Appeal No. 2003-0749 Page 2
Application No. 09/332,070
BACKGROUND
The appellants’ invention relates to a programmable seat belt damper assembly
for a motor vehicle (specification, page 1). Specifically, the seat belt damper assembly
utilizes magneto-rheological fluid whose apparent viscosity is increased upon the
application of a magnetic field thereto by an electromagnet to increase the damping
rate or torque generated by the rotary damper such that the damper assembly permits
limited highly damped torso travel to reduce occupant kinetic energy (specification,
page 3). A copy of the claims under appeal is set forth in the appendix to the
appellants’ brief.
The examiner relied upon the following prior art references in rejecting the
appealed claims:
Blake et al. (Blake) 4,815,674 Mar. 28, 1989
Carlson et al. (Carlson) 5,277,281 Jan. 11, 1994
Bauer et al. (Bauer) 5,873,599 Feb. 23, 1999
Karlow 6,019,392 Feb. 1, 2000
(filed Nov. 18, 1998)
The following rejections are before us on appeal.
Claims 1-4, 6-9, 11 and 13-20 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being
unpatentable over Blake in view of Carlson and Karlow.
Claim 12 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over
Blake in view of Carlson, Karlow and Bauer.
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