of
locations around a rotation of a disk. Therefore, concludes the
examiner, it would have been obvious
to have modified the servo control apparatus
of Ohtake...such that the memory would hold
servo signals from an entire rotation of the
disk, as taught by Anderson...in order to
achieve a high degree of accuracy in head
positioning around an entire rotation of a
disk during operation [answer, page 5].
The examiner further concludes that since Baba teaches a first and
second detection means for detecting surface defects and external
shock, respectively, that it would have been obvious
to have incorporated the data signal defect
detection means and the external shock
detection means as taught by Baba...into the
apparatus taught by the combination of
Ohtake...and Anderson...in order to provide
a means for maintaining accurate tracking
control when detection errors occur during
data reproduction, due to surface defects of
the disc, and when external shocks to the
optical head are encountered, by providing
additional control signals to the memory
hold circuit of Ohtake...[answer, page 6].
Appeal No. 95-4547
Application No. 08/097,697
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Although the examiner is not clear as to how, exactly, the
dual detection means of Baba is to be incorporated into the device of
Ohtake, even if we accepted this combination, it is still not clear
how or why the artisan would have combined Anderson with Ohtake in
the manner set forth by the examiner.
Anderson does not track non-defective discs but, rather,
relative tracking errors are determined and stored for one revolution
and a composite position error signal is generated that more
accurately follows the data track centerline of the disc surface
being addressed. We find nothing in Anderson that would have led the
artisan to have modified the teaching of Ohtake in order to provide
therein storage of regulating signal values, at predetermined
intervals, "for at least the last most prior one rotation of the
rotating recording medium," as claimed. As explained by appellant,
at page 5 of the brief, Anderson stores one rotation of calibration
signals but does not continuously update the calibration signals
whereas instant claim 1 recites "successively [i.e., continuously]
storing regulating signal values, at predetermined intervals, in
memory for at least the last most prior one rotation of the rotating
recording medium."
The examiner's rationale of combining Anderson with Ohtake
"in order to achieve a high degree of accuracy in head
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Application No. 08/097,697
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positioning..." is not understood since it is not clear how holding
servo signals for an entire rotation of a disc increases "accuracy in
head positioning."
Further, while Baba does, indeed, provide for a mechanical
shock detector, Baba does not suggest the substitution of stored
tracking signals when shocks are detected. Rather, Baba increases
servo loop gain upon detection of shocks. Therefore, it is not clear
why the skilled artisan would have been led, from the teaching of
Baba, to use a mechanical shock detector in the Ohtake device in such
a manner as to cause the substitution of stored tracking signals for
the real time tracking signals when a shock is detected.
Thus, viewing independent claim 1 as a whole and
considering the teachings of the several references, the examiner has
not, in our view, presented a cogent rationale for combining the
references in a manner so as to result in the claimed subject matter.
Accordingly, no prima facie case of obviousness of the claimed
subject matter has been established and we will not sustain the
rejection of claims 1 through 18 under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
The decision of the examiner is reversed.
REVERSED
Appeal No. 95-4547
Application No. 08/097,697
7
Errol A. Krass )
Administrative Patent Judge )
)
)
)
John C. Martin ) BOARD OF PATENT
Administrative Patent Judge ) APPEALS AND
) INTERFERENCES
)
)
Michael R. Fleming )
Administrative Patent Judge )

Appeal No. 95-4547
Application No. 08/097,697
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Joseph S. Tripoli
Patent Operations
GE & RCA Licensing Management
Operation, Inc. - CN 5312
Princeton, NJ 08540-0028