DETAILED ACTION
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 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.
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 .
Response to Amendment/ Arguments
This office action is in response to communication received on 01/06/2026. The response presented amendment to claims 1, 5, and 6 is hereby acknowledged.
Applicant's arguments (see pages 5-8), with respect to rejections under 35 USC § 102 and 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive in view of the amendment to claims 1, 5, and 6, particularly the limitation requiring that information on the tires be pre-measured prior to testing of the tires. The cited prior arts do not disclose controlling vehicle speed and/or steering based on tire information obtained prior to a tire test, as opposed to real-time or in-use sensing during vehicle operation. Accordingly, the prior rejections are withdrawn. However, upon further examination of the amended claims, a new rejection is set forth below to address the newly introduced limitations.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 3-6, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HASEGAWA (JP 2020085610 A) in view of Kis (US 6098682 A).
With respect to claim 1, HASEGAWA discloses a vehicle control device for controlling a vehicle equipped with tires and driving automatically on a course for testing the tires (Tire deterioration estimation system, para. [0001]), comprising
a controller (deterioration estimation device 30, para. [0015]) to which at least
one of information on the tires (estimated tire deterioration status, para. [0015]),
information on a road surface of the course (estimating road conditions, para. [0003]), and
alignment information of the vehicle is input (The automatic driving system 92 also performs control that considers the effect of tire deterioration on braking distance, para. [0015]), and
controls at least one of
a first control value,
which is a control value of speed of the vehicle according to a target travel speed of the vehicle (vehicle travel by automatic driving, the brake ...is automatically operated while estimating the speed of the automobile or the road surface condition; a brake is for controlling the speed of a vehicle, para. [0003]), and
a second control value,
which is a control value of steering angle of the vehicle according to a target travel path of the vehicle, based on the input information (vehicle travel by automatic driving, ...the steering wheel is automatically operated while estimating the speed of the automobile or the road surface condition, para. [0003]).
HASEGAWA discloses all the claimed limitations except a controller to which at least one of information on the tires that is pre-measured prior to the testing of the tires.
Kis invention related to a tire pressure control system discloses a controller to which at least one of information on the tires that is pre-measured prior to the testing of the tires (the electronic unit 60 determines whether a tire pressure regulation is necessary by comparing the sensed tire pressure to a pre-determined or desired tire pressure P1, col. 6 lines 10-15).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify HASEGAWA’s vehicle control device to include pre-measured tire information as taught by Kis, because both references address vehicle control and safety based on tire condition. Kis teaches using pre-determined tire parameters as a baseline for control decisions, and incorporating such pre-measured tire information into HASEGAWA’s system would predictably improve the accuracy and reliability of tire deterioration estimation and corresponding speed and steering control. The combination merely applies a known system to achieve the expected result of enhanced vehicle control performance.
With respect to claim 3, HASEGAWA and Kis disclose the vehicle control device according to claim 1 above. HASEGAWA further discloses the information on the tire includes at least one of the following: uniformity (tire deterioration estimation system, para. [0009]), outer diameter of the tire (tire outer diameter, para. [0022]), width of the tire (tire width, para. [0022]), the information on the road surface of the course includes at least one of the following: road surface roughness (road surface irregularities, para. [0046]), gradient in the direction of travel (driving route, para. [0046]).
With respect to claim 4, HASEGAWA and Kis disclose the vehicle control device according to claim 1 above. HASEGAWA further discloses the course includes a banked section that has a curve shape, and the road surface thereof slopes from the inner circumference to the outer circumference of the curve (road condition, para. [0003]), the controller keeps the target travel speed of the vehicle constant in the banked section (determines braking timing based on speed and road conditions, para. [0003]).
With respect to claim 5, HASEGAWA discloses a vehicle control method for controlling a vehicle equipped with tires and driving automatically on a course for testing the tires (tire deterioration estimation method with an automatic driving system, para. [0001], [0003], and [0015]), comprising
accepting input of at least one of information on the tires (estimated tire deterioration status, para. [0015]), information on a road surface of the course (estimating road conditions, para. [0003]), and alignment information of the vehicle (The automatic driving system 92 also performs control that considers the effect of tire deterioration on braking distance, para. [0015]), and
controlling at least one of a first control value, which is a control value of speed of the vehicle according to a target travel speed of the vehicle (vehicle travel by automatic driving, the brake ...is automatically operated while estimating the speed of the automobile; a brake is for controlling the speed of a vehicle, para. [0003]), and
a second control value, which is a control value of steering angle of the vehicle according to a target travel path of the vehicle, based on the input information (vehicle travel by automatic driving, ...the steering wheel is automatically operated while estimating the speed of the automobile or the road surface condition, para. [0003]).
HASEGAWA discloses all the claimed limitations except a controller to which at least one of information on the tires that is pre-measured prior to the testing of the tires.
Kis invention related to a tire pressure control system discloses a controller to which at least one of information on the tires that is pre-measured prior to the testing of the tires (the electronic unit 60 determines whether a tire pressure regulation is necessary by comparing the sensed tire pressure to a pre-determined or desired tire pressure P1, col. 6 lines 10-15).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify HASEGAWA’s vehicle control device to include pre-measured tire information as taught by Kis, because both references address vehicle control and safety based on tire condition. Kis teaches using pre-determined tire parameters as a baseline for control decisions, and incorporating such pre-measured tire information into HASEGAWA’s system would predictably improve the accuracy and reliability of tire deterioration estimation and corresponding speed and steering control. The combination merely applies a known system to achieve the expected result of enhanced vehicle control performance.
With respect to claim 6, HASEGAWA discloses a tire testing system (Tire deterioration estimation system and tire deterioration estimation method, para. [0001]) comprising
a vehicle control device (tire deterioration estimation system 100) for controlling a vehicle equipped with tires and driving automatically on a course for testing the tires (The tire deterioration estimation system 100 with the automatic driving system 92 acquires physical quantities related to deformation occurring in the tire, para. [0014]- [0015]), and
an information input device (deterioration estimation device 30) for inputting at least one of information on the tires (estimated tire deterioration status, para. [0015]), information on a road surface of the course (estimating road conditions, para. [0003]), and alignment information of the vehicle (The automatic driving system 92 also performs control that considers the effect of tire deterioration on braking distance, para. [0015], [0028]), to the vehicle control device (deterioration estimation device 30 provides the estimated tire deterioration status to, for example, a vehicle control device 91, an automatic driving system 92, para.[0015], [0030]), the vehicle control device (100) comprises a controller to which at least one of information on the tires, information on a road surface of the course (estimated tire deterioration status, para. [0015]), and alignment information of the vehicle is input from the information input device (The automatic driving system 92 also performs control that considers the effect of tire deterioration on braking distance, para. [0015]), and controls at least one of a first control value, which is a control value of speed of the vehicle according to a target travel speed of the vehicle (vehicle travel by automatic driving, the brake ...is automatically operated while estimating the speed of the automobile or the road surface condition; a brake is for controlling the speed of a vehicle, para. [0003]), and a second control value, which is a control value of steering angle of the vehicle according to a target travel path of the vehicle, based on the input information (vehicle travel by automatic driving, ...the steering wheel is automatically operated while estimating the speed of the automobile or the road surface condition, para. [0003]).
HASEGAWA discloses all the claimed limitations except a controller to which at least one of information on the tires that is pre-measured prior to the testing of the tires.
Kis invention related to a tire pressure control system discloses a controller to which at least one of information on the tires that is pre-measured prior to the testing of the tires (the electronic unit 60 determines whether a tire pressure regulation is necessary by comparing the sensed tire pressure to a pre-determined or desired tire pressure P1, col. 6 lines 10-15).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify HASEGAWA’s vehicle control device to include pre-measured tire information as taught by Kis, because both references address vehicle control and safety based on tire condition. Kis teaches using pre-determined tire parameters as a baseline for control decisions, and incorporating such pre-measured tire information into HASEGAWA’s system would predictably improve the accuracy and reliability of tire deterioration estimation and corresponding speed and steering control. The combination merely applies a known system to achieve the expected result of enhanced vehicle control performance.
With respect to claim 9, HASEGAWA and Kis disclose the vehicle control device according to claim 3 above. HASEGAWA further disclose the course includes a banked section that has a curve shape, and the road surface thereof slopes from the inner circumference to the outer circumference of the curve (road condition, para. [0003]), the controller keeps the target travel speed of the vehicle constant in the banked section (determines braking timing based on speed and road conditions, para. [0003]).
Claims 2 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HASEGAWA and Kis as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kumon et al. hereinafter Kumon (US 20060161331 A1).
With respect to claim 2, HASEGAWA and Kis disclose the vehicle control device according to claim 1 above. HASEGAWA is silent about the controller controls the first control value so that the speed of the vehicle does not exceed the target travel speed of the vehicle and/or the second control value so that the steering angle of the vehicle does not exceed the steering angle according to the target travel path of the vehicle.
Kumon invention related to a system for controlling drive of an automotive vehicle the controller controls the first control value so that the speed of the vehicle does not exceed the target travel speed of the vehicle and/or the second control value so that the steering angle of the vehicle does not exceed the steering angle according to the target travel path of the vehicle (the driving speed of the own vehicle does not exceeds the target driving speed Vt, para. [0047]; see also at least Fig. 10).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify HASEGAWA invention with Kumon so that the vehicle control device incorporates Kumon’s teaching oof limiting the vehicle speed and steering angle to their respective target values. Such modification merely applies Kumon’s known control constraints to HASEGAWA’s system in order to improve stability, ensure safe driving conditions, and achieve predictable vehicle behavior under varying travel paths.
With respect to claim 7, HASEGAWA, Kis, and Kumon disclose the vehicle control device according to claim 2 above. HASEGAWA further discloses the information on the tire includes at least one of the following: uniformity (tire deterioration estimation system, para. [0009]), outer diameter of the tire (tire outer diameter, para. [0022]), width of the tire (tire width, para. [0022]), the information on the road surface of the course includes at least one of the following: road surface roughness (road surface irregularities, para. [0046]), gradient in the direction of travel (driving route, para. [0046]).
With respect to claim 8, HASEGAWA, Kis, and Kumon disclose the vehicle control device according to claim 2 above. HASEGAWA further discloses the course includes a banked section that has a curve shape, and the road surface thereof slopes from the inner circumference to the outer circumference of the curve (road condition, para. [0003]), the controller keeps the target travel speed of the vehicle constant in the banked section (determines braking timing based on speed and road conditions, para. [0003]).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 GEDEON M KIDANU whose telephone number is (571)270-0591. The examiner can normally be reached 8-4.
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/GEDEON M KIDANU/Examiner, Art Unit 2855
/KRISTINA M DEHERRERA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2855 1/20/26