With respect to Magar, the examiner initially rejected the claims after noting that certain circuitry in Magar was fabricated on the same microprocessor substrate as the CPU, as required by the claims. The applicants then attempted to distinguish Magar by emphasizing that the clock disclosed in Magar was fixed by a crystal that was external to the microprocessor, unlike their on-chip variable speed clock:
[O]ne of ordinary skill in the art should readily recognize that the speed of the CPU and clock do not vary together due to manufacturing variation, operating voltage, and temperature of the IC in the Magar processor . . . This is simply because the Magar microprocessor clock is frequency controlled by a crystal which is also external to the microprocessor. Crystals are by design fixed frequency devices whose oscillation speed is designed to be tightly controlled and to vary minimally due to variations in manufacturing, operating voltage and temperature. The Magar microprocessor in no way contemplates a variable speed clock as claimed.10
In the same amendment, the applicants also argued that the Magar clock could not practice the claimed invention because of its reliance on a crystal, which by its nature cannot vary its oscillation frequency:
[C]rystal oscillators have never, to Applicants’ knowledge, been fabricated on a single silicon substrate with a CPU, for instance. Even if they were, as previously mentioned, crystals are by design fixed-frequency devices whose oscillation
8 Docket No. 28-3, Ex. C at 16:44-48.
9 See Docket No. 28-3, Ex. C at 17:14-34, Fig. 17.
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