DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on July 18, 2024, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
3. The information disclosure statement filed February 4, 2025, fails to comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609 because the non-patent literature (NPL) cited as 'R. L. de Valois, D. G. Albrecht, and L. G. Thorell, "Spatial frequency selectivity of cells in macaque visual cortex," Vision Research, 22(5), pp. 545-559, 1982' was not included with the literature submitted with the IDS. It has been placed in the application file, but the above NPL referred to therein has not been considered as to the merits. Applicant is advised that the date of any re-submission of any item of information contained in this information disclosure statement or the submission of any missing element(s) will be the date of submission for purposes of determining compliance with the requirements based on the time of filing the statement, including all certification requirements for statements under 37 CFR 1.97(e). See MPEP § 609.05(a). Also of note, the International Search Report of PCT/EP2022/075113 (hereinafter, the “ISR”) was re-submitted with the IDS filed February 4, 2025, but was not cited. As the ISR was correctly submitted with the IDS filed on July 18, 2024, it has been considered by the examiner. The rest of the documents submitted with the IDS filed February 4, 2025, have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
4. Claim 12 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 1 recites "compres" instead of "comprises". Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
5. Claim 2 is 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 2 recites the limitation "the non-volatile memory" in line 6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. As written, it is unclear which non-volatile memory is being referred to, as none has been introduced. For the purposes of examination, the examiner will interpret “the non-volatile memory” to mean “a non-volatile memory”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
6. Claims 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because they are directed to "computer program product" as in claim 14 and "computer-readable storage medium" as per claim 15. The computer program product and the computer readable storage medium do not have a special definition in the specification to be included into one of the four categories. Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the computer program product or computer readable storage medium may be transitory media or a signal. Thus, the claims are not patent eligible.
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.
7. Claims 1-6 and 8-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kuwahara (US 20190039645 A1; Kuwahara, M. et al.; cited in IDS filed July 18, 2024 - hereinafter "Kuwahara").
In regard to claims 1-6 and 8-15, Kuwahara discloses:
{claim 1} a method for operating a detection system for detecting a current position or current angle of rotation of a movable component [use of a first and second rotation information detection function units to detect first and second motor rotation position signals, abstract], the detection system comprising at least three partially incremental motion sensors for redundant monitoring of the movable component {paras. [0065]-[0066] recites four position sensors (magnetic detection elements 46d-g) for a single detection unit, paras. [0002]-[0004] describe magnetic detection elements as angle sensors; para. [0267] describes an embodiment wherein only three sensors are used}, the method comprising for each motion sensor:
a) evaluating an output signal of the respective motion sensor {paras. [0078]-[0080] at least describe the evaluation of output signals of the sensors from the first and second rotation information detection units 47a-b}, which output signal has detected that the output signal falls below or reaches at least one lower limit value and exceeds or reaches an upper limit value {para. [0192] describes comparing the digitalized voltage signals against an upper and lower limit}, the lower limit value and the upper limit value demarcating a measuring segment detectable by the motion sensor {para. [0192] describes the voltages as being within the tolerance of the sensor};
b) incrementing or decrementing an increment counter assigned to the respective motion sensor at least when the output signal has detected that the output signal falls below or reaches the lower limit value or that it exceeds or reaches the upper limit value {para. [0187] describes increasing a first counter unit 471c for the presence of an abnormality of the first digital rotation position signal}; and
c) retrieving and comparing the counter readings of the increment counters assigned to the motion sensors in order to detect an erroneous counter reading of at least one increment counter {paras. [0216]-[0220] describe the counter units 471c and 472c comparing stored counters from first and second memory units 471d and 472d and stopping/resuming operations based on the results of the counts (flags), thus comparing the readings; para. [0269] describes another embodiment wherein the controller 48 compares count values to perform dual abnormality diagnosis};
{claim 2} that in step c), at least one of the following steps is performed:
carrying out at least one majority decision or at least one 2-out-of-3 decision for an identification of at least one erroneous counter reading;
correcting an erroneous counter reading of at least one increment counter; and/or
storing at least one error data record in the non-volatile memory {para. [0082] describes outputting the first diagnosis result flag DR1 to the first memory unit 471d, para. [0091] describes 471d including non-volatile memory};
{claim 3} that the detection system comprises at least one non-volatile data memory {para. [0091] describes first memory unit 471d including non-volatile memory} and wherein at least the following step is carried out for each motion sensor at least at fixed time intervals and/or at least after each execution of step (b) and/or at least in an event of a loss of supply voltage of at least one motion sensor {para. [0051] describes at least some of the motor rotation position, steering angles, and counter information (count values Cs, Cc) stored in the non-volatile memory before power loss}:
retrieving the counter reading of the increment counter [count values Cs and Cc] and storing at least one motion sensor data record in a non-volatile data memory {para. [0051]}, wherein the motion sensor data record includes at least the current counter reading of the increment counter and a motion sensor identifier of the respective motion sensor {para. [0102] describes using the first and second rotation information detection function units to determine the identification of the function unit having the abnormality, thus the sensors have an identifier tied to the unit};
{claim 4} that for each motion sensor prior to step (a), at least the following step is performed: initializing an increment counter with an initial counter reading and assigning the increment counter to the respective motion sensor {para. [0051] describes performing an initial angle reading and storing position when the switch is powered on, the initial reading would then be analyzed for abnormalities and subsequent counters};
{claim 5} that for each motion sensor, at least the following step is performed or continuously performed: monitoring the supply voltage of the respective motion sensor by at least one brown-out detector for the detection of at least a temporary loss of the supply voltage of the motion sensor {paras. [0054]-[0058] describe that the power supply control unit 50 determines when power from the ignition (IG) switch 62 has been removed and temporarily powers the sensors using power from the battery 61};
{claim 6} that step (b) is additionally carried out at least when the output signal exceeds or falls below at least one first intermediate limit value or a second intermediate limit value, wherein the first intermediate limit value is lower than the second intermediate limit value and the first intermediate limit value and the second intermediate limit value are greater than the lower limit value and lower than the upper limit value {paras. [0080]-[0088] describe the first counter unit 471c counting the values of the sin (count value Cs1) and cos (count value Cc1) of first digital rotation position signal θd1 for each of their quadrants, values are within the upper and lower limit};
{claim 8} a detection system [use of a first and second rotation information detection function units to detect first and second motor rotation position signals, abstract] comprising:
at least three partially incremental motion sensors for redundant detection of a current position or current angle of rotation of a movable component {paras. [0065]-[0066] recites four position sensors (magnetic detection elements 46d-g) for a single detection unit}; and
at least one non-volatile data memory, wherein the detection system is operated according to the method according to claim 1 {para. [0082] describes outputting the first diagnosis result flag DR1 to the first memory unit 471d, para. [0091] describes 471d including non-volatile memory};
{claim 9} that at least two motion sensors are operated by different and/or independent energy source {paras. [0054]-[0058] describe that the power supply control unit 50 determines when power from the ignition (IG) switch 62 has been removed and temporarily powers the sensors using power from the battery 61, thus the sensors can be powered by independent energy sources};
{claim 10} that at least two motion sensors have a spatial offset [Figs. 3B-3C show the magnetic detection elements having a spatial offset];
{claim 11} that at least one brown-out detector is included, with which the supply voltage of at least one motion sensor is monitored and / or a loss of supply voltage is detected {paras. [0054]-[0058] describe that the power supply control unit 50 determines when power from the ignition (IG) switch 62 has been removed and temporarily powers the sensors using power from the battery 61};
{claim 12} that the detection system further comprises at least one microcontroller and/or at least one processor [controller 48 of motor drive control device 45];
{claim 13} a vehicle comprising at least one detection system [vehicle, abstract];
{claim 14} a computer program product, comprising commands which cause a detection system to perform the method according to claim 1 {para. [0048] describes the controller 48 executing commands to perform calculations and checks}; and
{claim 15} a computer-readable storage medium on which the computer program product according to claim 14 is stored {para. [0051] describes the controller having non-volatile memory}.
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claim 7 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.
9. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Although Kuwahara teaches performing operations before comparing counter readings {paras. [0080]-[0088]}, Kuwahara does not teach correcting at least one increment counter by using the arithmetic operations of calculating a dividend by increasing the counter reading by one, calculating a divisor by increasing the number of intermediate limit values by one, and performing a division with no remainder using the dividend and divisor.
Other pertinent prior art such as Anderson (US 20150224845 A1; Anderson, Z. et al.; hereinafter “Anderson”) teaches a vehicular system with a plurality of angular sensors, controller, and detection unit {abstract, at least paras. [0218] and [0267]} corrects for sensor inaccuracies by comparing the sensor data to other predictive models (to include other redundant sensor data), and not altering the calculations performed in the manner described above.
Conclusion
10. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Other cited prior art pertains to automated vehicular systems and processes.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL QUINN whose telephone number is (571)272-2690. The examiner can normally be reached T-R 07:00-19:00, F 07:00-11:00.
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, JOHN BREENE can be reached at (571)272-4107. 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.
/DANIEL M QUINN/Examiner, Art Unit 2855
/JOHN E BREENE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2855
Prosecution Insights