Appeal No. 96-4156
Application 08/218,135
DECISION ON APPEAL
This is a decision on appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from
the Examiner's refusal to allow claims 1-4. The amendment
(Paper No. 23) filed April 26, 1997, in response to the
Examiner's indication of allowable subject matter in the
Examiner's Answer has been entered (Paper No. 30). Amended
claims 5-11 are indicated to be allowable.
We reverse.
BACKGROUND
In the Background of the Invention, Appellants describe
that in vehicles having power steering systems with steering
torque assisted by an output torque of an electric motor
(specification, page 2, lines 13-28):
[I]t has been proposed to detect an irregular behavior of
the vehicle caused by an external disturbance from the
yaw rate or lateral acceleration of the vehicle, and to
produce a reaction with an electric motor for producing a
steering torque which cancels the effect of such a
disturbance so that the irregular behavior of the vehicle
due to external disturbances may be controlled.
However, according to such a control system using an
electric motor, for instance, if the lateral acceleration
sensor, the yaw rate sensor or the reaction control
device should fail, there would be no steering torque as
it is normal to stop the electric motor in such a
situation, and this would not only cause discomfort to
the vehicle operator but also impair the convenience of
the steering system.
- 2 -
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007