Appeal No. 96-0586
Application 07/950,081
Moreover, the examiner’s interpretation is not consistent
with the Specification. The Specification describes an automatic
steering reactive force that turns the steering wheel. When
Appellants’ actuator turns the steering wheel in a direction to
suppress the motor vehicle behavior, it is not necessary for a
driver to grip the steering wheel. Specification at page 13,
line 26, through page 14, line 17.
The teachings and suggestions of the cited references,
individually and in combination, are limited to steering wheel
damping/assisting devices that damp or assist steering actuation
by a driver manually turning the steering wheel. Both references
are directed to the manner in which a steering wheel reacts to
the hands of a driver turning it. See, for example, Ito at
Column 2, lines 8-11, and Sano at Column 6, lines 43-47. There
is no teaching or suggestion in the cited prior art of the
claimed steering system which applies a control signal to a
steering actuator to turn the steering wheel in a direction to
suppress the detected motor vehicle behavior caused by a
disturbance. Therefore, the rejections are not sustained.
4
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007