Appeal No. 1999-1054 Page 3
Application No. 08/889,594
Rather than attempt to reiterate the examiner’s full
commentary with regard to the above-noted rejection and the
conflicting viewpoints advanced by the examiner and the
appellants regarding the rejection, we make reference to the
Examiner’s Answer (Paper No. 10) and the Appellants’ Brief
(Paper No. 8).
OPINION
The appellants’ invention relates to controlling hydraulic
dampers such as the shock absorbers used on vehicles. These
damper systems typically comprise a piston slidable in a
cylinder and defining within the cylinder first and second
chambers in which there is damping fluid. Flow actuating means
operated by a control circuit are provided for controlling the
replenishment and evacuation of the damping fluid from the
chambers. According to independent claim 1, the appellants’
improvement comprises a direct control loop in the control
circuit that in turn comprises an inverse model of the damper,
“means for supplying a generated reference force signal” to the
inverse model, and a speed feedback loop for supplying a signal
of measured relative speed to the inverse model, wherein means
responsive to the generated reference force signal and the
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