DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/30/25 has been entered.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-2, and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dixon (US 2016/0028335) in view Valeri et al. (US 10,235,987).
Regarding claim 1,
Dixon discloses (Fig 1):
A motor control apparatus comprising (Fig. 1, all elements): an error sensor (adder that feeds into 30)
and output the detected noise as an error signal (ierrorcomp, ¶0058); a velocity sensor configured to detect a velocity of a motor that drives wheels (ω, ¶0057); and a current controller (calc idq demand) configured to: generate a reference signal (iDQ*) based on the velocity of the motor (ω) detected by the velocity sensor (outputs ω from 1) ; filter the reference signal based on the error signal (computes error in adder) and a preset filter value (filters error signal in 30, ¶0080); and generate a d-axis current command configured to reduce noise generated by the motor based on the filtered reference signal (D axis current command is generated based on torque command and motor speed, this is corrected later and output as a voltage command, however, this current control loops back around and the measured currents are used to compute the DQ current command so they are based on the filtered reference signal, ¶0057-¶0059).
They do not disclose:
configured to detect noise of an indoor space
However, Valeri teaches (Fig. 1):
configured to detect noise of an indoor space (Fig. 1, 103, Col. 5:50-Col. 6:8)
Regarding claim 1, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to take the motor noise correcting system from Dixon that senses noise in a motor based on a velocity of the motor and corrects it (¶0014-¶0015) and use a microphone to detect noise inside a vehicle as taught by Valeri in order to suppress noise as well (Col. 5:50-Col. 6:8, Col. 8:56-67). This indoor noise signal could be fed to the noise canceller of the motor from Dixon and would suppress noise based on the moto current and speed as taught by Dixon (¶0014-¶0015). This would improve the reliability as noise and vibration can wear down the motor and components over time.
Regarding claim 2,
Dixon discloses (Fig 11):
further comprising a velocity controller (Fig. 11, 28) configured to generate a q-axis current command (iDQ*) configured to control the velocity of the motor based on the velocity of the motor detected by the velocity sensor and a velocity command (creates torque command based on velocity control, ¶0056), wherein the current controller (Fig. 1, calc iDQ demand) is configured to generate a voltage command based on the d-axis current command and the q-axis current command and output the generated voltage command to an inverter (PI controller outputs voltage command, ¶0058).
Regarding claim 9,
Dixon discloses (Fig 1):
A motor control apparatus comprising: an error sensor (adder that feeds into 30) configured to detect noise and output the detected noise as an error signal (ierrorcomp, ¶0058); a velocity sensor configured to detect a velocity of a motor that drives wheels (ω, ¶0057); and a current controller (calc idq demand) configured to: generate a plurality reference signals (iDQ*) based on the velocity of the motor (ω) detected by the velocity sensor (outputs ω from 1) ; filter the plurality of reference signals based on the error signal and a preset filter value; take a sum of the filtered plurality of reference signals to obtain a target signal (filters error signal in 30, ¶0080); and generate a d-axis current command configured to reduce noise generated by the motor based on the target signal (D axis current command is generated based on torque command and motor speed, this is corrected later and output as a voltage command, however, this current control loops back around and the measured currents are used to compute the DQ current command so they are based on the filtered reference signal, ¶0057-¶0059).
They do not disclose:
of an indoor space
However, Valeri teaches (Fig. 1):
of an indoor space (Fig. 1, 103, Col. 5:50-Col. 6:8)
Regarding claim 9, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to take the motor noise correcting system from Dixon that senses noise in a motor based on a velocity of the motor and corrects it (¶0014-¶0015) and use a microphone to detect noise inside a vehicle as taught by Valeri in order to suppress noise as well (Col. 5:50-Col. 6:8, Col. 8:56-67). This indoor noise signal could be fed to the noise canceller of the motor from Dixon and would suppress noise based on the moto current and speed as taught by Dixon (¶0014-¶0015). This would improve the reliability as noise and vibration can wear down the motor and components over time.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-8, and 10-16 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.
Claims 3-8, and 10-20 are allowed.
The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 17, the prior art of record does not disclose alone or in combination:
A vehicle comprising: a drive shaft connected to wheels; a motor connected to the drive shaft;
an inverter configured to adjust a voltage applied to the motor; an error sensor configured to detect noise of an indoor space and output the detected noise as an error signal; a velocity sensor configured to detect a velocity of the motor; and a motor control apparatus configured to: generate a plurality of reference signals based on the velocity of the motor detected by the velocity sensor; filter the plurality of reference signals based on the error signal and a preset filter value; take a sum of the filtered plurality of reference signals to obtain a target signal; generate a d-axis current command configured to reduce noise generated by the motor based on the target signal; generate a q-axis current command configured to control the velocity of the motor based on the velocity of the motor detected by the velocity sensor and a velocity command; generate a voltage command based on the d-axis current command of the motor and the q-axis current command of the motor; and output the generated voltage command to the inverter; and a body configured to, upon receiving vibration generated by the motor, transfer the received vibration to the indoor space in a form of radiation sound.
The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 17, the claims do not disclose alone or in combination specifically:
an error sensor configured to detect noise and output the detected noise as an error signal; a
velocity sensor configured to detect a velocity of a motor that drives wheels; and a current controller configured to: generate a reference signal based on the velocity of the motor detected by the velocity sensor; filter the reference signal based on the error signal and a preset filter value; and generate a d- axis current command configured to reduce noise generated by the motor based on the filtered reference signal.
Effectively, the error sensor is used to detect a noise and a current controller outputs a reference signal or current command that is then filtered based on the error signal and a preset value. This is then used to drive the motor to reduce noise and vibration. Specifically the use of an error sensor to detect a noise to correct the current command in the motor is not taught alone or in any combination of prior art of record and is a novel and non-obvious improvement over the state of the art in motor controls.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/30/25 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Although applicant’s argument are moot because there is a new grounds of rejection, the newly included prior art from Valeri (US 10,235, 987) teaches how the motor can contribute to the sound of an indoor space and how that can be measured with a microphone (Col. 5:50-Col. 6:8) or by measuring the motor currents/voltage, and speed (Col. 8:56-67). Dixon above teaches how noise can be reduced by measuring the motor currents and speed (¶0014-¶0015). As such it would have been obvious to feed the error signal from a microphone from Valeri into the error compensator from Dixon in order to suppress the noise which would improve comfort and reliability for the system.
As such, examiner is maintaining the rejections of claims 1-2, and 9.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Inoue et al. (US 2015/0228267) – vehicle vibration and motor reduction
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/C.S.L./Examiner, Art Unit 2846 /KAWING CHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2846