Appeal No. 1997-2883
Application 08/379,443
detecting the appearance of a resonance mode having an order greater than a first resonance mode
which occurs in a frequency band exceeding 100 Hz. We agree. We also agree with appellants that "it
would not be obvious to choose to follow the evolution of the resonance mode of the wheels or the
wheel-carriers" in order to achieve appellants’ invention of representative claim 23. We can find no
reasonable teaching or suggestion in the applied references that one would look past even 50 Hz to
detect run flat actuation.
Nothing in Jones or Karbo suggests a detection process which detects a resonance mode in
excess of 100 Hz. Jones only teaches sensing a resonance mode in the 10 to 20 Hz range as shown in
Figure 2, and does not say anything with respect to frequencies over 80 Hz. Karbo fails to mention any
frequency range, since one is not needed, because Karbo uses a switch type device in the security
bearing to detect actuation of the run flat tire (see Karbo, Figures 2 and 3). Thus, we cannot agree
with the examiner that the ordinarily skilled artisan looking at Jones or Karbo would have been led to
"try all typical and practical frequency bands" (Answer, page 7), when Jones specifically teaches
looking for a resonance mode only at 10 to 20 Hz (see Jones, Figure 2 and column 2, line 58 to column
3, line 4) and Karbo does not appear to discuss resonant frequency at all. Accordingly, we find that it
would not have been obvious to the ordinary artisan to detect a resonance mode in a frequency range
exceeding 100 Hz as required by representative claim 23 on appeal.
The examiner admits that detection of a resonance mode at a frequency exceeding 100 Hz is
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