Ex Parte ChristieDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardSep 23, 201311745262 (P.T.A.B. Sep. 23, 2013) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________________ Ex parte LESLIE G. CHRISTIE, JR. ____________________ Appeal 2011-005811 Application 11/745,262 Technology Center 3600 ____________________ Before: WILLIAM V. SAINDON, WILLIAM A. CAPP, and SCOTT A. DANIELS, Administrative Patent Judges. SAINDON, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appeal 2011-005811 Application 11/745,262 2 STATEMENT OF THE CASE Appellant appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from the Examiner’s decision rejecting claims 1, 4, 5, 7, and 26-38 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Marlowe (US 5,856,894, iss. Jan. 5, 1999) in view of Dimitri (US 5,999,356, iss. Dec. 7, 1999). Claims 16 and 17 have been withdrawn from consideration. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). Claim 1, reproduced below, is illustrative of the claimed subject matter. 1. A storage system comprising: a cartridge transport device including a conveyor belt that moves a plurality of cartridges along a path having a front side and a back side; a movable accessor that moves along a guideway and transports the cartridges to a read/write device and a mail slot, wherein the conveyor belt moves a first group of the plurality of cartridges to the back side of the path to allow the movable accessor to access a second group of the plurality of cartridges at the front side. SUMMARY OF DECISION We REVERSE. OPINION Independent claims 1, 26, and 33 each commonly recite a cartridge transport device having a conveyor belt and a moveable accessor that transports the cartridges to a read/write device. The Examiner finds that Marlowe describes the cartridge transport device having a conveyor belt and a moveable accessor but not a moveable accessor that is movable along a guideway. Ans. 4-5. The Examiner finds that Dimitri describes an accessor Appeal 2011-005811 Application 11/745,262 3 30 that is moveable along a guideway for the purpose of accessing data cartridges stored in columns of cells from multiple locations, and proposes to utilize such an accessor in Marlowe in order to provide multiple location access. Ans. 5. Appellant points out that the transfer mechanism in Marlowe does not move; it is stationary. App. Br. 13-14. Appellant also points out that the picker in Marlowe is within the housing of the system, such that it is unclear why one would add a Dimitri-style (external) picker. App. Br. 14-15; Reply Br. 2-3. We consider these two points to apprise us of error in the Examiner’s rejection. The system in Marlowe is self-contained. That is, the conveyor/cartridge holder, cartridge transport, and data read/write mechanism are all enclosed in the housing. See fig. 1. The cartridges are transported from the conveyor to the read/write mechanism by way of rollers, which pinch down on the cartridge to move it in the direction of the rollers. See fig. 7. The Examiner states that adding a Dimitri-style picker would allow multiple location access, but the Examiner does not address how that squares with Marlowe’s self-contained data storage and retrieval system. While Dimitri shows that it is known to have a picker that can pick from multiple locations, the mere fact that such technology exists does not mean it is obvious to do so for every prior art device (or how one would go about implementing such a thing). Here, the picker of Dimitri has no clear place in Marlowe’s housing, and it is not clear, given the self-contained nature of Marlowe, why one would want such a picker or how it would work in a multiple location context. In other words, the Examiner does not provide a Appeal 2011-005811 Application 11/745,262 4 reason with rational underpinning to support the particular modification proposed. Accordingly, we do not sustain the Examiner’s rejection. DECISION For the above reasons, we REVERSE the Examiner’s decision. REVERSED peb Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation