DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claim(s) 7-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahara (U.S. Pat. No. 8,108,106) in view of Kim (U.S. Pat. No. 2021/0394768).
Regarding claim 7, Takahara discloses an attitude control device for a vehicle, provided in a vehicle having front, rear, left, and right wheels (fig. 1 shows the wheels and brake devices) suspended by a suspension device that has an anti-dive and anti-lift geometry (abstract discloses suspension), the attitude control device comprising:
braking devices provided for the respective front, rear, left, and right wheels;
a braking control unit (30) that operates and controls the front, rear, left, and right braking devices to allow addition of braking force independently to the front, rear, left, and right wheels (col. 19, lines 18-25);
speed detection units that detect respective rotation speeds of the front, rear, left, and right wheels (41 is a sensor on each wheel); and
a longitudinal acceleration detection unit (col. 18, lines 15-20 discloses how a speed sensor is also an acceleration sensor and col. 19, lines 9-11 discloses how the vehicle speed is detected) that detects a longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle, wherein the braking control unit includes a pitch and roll determination unit that determines pitch and roll states of the vehicle, and a pitch and roll control unit that controls each of the front, rear, left, and right braking devices to add braking force based on the pitch and roll states (col. 3, lines 12-23 discloses how pitch and roll are related and claim 1 discloses basing the braking forces roll states), and the pitch and roll determination unit includes a plurality of kinds of determination conditions to determine the pitch and roll states based on rotational acceleration of each of the wheels and the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle, and an additional moment that is set each time the determination conditions are satisfied is added up to calculate a total additional moment of the vehicle (col. 4, lines 29-33 discloses multiple moments being added together).
Takahara does not disclose that the pitch and roll determination is based on the rotation speed of each of the wheels and the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle.
Kim, which deals in pitch and roll of a vehicle, teaches hat the pitch and roll determination is based on the rotation speed of each of the wheels and the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle (¶82).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have modified Takahara with the method of determination of Kim because this compensates for error based on road inclination (¶82).
Regarding claim 8 which depends from claim 7, Kim discloses wherein when the pitch and roll determination unit determines the pitch or roll state of the vehicle that is equal to or more than a prescribed level while the vehicle is traveling, the pitch and roll control unit maintains addition of the braking force by the braking devices based on the pitch and roll states for a prescribed time (¶102 discloses how the brakes are used to control acceleration to below a value which is a change in velocity over time).
Regarding claim 9 which depends from claim 7, Takahara discloses wherein the additional moment that is set each time the determination conditions are satisfied is a pitch moment toward a rear side of the vehicle, a pitch moment toward a front side of the vehicle, a roll moment with one right wheel of the vehicle running on a protruding road surface, a roll moment with two right wheels of the vehicle running on the protruding road surface, a roll moment with two right wheels and one left wheel of the vehicle running on the protruding road surface, a roll moment with one left wheel of the vehicle running on the protruding road surface, a roll moment with two left wheels of the vehicle running on the protruding road surface, and a roll moment with two left wheels and one right wheel of the vehicle running on the protruding road surface (in defining that three wheels are running on the road surface does not mean that the fourth wheel is not also running on the road surface. The limitations will be addressed by all four wheels on the road surface).
Regarding claim 10 which depends from claim 7, Takahara discloses wherein when a driver of the vehicle performs a prescribed or more braking operation, the pitch and roll control unit restrains addition of the braking force based on the pitch and roll states (addressed above that the system adjusts braking for pitch and roll).
Regarding claim 11 which depends from claim 7, Takahara discloses wherein the vehicle includes a braking control unit that controls the braking force of the braking devices to improve traveling safety of the vehicle, and when the braking control unit executes control of the braking force by the braking devices, the pitch and roll control unit restrains addition of the braking force based on the pitch and roll states (addressed above the system can increase and decrease the braking force).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please review when considering a response to this office action.
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GONZALO LAGUARDA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3747 email: gonzalo.laguarda@uspto.gov
/GONZALO LAGUARDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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