Application of Noll, Patent Appeal No. 74-541.

Citation545 F.2d 141
Decision Date18 November 1976
Docket NumberPatent Appeal No. 74-541.
PartiesApplication of A. Michael NOLL.
CourtUnited States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals

William Ryan, atty. of record, Murray Hill, N. J., for appellant.

Joseph F. Nakamura, Washington, D. C., for the Commissioner of Patents; Jere W. Sears, Washington, D. C., of counsel.

Before MARKEY, Chief Judge, and RICH, BALDWIN, LANE and MILLER, Associate Judges.

BALDWIN, Judge.

This is an appeal from the decision of the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) Board of Appeals (board) sustaining the rejection of claims 2, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of appellant's application for "Raster Scan Computer Graphics System."1 Claims 1, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, and 13 stand allowed. We reverse.

The Invention

The invention relates to a system and apparatus for the display of text or other graphical information on a device such as a cathode ray tube. The data to be displayed are supplied by a computer or similar source in "point-plotting" format in which each element (point, line, character, etc.) is individually specified. The output display device is of the raster-scan or television-like format where a picture is reproduced by selective energization of a repetitively scanned beam. The system involves scan-converting the point-specifying input data into a form suitable for storage in a dotmatrix format for subsequent readout and presentation to the output display device.

The system disclosed in the application is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 thereof, reproduced below. The hardware is not disclosed as being novel per se; indeed, various components such as computer 11, scanned display 22, and light pen 26 are described as being well known in the art.

Referring to Fig. 1, the data to be displayed are supplied from the tape 10 or auxiliary data source 13. They include representations of the rectangular Cartesian (x, y) coordinates of the points represented. Such data are fed to general purpose digital computer 11, which is operated under the control of a program stored in its program memory 21 to scan-convert the data from point-plotting format to a dot-matrix format in the computer memory 19. The specification discloses that the computer 11 is a well-known general purpose computer and that the Honeywell DDP-224 computer is especially well adapted for scan-conversion.

Binary to analog conversion of the scan-converted data is performed in memory display interface device 23, illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 2. Here, horizontal and vertical pulse generators 204 and 205 are triggered by pulses from master clock 202 and their output passes through analog "OR" circuit 206 to provide a portion of the composite video signal for scanned display device 22 in Fig. 1 (shown as a T.V. monitor device 22 in Fig. 2). Shift register 201 receives scan-converted words from the computer memory and applies them to digital-to-analog converter 203 to supply signals combined with the output of the digital-to-analog converter in analog "OR" circuit 207 to form the composite video signal. That signal has "the usual characteristics associated with signals supplied to commercial or other television receivers" and results in the illumination of such points in the raster of the tube screen as will graphically represent the original input data.

Item 26 in Fig. 1 is described as a light pen "of standard design" that is "used to provide an indication to computer 11 of the desire by an operator to delete or modify information displayed on display device 22."

Appellant's specification refers to previously used techniques for scan-conversion, including one described in United States patent No. 3,293,614, issued December 20, 1966, to Fenimore et al. This patent discloses a graphic display system in which scan-conversion is achieved by hardwired apparatus. Appellant noted in an amendment2 to his application:

Scan conversion, as such, is not new. The concept of establishing, by some means, a dot matrix of the general type used in the present invention is not new. What is new is the claimed data processing method and apparatus for producing the exact functions claimed in claim 1. The detailed functioning is described in the present specification; the programming to accomplish each individual operation specified is obvious to an ordinary skilled worker in the field.

In the same amendment, appellant states that, instead of using specialized (hardwired) circuitry as in the Fenimore system, he employs a "programmable data processor operating under the control of a program" in the scan-conversion. Appellant emphasizes that complete program control with its attendant flexibility distinguishes his invention from the hardwired systems of the prior art.

The Claims

Allowed claim 1, appealed claims 2, 7, and 8, dependent on claim 1, and appealed claims 9 and 10 are reproduced below:

Allowed Claim
1. A computer graphics system for displaying in a multi-line, multi-point-per-line format images corresponding to a sequence of input display commands comprising
(A) a programmable data processor operating under the control of a program to convert said display commands into data entries in an array of multi-bit data words, each entry is said array corresponding to a discrete point in the image to be displayed,
(B) a scanned-raster display device for generating illuminated points on a display surface in response to applied data signals and
(C) means intermediate said data processor and said display device and cooperating with said data processor for sequentially accessing said words in said array for presentation to said display device.
Appealed Claims
2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said program controlled data processor comprises
(1) a memory storing data signals including program control signals and said array of data words, and,
(2) processing means responsive to said program control signals stored in said memory for
(a) interpreting input display commands,
(b) converting said input display commands into location signals for controlling the storage of corresponding digital signals in said array, and
(c) selectively reading data from said array, said means for selectively reading also being responsive to signals from said intermediate means.
7. Apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising
(1) storage means adapted to receive data words from said array, said storage means being further adapted to sequentially read out consecutive bit sequences, each of which bit sequences corresponds to a point in said image,
(2) a light sensitive device for generating a pulse output signal corresponding to a selected one of said illuminated points on said display surface,
(3) programmed data processing means for generating location signals identifying the multi-bit data word most recently transferred from said array to said storage means, and
(4) means responsive to said location signals and said pulse output signal for generating signals identifying approximately said one of said illuminated points.
8. Apparatus according to claim 7 further comprising programmed counter means for generating signals corresponding to the number of said bit sequences which have been read from said most recently transferred data word.
9. Apparatus for scan converting a sequence of first data signals each corresponding to x and y coordinates of a point on an M-line, P-point-per-line display surface into a sequence of corresponding second signals comprising
(I) a plurality of N-bit storage devices, and
(II) programmed data processing means for
(A) interpreting each of said first data signals to extract the specified x and y coordinate information,
(B) generating address signals identifying a location in said N-bit storage devices for each of said sequence of first data signals in response to said x and y information, and
(C) generating and storing the corresponding one of said second sequence of signals in the N-bit storage location specified by said address signals.
10. Apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said programmed data processing means further comprises means for
(1) multiplying said y coordinate by P to form first product signals,
(2) adding said x coordinate to said first product signals to form first sum signals,
(3) dividing said first sum by N to form
(a) a quotient signal corresponding to the address of the appropriate N-bit storage location, and
(b) a remainder signal corresponding to the bit position in said appropriate N-bit storage location at which said corresponding one of said second sequence of signals is to be stored.

Although all claims on appeal recite structures in "means for" language, we note that many of the "structures" called for in the claims are part of the computer as configured to carry out appellant's scan-conversion program. This is most readily observed in claim 10 and can be found to a lesser, but significant, extent in the remaining claims on appeal.

The Section 112 Rejection

The examiner, in the final rejection, rejected claims 2 and 7-93 "as based upon inadequate disclosure."

He said:

For example, in claim 2, the applicant is claiming processing means comprising a first means, second means, and means for selectively reading data. However, it is not clear from the specification what structure supports the claimed means.
It is not enough to simply cite the Honeywell DDP-224 Computer as adequate support. To establish this precedent would allow an applicant to claim in means plus function language a multitude of computer functions, even to the extent of claiming the DDP-224 Computer itself with little or no supporting structure.
It is presumed that applicant will argue that he is not claiming the DDP-224 or any part of it, but rather is claiming structure that is conditioned in the DDP-224 by the insertion and operation of the program. Even conceding, however, that different structure is conditioned in the computer by the program, the vital question is still: what is the structure?
Claim 1 is adequately supported
...

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    ...that if the claim does recite structure, the claim necessarily does not "wholly preempt" an abstract idea. E.g., In re Noll, 545 F.2d 141, 148, 191 USPQ 721, 726 (CCPA 1976) ("The instant claims, however, are drawn to physical structure and not to an abstract" mathematical formula.); In re ......
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