Appeal No. 96-4156
Application 08/218,135
This appears to be an admission of prior art (see Br3-4).
The specification discloses (page 4, lines 5-11): "Normally,
said failure detecting means is adapted to additionally detect
a failure of another part of said vehicle steering system, and
preferably stops an overall control of said vehicle steering
system . . . ." Appellants' invention is to prohibit the
reaction control means from producing commands to produce the
steering wheel reaction to the electric motor when a failure
of the reaction control means is sensed, instead of stopping
the electric motor.
Claim 1 is reproduced below.
1. A vehicle steering system, comprising:
power means for applying a steering torque to
steerable wheels of a vehicle;
power assist control means for detecting a steering
torque input produced by a steering effort made by a
vehicle operator, and producing a command to said power
means to produce an assisting steering torque according
to detected steering torque input;
reaction control means for producing a command to
said power means to produce a steering wheel reaction in
response to a turning maneuver of said vehicle;
failure detecting means for detecting a failure of
said reaction control means; and
means for prohibiting said reaction control means
from producing said command to said power means to
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Last modified: November 3, 2007