Appeal No. 2000-2115
Application No. 08/633,564
Appellant's invention relates to a front-wheel-drive and
rear-wheel-drive vehicle in which one of either a set of front
wheels or a set of rear wheels are driven by an engine (e.g.,
an internal combustion engine) and the other set of wheels
thereof is driven by an electric motor, wherein the electric
motor is intended to automatically operate to assist the
starting (i.e., initial movement) of the vehicle on a road
surface having a low coefficient of friction, such as on a
slippery snowy road, only when the wheels driven by the engine
slip and the torque at those wheels becomes small (i.e., when
the actual driving torque at the wheels driven by the engine
falls below a predetermined low level). Of importance to
appellant is the need that inefficient operation of the
electric motor be prevented so that a relatively inexpensive
direct-current (DC) brush motor can be used, with no problem
in its durability. A correct copy of claims 1 and 2 on appeal
is attached to this decision.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the
examiner in rejecting the appealed claims are:
2
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