PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15977903
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-05
Publication Date: 2018-09
Patent Classification: ["060", "612000"]

Abstract:
Cross-port air flow that improves engine fuel economy and reduces pumping losses during part-throttle operation can be implemented in various types of internal combustion engine systems using ports that interconnect the intake ports of different cylinders, thus allowing different cylinders to share combustion air. Cross-port air flow is commenced during part-throttle engine operation to disrupt the primary combustion air flow from each throttle to its associated cylinder, which reduces charge density and engine power. The engine compensates for the reduced power by incrementally opening the throttles, thus increasing the primary combustion air flow, reducing pumping losses and improving fuel economy.

Claim (Index 12):
A method of operating an internal combustion engine system, wherein the internal combustion engine system comprises:\n a first cylinder assembly, a second cylinder assembly and a third cylinder assembly;\n the first cylinder assembly comprising a first throttle operationally affixed to control combustion air flow into a first cylinder through a first intake port; \n the second cylinder assembly comprising a second throttle operationally affixed to control combustion air flow into a second cylinder through a second intake port; \n the third cylinder assembly comprising a third throttle operationally affixed to control combustion air flow into a third cylinder through a third intake port; \n intake-interconnecting port means comprising:\n a first interconnecting port connecting the first intake port downstream of the first throttle to the second intake port downstream of the second throttle; \n a second interconnecting port connecting the second intake port downstream of the second throttle to the third intake port downstream of the third throttle; \n a first valve operationally affixed to control air flow through the first interconnecting port; and \n a second valve operationally affixed to control air flow through the second interconnecting port; \n wherein each interconnecting port is configured, when the first and second valves are open, to direct a cross-port air flow to disrupt a primary combustion air flow through each intake port to which it is connected; and \n an engine control system configured to:\n control opening and closing of the first, second and third throttles; \n control opening and closing of the first and second valves; and \n detect part-throttle mode operation; \n the method comprising:\n detecting part-throttle operation of the engine system; \n if the first and second valves are closed, opening the first and second valves; \n measuring an engine operation metric; \n comparing the measured engine operation metric to a target engine operation metric; and \n based on the comparison of the measured engine operation metric and the target engine operation metric, incrementally opening at least one of the first, second and third throttles to reduce cylinder vacuum and reduce intake pumping work of at least one of the first, second and third cylinder assemblies; \n wherein detecting part-throttle mode operation of the engine system comprises collecting data from a vehicle driven by the internal combustion engine system.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 5.0
- Percentile: 93.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.69841
- Patent Class: 60.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15669559', '15254138', '15724834', '15467708', '14849088']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.8038459929241424
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5671444223894558
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7801758358706737
- Mean Citation Score: 467.367512
- Max Citation Score: 507.9565
- Similarity Product: 415.3070570008754

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test