Appeal No. 95-0744
Application 07/758,460
OPINION
The claims stand or fall together (Brief, page 5).
The examiner admits that O'Neil does not teach testing
the motor with the clutch disengaged and then engaging the
clutch if the motor is determined to be operating properly
(Examiner's Answer, page 3). O'Neil appears to fall in the
same category as the discussed prior art where the clutch is
disconnected upon sensing of an extraordinarily large steering
torque or other conditions indicating that the motor has
failed or is mechanically restricted (specification, page 2).
The electric actuator of Yabe does not include a clutch and,
thus, in each embodiment, the electric actuator is tested in
its loaded state, i.e., with the electric motor operating the
oil pump to drive steering mechanism (figures 1 and 4) or
directly driving the steering mechanism (figure 5). Thus,
Yabe also does not teach testing the motor with the clutch
disengaged (it has no clutch) and then engaging the clutch if
the motor is determined to be operating properly.
The examiner finds that Yabe teaches the following
(Examiner's Answer, page 4):
Based on the magnitude of the monitored current, a
determination is made as to whether the electric motor is
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Last modified: November 3, 2007