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 .
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) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim US Pg. Pub. No. (2016/0272239) referred to hereinafter as Kim.
As per claim 1, Kim teaches a method of judging an abnormality of a zero point of a steering angle sensor that outputs a steering angle according to a turning operation amount of a steering shaft with a straight-ahead state of a vehicle being the zero point (see at least abstract, summary, para 6, 7, 8), the method comprising: when the steering angle which is a threshold value or larger continues to be output until travelling with a vehicle speed of a predetermined speed or higher reaches a predetermined cumulative time, judging that the zero point has deviated (see at least abstract, summary, para 6-12, 8, 17, figs.3-5).
As per claim 2, Kim teaches a method of judging the abnormality of the zero point of the steering angle sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein after an ignition switch of the vehicle is turned on, each time the travelling with the vehicle speed of the predetermined speed or higher reaches the predetermined cumulative time, repeatedly judging whether the steering angle which is the threshold value or larger continues to be output (see at least abstract, summary, para 6-7, 8, 11-12, 17-21).
As per claim 3, Kim teaches a method of judging the abnormality of the zero point of the steering angle sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method is used for a vehicle having an idling stop function of stopping an engine when predetermined idling stop conditions are met, and a condition that the steering angle detected by the steering angle sensor is less than a predetermined value is one of the idling stop conditions (see at least abstract, summary, para 6-7, 8, 11-12, 17-21).
As per claim 4, Kim teaches a method of judging the abnormality of the zero point of the steering angle sensor as claimed in claim 3, wherein the threshold value is set to a steering angle which is larger than the predetermined value of the idling stop condition (see at least abstract, summary, para 6-7, 8, 11-12, 17-21).
As per claim 5, the limitations of claim 5 are the same as the limitations of claim 1, therefore they are rejected based on the same rationale.
Conclusion
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/MUSSA A SHAAWAT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3669