DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sekitani (CN 201210599361 A).
Re claim 1, Sakitani discloses a vehicle brake fluid pressure control device comprising: a wheel speed detection device (92) configured to detect wheel speed of a wheel; a braking force control device (10) configured to execute an anti-lock brake control for adjusting a braking force acting on a wheel brake by compressing, decompressing, or maintaining a brake fluid pressure acting on the wheel brake; and an electronic control device (20), wherein the electronic control device includes: a change amount calculation unit (22) that calculates an amount of change in wheel speed over time; a change amount determination unit that determines a positive or negative sign of a sign of the amount of change; and a brake control unit that controls the braking force control device, and during execution of a first decompression control, in which a braking force acting on the wheel brake is further reduced by a decompression amount larger than a decompression amount of the brake fluid pressure in the anti-lock brake control in a state where the braking force acting on the wheel brake is reduced in the anti-lock brake control, when the amount of change is determined to be a positive value by the change amount determination unit, the brake control unit stops the first decompression control. See “first control mode”, “second control mode” and “third control mode” which perform decompression control until the wheel speed does not have a reduced tendency. (Fig. 1, 11(d), Translation – Pg. 6, 6th Par., Pg. 7, 2nd Par., Pg. 11, 6th Par. and 9th Par.)
Re claim 2, Sakitani discloses wherein the change amount calculation unit calculates the amount of change by subtracting a wheel speed calculated for an (n-1)th time from a wheel speed detected for an nth time, and the change amount determination unit determines that the amount of change is a positive value when the wheel speed detected for the nth time is larger than the wheel speed calculated for the (n-1)th time.
Re claim 4, Sakitani discloses wherein the brake control unit stops the first decompression control when the change amount determination unit determines that the amount of change is a positive value and the wheel speed is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. (Translation - Pg. 7, 2nd Par.)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-18 are allowed.
Claim 3, 6 and 7 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed February 26, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Sekitani does not disclose anti-lock braking control as claimed. The Examiner maintains that Sekitani discloses the claimed braking control specifically as described including determining the amount of change of the wheel speed over time (Fig. 11a), controlling the braking force as claimed (Fig. 11 b-d) and stopping the decompression control when the amount of change is positive – time t2. See Figure 11 and Translation page 11, paragraphs 2-9.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MELANIE TORRES WILLIAMS whose telephone number is (571)272-7127. The examiner can normally be reached Tuesday - Friday 7:00AM-3:00PM.
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/MELANIE TORRES WILLIAMS/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3616
MTW
April 28, 2026
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