Ex Parte Sielagoski et al - Page 6

                 Appeal 2007-1288                                                                                     
                 Application 10/195,744                                                                               
                 which functions to control vehicle speed by limiting vehicle                                         
                 acceleration/deceleration based on detected speed and road conditions,                               
                 thereby “adapting” the vehicle speed control to the sensed conditions, can be                        
                 considered anything other than “adaptive.”  Similarly, Appellants’                                   
                 arguments to the contrary notwithstanding, we find nothing in the language                           
                 of the appealed claims which precludes control of vehicle deceleration in                            
                 response to a driver request for deceleration.                                                       
                        We further find to be without merit Appellants’ arguments attacking                           
                 the Examiner’s interpretation of the claim language “setting a maximum                               
                 allowed vehicle deceleration.”  According to Appellants (Reply Br. 5),                               
                 Minowa only determines an actual vehicle deceleration value, not a                                   
                 maximum allowed value relative to the actual value.  As with Appellants’                             
                 previous arguments, however, we find such argument to be not                                         
                 commensurate with the scope of claims 1 and 9.                                                       
                        The system of Minowa, as correctly characterized by Appellants                                
                 (Reply Br. 4), is a driver override system in which, dependent on detected                           
                 speed conditions, a driver’s request for a specific deceleration value may be                        
                 overridden and the vehicle deceleration limited to determined maximum                                
                 allowed value.  The fact that the actual vehicle deceleration implemented by                         
                 the system of Minowa is equal to the maximum determined allowed                                      
                 deceleration is not precluded by the language of claims 1 and 9.  While                              
                 Appellants are correct (Reply Br. 5) that in their disclosed invention, the                          
                 actual vehicle deceleration “may” be a value different from the maximum                              
                 allowed deceleration value, such a requirement is not present in the claims                          
                 before us on appeal.                                                                                 



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