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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 05/26/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 7, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-9 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Claim 1 has been amended to remove the limitation “the step (e).” Claim limitations “traveling environment estimation unit” and “timing calculation unit” are taken as known to a person having ordinary skill in the art as an electronic control unit, ECU, or microprocessor which are conventional computers with non-transitory memory or art recognized equivalents including but not limited to a single controller, sections or parts of a single controller, or multiple linked controllers. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of the current amendments to the claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claim 1 has includes the limitation “wherein in the step (g), the braking force calculated in the step (j) is added to the braking force calculated during the braking start timing.” While paragraph 0072 of the specification specifies the control flows of Figures 6 and 8 are executed simultaneously, the simultaneous execution does not support adding the braking force calculated in step (j) to a braking force calculating during the calculation of the braking start timing. Step S37 of Figure 8 involves adding the braking force calculated in either of steps S35 and S36 with the braking force calculated in step S23 of Figure 6. Since the braking start timing is calculated in step S22 of Figure 6, the adding cannot take place during calculating the braking start timing.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 1 recites the limitation "the step (g)" in line 24. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim because no step (g) is recited in the claim. For the purposes of examination, the limitation is being interpreted such that “in the step (g)” has been removed. Claim 1 additionally recites the limitation “the braking force calculated during the calculating the braking start timing.” There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For the purposes of examination, the limitation is being interpreted as “a braking force calculated during the calculating the braking start timing.” Claims 2-9 are rejected as being dependent on a rejected claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10 and 12 are allowed.
Claims 1-9 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112 (a), 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 1st and 2nd paragraphs, respectively, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner
should be directed to JOSHUA CAMPBELL whose telephone number is (571) 272-8215. The examiner
can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor,
Lindsay M. Low can be reached on (571) 272-1196. The fax phone number for the organization where
this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSHUA CAMPBELL/
Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/LOGAN M KRAFT/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747
