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 .
Inventorship
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-6, 8-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Knox (10,328,827).
Knox teaches a control unit 302 that outputs a result obtained by an operation based on input information, wherein the control unit acquires occupant specifications (see col. 8 line 53-54) including a mass of an occupant in a vehicle and position of center of gravity of the occupant, acquires a physical quantity about an attitude angle of the vehicle, the attitude angle including at least one of a roll angle and a pitch angle of the vehicle (see figure 1B, col. 6 line 66-67), acquires a physical quantity about an acceleration of the vehicle, and outputs a control command for activating an actuator unit 210 that controls an attitude of the vehicle based on a physical quantity about a moment applied to the occupant, with the moment being calculated based on the occupant specifications, the physical quantity about the attitude angle, and the physical quantity about the acceleration, and the moment including at least one of an occupant roll moment and an occupant pitch moment applied to the occupant by a force that the occupant receives from a behavior of the vehicle (see figures 4-5, col. 7 line 27 through col. 9 line 24).
For claims 2-3 (See figures 4-5, col. 9 line 25-42, and col. 10 line 13-62).
For claims 5-6 (see col. 8 line 64 through col. 9 line 43).
For claim 8 (see col. 10 lines 13-16).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 7, 9 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.
Conclusion
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/HAI H HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747