Ex Parte Lunzman et al

Patent Trial and Appeal BoardSep 25, 2012

11067271 (P.T.A.B. Sep. 25, 2012)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 11/067,271 02/28/2005 Stephen V. Lunzman 50100/04-416 5264 7590 09/25/2012 Thomas A. Miller Caterpillar, Inc. c/o Miller, Matthias & Hull LLP One North Franklin Street, Suite 2350 Chicago, IL 60606 EXAMINER SHRIVER II, JAMES A ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3618 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 09/25/2012 PAPER Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ________________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ________________ Ex parte STEPHEN V. LUNZMAN and MUHAMMED WERE ________________ Appeal 2010-000787 Application 11/067,271 Technology Center 3600 ________________ Before STEVEN D.A. McCARTHY, BRETT C. MARTIN and ANNETTE R. REIMERS, Administrative Patent Judges. McCARTHY, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL The Appellants1 appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from the Examiner’s 1 final decision rejecting claims 1, 3, 4 and 6-9 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as 2 being unpatentable over Göllner '759 (US 5,390,759, issued Feb. 21, 1995) 3 and Göllner '928 (US 6,339,928 B1, issued Jun. 22, 2002). The Examiner 4 has allowed claims 10-13, 15-19, 21, 26-30 and 41-45. Claims 2 and 5 are5 1 The Appellants identify the real party in interest as Caterpillar Inc. Appeal No. 2010-000787 Application No. 11/067,271 2 subject to objections. Claims 14, 20, 22-25 and 31-40 are cancelled. We 1 have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b)(1). 2 We REVERSE. 3 Claim 1 is the sole independent claim: 4 1. A hydraulic power control system for 5 a machine, comprising: 6 a hydraulic power output device; 7 a variable displacement hydraulic pump 8 configured to supply hydraulic fluid to the 9 hydraulic power output device; 10 at least one pressure sensor configured to 11 measure pressure of the hydraulic fluid at a 12 location between the pump and the hydraulic 13 power output device; 14 at least one temperature sensor configured to 15 measure a temperature of the hydraulic fluid in the 16 system; and 17 a controller configured to control a 18 displacement of the pump based on a pressure 19 measurement of the at least one pressure sensor 20 and a temperature measurement of the at least one 21 temperature sensor. 22 Göllner '759 describes a hydraulic transmission 10. The hydraulic 23 transmission 10 includes a hydraulic power output device in the form of a 24 motor 14 and a variable displacement hydraulic pump 12 configured to 25 supply hydraulic fluid to the motor 14 through high pressure conduits 32, 34. 26 (Göllner '759, col. 3, ll. 11-13, 26 and 35-37; see also id., fig. 3). The 27 hydraulic transmission 10 also includes pressure transducers 44, 46. 28 Pressure transducers 44, 46 provide a microprocessor 40 with input signals 29 measuring the system pressure in high pressure conduits 32, 34 between the 30 Appeal No. 2010-000787 Application No. 11/067,271 3 variable displacement hydraulic pump 12 and the motor 14. (Göllner '759, 1 col. 3, ll. 51-54). The microprocessor 40 controls the displacement of the 2 variable displacement hydraulic pump 12 based on the pressure 3 measurements of the pressure transducers 44, 46. (Göllner '759, col. 3, ll. 4 57-60 and col. 4, ll. 30-37). The Examiner does not identify any teaching of 5 Göllner '759 relating to control of the variable displacement hydraulic pump 6 12 based on temperature. 7 Göllner '928 suggests that excessive temperatures in a closed 8 hydraulic power transfer circuit are to be avoided. (See Göllner '928, col. 1, 9 ll. 16-17). Furthermore, Göllner '928 teaches the use of at least one 10 temperature sensor to measure a temperature of the hydraulic fluid in such a 11 system and provide a controller 1 with an input signal indicative of that 12 temperature. (Göllner '928, col. 4, ll. 15-18). 13 More specifically, Göllner '928 describes a system including a 14 variable displacement pump 12 and a hydraulic motor 15 connected to each 15 other via connecting lines A and B for hydraulic fluid. (Göllner '928, col. 3, 16 ll. 25-28 and fig. 3). Two activation valves 9 control the variable 17 displacement pump 12 (Göllner '928, col. 3, ll. 31-33). Göllner '928 teaches 18 that: 19 A digital computer 1 forms the central 20 control member. It receives signals from the 21 driver via the gas pedal 2, the brake pedal or inch 22 pedal 3, and the direction of travel transmitter 4. 23 One sensor 5 transmits a signal for the rotational 24 speed of the combustion engine 11. A further 25 sensor 6 indicates the rotational speed of the 26 variable displacement motor 15, and yet another 27 sensor 7 indicates the temperature of the hydraulic 28 fluid in the variable displacement pump 12. The 29 Appeal No. 2010-000787 Application No. 11/067,271 4 digital computer 1 processes the input signals in its 1 software and controls the injection system 8 of the 2 combustion engine, and also the activation valve 9 3 of the variable displacement pump 12 and the 4 activating means 10 of the variable displacement 5 motor 15. 6 (Göllner '928, col. 4, ll. 11-23). 7 The system of Göllner '928 also includes an electronically actuable 8 flush valve 21. Göllner '928 teaches that, 9 [S]ince the variable displacement pump, 12 has to 10 produce its maximum conveying amount [when 11 the vehicle is traveling at high speed] and since the 12 frictional losses of the power train components and 13 the flow are at a maximum, the hydraulic fluid 14 heats up particularly sharply, and the actuation of 15 the flush valve 21 is required. This is indicated by 16 the sensor 15 [sic, 5] with a signal for high vehicle 17 speed and by the sensor 7 with a signal for a high 18 temperature of the hydraulic fluid in the variable 19 displacement pump, passed to the digital computer 20 1 and converted by means of the software into a 21 control command for opening the flush valve 21. 22 (Göllner '928, col. 4, ll. 30-40). Opening the flush valve 21 withdraws 23 hydraulic fluid (and accompanying heat) from the closed hydraulic circuit 24 between the variable displacement pump 12 and the motor 15. (See Göllner 25 '928, col. 4, ll. 6-9). The Examiner does not appear to identify any express 26 teaching of Göllner '928 relating to control of the variable displacement 27 pump 12 or the activation valves 9 based on a measurement of temperature. 28 The Examiner concludes that it would have been obvious “to take the 29 teachings of Gollner (928) and incorporate them into the invention of 30 Gollner (759) in order to provide additional information to the computer [i.e. 31 controller, microprocessor, etc.] so that the computer would be able to 32 Appeal No. 2010-000787 Application No. 11/067,271 5 operate the vehicle more efficiently.” (Ans. 5). The Appellants correctly 1 respond that neither Göllner '759 nor Göllner '928 teaches providing a 2 controller with the capacity to control a displacement pump based on a 3 temperature measurement. (App. Br. 14). 4 Although Göllner '928 suggests that excessive temperatures in a 5 closed hydraulic power transfer circuit are to be avoided, the reference does 6 not suggest that control of the variable displacement pump 12 based on a 7 temperature measurement was a known solution to the problem of excessive 8 heat. The only solution described by Göllner '928 was the activation of a 9 flush valve 21. Furthermore, the passage at column 4, lines 11-23 of Göllner 10 '928, to which the Examiner appears to refer at pages 5 and 8-9 of the 11 Answer, merely states that the digital computer 1 received a temperature 12 measurement from a sensor 7 and also controls the activation valves 9 which 13 control the variable displacement pump 12. As the Appellants convincingly 14 point out at pages 16-19 of the Appeal Brief, these two teachings would not 15 have suggested to one of ordinary skill in the art that the digital computer 1 16 does control, or should control, the variable displacement pump 12 based on 17 the temperature measurement from the sensor 7. 18 Therefore, neither Göllner '759 nor Göllner '928 teaches an element of 19 independent claim 1, namely, providing a controller with the capacity to 20 control a displacement pump based on a temperature measurement. The 21 Examiner provides no persuasive reasoning with some rational underpinning 22 which might suggest why one of ordinary skill in the art might have 23 modified the system of Göllner '759 to control the variable displacement 24 hydraulic pump 12 in this manner. We do not sustain the rejection of 25 Appeal No. 2010-000787 Application No. 11/067,271 6 claims 1, 3, 4 and 6-9 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over 1 Göllner '759 and Göllner '928. 2 3 DECISION 4 We REVERSE the Examiner’s decision rejecting claims 1, 3, 4 and 6-5 9. 6 7 REVERSED 8 9 10 11 mls 12