Free Motion for Leave to File - District Court of Delaware - Delaware

Case 1:05-cv-00048-SLR

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the spool valve, and allowing flow to proceed along the internal lands only. This method of directing the flow of oil avoids problems arising from the influence of oil pressure against the external ends of the spool, which would otherwise need to be accounted for and balanced by the variable force solenoid. The real distinction being made about "internal only" ('738 patent) as opposed to "internal and external" (Strauber) is illustrated in the following figures, where oil is represented in orange. As shown, oil flows along the internal and external lands of the Strauber spool valve, but only along the internal lands of the spool in the preferred embodiment of the '738 patent:

Internal Flow

Strauber

External Flow

'738 patent, Figure 19 Internal Flow Only

No External Flow

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Hitachi Resp. Br. at p. 35). The closed loop feedback system described in the '578 patent, and incorporated into the preferred embodiment of '738 patent, makes clear that the output from the closed loop control system -- and hence, the input to the variable force solenoid in claims 10 and 11 of the '738 patent -- is a PWM signal. Hitachi's construction, therefore, reads out the preferred embodiment's use of a PWM signal. Also for the first time in its reply brief, Hitachi acknowledges that in the '578 patent, "block 108 is a 'closed loop feedback system.'" (Hitachi Resp. Br. at p. 35). And, as the '578 patent explains, the output of this closed loop system is a PWM signal -- "solenoid 106, preferably of the pulse width modulated type (PWM), [controls pressure] in response to a control signal from a closed loop feedback system 108, which is shown schematically in Fig. 11." ('578 patent, col. 7, lines 21-25 (Matterer Decl. Ex. 2)). Numerous figures from the '578 patent are in accord, showing that the output from the closed loop feedback system 108 is a "PWM Duty Cycle." For example, as shown below, Figures 1b and 1c from the '578 patent both show the closed loop feedback system 108 (the number 108 is pointed toward the entire figure) and a "PWM Duty Cycle" output from the closed loop system:

PWM Duty Cycle is the result of the closed loop control. This PWM signal goes directly to the solenoid.

('578 patent, Figs. 1b and 1c (caption added). See also Fig. 1d). Figure 11, a portion of which is 15

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shown below, further shows that the closed loop control system (box 108) feeds a signal directly to solenoid 106:

('578 patent, portion of Fig. 11). Given the incorporation of the closed loop control system of the '578 patent into the preferred embodiment of the '738 patent, the Court should reject Hitachi's attempt to erroneously exclude the preferred embodiment (solenoids that are driven by a PWM input signal) from the definition of a "variable force solenoid." The distinction made in the '738 patent over the so-called "PWM solenoid" in the '578 patent was far more limited. As expressly stated in the '738 patent specification, the term "PWM solenoid" was being used to define "the PWM solenoid typically used in a conventional DPCS." ('738 patent, col. 2, lines 48-50 (emphasis added)). In the '578 patent, the "PWM Duty Cycle" output from the closed loop control system is sent to such a "PWM solenoid," which is an on/off solenoid that cycles through its full stroke with every PWM input pulse, and controls hydraulic pressure in a DPCS system via the on-off pulsations of the solenoid. ('578 patent, col. 7, lines 21-24, lines 30-38).

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