DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to Request for Continued Examination, and Applicant’s Amendment and Remarks filed on 07/29/2026.
Claims 3-7 are new.
Claims 1-7 are pending for examination.
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. JP2023-132952, filed on 08/17/2023.
Should applicant desire to obtain the benefit of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) prior to declaration of an interference, a certified English translation of the foreign application must be submitted in reply to this action. 37 CFR 41.154(b) and 41.202(e). Failure to provide a certified translation may result in no benefit being accorded for the non-English application.
Response to Argument
4. Applicant’s arguments, see page 5-9, with respect to the rejections of claims 1-2 under U.S.C. 103 has been fully considered and persuasive. Therefore, the 103 rejection to claims 1-2 have been withdrawn. However, a new basis of rejection has been made in view of Yoichiro et al. (JP 2022030868 A; Hereafter Yoichiro) and in further view of Niisato et al. (JP2024012918A; hereafter Niisato).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries 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, 3-5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious in view of Yoichiro as evidenced by Niisato.
Regarding claim 1, Yoichiro discloses a battery electric vehicle comprising: a motor configured to output torque to a drive shaft connected to an axle;
a mode selector configured to select one driving mode from a plurality of driving modes, including a motor driving mode for driving while controlling the motor such that required torque required for driving is output to the drive shaft, and a variable speed driving mode for driving while controlling the motor based on driver's shift operation such that the torque output to the drive shaft becomes a torque simulating torque behavior in an engine vehicle equipped with an engine and a stepped transmission, by an operation of the driver; ([0029]; “The mode switching switch 42 is a switch that switches the driving mode of the electric vehicle 10. The electric vehicle 10 has two driving modes: MT mode and EV mode. The mode selector switch 42 is configured to allow manual selection of either MT mode or EV mode. As will be explained in more detail later, when MT mode is selected, the electric motor 2 is controlled in a control mode (first mode) for driving the electric vehicle 10 like a manual transmission vehicle. When EV mode is selected, the electric motor 2 is controlled in the normal control mode (second mode) for a typical electric vehicle.”)
a display apparatus configured to display information ([0028]; “The simulated engine speed meter 44 may be mechanical or liquid crystal display type. Alternatively, a projection display using a head-up display would also be acceptable. In the case of LCD or projected displays, it may be possible to allow users to set the rev limit arbitrarily.”); and
a controller programmed to control the motor to run in the driving mode selected by the mode selector ([0011]; “The control device is a device that controls the motor torque output by an electric motor according to a control mode that includes two modes: a first mode and a second mode.”),
wherein the controller is programmed to control the display apparatus to display simulated rotation speed as rotation speed of the engine in the engine vehicle with simulated torque behavior in the variable speed driving mode ([0030]; “Furthermore, the system calculates the engine speed (virtual engine speed) of a virtual engine simulating a manual transmission vehicle and outputs a signal to display the information on the simulated engine speed meter 44.”), and to control the display apparatus to display the speedometer and the power meter and not to display the simulated rotation speed when the motor driving mode is selected by the mode selector. ([0065]; “The virtual engine speed Ne is displayed on the simulated engine speed meter 44 when MT mode is selected.”)
Although Yoichiro teaches displaying the virtual speed Yoichiro does not teach a speedometer displaying vehicle speed side by side and display a power meter displaying power output from the motor below the speedometer when the variable speed driving mode is selected by the mode selector.
However, Niisato within the same field of endeavor teaches a speedometer displaying vehicle speed side by side ([0024 & Fig. 2]; “Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing the display contents of the display unit 11. The display unit 11 is equipped with a speedometer 13, a power meter 14, and an information area 15 (information area). The speedometer 13 is a meter that shows the vehicle speed V, and the power meter 14 is a meter that shows the output of the engine 2 and the motor 3.”) and to display a power meter displaying power output from the motor below the speedometer when the variable speed driving mode is selected by the mode selector ([0028]; “The information area 15 may display, for example, a fuel gauge, battery gauge, odometer (cumulative mileage meter), trip meter (section distance meter), etc. Furthermore, the information area 15 may also display an energy flow screen [see Figure 2(A)] that schematically shows the flow of energy transmitted to the drive wheels 7, and a screen [see Figure 2(B)] that shows the current battery charge level and an estimated driving range if all remaining fuel is converted into electricity.”
Note: The placement of the power meter being below the speedometer is merely a display choice. The use of the information area shown in figure 2 serves the same purpose of displaying power information without being below the speedometer.)
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Fig. 6 depicting a display of a vehicle containing engine speed, speedometer and power.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Yoichiro with Niisato. This modification would have been obvious because both Yoichiro and Niisato cover subject matter within the same field of endeavor (electric vehicle control) and it would have been beneficial to incorporate displaying the power usage of the vehicle as this is valuable information when driving for understanding how fast the driver is driving and to determine the rate as which energy is being depleted from the vehicle.
Regarding claim 3, Yoichiro in combination with Higuchi discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Additionally Yoichiro discloses a clutch pedal configured to simulate a clutch pedal of the engine vehicle ([0025]; “The shift lever (shift mechanism) and clutch pedal are devices used to operate a manual transmission (MT)”), wherein, in the variable speed driving mode, the controller is programmed to set a torque transmission gain based on a slip ratio corresponding to a depression amount of the clutch pedal ([0062]; “The clutch model 532 receives the clutch pedal depression amount Pc detected by the clutch position sensor 38.”), to set the torque transmission gain smaller when the depression amount is relatively larger as compared with when the depression amount is relatively smaller, to set the torque transmission gain to a value of zero when the depression amount is at a maximum depression amount ([0063]; “For calculating the virtual engine rotational speed Ne, for example, a model represented by the following equation (1) can be used. In the following equation (1), the virtual engine speed Ne is calculated from the rotational speed Nw of the wheel 8, the overall reduction ratio R, and the slip ratio slip of the clutch mechanism.”), and to control the motor based on the torque transmission gain. ([0069]; “The engine model 531 calculates the virtual engine output torque Teout from the virtual engine rotational speed Ne and the accelerator opening Pap.”)
Regarding claim 4, Yoichiro in combination with Higuchi discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Additionally Yoichiro discloses in the variable speed driving mode, the controller is programmed to set the simulated rotation speed based on a rotation speed of the drive shaft ([0051]; “The reduction ratio from the output shaft 3 of the electric motor 2 to the drive wheels 8 is used to convert the drive torque into the required motor torque.”), a gear ratio corresponding to a shift position of the driver's shift operation ([0077]; “The MT model 533 calculates the transmission output torque Tgout using the gear ratio r.”), and a slip ratio of a clutch pedal. ([0063]; “In the following equation (1), the virtual engine speed Ne is calculated from the rotational speed Nw of the wheel 8, the overall reduction ratio R, and the slip ratio slip of the clutch mechanism.”)
Regarding claim 5, Yoichiro in combination with Higuchi discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Additionally Yoichiro discloses a shift lever configured to simulate a shift apparatus of the engine vehicle ([0026]; “The simulated shift lever 26 has a structure that mimics the shift lever found in a manual transmission vehicle.”), wherein the shift lever is configured to select, as a shift position of the driver's shift operation, one of a plurality of simulated gear ranges corresponding to gears of the stepped transmission and a neutral range. ([0026]; “The simulated shift lever 26 is provided with positions corresponding to each gear position, such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, reverse, and neutral. The simulated shift lever 26 is equipped with a shift position sensor 36 that detects the shift position Sp, which indicates the position of the simulated shift lever 26.”)
Regarding claim 7, Yoichiro in combination with Higuchi discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Additionally Niisato discloses in the variable speed driving mode, the controller is programmed to control the display apparatus to display the simulated rotation speed and the speedometer side by side and in a same size, and to display the power meter as a bar below the speedometer. ([Fig. 2]; Fig. 2 depicts the tachometer and speedometer as the same size as well as the information area 15 (power indicator)as a bar as shown below. Although the information area 15 is not below the speedometer, as discussed earlier this would be considered a design choice as the placement down not impact the functionality of the power information displayed.)
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Fig. 6 depicting a display of a vehicle containing engine speed, speedometer and power.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Yoichiro with Niisato. This modification would have been obvious because both Yoichiro and Niisato cover subject matter within the same field of endeavor (electric vehicle control) and it would have been beneficial to incorporate displaying the power usage of the vehicle as this is valuable information when driving for understanding how fast the driver is driving and to determine the rate as which energy is being depleted from the vehicle.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious in view of Yoichiro as evidenced by Niisato and further evidenced by Vangelov et al. (US 11813981 B2; hereafter Vangelov).
Vangelov was cited in the previous office action.
Regarding claim 2, Yoichiro in combination with Higuchi discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Additionally Vangelov discloses an audio output apparatus configured to output audio in an aurally recognizable manner ([col. 10, lines 26-31]; “As generally illustrated in FIG. 1, a system or method for controlling an electric vehicle 102 including an electric machine to propel the vehicle (best shown in FIG. 2) …, an audio system having an audio controller 119 and one or more speakers 118”),
wherein the controller is programmed to control the audio output apparatus such that a sound linked to the simulated rotation speed is output when the mode selector selects the variable speed driving mode. ([col. 10, lines 43-45]; “controlling the audio system via audio controller 118 and speakers 119 based on the engine sound profile to emulate operation of the non-electric vehicle 164.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Yoichiro with Niisato and Vangelov. This modification would have been obvious because both Yoichiro, Niisato and Vangelov cover subject matter within the same field of endeavor (electric vehicle control) and it would have been beneficial to incorporate audio output when imitating manual transmission vehicles for a closer experience to driving a manual transmission vehicle.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious in view of Yoichiro as evidenced by Niisato and further evidenced by Won et al. (KR 20230104448 A; Hereafter Won).
Regarding claim 6, Yoichiro in combination with Higuchi discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Additionally Won discloses two paddle switches located near a steering wheel, wherein the driver's shift operation changes a shift position by upshifting or downshifting based on paddle signals from the paddle switches. ([0013]; “a paddle including at least one of an upshift paddle and a downshift paddle, a sensing value received from the accelerator pedal sensor”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Yoichiro with Niisato and Won. This modification would have been obvious because both Yoichiro, Niisato and Won cover subject matter within the same field of endeavor (electric vehicle control) and it would have been beneficial to utilize paddle shifters for upshifting and downshifting.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRANDON SUNG EUN LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-5684. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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/B.S.L./Examiner, Art Unit 3668
/JAMES J LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3668
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