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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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, 5-9, and 11-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 4,789,935 to Buma et al. in view of US 2013/0118847 A1 to Krahenbuhl et al. and in view of US 6,726,173 to Hettinger et al. and in view of US 7,946,163 to Gartner and in view of US 2014/0239602 A1 to Blankenship et al.
Re-claim 1, Buma et al. teach a four-wheeled vehicle and suspension system comprising: a four-wheeled vehicle having a suspension damper (S1R, S1L, S2R and S2L, see also figure 2) disposed at each wheel, each suspension damper is equipped with a plurality of air chambers (see figure 3), communication between the plurality of air chambers (see chambers SRb, SRa and 64) is automatically adjustable (via an electrically controlled valve 44b); each suspension damper at a front (S1R and S1L) of the four-wheeled vehicle is electrically connected with a brake and a switch which operates a brake light of the vehicle (SE2 and see column 6 lines 45-64); when the brake is moved beyond a certain distance (i.e. sufficient to initiate the switch, see at least also column 20 lines 66-68 and column 21 lines 1-17), corresponding usually to harder braking and hence potential for vehicle nosedive, the switch connects a power supply to a motive force generator (i.e. actuators A1R, A1L, A2R and A2L) the suspension damper at the front of the four-wheeled vehicle thereby increasing stiffness of a respective damper valve in each the suspension damper at the front of said four-wheeled vehicle (see figure 11A and column 13 lines 28-38); the plurality of air chambers of each suspension damper comprises a primary air chamber (such a S1Ra) in communication with a secondary air chamber 64, the secondary air chamber communicates with a tertiary air chamber S1Rb; the provided lever at each suspension damper comprises an electronic lever; adjustment of the automatically adjustable communication between the plurality of air chambers of each suspension damper is controlled by an electronic signal received by a receiver at each electronic lever from a computing device 4; the computing device comprises an application M4 to provide the electronic signal to each electronic lever, the application comprising settings controllable by a user (such as mode selection, i.e. sport, soft, etc.) of the four-wheeled vehicle to control the communication between the plurality of air chambers of each suspension damper; the computing device (ECU) further receives data regarding vehicle speed (generally obtained from a wheel speed sensor, as known in the art, see at least column 6 lines 57-68 as well as column 12 lines 26-41 regarding vehicle speed and suspension control) when controlling the damper (and respective valves) as well as damper height (and height change) versus time (figure 9, and at least column 10 lines 20-68 to column 11 lines 1-57); Buma et al. further teach the application (i.e. driver command device M4) is adapted to open or close the communication between the tertiary air chamber and secondary air chamber, the user of the four-wheeled vehicle provides a command from the computing device and the command is received by the receiver (associated with the valve actuator) and operate the electronic lever; a remote control system M3 operates the valve system, this operation is done remotely (such as via electrical signals).
However, Buma et al. fail to teach the chambers connected via a lever operated valve, but rather a rotary type valve, nor lever operated valve operating a plunger to open or close a shim accordingly, or the remote control operating the lever is based on damper rod velocity (even though height change data with respect to time is taken into consideration, see discussion regarding figure 9); or a user computing device that is not physically integrated with the four-wheeled vehicle, the suspension system configured to receive the electronic signal from the user’s computing device via an application on the user’s computing device for controlling the electronic levers of each of the four-wheeled suspension devices.
Krahenbuhl et al. teach a valve (such as 1675, see figure 16) that provides communication between fluid chambers 1630/1640. The valve may be operated via an electrically operated lever assembly for rotating the valve element (see paragraph 53). This is merely a second mode for moving the valve element 44b in Buma et al. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided the assembly of Buma et al. with a lever actuated valve element as suggested in Krahenbuhl et al., as this mode of operation would have yielded the same expectant result of controlling communication between chambers.
Hettinger et al. teach a fluid valve having a plunger (such as 6 or 4) that opens and closes a shim 5 that controls a fluid passage. This is merely one type of valve capable of controlling flow between the chambers in Buma et al. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have replaced the valve assembly of Buma et al. with a valve having a plunger and shim of the type taught by Hettinger et al., thus providing a fast acting valve assembly.
Gartner teaches various sensed data for controlling valves of a shock absorber, including information such as stroking velocity (i.e. from which rod velocity and speed can be determined), see at least column 4 lines 4-16, column 10 lines 45-60 and column 12 lines 20-59. The sensed data is used to control valves associated with the damper. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided the valve controller of Buma et al. with data related to piston rod velocity as suggested by Gartner, as this information provides real time conditions of the damper and improves the control of any valves associated with the damper for maximizing comfort and vehicle control.
Blankenship et al. teach a four-wheeled vehicle having four individual suspension dampers, each suspension damper is provided with a respective computing device for controlling the damper in response to sensed conditions, as well as being responsive to a user’s computing device that is not physically integrated with the four-wheeled vehicle. Blankenship et al. teach that a user’s mobile phone having a loaded application thereon can be used to control features of each suspension arrangement (see at least paragraphs 56-60). This control arrangement allows for a mobile connection to the four-wheeled vehicle, such that the user can make selections remote from the vehicle. In addition, the software application on a mobile phone is more easily updated with improvements and modifications over that of the vehicle onboard system of the four-wheeled vehicle suspension control system. Therefore, as per the teachings of Blankenship et al., it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to have provided the four-wheeled vehicle suspension system Buma et al. with a user computing device connection feature as taught by Blankenship et al., as this would have allowed for control from a distance and would have allowed for easier updating and ride selection associated with any loaded software application.
Re-claim 5, Buma et al. teach solenoid operated valve, as well as does Krahenbuhl et al.
Re-claim 6, Buma et al. further teach a control arrangement for each valve (and as such the lever as modified by Krahenbuhl et al.) at each suspension damper, the control arrangement comprising a signal line (see figure 2) that runs from the switch to a solenoid, the solenoid converts electrical energy into mechanical movement to shift the position of the lever, thereby adjusting communication between the plurality of air chambers and varying the stiffness of the corresponding suspension damper.
Re-claim 7, Buma et al. teach a number of levers corresponding to any number of selectively coupled air chambers for a corresponding number of each said suspension damper, the any number of levers configured to operate simultaneously or separately depending upon needs in the four-wheeled vehicle and suspension system. Each of the modified valve elements having the lever as suggested by Krahenbuhl et al. is individually or simultaneously controlled by the ECU in accordance with various detected parameters of the vehicle.
Re-claim 8, preference means M4 constitutes a switch, as this is selected by the driver.
Re-claim 9, Buma et al. further teach a vehicle steering column including a right turn limit switch and a left turn limit switch such that a hard turn in either a right direction or a left direction activates appropriate adjustment of the lever (as modified by Krahenbuhl et al.) and corresponding adjustment of the communication between the plurality of air chambers of each suspension damper for the corresponding damper valve of at least one of each suspension damper, which adjustment is opposite the direction of said hard turn in either the right direction or the left direction (see column 12 lines 49-68 to column 13 lines 1-3).
Re-claim 11, the suspension of Buma et al. is at least an on road vehicle, and capable of use with an off road vehicle, the travel length is selected by the driver and artisan as necessary, as these features are capable of being executed by the suspension elements.
Re-claim 12, Buma et al. teach a remote-control system for automatically operating the valve and as such the modified lever assembly (as taught by Krahenbuhl et al.) based upon one or more driving conditions, including vehicle speed, or wheel speed.
Re-claim 13, the remote-control system comprises a logic unit 4 to control solenoids or the motive sources A1R, A1L, A2R and A2L coupled to the lever (as modified by Krahenbuhl et al.) for changing the communication between the plurality of air chambers (such as chamber 64 and S1Rb) of at least one of each the suspension damper.
Re-claim 14, the logic unit is user-programmable and is adapted to record the one or more driving conditions and if certain criteria are met, the logic unit sends its own signal to the lever and thereafter the condition, state or position of the lever is relayed back to the logic unit. The driver may select a driving condition using input application M4. The control unit 4 may change the valve in accordance with changes conditions, and revert back to the selected condition.
Re-claim 15, the logic unit is adapted to be useable with any number of levers or groups of levers (as modified by Krahenbuhl et al.) corresponding to any number of each the suspension damper or groups of each the suspension damper.
Claim(s) 2 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Buma et al. in view of Krahenbuhl et al., Hettinger et al., Gartner and Blankenship et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 2014/0172233 A1 to Hiebert et al.
Re-claims 2 and 10, Buma et al. teaches controlling the valve elements of the suspension units to minimize pitch and rolling of the vehicle (see column 12 lines 49-59 and column 22 lines 37-59). However, Buma et al. fail to teach an accelerometer used for sensing the pitch and roll of the vehicle; or actual g-force.
Hiebert et al. teach the use of accelerometers for detecting pitch and roll of a vehicle (see paragraph 33), as well as actual g-force (or longitudinal, paragraph 33). This information is used to control the suspension system of the vehicle. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided the apparatus of Buma et al. with an accelerometer as taught by Hiebert et al. for detecting the pitch and roll of a vehicle, as this sensor is commonly found in vehicles and yields the necessary information for suspension control.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed March 23, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The amended claims overcome the previous 35 U.S.C. 112 rejection. As set forth above, the claims remain rejected as Blankenship et al. teach the use of an application on a user’s phone or mobile device for controlling characteristics of various suspension dampers.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Walthert et al., Ericksen et al. and Coombs each teach a user mobile device connected to suspension devices for controlling the suspension characteristics.
Any inquiries concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Thomas Williams whose telephone number is 571-272-7128. The examiner can normally be reached on Tuesday-Friday from 6:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Siconolfi, can be reached at 571-272-7124. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is 571-272-6584.
TJW
April 7, 2026
/THOMAS J WILLIAMS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3616