Appeal No. 2003-0725
Application 09/629,978
Appellants argue that Koga limits the motor output based on
the amount of fuel that has already been consumed by the engine
and not by the amount of fuel remaining, as claimed (Br10). It
is argued that column 3, lines 20-29, of Koga relied on by the
examiner describes detecting a change corresponding to the amount
of fuel which has been used since charging the battery, not the
amount of fuel remaining (BR10-11). It is further argued that
although Koga discloses a conventional fuel gauge showing the
amount of fuel remaining, Koga does not use the output of the
fuel gauge to directly control the vehicle drive (RBr3).
We find at least three reasons why Koga does not anticipate
the subject matter of claim 1.
First, Koga is an electric hybrid vehicle propelled by a
motor assisted by an engine (in both the serial and parallel
versions) and is not a hybrid vehicle propelled by an engine
whose output is assisted by a motor, as claimed. Koga is
principally an electric motor driven car which tries to avoid
operation of the engine to reduce air pollution (e.g., col. 2,
lines 40-45; col. 3, lines 1-3). Thus, while Koga is a hybrid
vehicle with an engine and a motor, the motor and engine are not
operated as claimed, so we have a problem at the beginning with
the anticipation rejection.
Second, while Koga describes limiting the output of the
electric drive in response to a fuel related quantity in a series
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