DETAILED ACTION
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. The specification, the abstract and the drawings are all acceptable.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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 of this title, 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.
4. Claims 1, 9-10, 14, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over USPN 11,590,983 to Oguro, and in view of USPN 9,531,315 to Sato.
As to claim 1, Oguro teaches a method comprising: apparatus and method wherein when the first rotating speed is higher than the second rotating speed(fig. 8A wherein the motor rotation speed changes from lower speed to higher speed between time t0 and t1), an angular acceleration corresponding to the first rotating speed is a first angular acceleration, and an angular acceleration corresponding to the second rotating speed is a second angular acceleration; and determining, in response to that the first angular acceleration is greater than 0, a trackslip trend of the first drive motor according to at least the first rotating speed, the second rotating speed, the first angular acceleration, and the second angular acceleration(col. 6: lines 52 – col. 7: lines 5 & col. 3: lines 56-64 wherein apparatus and method are taught for a motor control system to determine/control slip according to motor rotating speeds and angular acceleration).
Oguro does not teach apparatus and method of acquiring a first rotating speed of a first drive motor of a vehicle and a second rotating speed of a second drive motor of the vehicle.
Sato teaches apparatus and method of acquiring a first rotating speed of a first drive motor (fig. 1: “MG1”) of a vehicle and a second rotating speed of a second drive motor motor (fig. 1: “MG2”) of the vehicle(col. 14: lines 46-62).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Sato into Oguro since Oguro suggests a motor control system and Sato suggests the beneficial use of controlling a first motor speed and a second motor speed in the analogous art of motor control technology.
The motivation for this comes from the fact that Sato teaches an apparatus of controlling a first motor speed and a second motor speed which can be used to improve the motor control system disclosed by Oguro.
As to claim 9, Oguro in view of Sato teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising: acquiring the first rotating speed and the second rotating speed through a motor resolver sensor(col. 3: lines 57-58).
As to claim 10, Oguro in view of Sato teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising: in response to that the first drive motor has the trackslip trend, reducing an output value of a first torque of the first drive motor(fig. 8A & 8B).
As to claim 14, it is rejected as the same reason as claim 1.
As to claim 20, it is rejected as the same reason as claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 2-8, 11-13, 15-19 are objected to as being dependent upon the rejected base claims 1, 14, but could be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claims and any intervening claims for the following reasons: No prior art of record discloses the features as claimed in the noted claims.
6. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter. The non-obvious features are:
In comparison with the closest prior art as cited in this Office action and any previous Office actions, no prior art of record discloses the following features as claimed in the following claim limitations:
As per claim 2: Calculating a rotating speed ratio of the first rotating speed to the second rotating speed, and calculating an absolute value of an angular acceleration ratio of the first angular acceleration to the second angular acceleration; and determining the trackslip trend of the first drive motor according to at least the rotating speed ratio and the angular acceleration ratio.
As per claim 11: Reducing the output value of the first torque of the first drive motor comprises: reducing the output value of the first torque of the first drive motor to a negative value.
As per claim 12: Reducing the output value of the first torque of the first drive motor, and increasing an output value of a second torque of the second drive motor.
As per claim 13: In response to that the first drive motor has the trackslip trend, recording the output value of the first torque as a maximum torque reference value under a current road traction condition and adjusting the output value of the first torque of the first drive motor according to the maximum torque reference value.
As per claim 15: Calculating a rotating speed ratio of the first rotating speed to the second rotating speed, and calculating an absolute value of an angular acceleration ratio of the first angular acceleration to the second angular acceleration; and determining the trackslip trend of the first drive motor according to at least the rotating speed ratio and the angular acceleration ratio.
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
USPN 8,335,625 to Yamaguchi discloses a vehicle slip control system.
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID S LUO whose telephone number is (571)270-5251. The examiner can normally be reached 8AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eduardo Colon-Santana can be reached at 571-272-2060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID LUO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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