DETAILED ACTION
This is a non-final office action on the merits. Claims 1-20 are pending and addressed below.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 8/26/2024 is being considered by the examiner.
Non-English documents have been considered in as much as the drawings and translated portions provided therein (See MPEP 609).
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in KR on 02/29/2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the KR10-2024-0029994 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 5, 10, 11-12, 15, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hawley (US 20190217847) in view of Hall et al. (US 20180194357).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Hawley teaches:
A vehicle control apparatus, comprising:
a memory storing a program instruction; and
a processor configured to execute the program instruction,
(at least figs. 1-5 [0030]-[0088] discussed HEV vehicle, ECU 50/driver behavior circuit 102/engine autostop circuit 110, determine mass during low speed condition, calculate potential energy that can be recouped, engine autostop; fig. 6 [0089]-[0097] discussed computerized components)
wherein the processor is configured to:
obtain operation data including at least one of a required power value of a vehicle, a speed of the vehicle, transmission efficiency, a gradient angle, or any combination thereof, in a state in which a change in the speed of the vehicle is maintained within an error range;
calculate total mass of the vehicle, based on the operation data;
(at least figs. 1-5 [0030]-[0088] discussed HEV vehicle, ECU 50/driver behavior circuit 102/engine autostop circuit 110, determine mass during low speed condition, calculate potential energy that can be recouped, engine autostop; in particular [0069]-[0070] discussed determining mass during low speed, discussed drivetrain force/drivetrain deceleration force/torque request; [0069] discussed “For example, relevant mass of vehicle 10 is determined during a low speed condition while the vehicle is powered only by MG 12. In some embodiments, a low speed may be a speed less than approximately 18 mph/30 kph” indicating that during the low speed condition when mass is being determined, the change in speed in the very least cannot be more than approximately 18 mph/30 kph because that would make speed higher than the required low speed condition; in other words, any changes to speed cannot take the vehicle out of 0 to 18 mph/30 kph range);
calculate predicted data including at least one of a ratio of a time when the vehicle travels in a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) mode to a total driving time of the vehicle, a state of charge (SOC) of a battery of the vehicle, a load on a road in front of the vehicle, or any combination thereof, based on the calculated total mass of the vehicle or predetermined default mass;
(at least figs. 1-5 [0030]-[0088] discussed HEV vehicle, ECU 50/driver behavior circuit 102/engine autostop circuit 110, determine mass during low speed condition, calculate potential energy that can be recouped, engine autostop; in particular [0069]-[0070] discussed determining mass during low speed, discussed drivetrain force/drivetrain deceleration force/torque request; [0077]-[0087] discussed potential energy that can be recouped based on mass, engine autostop, [0047] discussed effect of recouped energy on SOC);
and
control the vehicle based on the predicted data;
(at least figs. 1-5 [0030]-[0088] discussed HEV vehicle, ECU 50/driver behavior circuit 102/engine autostop circuit 110, determine mass during low speed condition, calculate potential energy that can be recouped, engine autostop; in particular [0069]-[0070] discussed determining mass during low speed, discussed drivetrain force/drivetrain deceleration force/torque request; [0077]-[0087] discussed potential energy that can be recouped based on mass, engine autostop, [0047] discussed effect of recouped energy on SOC);
Hawley does not explicitly teach:
the total mass including at least one of tolerance mass of the vehicle, mass of a passenger who rides in the vehicle, mass of an object loaded into the vehicle, mass of fuel of the vehicle, or any combination thereof,
However, Hall et al. teaches:
also in a state in which a change in the speed of the vehicle is maintained within an error range;
the total mass including at least one of tolerance mass of the vehicle, mass of a passenger who rides in the vehicle, mass of an object loaded into the vehicle, mass of fuel of the vehicle, or any combination thereof;
(at least [0006]-[0009] discussed “In order to determine the total weight of a vehicle, the drive force and speed of the vehicle comprising velocity and acceleration must be known in order to do the required calculations”, “storing a plurality of data pairs that include longitudinal acceleration and drive force, and determining a slope of a line that linearly approximates the plurality of data pairs, the slope indicating a total weight, the total weight comprising a weight of the vehicle and a weight being hauled by the vehicle”; [0086]-[0090]) to determine weight ([0006]-[0009]);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing and at the time of the invention to modify the system and method of Hawley with in a state in which a change in the speed of the vehicle is maintained within an error range; the total mass including at least one of tolerance mass of the vehicle, mass of a passenger who rides in the vehicle, mass of an object loaded into the vehicle, mass of fuel of the vehicle, or any combination thereof as taught by Hall et al. to determine weight.
Regarding claim 2, Hawley does not explicitly teach:
wherein the processor is configured to:
derive a data trend line based on the operation data;
calculate a slope value of the data trend line; and
calculate the total mass of the vehicle based on at least one of the slope value of the data trend line, the transmission efficiency, or any combination thereof;
However, Hall et al. teaches:
wherein the processor is configured to:
derive a data trend line based on the operation data;
calculate a slope value of the data trend line; and
calculate the total mass of the vehicle based on at least one of the slope value of the data trend line, the transmission efficiency, or any combination thereof;
(at least [0006]-[0009] discussed “In order to determine the total weight of a vehicle, the drive force and speed of the vehicle comprising velocity and acceleration must be known in order to do the required calculations”, “storing a plurality of data pairs that include longitudinal acceleration and drive force, and determining a slope of a line that linearly approximates the plurality of data pairs, the slope indicating a total weight, the total weight comprising a weight of the vehicle and a weight being hauled by the vehicle”; [0086]-[0090]) to determine weight ([0006]-[0009]);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing and at the time of the invention to modify the system and method of Hawley with wherein the processor is configured to: derive a data trend line based on the operation data; calculate a slope value of the data trend line; and calculate the total mass of the vehicle based on at least one of the slope value of the data trend line, the transmission efficiency, or any combination thereof as taught by Hall et al. to determine weight.
Regarding claim 5, Hawley teaches:
wherein the processor is configured to calculate the total mass of the vehicle based on only the operation data obtained in a state in which the vehicle is driven by a motor;
(at least figs. 1-5 [0030]-[0088] discussed HEV vehicle, ECU 50/driver behavior circuit 102/engine autostop circuit 110, determine mass during low speed condition, calculate potential energy that can be recouped, engine autostop; in particular [0069]-[0070] discussed determining mass during low speed, discussed drivetrain force/drivetrain deceleration force/torque request; [0077]-[0087] discussed potential energy that can be recouped based on mass, engine autostop; [0069] discussed “relevant mass of vehicle 10 is determined during a low speed condition while the vehicle is powered only by MG 12”)
Regarding claim 10, Hawley teaches:
wherein the processor is configured to control the vehicle in an electric vehicle (EV) mode, based on the predicted data, or control the vehicle in the hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) mode, based on the predicted data;
(at least figs. 1-5 [0030]-[0088] discussed HEV vehicle, ECU 50/driver behavior circuit 102/engine autostop circuit 110, determine mass during low speed condition, calculate potential energy that can be recouped, engine autostop; in particular [0069]-[0070] discussed determining mass during low speed, discussed drivetrain force/drivetrain deceleration force/torque request; [0077]-[0087] discussed potential energy that can be recouped based on mass, engine autostop)
Regarding claim 12, the cited portions and rationale in rejection to claim 2 read on this claim.
Regarding claim 15, the cited portions and rationale in rejection to claim 5 read on this claim.
Regarding claim 20, the cited portions and rationale in rejection to claim 10 read on this claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4, 6-9, 13-14, 16-19 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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BAO LONG T. NGUYEN
Examiner
Art Unit 3664
/BAO LONG T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3656