Appeal No. 2001-1186
Application No. 08/819,609
volume of the tank (claim 1) or parameters corresponding to
output signals from at least three transducers and the volume of
fuel in the tank (claim 9).
After careful review of the applied Grills, I. H. Cohn, and
G. I. Cohn references, in light of the arguments of record, we
are in general agreement with Appellants’ position as stated in
the Briefs. We find no indication from the Examiner as to how
the applied references, even if combined, would meet the required
combination of sensed parameters and the tank or fuel volume. As
asserted by Appellants, Grills measures only load on the tank, I.
H. Cohn senses pitch and roll angles and determines fluid mass,
while G. I. Cohn utilizes the three parameters of fluid volume,
pitch angle, and roll angle.
We further agree with Appellants’ assertion (Brief, page 10;
Reply Brief, page 20) that the Examiner has not provided
convincing motivation for the proposed combination of references
so as to establish a prima facie case of obviousness. The Grills
and I. H. Cohn references utilize load values and pitch and roll
values, respectively, to provide a continuous determination of
actual fuel volume. In contrast, the G. I. Cohn reference, using
resonant frequency sensing, determines pitch and roll angle and
fuel tank occupancy values to develop an algorithm which is
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