Appeal Number: 2006-2476
Application Number: 10/269,089
switch-on temperature is lower than the switch-off temperature, then the switch-on
temperature is compared to a predetermined maximum. If the switch-on temperature is
greater than or equal to the switch-off temperature, then the current disc-temperature is
calculated to be a constant multiplied by the value of the disc-temperature stored at the
time the ignition was turned off. The examiner (Answer, page 3) responds that appellants
fail to disclose how one obtains the first initial value of temperature THA,off of the
hydraulic assembly, or, rather, the value when the vehicle is switched on for the first
time. Appellants reply (Reply Brief, page 3) that “the concept of storing initial values of
all different kinds in control units during the production of a vehicle is an expedient
which is widely used and extremely well known to those skilled in the art,” and “a person
skilled in the art and familiar with the iterative processes of this type would immediately
understand the simple expedient of providing an initial value for the operation of the
system.”
We agree with appellants that the phrase last-determined disc temperature” is
clearly the prior current disc temperature. We also agree that the only question then
becomes what the initial value is for beginning the iterative process. Further, we agree
with the examiner that the initial value of THA,off is not explicitly disclosed. However,
the skilled artisan would understand that when the vehicle is started cold, the switch-on
temperature of the hydraulic assembly will be ambient temperature, making the answer to
steps 30 and 31 “yes,” and rendering the disc-on temperature ambient temperature. On
the other hand, when the vehicle is started soon after switch-off, the temperature
generally will be less than, but close to, the switch-off temperature. Thus, a hot start (or a
start where the temperature of the hydraulic assembly is between a predetermined
maximum and the running temperature, or switch-off temperature) will yield a negative
answer in step 30 and a disc-on temperature of a fraction of the stored disc-off
temperature. The purpose of the flowchart of Figure 3 is to render a disc-on temperature
of ambient temperature whenever the vehicle has cooled below a certain maximum value,
and a disc-on temperature of a percentage of the stored, last calculated disc temperature
whenever the vehicle is still relatively hot. The skilled artisan would recognize that when
the vehicle first leaves the factory, the vehicle is at ambient temperature, so the disc-on
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Last modified: November 3, 2007