Opinion ID: 4241440
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Severinsky

Text: Severinsky, which issued to a co-inventor of the ’634 and ’097 patents, describes a control strategy for selecting operation modes in a hybrid vehicle. Severinsky teaches that its vehicle’s internal combustion engine is used only near “its most efficient operational point,” which Severinsky defines as when the engine “produces 60–90% of its maximum torque.” Severinsky, col. 20, ll. 63–67. Severinsky also describes circumstances in which it is efficient to use the engine (such as “in highway cruising”), other circumstances in which it is more efficient to use an electric motor (such as “in traffic”), and still other circumstances in which torque is supplied by both the electric motor and the engine (such as in “acceleration/hill climbing mode”). Id. col. 6, l. 63 through col. 7, l. 16; see also id. col. 14, ll. 15–18; id. col. 22, ll. 48–51. We previously considered Severinsky in two appeals from IPR proceedings involving Paice’s hybrid vehicle patents. See Paice II, 681 F. App’x 904; Paice III, 685 F. App’x 940. In those cases, we affirmed the Board’s determinations that Severinsky, in combination with other references, renders obvious various claims of Paice’s patents.