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 § 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, 5, 7, 9, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Iwagawa et al. (US 2004/0113489).
In Re claims 1, 9, and 10, Iwagawa et al. disclose a control apparatus and associated method of for controlling the control apparatus of an electric brake, comprising: a control portion (22); an electric motor (24); a parking brake (11), wherein the control portion is configured to: determine a physical amount regarding a loaded stroke (S5) and an overshoot amount based on a rotation of the motor due to inertia (see S6, S116+, and pars. 0133, and 138); determine a physical amount regarding a release stroke (see figs. 17 and 18 regarding a release routine); and output a control instruction to the parking brake motor to apply/release the parking brake motor assembly (see multiple actuation/release steps).
In Re claim 2, the inertial rotation of the actuating motor is an inherently present characteristic and increases with voltage, which directly controls the motor speed.
In Re claim 5, Iwagawa et al. disclose at least a 0 position +2mm release stroke clearance position (par. 0132-0133).
In Re claim 7, the controller includes memory (see at least pars. 0095).
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.
Claims 1-7, 9, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ritter (US 2017/0106848) in view of Yasui et al. (US 2015/0112564)
In Re claims 1, 9, and 10, Ritter disclose a control apparatus and associated method of for controlling the control apparatus of an electric brake, comprising: a control portion (126, 226); an electric motor (210); a parking brake (100, 110), wherein the control portion is configured to: determine a physical amount regarding a loaded stroke (F(t)) and includes equations for considering motor inertia and correcting an estimated motor position (see Abstract regarding the motor position, speed, force, and current draw; par. 0071 and 00002); determine a physical amount regarding a release stroke (see Abstract regarding the motor position, speed, force, and current draw); and output a control instruction to the parking brake motor to apply/release the parking brake motor assembly (Abstract). Although Ritter discloses the presence of motor and actuator inertial effects, the reference does not specifically discuss accounting for an overshoot amount.
Yasui et al. is related to braking control for electronic brakes. Yasui et al. teaches that in an electronic braking control, in the device of this type, due to influences of inertia of the electric motor, an overshoot of the braking torque may occur (par. 0003). Yasui et al. further teach accounting for, and compensating for, said motor inertial overshoot though adjusting a target inertia compensation energization amount, thereby improving the responsiveness and accuracy of the braking torque by reliably suppressing the overshoot and surplus of the braking torque. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have accounted for a braking torque overshoot resulting from inertial effects in the braking actuation motor, as taught by Yasui et al., simply to more correctly monitor and control and parking brake actuator, and provide a more reliable and accurate parking brake torque.
In Re claim 2, the inertial rotation of the actuating motor is an inherently present characteristic and increases with voltage, which directly controls the motor speed.
In Re claim 3, Ritter discloses estimating a braking force; and discloses brake pads (104, 106) of Ritter. Also see zero clearance in fig. 8 and par. 0065 of Ritter.
In Re claim 4, See controller system dynamics (304) and force estimation model (306) of Ritter, which provides an error correction value and physical amount regarding a loaded stroke.
In Re claim 5, See release position in fig. 8 of Ritter.
In Re claim 6, the inertia correction of Yasui et al. is a time-series-dependent motor control, and therefore understood to encompass the claimed predetermined time (Abstract, par. 0011).
In Re claim 7, the controller inherently includes memory to store values and control processes (see pars. 0111 and 0112 regarding storing values).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 is 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/THOMAS W IRVIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3616