Appeal No. 2003-0725
Application 09/629,978
vehicle, in the parallel vehicle it is the output of the engine
that is limited (col. 19, lines 1-18). Thus, the assistance
restricting unit in Koga restricts the assistance of the output
of the motor by the engine, not vice versa, as claimed. In other
words, the driver perceives insufficient output from the car
because the motor is not being assisted as much by the engine.
Third, we agree with appellant that Koga does not disclose
restricting the motor or engine output in response to detecting
that the remaining quantity of fuel is under a fixed value. It
is true that Koga has a conventional fuel gauge 12 for measuring
the amount of fuel remaining which is displayed on fuel meter 15
(col. 8, lines 60-67) and which can be used to calculate the
amount of fuel supplied (col. 4, lines 8-13), but the amount of
fuel remaining is not used to control the assistance-restricting
unit. Koga acts on the quantity of fuel supplied or fuel used
after the charging of the battery (col. 3, line 66 to col. 4,
line 7; Fig. 4) or on the distance travelled (col. 5,
lines 38-47; Fig. 7) or both (Fig. 9), not on the fuel remaining.
This is not surprising since Koga does not address the problem
addressed by appellants. It is also noted that the condition for
limiting the output of the motor (in a serial vehicle) or the
engine (in a parallel vehicle) is that the fuel amount is
greater than a preset value (Fig. 4, blocks A7 and A8). The
examiner errs in finding that Koga "restrict[s] assistance of the
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