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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Applicant Arguments, filed 15th May 2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1 and 11 under U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) and U.S.C. 103 respectively have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, new grounds of rejection, as necessitated by amendment can be seen below. It should be noted that both amendments, to Claim 1 and Claim 11, alter the scope of the Claim set from what was previously presented, making the rejection below final.
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.
Claims 1-3, 5-6 and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yokoyama (US 20220153251 A1) in view of No (US 20150166032 A1)
Regarding Claim 1, Yokoyama discloses A brake device, comprising: a power transmitter (22D) configured to advance or retract a piston (22E) to press a pair of pad plates, to which brake pads (22F) are attached, toward a disk (D); a driving motor (22B) configured to provide rotational force to the piston; a parking actuator (23) connected to the driving motor to maintain parking braking state of a vehicle; and a controller (24) configured to: control the driving motor and the parking actuator, and control the parking actuator based on a rotational position of the driving motor and a clamping force due to contact of the disk with the brake pads. (see Fig. 2, Fig. 3, [0007], [0023]) and when the clamping force reaches a target engagement clamping force in parking engagement mode, control the parking actuator (23) to engage (see [0031], [0037-0038], [0056]).
Although Yokoyama discloses detecting the position of the driving motor is does not explicitly disclose detecting and storing a position of the driving motor when the clamping force reaches a target engagement clamping force.
No teaches a brake device wherein when the clamping force reaches a target engagement clamping force in parking engagement mode, the brake device detects and store a position of the driving motor as a parking motor position (see [0021]).
It would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention, to combine the teachings of No with the brake device of Yokoyama in order to eliminate unnecessary operational load on the brakes (see US 20150166032 A1 [No]; [0025]).
Regarding Claim 2, Yokoyama modified by No teaches further comprising: a force sensor (26) configured to detect the clamping force due to contact of the disk with the brake pads. (see Fig. 2, Fig. 3, [0023]).
Regarding Claim 3, Yokoyama modified by No teaches further comprising a motor current sensor (27) configured to detect a drive current of the driving motor (see US 20220153251 A1 [Yokoyama]; Fig. 2, [0030]), wherein the controller is configured to estimate the clamping force based on the drive current (see US 20150166032 A1 [No]; [0051]).
Regarding Claim 5, Yokoyama modified by No teaches wherein the controller (24) is configured to drive the driving motor in a forward direction in parking release mode (see US 20220153251 A1 [Yokoyama]; Fig. 2, Fig. 3, [0037]).
Regarding Claim 6, Yokoyama modified by No teaches wherein the controller (24) is configured to control the parking actuator (23) to release when the clamping force reaches a target release clamping force in parking release mode (see US 20220153251 A1 [Yokoyama]; Fig. 2, Fig. 3, [0039]).
Regarding Claim 8, Yokoyama modified by No teaches wherein the controller (24) is configured to: detect the position of the driving motor in parking release mode, and control the parking actuator to release when the position of the driving motor reaches the parking motor position (see US 20220153251 A1 [Yokoyama]; Fig. 2, Fig. 3, [0023]).
Regarding Claim 9, Yokoyama modified by No teaches wherein the controller (24) (see US 20220153251 A1 [Yokoyama]; Fig. 2, [0030]) is configured to: detect the position of the driving motor in parking release mode when the clamping force reaches the target release clamping force and control the parking actuator to release when the detected position of the driving motor reaches the parking motor position (see US 20150166032 A1 [No]; [0021]).
Regarding Claim 10, Yokoyama modified by No teaches wherein the controller is configured to drive the driving motor in a backward direction after controlling the parking actuator to release in parking release mode. (see US 20220153251 A1 [Yokoyama]; Fig. 2, Fig. 3, [0038-0039])
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yokoyama (US 20220153251 A1) as modified by No (US 20150166032 A1) in Claim 6 above, further in view of Kikuta (US 20010037919 A1).
Regarding Claim 7, Yokoyama modified by No teaches the brake device of Claim 6.
Yokoyama modified by No does not explicitly teach wherein the target release clamping force is greater than the target engagement clamping force.
Kikuta teaches a brake device wherein the target release clamping force is greater than the target engagement clamping force (see Fig. 9, [0071]).
It would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention, to combine the teachings of Kikuta with the braking device of Yokoyama modified by No in order to prevent unintended engagement between the parking brake mechanism (see US 20010037919 A1 [Kikuta]; [0010]).
Claims 11-13, 15-16, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yokoyama (US 20220153251 A1) in view of Masuda (US 20220105919 A1) and further in view of No (US 20150166032 A1).
Regarding Claim 11, Yokoyama discloses a method of controlling a brake device including a power transmitter (22D) configured to advance or retract a piston (22E) to press a pair of pad plates, to which brake pads (22F) are attached, toward a disk (D), a driving motor (22B) configured to provide rotational force to the piston (22E) and a parking actuator (23) connected to the driving motor (22B) to maintain parking braking state of a vehicle Comprising: obtaining a clamping force due to contact of the disk with the brake pads; and controlling the parking actuator based on the clamping force, wherein the controlling of the parking actuator comprises controlling the parking actuator to engage (see Fig. 2, [0034], [0037-0038]).
Yokoyama does not explicitly disclose a method of controlling a brake device comprising controlling the parking actuator based on the rotational position of the driving motor and wherein the controlling of the parking actuator comprises: when the clamping force reaches a target engagement clamping force in a parking engagement mode, detecting and storing a position of the driving motor as a parking motor position.
Masuda teaches a method of controlling a brake device comprising controlling the parking actuator based on the rotational position of the driving motor (see [0099-0101]) and wherein the controlling of the parking actuator comprises: when the clamping force reaches a target engagement clamping force in a parking engagement mode (see Fig. 4, Fig. 9, [0106-0111]).
It would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention, to combine the teachings of Masuda with the method of controlling a brake device of Yokoyama in order to more accurately control the brake device, resulting in reduce malfunctions (see US 20220105919 A1 [Masuda]; [0010]).
Yokoyama modified by Masuda does not explicitly teach wherein the brake device detects and stores a position of the driving motor when the clamping force reaches a target engagement clamping force.
No teaches a brake device wherein when a target engagement clamping force is reached a rotational position is detected and stored (see [0021]).
It would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention, to combine the teachings of No with the method of controlling a brake device of Yokoyama modified by Masuda in order to eliminate unnecessary operational load on the brakes (see US 20150166032 A1 [No]; [0025]).
Regarding Claim 12, Yokoyama modified by Masuda and No teaches wherein the obtaining of the clamping force comprises obtaining the clamping force through a force sensor configured to detect the clamping force due to contact of the disk with the brake pads (see US 20220153251 A1 [Yokoyama]; [0030-0031]).
Regarding Claim 13, Yokoyama modified by Masuda and No teaches wherein the obtaining of the clamping force comprises: detecting a drive current of the driving motor through a motor current sensor and estimating the clamping force based on the drive current (see US 20150166032 A1 [No]; [0051]).
Regarding Claim 15, Yokoyama modified by Masuda and No teaches wherein the controlling of the parking actuator comprises driving the driving motor in a forward direction in parking release mode (see US 20220105919 A1 [Masuda]; Fig. 9, [0106-0109]).
Regarding Claim 16, Yokoyama modified by Masuda and No teaches wherein the controlling of the parking actuator comprises controlling the parking actuator to release when the clamping force reaches a target release clamping force in parking release mode (see US 20220105919 A1 [Masuda]; Fig. 9, [0110-0111]).
Regarding Claim 18, Yokoyama modified by Masuda and No teaches wherein the controlling of the parking actuator comprises: detecting the position of the driving motor in parking release mode and controlling the parking actuator to release when the position of the driving motor reaches the parking motor position (see US 20220105919 A1 [Masuda]; Fig. 4, Fig. 9, [0111]).
Regarding Claim 19, Yokoyama modified by Masuda and No teaches wherein the controlling of the parking actuator comprises: detecting the position of the driving motor in parking release mode when the clamping force reaches the target release clamping force and controlling the parking actuator to release when the position of the driving motor reaches the parking motor position (see US 20220105919 A1 [Masuda]; Fig. 4, Fig. 9, [0110-0111]).
Regarding Claim 20, Yokoyama modified by Masuda and No teaches wherein the controlling of the parking actuator comprises driving the driving motor in a backward direction after controlling the parking actuator to release in parking release mode (see US 20220105919 A1 [Masuda]; Fig. 4, [0111]).
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yokoyama (US 20220153251 A1) as modified by Masuda (US 20220105919 A1) and No (US 20150166032 A1), in further view of Kikuta et. al. (US 20010037919 A1).
Regarding Claim 17, Yokoyama modified by Masuda and No teaches the method of controlling the brake device of Claim 16.
Yokoyama modified by Masuda and No does not explicitly teach wherein the target release clamping force is greater than the target engagement clamping force.
Kikuta teaches a method of controlling a brake device wherein the target release clamping force is greater than the target engagement clamping force (see Fig. 9, [0071])
It would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention, to combine the teachings of Kikuta with the method of controlling a brake device of Yokoyama modified by Masuda and No in order to prevent unintended engagement between the parking brake mechanism (see US 20010037919 A1 [Kikuta]; [0010]).
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 Shea Irvin whose telephone number is (571)272-9952. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:30 - 17:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/S.W.I./Examiner, Art Unit 3616
/Robert A. Siconolfi/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3616
Prosecution Insights