DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to Applicant’s amendment received on September 19, 2025. Upon further consideration the Non-Final Rejection mailed on June 20, 2025 has been withdrawn and a new Non-Final Rejection is presented below.
Claim 1-7, 10-18 and 20 are pending in the application. Claims 8, 9 and 19 have been cancelled.
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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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 1-7, 10-18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (CN 114379307 A), hereinafter “Liu”, in view of Kimura et al. (DE 195 40 161 B4), hereinafter “Kimura”.
Regarding claim 1, Liu discloses a vehicle damper control method to reduce a contact shock, the method comprising: S10) estimating a future displacement of a damper of a vehicle (Abstract); and S20) controlling a damping force of the damper based on the estimated future displacement of the damper (Abstract: “The invention claims a device and method for estimating suspension travel correlation value. a control unit (30) for controlling the control current supplied to the shock absorber (24FL 24RR) generated by the control current to generate damping force, determining coefficients of two functions based on the relationship between the coefficient of two functions of each suspension changing according to the frequency of the control current and the relative vibration and the equivalent damping coefficient (ce (I)) and the equivalent spring constant (ke (I)) of the two functions of the control current and the control current supplied to the shock absorber, and based on the upper and lower acceleration and coefficient of the spring detected by the detecting device (32FL 32RR) is determined two functions, to calculate the relative displacement (zsi) or relative speed (dzsi) between the spring and the spring”).
Liu fails to disclose wherein S20) comprises: S21) determining a damping force offset value based on the estimated future displacement of the damper, wherein the damping force offset is a valve input current offset of the damper.
However, Kimura discloses determining a damping force offset value based on the estimated future displacement of the damper, wherein the damping force offset is a valve input current offset of the damper (Kimura (Figs. 1 & 20; Claims section: The controller (30) calculates a force (UP *) that offsets the modified calculated force (F *), which balancing force (UP *) is expressed as UP * = -F * - which controller (30) calculates the supporting force (U *) of the body necessary for controlling surface irregularities)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have modified Liu by incorporating the teachings of Kimura in order to have a more precise and functional control of the displacement of the damper.
Regarding claim 2, the modified invention of Liu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein S10) the estimating the future displacement of the damper comprises: S11) calculating a velocity and an acceleration of the damper (paragraphs 140-153: “the electronic control device 30 as a suspension travel associated value estimating device to function, The suspension travel correlation value estimating device estimates the relative displacement zsi and the relative velocity dzsi between the spring and the under-spring by executing the step (210 to 250) and the upper and lower acceleration sensor (s) 32FL 32RR coordinated manner” and “It should be noted that, in the first embodiment, the step of obtaining the upper and lower acceleration in the estimation method of the invention and the step of respectively the control current supplied to the damping force generating device is realized by steps 210 and 220. Furthermore, the step of determining the coefficient is realized by the step 230, at least one of the relative displacement and the relative speed between the operation spring and the spring is realized by the steps 240 and 250”); S12) assuming a range of variation in the calculated velocity and acceleration of the damper (paragraphs 140-153); and S13) estimating the future displacement of the damper based on the assumed velocity and acceleration assumed in S12) (paragraphs 140-153).
Regarding claim 3, the modified invention of Liu discloses the method of claim 2, further comprising: multiplying the velocity and acceleration of the damper with the assumed range of variation assumed in S12) by a gain value according to a frequency (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153).
Regarding claim 4, the modified invention of Liu discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the gain value according to the frequency decreases as the frequency increases (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153).
Regarding claim 5, the modified invention of Liu discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the gain value according to the frequency has a value of 1 when the frequency is 0 (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153).
Regarding claim 6, the modified invention of Liu discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the gain value according to the frequency decreases linearly as the frequency increases (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153).
Regarding claim 7, the modified invention of Liu discloses the method of claim 6, wherein the gain value according to the frequency is determined by the following equation (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153)
Gain according to frequency = 1-0.02f,
where f = damper frequency (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153).
Regarding claim 10, the modified invention of Liu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the input current offset is 0 when -X < damper stroke < X (where X is a preset value) (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153) and the input current offset increases as an X value increases when damper stroke < -X or damper stroke > X (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153).
Regarding claim 11, the modified invention of Liu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the damper is a semi-active damper (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153).
Regarding claim 12, the modified invention of Liu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein S10) the estimating the future displacement of the damper comprises: S11) obtaining a velocity and an acceleration of the damper from a velocity sensor or an acceleration sensor of the damper (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153); S12) assuming a range of variation in the velocity and the acceleration of the damper (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153); S13) estimating the future displacement of the damper based on the assumed velocity and acceleration assumed in step S12) (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153).
Regarding claim 13, the modified invention of Liu discloses a vehicle damper control method to reduce a contact shock, the method comprising: S10) calculating a velocity and an acceleration of a damper of a vehicle and estimating a future displacement of the damper based on the calculated velocity and acceleration of the damper (Abstract); and S20) controlling a damping force of the damper based on the estimated future displacement of the damper (Abstract: “The invention claims a device and method for estimating suspension travel correlation value. a control unit (30) for controlling the control current supplied to the shock absorber (24FL 24RR) generated by the control current to generate damping force, determining coefficients of two functions based on the relationship between the coefficient of two functions of each suspension changing according to the frequency of the control current and the relative vibration and the equivalent damping coefficient (ce (I)) and the equivalent spring constant (ke (I)) of the two functions of the control current and the control current supplied to the shock absorber, and based on the upper and lower acceleration and coefficient of the spring detected by the detecting device (32FL 32RR) is determined two functions, to calculate the relative displacement (zsi) or relative speed (dzsi) between the spring and the spring”), wherein S20) comprises: S21) determining a damping force offset value based on the estimated future displacement of the damper, wherein the damping force offset is a valve input current offset of the damper (Kimura (Figs. 1 & 20; Claims section: The controller (30) calculates a force (UP *) that offsets the modified calculated force (F *), which balancing force (UP *) is expressed as UP * = -F * - which controller (30) calculates the supporting force (U *) of the body necessary for controlling surface irregularities)).
Regarding claim 14, the modified invention of Liu discloses the method of claim 13, wherein in S10), the future displacement of the damper is estimated based on the velocity and the acceleration of the damper calculated by multiplying the calculated velocity and acceleration of the damper by a gain value according to a frequency (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153).
Regarding claim 15, the modified invention of Liu discloses the method of claim 14, wherein the gain value according to the frequency decreases as the frequency increases (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153).
Regarding claim 16, the modified invention of Liu discloses a vehicle damper control system to reduce a contact shock, comprising: a damper displacement estimator configured to estimate a future displacement of a damper of a vehicle (Abstract); and a damping force offset determiner configured to determine a damping force offset to control a damping force of the damper based on the estimated future displacement of the damper (Abstract: “The invention claims a device and method for estimating suspension travel correlation value. a control unit (30) for controlling the control current supplied to the shock absorber (24FL 24RR) generated by the control current to generate damping force, determining coefficients of two functions based on the relationship between the coefficient of two functions of each suspension changing according to the frequency of the control current and the relative vibration and the equivalent damping coefficient (ce (I)) and the equivalent spring constant (ke (I)) of the two functions of the control current and the control current supplied to the shock absorber, and based on the upper and lower acceleration and coefficient of the spring detected by the detecting device (32FL 32RR) is determined two functions, to calculate the relative displacement (zsi) or relative speed (dzsi) between the spring and the spring”), wherein in the damping force offset determiner, the damping force offset is a valve input current offset of the damper (Kimura (Figs. 1 & 20; Claims section: The controller (30) calculates a force (UP *) that offsets the modified calculated force (F *), which balancing force (UP *) is expressed as UP * = -F * - which controller (30) calculates the supporting force (U *) of the body necessary for controlling surface irregularities)).
Regarding claim 17, the modified invention of Liu discloses the method of claim 16, wherein the damper displacement estimator calculates a velocity and an acceleration of the damper, assumes a range of variation in the calculated velocity and acceleration of the damper, and then estimates the future displacement of the damper based on the assumed velocity and acceleration of the damper (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153).
Regarding claim 18, the modified invention of Liu discloses the method of claim 17, wherein the assumed velocity and acceleration of the damper are derived by multiplying the velocity and acceleration of the damper with the assumed range of variation by a gain value according to a frequency (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153).
Regarding claim 20, the modified invention of Liu discloses the method of claim 16, wherein the input current offset is 0 when -X < damper stroke < X (where X is a preset value), and the input current offset increases as an X value increases when damper stroke < -X or damper stroke > X (paragraphs 45-58, 84-93, 140-153).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s remarks filed on September 19, 2025 have been fully considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the current rejection.
Conclusion
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/O.M/Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/LINDSAY M LOW/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747