DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This action is in response to the applicant’s filing on August 6, 2024. Claims 1-8 are pending and examined below.
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.
Claims 1, 3 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Manji, US 2021/0129904 A1.
As to claim 1, Manji teaches a vehicle comprising (Fig. 1):
A speed detector that detects a traveling speed of the vehicle in a horizontal direction (¶ 31, 36-37; e.g. straight traveling direction);
A yaw rate detector that detects a yaw rate about the vertical direction of the vehicle (¶ 2, 10; e.g. the difference between the left wheel speed and the right wheel speed);
A driving source (¶ 34 and Figs. 1-2; e.g. power source);
A left driving wheel and a right driving wheel to which a driving force from the driving source is transmitted, and that rotate independently form each other (abstract and ¶ 34 and Figs. 1-2);
A control unit circuit including a rotational speed estimator that estimates an actual rotational speed of the left driving wheel and an actual rotational speed of the right driving wheel, based on the traveling speed detected by the speed detector, and the yaw rate detected by the yaw rate detector (¶ 10, 16, 36, 39 and Fig. 3).
As to claim 3, Manji teaches a position information obtainer that obtains position information of at least two difference location of the vehicle in the horizontal direction (¶ 36; e.g. analyzing if the vehicle is traveling straight), and the position information obtainer serves as the speed detector and the yaw rate detector (¶ 2, 36; e.g. detecting the speed of the left rear wheel and the right wheel, and detect the difference between the left wheel speed and the right wheel speed).
As to claim 8, Manji teaches further comprising:
A left manipulator and a right manipulator that control the actual rotational speed of the left driving wheel and the actual rotational speed of the right driving wheel, respectively (¶ 36-39 and Figs. 1, 3; i.e. left manipulator lever 8a and right manipulator lever 8b);
A left actuator and a right actuator that actuate the left manipulator and the right manipulator, respectively (¶ 39-42 and Fig. 3; e.g. the left and the right speed instruction generation sections 8c and 8d), wherein
The control circuit includes (Fig. 3):
An operated amount controller that controls an operated amount based on a correlation map between a rotational speed of the driving wheels and the operated amount of the actuator, so that the actual rotational speed becomes a predetermined target rotational speed (¶ 37-38, 51-57 and Figs. 3-5);
A corrector that calculates a difference between the actual rotational speed and the target rotational speed, and that corrects the operated amount so as to bring the actual rotational speed closer to the target rotational speed (¶ 57; e.g. adjusting power output so that the actual speed is closer to the target value).
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.
Claims 2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Manji, US 2021/0129904 A1 in view of Yamamoto et al., US 2023/0406308 A1.
As to claim 4, Manji teaches a vehicle comprising various types of detectors to detecting the state of the vehicle as discussed in claim 1 above. Manji does not specifically teach the vehicle further comprises an Inertial Measurement Unit that detects acceleration in a horizontal direction of the vehicle, and an angular acceleration about vertical direction of the vehicle, and the Inertial Measurement Unit serves as the speed detector and the yaw rate detectors. However, this matter is taught by Yamamoto as Inertial Measurement Unit measures tri-axial velocities and accelerations (¶ 42-43 and Fig. 3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to the vehicle in Manji’s teaching to include the Inertial Measurement Unit as taught by Yamamoto for better indicating vehicle’s behavior during the travel (¶ 43).
Claim 2 is rejected based on the same rationale as discussed in claims 3-4 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7 are 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.
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mary Cheung whose telephone number is (571) 272-6705. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Christian Chace, can be reached on (571) 272-4190.
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The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceedings is assigned are as follows:
(571) 273-8300 (Official Communications; including After Final Communications labeled “BOX AF”)
(571) 273-6705 (Draft Communications)
/MARY CHEUNG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3665 December 19, 2025