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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendments to the claims, filed 7/21/2026, are accepted and appreciated by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 7/21/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive and moot in view of the new grounds of rejection as necessitated by Applicant’s amendments.
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, 4-7, 9-14, 16, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shick (US 2005/0150283 A1) in view of Shimizu (US 6,269,690B1).
With respect to Claim 1 Shick teaches A method for predicting a service life for a component of a vehicle, the vehicle comprising a road wheel and at least one vehicle sensor configured to provide vehicle condition data, the road wheel comprising a tyre sensor configured to output tyre operation data, the method comprising: (See Fig 1) receiving tyre operation data from the tyre sensor; (See Abstract Some of the calculated tire operating parameters may also be measured indirectly on the tire via sensors as shown in FIG. 1 and then compared in the diagnostic model with the calculated values, whereby it is possible to adapt the diagnostic model.) receiving vehicle condition data from at least one vehicle sensor; and (See Para[0037] A diagnostic model that directly calculates tire wear and/or damage thereto and/or is used to calculate variables that are significant for the tire damage, such as the temperature of the belt edge, temperature of the tread, average tire temperature, thermal power dissipation in the tire, dynamically adjusting air pressure and expansion in the tire or mechanical loading of the tire, may be derived from the list parameters using model calculations and/or driving tests. The right-side tire operating parameters RP may be calculated from the left-side parameters on the basis of model calculations that may be validated in bench tests as necessary or are derived from bench tests:) However Schick is silent to the language of the tyre operation data comprising contact patch longitudinal load and contact patch radial load calculating a predicted service life for a vehicle component based on the tyre operation data, the vehicle condition data and a model of the vehicle component Nevertheless Shimizu teaches the tyre operation data comprising contact patch longitudinal load and contact patch radial load (See Col 1 lines 40-58 In the above formula, Fx+ represents a force in the forward direction generated by a driving force, Fx- represents a force in the backwards direction generated by a braking force and Fy represents an input force in the transverse direction. And Col 2 line 44) calculating a predicted service life for a vehicle component based on the tyre operation data, the vehicle condition data and a model of the vehicle component (See Abstract estimating a tire wear life which enables estimation of the tire wear life accurately in a short time. In this method, a rubber index Gi of a rubber test piece which is made of the same material as the material used in the tire tread portion of the tire whose tire wear life is to be estimated is measured using an abrasion tester which can be operated under a slip ratio of about 0.5 to 5% (step 100). Then, friction energies of the tire in free rolling, in a state in which the tire is provided with a toe angle, in a state in which a side force is applied to the tire, in a state in which a driving force is applied to the tire and in a state in which a braking force is applied to the tire are measured (step 102), respectively. An expected value of the tire wear life T1 is calculated from the rubber index Gi and the friction energies obtained above (step 104).) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Shick and comprise contact patch longitudinal load and contact patch radial load such as that of Shimizu. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to modify Schick, because longitudinal load and radial load would add to the total friction thus improving accuracy. With respect to Claim 4 Shick teaches A method according to claim 1, wherein the tyre operation data comprises a tyre identifier. (See Para[0045]) With respect to Claim 5 Shick teaches A method according to claim 1 wherein the tyre operation data comprises contact patch deflection. (See Para[0026],[0049],[0118]) With respect to Claim 6 Shick teaches A method according to claim 1 wherein the vehicle condition data describes a load on the body of the vehicle. (See Para[0032],[0176]) With respect to Claim 7 Shick teaches A method according to claim 1 wherein the vehicle condition data indicates a current wheel speed of the wheel. (See Abstract) With respect to Claim 9 Shick teaches A method according to claim 1 wherein receiving tyre operation data from the tyre sensor comprises receiving tyre operation data from the tyre sensor over a first time period, and receiving vehicle condition data from at least one vehicle sensor comprises receiving vehicle condition data from at least one vehicle sensor over a second time period. (See Para[0094]-[0096]) With respect to Claim 10 Shick teaches A method according to claim 9, wherein the first time period and second time period overlap. (See Para[0094]-[0096]) With respect to Claim 11 Shick teaches A method according to claim 9, wherein the first time period and the second time period are the same. (See Para[0094]-[0096]) With respect to Claim 12 Shick teaches A method according to claim 1 wherein calculating a predicted service life for a vehicle component based on the tyre operation data, the vehicle condition data and a model of the vehicle component comprises calculating a predicted service life for a vehicle component based on the tyre operation data, the vehicle condition data, a model of the vehicle component and a historic predicted service life. (See Para[0041]-[0042] and Fig 2) With respect to Claim 13 Shick teaches A method according to claim 1, wherein the tyre operation data comprises contact patch longitudinal load: wherein the tyre operation data comprises contact patch radial load: wherein the tyre operation data comprises contact patch deflection: wherein the vehicle condition data describes a load on the body of the vehicle; and wherein calculating a predicted service life for a vehicle component based on the tyre operation data, the vehicle condition data and a model of the vehicle component comprises using the contact patch longitudinal load, contact patch radial load, contact patch deflection and the vehicle condition data describes a load on the body of the vehicle as inputs for the model. (See Para[0095] and [0099]) With respect to Claim 14 Shick teaches A method according to claim 1 wherein the vehicle component is a tyre. (See Fig 1) With respect to Claim 16 Schick teaches A method according to claim 1, wherein the tyre operation data comprises contact patch longitudinal load; the tyre operation data comprises contact patch radial load; the tyre operation data comprises a tyre identifier; and the tyre operation data comprises contact patch deflection. (See Para[0095] and [0099]) and Para[0026],[0049],[0118] ) With respect to Claim 18 Schick teaches A method according to claim 10, wherein the first time period and the second time period are the same. (See Para[0094]-[0096])
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shick (US 2005/0150283 A1) in view of Shimizu (US 6,269,690 B1) as applied to claim 1 and further in view of Brook (US 2022/0292463 A1).
With respect to Claim 8 Shick is silent to the language of A method according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle condition data indicates a current revolution speed of an engine. Nevertheless Brook teaches
wherein the vehicle condition data indicates a current revolution speed of an engine. (See Para[0039]) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Shick wherein the vehicle condition data indicates a current revolution speed of an engine such as that of Brook. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to modify Schick because getting more data would improve accuracy.
Claim(s) 15, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shick (US 2005/0150283 A1) in view of Shimizu (US 6,269,690 B1) as applied to claim 1 and further in view of Akkerman (US 3,940,978). With respect to Claim 15 Shick is silent to the language of A method according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle condition data indicates a current revolution speed of an engine; and wherein calculating a predicted service life for a vehicle component based on the tyre operation data, the vehicle condition data and a model of the vehicle component comprises determining a number of revolutions of the vehicle component based on the vehicle condition data that indicates a current revolution speed of an engine. Nevertheless Brook teaches wherein the vehicle condition data indicates a current revolution speed of an engine; and wherein calculating a predicted service life for a vehicle component based on the tyre operation data, the vehicle condition data and a model of the vehicle component comprises (See Para[0039]) However Brook is silent to the language of determining a number of revolutions of the vehicle component based on the vehicle condition data that indicates a current revolution speed of an engine. Nevertheless Akkerman teaches determining a number of revolutions of the vehicle component based on the vehicle condition data that indicates a current revolution speed of an engine. (See Col 5 lines 59-69 and Fig 4) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Shick wherein the vehicle condition data indicates a current revolution speed of an engine such as that of Brook. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to modify Schick because getting more data would improve accuracy. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Shick determining a number of revolutions of the vehicle component based on the vehicle condition data that indicates a current revolution speed of an engine such as that of Akkerman. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to modify Schick because Akkerman teaches the relationship between engine revolutions and distance and tire size and would be no more than predictable use of prior art elements according to their established functions. With respect to Claim 17 Shick is silent to the language of A method according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle condition data describes a load on the body of the vehicle; the vehicle condition data indicates a current wheel speed of the wheel; and the vehicle condition data indicates a current revolution speed of an engine. Nevertheless Brook teaches the vehicle condition data indicates a current wheel speed of the wheel; (See Para[0039]) and the vehicle condition data indicates a current revolution speed of an engine. (See Para[0039]) However Brook is silent to the language of wherein the vehicle condition data describes a load on the body of the vehicle; Nevertheless Akkerman teaches wherein the vehicle condition data describes a load on the body of the vehicle; (See Fig 4) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Shick wherein the vehicle condition data indicates a current revolution speed of an engine such as that of Brook. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to modify Schick because getting more data would improve accuracy. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Shick wherein the vehicle condition data describes a load on the body of the vehicle;such as that of Akkerman. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to modify Schick because Akkerman teaches the relationship between engine revolutions and distance and tire size and torque and would be no more than predictable use of prior art elements according to their established functions.
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 YOSHIHISA ISHIZUKA whose telephone number is (571)270-7050. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 11:00-7:00.
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YOSHIHISA . ISHIZUKA
Examiner
Art Unit 2857
/YOSHIHISA ISHIZUKA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857
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