Appeal No. 2000-0916 Page 9
Application No. 08/907,965
braking forces at the vehicle wheels as a function of a
desired steering angle in the event of a fault in steering
equipment (i.e., conditioned on a failure of the steering
equipment). The appellants point out that Yasuno has no way
of detecting any fault in his steering equipment and thus the
braking signals produced by Yasuno's system will be exactly
the same regardless of whether the steering equipment is
operating normally or has a fault. The examiner agrees with
this (answer, p. 3) but states that "claim 1 does not claim
any detection of a fault in the steering system."
After considering the positions of the examiner and the
appellants, we find ourselves in agreement with the appellants
that Yasuno does not disclose the function of the braking
means of claim 1 or the step of applying selectively different
braking forces to the vehicle wheels as recited in claim 13.
In that regard, it is our determination that the phrase "in
the event of a fault in vehicle steering equipment" as used in
claims 1 and 13 requires the braking means of claim 1 and the
braking step of claim 13 to be actuated only in the event of a
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