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 .
Status of Claims
This is a Final Rejection office action in response to application Serial No. 18/839,585. Claim(s) 1-10 have been examined and fully considered. Claim 1 has been amended.
Claim(s) 1-10 are pending in Instant Application.
Response to Arguments/Rejections
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 03/17/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 35 USC § 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Hiroshi Arita (JP 2012086773A).
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.
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(s) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akihiro Nabeshima (JP2020059360A; the NPL citations are based on the provided English Translation; previously recorded), hereinafter, referred to as “Nabeshima” in view of Matsubara et al. (Patent No.: US 6,617,703; previously recorded), hereinafter, referred to as “Matsubara”, and in view of Hiroshi Arita (JP 2012086773A; the NPL citations are based on the provided English Translation), hereinafter, referred to as “Arita”.
Regarding [claim 1], A vehicle control device (see, Abstract; Paragraph [0008]: “FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a control system for a vehicle drive device.”) configured to control traveling of a vehicle by switching between connection and disconnection of a first power transmission path between an engine and a drive shaft and a second power transmission path between a rotation electric machine and the drive shaft (see, Paragraph [0008]: “FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a vehicle drive device in a second EV mode. FIG. 4 is a collinear diagram showing an example of a differential state of the planetary gear mechanism when switching from a first EV mode to a second EV mode. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a vehicle drive system in a torque distribution mode. FIG. 4 is a collinear diagram showing an example of a differential state of the planetary gear mechanism in a torque distribution mode” and [0050]), wherein when the first power transmission path is in an engaged state and the second power transmission path is in a released state, in response to an amount of brake operation for the vehicle exceeding a predetermined threshold (see, Paragraph [0029]: “in a region where the vehicle speed exceeds a threshold value (for example, 30 km/h), the second clutch CL2 is engaged and the brake BR is released. In this way, by executing the second EV mode in the medium to high vehicle speed range, the rotation speed of the rear wheels 14 can be increased compared to the first EV mode, so that motor driving can be maintained over a wide vehicle speed range without excessively increasing the rotation speed of the motor generator 41. In the first EV mode and the second EV mode, a clutch (not shown) in the transmission 21 is disengaged, and the stopped engine 20 is disconnected from the front wheel drive system 13” and [0031]: “As shown in Figures 3 and 8, in the torque distribution mode, the first clutch CL1 is controlled to an engaged state, the second clutch CL2 is controlled to a released state, the brake BR is controlled to a released state, and the engine 20 is controlled to an operating state. In other words, as shown in Figure 8, the engagement of the first clutch CL1 connects the front and rear power transmission paths 26, 34, so that engine torque is not only transmitted to the front wheels 11 via the front wheel power transmission path 26, but also transmitted to the rear wheels 14 via the rear wheel power transmission path 34. In addition, since the second clutch CL2 and the brake BR are released, the differential operation of the planetary gear mechanism 40 is controlled according to the engine torque input to the ring gear R and the motor torque input to the sun gear S. As will be described later, in the torque distribution mode, the motor generator 41 is controlled to be in a powering state or a regenerative state”)…
Nabeshima does not explicitly disclose
…a deceleration torque by a regenerative brake is limited to be greater than a lower limit torque so that a drive torque approach 0.
However, Matsubara teaches
…a deceleration torque by a regenerative brake is limited to be greater than a lower limit torque (see, col. 9, lines 25-35, “In order to prevent the driver from experiencing a strange feeling, it is desirable that the braking force produced by the generator operation (regeneration) of the first MG 2 should be less than force which exerts deceleration of (0.05x gravitational acceleration) on the automobile 100 Now, an example of charging amount control in Step 5 will be described hereinafter. An amount of deceleration energy recovered by the first MG 2 depends on generator torque. Generally, if the generator torque is increased, an amount of the deceleration energy to be recovered is increased accordingly, and the electric power to be charged into the battery 6 (hereinafter referred as charging electric power) also is increased.”)…
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to implement where a vehicle drive device capable of controlling the torque distribution ratio as taught by Nabeshima, and where Matsubara disclosing determining steps of the multi-speed automatic transmission is moved in a direction to increase range of low speed in accordance with degree of decrement of the remaining electric power capacity detected by the remaining amount detection means.
One would be motivated to make this modification in order to convey it is possible to efficiently recover the automobile's kinetic energy resulting from deceleration, i.e., deceleration energy, and use the recovered deceleration energy for operating the rotating electric machine as a motor, and thereby improve the operability, comfortableness, safety, and even fuel economy of the automobile.
Additionally, Arita teaches
…a deceleration torque by a regenerative brake is limited to be greater than a lower limit torque so that a drive torque approach 0 (see, Paragraph [0066]: “When the battery charging allowance power (PIN) is limited, the motor's lower limit torque is also limited (approaching 0 kW), meaning the motor's lower limit torque (in this case, a negative value) increases, and the regenerative torque from the motor decreases. As a result, if coasting deceleration is continued in EV mode, the coasting deceleration torque gradually weakens, making it impossible to maintain the target vehicle speed during cruising (see Figure 13).”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to implement where a vehicle drive device capable of controlling the torque distribution ratio as taught by Nabeshima, and where Matsubara disclosing determining steps of the multi-speed automatic transmission by combining a vehicle driving control technology for a hybrid vehicle that uses an engine and a motor as driving sources and drives using at least one of the engine and the motor depending on the driving conditions as taught by Arita.
One would be motivated to make this modification in order to convey the lower limit torque that the motor can output (coast deceleration torque that can be regenerated by the motor) will be limited, which may prevent the desired coasting from continuing. This invention focuses on the points mentioned above and aims to provide a driving control system that can more reliably achieve the desired coasting in a hybrid vehicle (see, Paragraph [0004]).
As to [claim 2], the combination of Nabeshima, Matsubara and Arita teaches the vehicle control device according to claim 1. Matsubara teaches wherein the lower limit torque is derived using a fixed value and a suppression gain, and the suppression gain varies depending on the amount of brake operation for the vehicle (see, col. 8, lines 26-35: “In order to make the first MG 2 recover deceleration energy, it is necessary to operate the first MG 2 as a generator (regeneration) So as to generate a negative rotational driving force. For that, the operating condition control means 10 determines an appropriate negative torque (hereinafter referred as generator torque) on the basis of braking force control and charging amount control (Step 5), and outputs this as a generator torque command (Step 6). In response to this command”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to implement where a vehicle drive device capable of controlling the torque distribution ratio as taught by Nabeshima, and where Matsubara disclosing determining steps of the multi-speed automatic transmission is moved in a direction to increase range of low speed in accordance with degree of decrement of the remaining electric power capacity detected by the remaining amount detection means.
One would be motivated to make this modification in order to convey it is possible to efficiently recover the automobile's kinetic energy resulting from deceleration, i.e., deceleration energy, and use the recovered deceleration energy for operating the rotating electric machine as a motor, and thereby improve the operability, comfortableness, safety, and even fuel economy of the automobile.
As to [claim 3], the combination of Nabeshima, Matsubara and Arita teaches the vehicle control device according to claim 2. Matsubara teaches wherein the suppression gain is set to a different value according to a plurality of shift ranges in which a regenerative braking force is different (see, col 8, lines 56-67; and col. 9 lines 1-15).
As to [claim 4], the combination of Nabeshima, Matsubara and Arita teaches the vehicle control device according to claim 1. Matsubara teaches wherein the predetermined threshold is set to a different value according to a plurality of shift ranges in which a regenerative braking force is different (see, col.9, lines 31-45, “An amount of deceleration energy recovered by the first MG 2 depends on generator torque. Generally, if the generator torque is increased, an amount of the deceleration energy to be recovered is increased accordingly, and the electric power to be charged into the battery 6 (hereinafter referred as charging electric power) also is increased. However, since the terminal voltage of the battery 6 becomes high in proportion to the charging electric power, it is necessary to take into consideration so that the terminal voltage of the battery 6 does not exceed a predetermined prescribed range (hereinafter referred as a prescribed voltage range) when deciding generator torque. Also, it is necessary to keep the charging rate of the battery 6 within a predetermined prescribed range not so as to lower the durability of the battery 6”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to implement where a vehicle drive device capable of controlling the torque distribution ratio as taught by Nabeshima, and where Matsubara disclosing determining steps of the multi-speed automatic transmission is moved in a direction to increase range of low speed in accordance with degree of decrement of the remaining electric power capacity detected by the remaining amount detection means.
One would be motivated to make this modification in order to convey it is possible to efficiently recover the automobile's kinetic energy resulting from deceleration, i.e., deceleration energy, and use the recovered deceleration energy for operating the rotating electric machine as a motor, and thereby improve the operability, comfortableness, safety, and even fuel economy of the automobile.
As to [claim 5]. the combination of Nabeshima, Matsubara and Arita teaches the vehicle control device according to claim 4. Matsubara teaches wherein the predetermined threshold is set to a lower value in a shift range in which the regenerative braking force is stronger among the plurality of shift ranges (see, col.19, lines 34-47, “Further, if the charging rate of the battery 6 hovers near the lower limit value of a predetermined prescribed range, operation mode 2D or 2E is selected to raise the charging rate of the battery 6 by operating the first MG 2 as a generator. The above is an example of selection of operation mode in Step 20. However, selection of operation mode is not always the same as described above, and an optimum operation mode is selected on the basis of the various information described above. ”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to implement where a vehicle drive device capable of controlling the torque distribution ratio as taught by Nabeshima, and where Matsubara disclosing determining steps of the multi-speed automatic transmission is moved in a direction to increase range of low speed in accordance with degree of decrement of the remaining electric power capacity detected by the remaining amount detection means.
One would be motivated to make this modification in order to convey it is possible to efficiently recover the automobile's kinetic energy resulting from deceleration, i.e., deceleration energy, and use the recovered deceleration energy for operating the rotating electric machine as a motor, and thereby improve the operability, comfortableness, safety, and even fuel economy of the automobile.
As to [claim 6], the combination of Nabeshima, Matsubara and Arita teaches the vehicle control device according to claim 1. Matsubara teaches wherein the predetermined threshold is switched depending on a condition of a road surface on which the vehicle is traveling (see, col. 50-59; col. 18, lines 31-40, 55-67; and col. 19, lines 1-28).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to implement where a vehicle drive device capable of controlling the torque distribution ratio as taught by Nabeshima, and where Matsubara disclosing determining steps of the multi-speed automatic transmission is moved in a direction to increase range of low speed in accordance with degree of decrement of the remaining electric power capacity detected by the remaining amount detection means.
One would be motivated to make this modification in order to convey it is possible to efficiently recover the automobile's kinetic energy resulting from deceleration, i.e., deceleration energy, and use the recovered deceleration energy for operating the rotating electric machine as a motor, and thereby improve the operability, comfortableness, safety, and even fuel economy of the automobile.
As to [claim 7], the combination of Nabeshima, Matsubara and Arita teaches the vehicle control device according to claim 1. Matsubara discloses wherein when a brake operation on the vehicle is ended or an accelerator operation is performed, the limitation is ended (see, Figures 2-3 and 6; col. 6, lines 1-4. “Now, description will be given hereinafter about a case in which the operation mode lA is selected in Step 1, i.e., the operating status of the first MG 2 is regeneration and the operating status of the second MG 3 is free.”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to implement where a vehicle drive device capable of controlling the torque distribution ratio as taught by Nabeshima, and where Matsubara disclosing determining steps of the multi-speed automatic transmission is moved in a direction to increase range of low speed in accordance with degree of decrement of the remaining electric power capacity detected by the remaining amount detection means.
One would be motivated to make this modification in order to convey it is possible to efficiently recover the automobile's kinetic energy resulting from deceleration, i.e., deceleration energy, and use the recovered deceleration energy for operating the rotating electric machine as a motor, and thereby improve the operability, comfortableness, safety, and even fuel economy of the automobile.
As to [claim 8]. the combination of Nabeshima, Matsubara and Arita teaches the vehicle control device according to claim 1. Matsubara teaches wherein when the deceleration torque is limited, a braking force is compensated for by a hydraulic brake (see, col. 8, lines 56-60, “FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of the braking force control. The horizontal axis represents the braking force demanded by the driver detected by the demanded braking force detection means 21 and the vertical axis represents the braking force acting on the automobile 100”. See also Nabeshima [0015]-[0017]).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to implement where a vehicle drive device capable of controlling the torque distribution ratio as taught by Nabeshima, and where Matsubara disclosing determining steps of the multi-speed automatic transmission is moved in a direction to increase range of low speed in accordance with degree of decrement of the remaining electric power capacity detected by the remaining amount detection means.
One would be motivated to make this modification in order to convey it is possible to efficiently recover the automobile's kinetic energy resulting from deceleration, i.e., deceleration energy, and use the recovered deceleration energy for operating the rotating electric machine as a motor, and thereby improve the operability, comfortableness, safety, and even fuel economy of the automobile.
As to [claim 9], the combination of Nabeshima, Matsubara and Arita teaches the vehicle control device according to claim 1. Nabeshima teaches wherein when the first power transmission path is in the engaged state, the first power transmission path is switched to the released state in response to a vehicle speed of the vehicle (see, Paragraph [0028]: “Then, at the timing when the rotational speeds of the carrier C and the sun gear S are synchronized, the second clutch CL2 is controlled to be in an engaged state. Here, since the second clutch CL2 is a friction clutch, even if the rotational speeds of the carrier C and the sun gear S do not completely match, the second clutch CL2 can be controlled to an engaged state, and the driving mode can be easily switched from the first EV mode to the second EV mode”)…
Additionally Matsubara teaches
…falling below a predetermined speed threshold, and the limitation is initiated before the first power transmission path is switched to the released state (see, col. 9, lines 15-28, “By effecting the braking force control described above, it is possible to produce braking force in conformity with the braking force demanded by the driver and difference in braking force between when the first MG 2 is operated as a generator (with regeneration) and when the first MG 2 is not operated as a generator (without regeneration) can be reduced to a degree that the driver does not experience a strange feeling. In order to prevent the driver from experiencing a strange feeling, it is desirable that the braking force produced by the generator operation (regeneration) of the first MG 2 should be less than force which exerts deceleration of (0.0Sx gravitational acceleration) on the automobile 100”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to implement where a vehicle drive device capable of controlling the torque distribution ratio as taught by Nabeshima, and where Matsubara disclosing determining steps of the multi-speed automatic transmission is moved in a direction to increase range of low speed in accordance with degree of decrement of the remaining electric power capacity detected by the remaining amount detection means.
One would be motivated to make this modification in order to convey it is possible to efficiently recover the automobile's kinetic energy resulting from deceleration, i.e., deceleration energy, and use the recovered deceleration energy for operating the rotating electric machine as a motor, and thereby improve the operability, comfortableness, safety, and even fuel economy of the automobile.
As to [claim 10], the combination of Nabeshima, Matsubara and Arita teaches the vehicle control device according to claim 9. Nabeshima discloses wherein an engagement operation of the second power transmission path is initiated before disconnecting the first power transmission path (see, Paragraph [0006]: “a second power transmission path provided between the second axle and the first power transmission path, a first clutch provided between the first power transmission path and the second power transmission path, and controlled between an engaged state that connects the first and second power transmission paths to each other and a released state that releases the connection between the first and second power transmission paths”; and [0023]: “As shown in Figures 3 and 4, in the first EV mode, the first clutch CL1 is controlled to a released state, the second clutch CL2 is controlled to a released state, the brake BR is controlled to an engaged state, and the engine 20 is controlled to a stopped state”).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/B.U./Examiner, Art Unit 3663 /ABBY J FLYNN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3663
