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 Objections
Claims 3, 8, and 12-14 are objected to because of the following informalities:
The word “the” extraneously appears between the phrase “provide a control output to” and the word “actuate” in lines 6-7 of Claim 3.
Claims 8 and 12-13 recite the limitation "the steering supply valve arrangement". While understood by the Examiner to refer to (underlined for emphasis) “the electronically controllable steering supply valve arrangement”, all recitations of this limitation should be dictionally consistent.
The words “so as” extraneously appear between the phrases “to rotate” and “the steering shaft” in line 5 of Claim 14.
Appropriate correction of each of the above informalities is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Pub. 2021/0001930 A1 to Ognibene.
Regarding Claim 1, Ognibene teaches an electro-hydraulic steering system for a vehicle comprising:
a hydraulic steering actuator (assembly of 15, 20, 25, and 30, Fig. 1, [0046]) for turning a steered wheel (5, Fig. 1, [0046]) through a rotation angle (“steering angle”, [0046]);
a fluid supply arrangement including a source of pressurized fluid (“pump” 45, Fig. 1, [0047]) and a tank (50, Fig. 1, [0047]);
a working port arrangement having two working ports (80 and 85, Fig. 2, [0050]) fluidly connected with the hydraulic steering actuator (assembly of 15, 20, 25, 30, connection depicted in Figs. 1-2);
a hydro-mechanical steering unit (“hydrostatic steering unit” 65, Figs. 1-2, [0049-0050]) fluidly connected between the fluid supply arrangement (45 and 50) and the working port arrangement (80 and 85) and configured to connect one of the working ports (either of 80 and 85, via “main flow branch” 95, [0050-0054]) with the source of pressurized fluid (via “high-pressure port” 70, [0050]) and the other with the tank (via “low-pressure port” 75, [0050]) in dependence on a steering demand (controlled via “dosing device” 90 which is directly mechanically controlled by “steering shaft” 60, [0051-0052]);
an electronically controllable steering supply valve arrangement (“flow rate regulating device” – [0057], comprising electrically actuated “flow rate regulating valve” 125, also comprising other valves 135, 140, [0057-0063]), fluidly connected with the source of pressurized fluid (45), the tank (50) and the working ports (80 and 85, fluid connection via “amplification line” 120, [0057]);
a controller (“electronic control unit” 220, [0082]) operatively connected with the electronically controllable steering supply valve arrangement (operative connection to flow-rate regulating device described in [0082]);
wherein the hydro-mechanical steering unit (65) is calibrated/specified to provide a maximum volume flow rate of fluid (that is, the maximum flow rate in the “main branch” 95, [0057]) to said one of the working ports (80 or 85) which is below a first threshold value (the maximum possible flow rate of 95) and above a second threshold value (the minimum flow rate required for wheel actuation, that is, above zero but below the maximum flow rate of 95), the controller (220) configured to provide a control output to the electronically controllable steering supply valve arrangement (“flow rate regulating device” 125) to supply pressurized fluid to said one of the working ports (80 or 85) in addition to fluid supplied by the hydro-mechanical steering unit (65) in order to raise the volume flow rate of fluid provided to said one of the working ports (80 or 85) above the second threshold value as required to meet a steering demand (the maximum flow rate in the amplification branch 120 being between 1.5 and 5 times the flow rate of the maximum in the main branch 95, [0057]), the electronically controllable steering supply valve arrangement being capable of raising the volume flow rate of fluid provided to said one of the working ports (80 or 85) up to the first threshold value (necessarily included as 120 is capable of exceeding the lower second threshold value).
Regarding Claim 2, Ognibene teaches wherein the first threshold value (the maximum flow rate of the hydrostatic steering unit 65) is a maximum volume flow rate required for operation of the steering system under normal operating conditions (the hydrostatic steering unit 65 being capable of steering the wheels via solely the maximum flow rate provided by main branch 95, through fluid distribution via dosing device 90 as described in [0051-0055]) and wherein, optionally, the second threshold value (the minimum threshold flow rate required for actuation of the wheels, above zero but below the maximum of 95) is a volume flow rate sufficient to operate the steering system in an emergency steering mode conditions ([0105-0106]).
Regarding Claim 3, Ognibene further teaches wherein the system includes a steering member (“steering wheel” 55, [0049]) connected with the hydro-mechanical steering unit (65, connection to 55 recited in [0049]) by a steering shaft (60, [0049]), the steering member movable by a user to generate a steering demand (recited in [0048]), a steering member sensor (“first angular sensor” 205, [0079]) connected to the controller (220, connection described in [0107]) to detect the position and/or movement of the steering member ([0077, 0079]), wherein the controller (220) is configured upon detection of movement of the steering member (55) to provide a control output to the [sic] actuate the electronically controllable steering supply valve arrangement (“flow rate regulating device” 125) to supply fluid to one of the working ports (80 or 85) in dependence on the direction of movement of the steering member (55) during movement of the steering member from an initial position through at least a dead band range of movement ([0107-0109], in reference to programmable on-center tolerance of “relationship algorithms”, here ±2°) in which the hydro-mechanical steering unit (65) does not supply fluid to said one of the working ports (mechanical dead band described in operation of “rotary distributor” 180, [0067-0071], particularly the flow rate hysteresis defined by the relationship between inner and outer cylinders of the distributor at small off-center inputs, [0070-0071]).
Regarding Claim 4, Ognibene further teaches wherein the controller (220) is configured to provide a control output to the actuate the electronically controllable steering supply valve arrangement (125) to continue supplying fluid to said one of the working ports (80 or 85) if the steering member (55) is moved beyond the dead band range of movement so as to increase the volume fluid flow rate provided to said one of the working ports above that provided by the hydro-mechanical steering unit (the maximum value of the flow rate is between 1.5 to 5 times the flow rate in the main branch, i.e., that is supplied by the “hydrostatic steering unit” 65 alone, [0057]).
Regarding Claim 5, Ognibene further teaches an electric motor (185, Fig. 1, [0074]) operative to apply a torque to rotate the steering shaft (60) when actuated ([0074]), the electric motor (185) operatively connected to the controller (“electronic control unit” 220, connection recited in [0089]), wherein the controller is configured to provide a control output to actuate the electric motor to apply torque to rotate the steering shaft (60) so as to modify a haptic steering torque feedback sensed by the user through the steering member (haptic feedback actuation recited in [0089]).
Regarding Claim 6, Ognibene further teaches wherein the controller (220) is configured such that when the steering member (55, through operative connection to 60) is moved from an initial position (i.e., the center of the steering range) through at least part of the dead band range of movement ([0067-0071]), the controller (220) actuates the electric motor (185) to apply a torque to rotate the steering shaft (60) in a direction which opposes the direction of rotation applied to the steering shaft by the user through the steering member (as part of “second management algorithm”, [0094]).
Regarding Claim 7, Ognibene further teaches wherein the controller (220) is configured to modulate the degree and direction of the torque applied by the electric motor (185) to the steering shaft (60) as the steering member (55, through operative connection to 60) is moved from an initial position (i.e., the center of the steering range) during a steering maneuver so as to maintain a predefined profile of haptic steering torque feedback (torque may be provided in a range, [0096], and is variable as a function of steering shaft input angle, [0097]).
Regarding Claim 8, Ognibene teaches a method of operating an electro-hydraulic steering system for a vehicle, the steering system comprising a hydraulic steering actuator (assembly of 15, 20, 25, 30, Fig. 1, [0046]), a hydro-mechanical steering unit (“hydrostatic steering unit” 65, Figs. 1-2, [0049-0050]) for actuating the hydraulic steering actuator in response to a steering demand (controlled via “dosing device” 90 which is directly mechanically controlled by user input “steering shaft” 60, [0051-0052]), and an electronically controllable steering supply valve arrangement (“flow rate regulating device” – [0057], comprising electrically actuated “flow rate regulating valve” 125, also comprising other valves 135, 140, [0057-0063]) for supplying fluid to the actuator independently of or in combination with the hydro-mechanical steering unit (via amplification branch 120, which bypasses the dosing device 90 ([0056]) and supplements, i.e., works in parallel with the dosing device 90 ([0007]) or independently ([0105-0106])), wherein the hydro-mechanical steering unit (65) is specified to provide a maximum volume flow rate of fluid (maximum flow rate of 95) to the actuator which is above that required to provide an emergency steering function but is less than that required for full steering functionality under normal operating conditions (the hydrostatic steering unit 65 being capable of steering the wheels via solely the maximum flow rate provided by main branch 95, through fluid distribution via dosing device 90 as described in [0051-0055]); the method comprising actuating the steering supply valve arrangement (125 and additional associated valves) to amplify the fluid flow from the hydro-mechanical steering unit (65) to ensure full steering capability under normal operating conditions (as a supplement to flow provided by 65 to 95, [0105-0106], additionally [0007] for explicit recitation of parallel function).
Regarding Claim 9, Ognibene teaches a method of operating an electro-hydraulic steering system, the system comprising:
a hydraulic steering actuator (assembly of 15, 20, 25, 30, Fig. 1, [0046]) for turning a steered wheel (5, Fig. 1, [0046]) through a rotation angle (“steering angle”, [0046]);
a fluid supply arrangement including a source of pressurized fluid (“pump” 45, Fig. 1, [0047]) and a tank (50, Fig. 1, [0047]);
a working port arrangement having two working ports (80 and 85, Fig. 2, [0050]) fluidly connected with the hydraulic steering actuator (assembly of 15, 20, 25, 30, connection depicted in Figs. 1-2);
a hydro-mechanical steering unit (“hydrostatic steering unit” 65, Figs. 1-2, [0049-0050]) fluidly connected between the fluid supply arrangement (45 and 50) and the working port arrangement (80 and 85) and configured to connect one of the working ports (either of 80 and 85, via “main flow branch” 95, [0050-0054]) with the source of pressurized fluid (via “high-pressure port” 70, [0050]) and the other with the tank (via “low-pressure port” 75, [0050]) in dependence on a steering demand (controlled via “dosing device” 90 which is directly mechanically controlled by “steering shaft” 60, [0051-0052]);
an electronically controllable steering supply valve arrangement (“flow rate regulating device” – [0057], comprising electrically actuated “flow rate regulating valve” 125, also comprising other valves 135, 140, [0057-0063]), fluidly connected with the source of pressurized fluid (45), the tank (50) and the working ports (80 and 85, fluid connection via “amplification line” 120, [0057]);
a controller (“electronic control unit” 220, [0082]) operatively connected with the electronically controllable steering supply valve arrangement (operative connection to flow-rate regulating device described in [0082]);
wherein the hydro-mechanical steering unit (65) is calibrated/specified to provide a maximum volume flow rate of fluid (that is, the maximum flow rate in the “main branch” 95, [0057]) to said one of the working ports (80 or 85) which is below a first threshold value (the maximum possible flow rate of 95) and above a second threshold value (the minimum flow rate required for wheel actuation, that is, above zero but below the maximum flow rate of 95);
the method comprising actuating the electronically controllable steering supply valve arrangement (“flow rate regulating device” 125) to supply pressurized fluid to said one of the working ports (80 or 85) in addition to fluid supplied by the hydro-mechanical steering unit (65) in order to raise the volume flow rate of fluid provided to said one of the working ports (80 or 85) above the second threshold value as required to meet a steering demand (the maximum flow rate in the amplification branch 120 being between 1.5 and 5 times the flow rate of the maximum in the main branch 95, [0057]), the electronically controllable steering supply valve arrangement being capable of raising the volume flow rate of fluid provided to said one of the working ports (80 or 85) up to the first threshold value (necessarily included as 120 is capable of exceeding the lower second threshold value).
Regarding Claim 10, Ognibene further teaches wherein the first threshold value (the maximum flow rate of the hydrostatic steering unit 65) is a maximum volume flow rate required for operation of the steering system under normal operating conditions (the hydrostatic steering unit 65 being capable of steering the wheels via solely the maximum flow rate provided by main branch 95, through fluid distribution via dosing device 90 as described in [0051-0055]).
Regarding Claim 11, Ognibene further teaches wherein the second threshold value (the minimum threshold flow rate required for actuation of the wheels, above zero but below the maximum of 95) is a volume flow rate sufficient to operate the steering system in an emergency steering mode ([0105-0106]).
Regarding Claim 12, Ognibene further teaches wherein the system includes a steering member (“steering wheel” 55, [0049]) connected with the hydro-mechanical steering unit (65, connection to 55 recited in [0049]) by a steering shaft (60, [0049]), the steering member movable by a user to generate a steering demand (recited in [0048]), a steering member sensor (“first angular sensor” 205, [0079]) connected to the controller (220, connection described in [0107]) to detect the position and/or movement of the steering member ([0077, 0079]), the method comprising, following a detection that the steering member (55) has moved, actuating the steering supply valve arrangement (“flow rate regulating device” 125) to supply fluid to one of the working ports (80 or 85) in dependence on the direction of movement of the steering member (55) during movement of the steering member from an initial position through at least a dead band range of movement ([0107-0109], in reference to programmable on-center tolerance of “relationship algorithms”, here ±2°) in which the hydro-mechanical steering unit (65) does not supply fluid to said one of the working ports (mechanical dead band described in operation of “rotary distributor” 180, [0067-0071], particularly the flow rate hysteresis defined by the relationship between inner and outer cylinders of the distributor at small off-center inputs, [0070-0071]).
Regarding Claim 13, Ognibene further teaches wherein the method comprises actuating the steering supply valve arrangement (125) to continue supplying fluid to said one of the working ports (80 or 85) if the steering member (55) is moved beyond the dead band range of movement so as to increase the volume fluid flow rate provided to said one of the working ports above that provided by the hydro-mechanical steering unit (the maximum value of the flow rate is between 1.5 to 5 times the flow rate in the main branch, i.e., that is supplied by the “hydrostatic steering unit” 65 alone, [0057]).
Regarding Claim 14, Ognibene further teaches wherein the system comprises an electric motor (185, Fig. 1, [0074]) operative to apply a torque to rotate the steering shaft (60) when actuated ([0074]), the electric motor (185) operatively connected to the controller (“electronic control unit” 220, connection recited in [0089]), the method comprising actuating the electric motor to apply torque to rotate so as [sic] the steering shaft (60) so as to modify a haptic steering torque feedback sensed by the user through the steering member (haptic feedback actuation recited in [0089]).
Regarding Claim 15, Ognibene further teaches wherein the method comprises actuating the electric motor (185) to apply a torque to rotate the steering shaft (60) in a direction which opposes the direction of rotation applied to the steering shaft by the user through the steering member (as part of “second management algorithm”, [0094]) when the steering member (55, through operative connection to 60) is moved from an initial position (i.e., the center of the steering range) through at least part of the dead band range of movement ([0067-0071]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US Pub. 2020/0114955 A1 to Hansen et al. discloses an additional exemplary electro-hydraulic steering system (1) having substantially similar structure to Ognibene including two working ports (L, R) connected to a mechanical steering unit (3) and supplied with fluid that is both pressurized (via a “pressure port”) and from a tank (via a “tank port”), and including an electronically controlled supply valve means (12) disposed between the pressure port and working ports to allow for supplemental fluid pressure to be supplied to the steering actuator (4) based on a sensed position (via sensor 9) of a steering wheel (2) in order to compensate for reduced steering feel in the mechanical unit’s deadband range ([0011]).
US Pub. 2020/0114856 A1 to Rahimzai discloses an electro-hydraulic steering system with highly similar basic structure to Hansen et al. (both sharing an Applicant and filing date), but with multiple explicitly recited amplification paths (13 and 14) flowing to a working port arrangement (6 and 7) which allows for enhanced control over fluid pressure in different steering modes ([0026-0031]) or for supplying fluid to auxiliary hydraulic components ([0033]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mitchell James Price whose telephone number is (571)272-3729. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Thurs 8:00 - 5:00 Eastern, Fri 8:00 - 12:00 Eastern.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Valentin Neacsu can be reached at (571)272-6265. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Mitchell James Price/Examiner, Art Unit 3611
/JACOB D KNUTSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3611
Prosecution Insights