DETAILED ACTION
Receipt is acknowledged of applicant’s request for continued examination and argument(s) / remark(s) filed on August 24, 2026, claims 1-11 are pending and an action on the merits is as follows.
Applicant's arguments with respect to claims have been fully considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection. Applicant has amended claims 1 and 9 and added claims 12-17.
Response to Argument
Regarding applicant’s arguments with respect to the amendment of the claims, applicant is kindly invited to consider the Office Action below to view the new ground of rejection, cited section(s) and motivation.
Claim Objections
Claims 7, 11, 14 and 17 are objected to because of the following informalities: the acronym “MT” needs to be defined within the claim limitation. Appropriate correction is required.
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 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 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.
Claims 1-12 and 15 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Isami et al. (US 2022/0041070 A1) in view of Kishi et al. (Pub. No.: US 2019/0129439 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Isami et al. disclose an electric vehicle that uses an electric motor as a power unit for traveling (e.g., an electric vehicle 10 comprising an electric motor 2 as a driving source (par. 42)), being configured to be switchable to an autonomous driving mode in which at least acceleration and deceleration are automatically performed without driving operation by a driver (e.g., electric vehicle configured to switch from manual transmission (MT) travel mode to an autonomous travel mode (par. 79)), the electric vehicle comprising:
an accelerator pedal (e.g., an accelerator pedal 22 (par. 44));
a shift device (e.g., a shift lever (26) / pseudo-shift lever (par. 45)) for selecting a gear stage that simulates operation of a transmission (e.g., the shift lever (26) configured to operate as pseudo-shifter for the driver to select virtual gear stage mode simulating the gear stages of manual transmission (MT) vehicle (par. 46 and Figure 1));
a speaker (e.g., a speaker ) that outputs a pseudo engine sound that simulates an engine sound (e.g., the speaker outputs simulating engine sound corresponding to a virtual engine speed (par. 82)); and
a controller (e.g., a processing circuitry of the ECU 50 (par. 50 ),
wherein the controller (e.g., the processing circuitry) is configured to:
when the electric vehicle is not in the autonomous driving mode (e.g., electric vehicle operating on MT travel mode (par. 78-79)), change a motor torque output by the electric motor (e.g., electric motor driving torque TP (par. 68)) and the pseudo engine sound (e.g., engine sound output from the speaker (par. 82)) in response to an operation state of the accelerator pedal (e.g., input accelerator opening Pap (par. 58)) and the shift device operated by the driver (e.g., changing the output of the electric motor driving torque (TP) and engine sound output from the speaker based on the input operation of the clutch pedal and shift lever by the driver (par. 66-68) ), and
when the electric vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode (e.g., the electric vehicle operating under automated driving function / mode – par. 79) virtually determine the operation state of the accelerator pedal and the shift device without relying on any driver inputs and change the motor torque output by the electric motor (e.g., as the electric vehicle performs automatous driving to a destination, the vehicle required to determine a virtual accelerator pedal and shift device operation states for changing the vehicle electric motor torque while driving across multiple road types to a destination (e.g., slope, flat and other surfaces) – par. 79)
However, Isami et al. failed to specifically disclose (i) generate a driving plan for the autonomous driving mode and (ii) calculating, as the virtual operation state, an accelerator opening and a shift position for causing the vehicle to travel in accordance with the driving plan.
However, Kishi et al. teach a self-driving vehicle (par. 27) configured to generate an action plan for traveling along a target path (par. 45) by calculating (i) target acceleration based on simulated acceleration opening angle (par. 49-50) and (ii) shift operation reference of the transmission using shift map / chart across multiple times (par. 49-50 and 46 and Figures 3-4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the electric vehicle (under automated driving function / self-driving ) as taught by Isami et al. such that the self-driving vehicle generates an action plan for traveling along a target path by calculating target acceleration and shift operation reference of the transmission across multiple times, in view of Kishi et al., with reasonable expectation of success, since doing so would have achieved the benefit of controlling the drive power source and the transmission so that the self-driving vehicle travels in accordance with the action plan generated (par. 5) and providing a smooth acceleration of the vehicle (par. 4).
Isami et al., as modified by Kishi et al., teach when the electric vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode (e.g., the electric vehicle operating under automated driving function / mode – Isami et al.’s par. 79), change the motor torque output by the electric motor (e.g., as the electric vehicle performs automatous driving to a destination, the vehicle required to determine a virtual accelerator pedal and shift device operation states for changing the vehicle electric motor torque while driving across multiple road types to a destination (e.g., slope, flat and other surfaces) – Isami et al.’s par. 79 and in view of Kishi et al.’s par. 49-50 and 41) and the pseudo engine sound in response to the virtual operation state (e.g., under automated driving function / mode, the ECU 50 generates engine sound that simulate the sound of selected engine type based driver selection and virtual engine speed – Isami et al.’s par. 82).
Regarding claim 2, Isami et al. disclose an electric vehicle wherein the controller is further configured to: manage one or more pieces of operation characteristic information representing a characteristic of an operation related to at least one of the accelerator pedal and the shift device (e.g., processing accelerator opening Pap (%) and shift lever inputs (par. 44-46) ), and
when the electric vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode (e.g., the electric vehicle operating under automated driving function / mode – par. 79), determine the virtual operation state based on operation characteristic information selected from the one or more pieces of operation characteristic information (e.g., under automated driving function / mode, engine sound is configured to allow a user to select a preferred engine type to simulate the sound of selected engine type – par. 82).
Regarding claim 3, Isami et al. disclose an electric vehicle wherein the shift device is configured by:
a shift change device configured to arbitrarily select the gear stage from a plurality of gear stages (e.g., the shift lever 26 configured to function as a pseudo-shifter (shift device) for the driver to select one arbitrary virtual gear stage mode from among a plurality of virtual gear stage modes (par. 46)); and
a clutch operation device (e.g., a clutch pedal 28) that simulates operation of a clutch and is operated by the driver when performing a shift change with the shift change device (e.g., the clutch pedal 28 configured to function as a pseudo-clutch (clutch device) having a structure simulating a clutch pedal provided by the MT vehicle, wherein the pedal is depressed when the driver operates the shift lever 26 (par. 48) ).
Regarding claim 4, Isami et al. disclose an electric vehicle wherein each of the one or more pieces of operation characteristic information includes information related to at least one of a characteristic of an operation amount of the accelerator pedal during acceleration, e.g., detecting accelerator opening pedal Pap (%) and shift lever position GP during electric vehicle operation (par. 44 and 72)).
Regarding claim 5, Isami et al. disclose an electric vehicle wherein the shift device is configured by a sequential shifter that selects the gear stage by an upshift operation and a downshift operation (e.g., the shift lever 26 configured to shift up or shift down to the virtual gear stage mode on one stage higher or one stage lower during an operating state respectively (par. 89-90)).
Regarding claim 6, Isami et al. disclose an electric vehicle wherein each of the one or more pieces of operation characteristic information includes information related to at least one of a characteristic of an operation amount of the accelerator pedal during acceleration e.g., detecting accelerator opening pedal Pap (%) during the operation of the electric vehicle (par. 44 and 72)).
Regarding claim 7, Isami et al. disclose an electric vehicle wherein the controller comprises:
one or more memories storing a MT vehicle model (e.g., memory 54 for storing various control programs for controlling the electric vehicle 10, the latest shift position Gp, a map, and the like, which covers the MT vehicle model (par. 50)); and
processing circuitry connected to the one or more memories (e.g., a processing circuitry of the ECU 50 configured to read out and executes the control program or the like from the memory 54 (par. 50 )), the MT vehicle model is a model (e.g., electric vehicle operating on MT travel mode (par. 78-79)), simulating a torque characteristic of drive wheel torque in a MT vehicle (e.g., torque characteristic simulating gear stage of the MT vehicle (par. 46)) including an internal combustion engine in which an engine torque is controlled by operation of a gas pedal, a manual transmission in which a gear stage is switched by operation of a shifter, and a clutch that connects the internal combustion engine and the manual transmission (e.g., the torque characteristic simulation is based on virtual engine, manual transmission and clutch mechanism operations (par. 53 and 68) ), and
the processing circuitry (e.g., processing circuitry) is configured to:
determine an operation amount of the gas pedal to the MT vehicle model from the operation state of the accelerator pedal (e.g., determine input accelerator opening degree Pap / accelerator opening Pap (%) (par. 58 and 44));
determine an operation amount of the shifter and an operation of the clutch to the MT vehicle model from the operation state of the shift device (e.g., detecting a shift position Gp of the shift lever 26 representing a position of the virtual gear stage mode via a shift position sensor 36 (par. 47) and detecting the operation of the clutch pedal via sensor (par. 48));
calculate the drive wheel torque and a virtual engine speed of the internal combustion engine using the MT vehicle model (e.g., calculate the virtual engine speed Ne based on a driving condition (par. 55)) based on the operation amount of the gas pedal and the operation amount of the shifter (e.g., the virtual engine speed Ne is calculated based on a shift position Gp of the shift lever 26 and operation of the clutch pedal (abstract, par. 48, 55 and 100));
when changing the motor torque in response to the operation state, change the motor torque to apply the drive wheel torque to a drive wheel of the electric vehicle (e.g., changing the output of the electric motor driving torque (TP) based on the input operation of the clutch pedal and shift lever by the driver (par. 66-68) ); and when changing the pseudo engine sound in response to the operation state, change the pseudo engine sound using the virtual engine speed as a parameter (e.g., generate an engine sound that simulated the sound of the selected engine type (par. 82)).
Regarding claim 8, Isami et al. disclose an electric vehicle wherein the controller is further configured to: acquire a biological state of the driver (e.g., determine when a father is using the electric vehicle and select the MT travel mode (par. 79)); and change the pseudo engine sound based on the biological state (e.g., generating an engine sound that simulated the sound of the selected engine type (par. 82)).
Regarding claim 9, Isami et al. disclose system of an electric vehicle that uses an electric motor as a power unit for traveling (e.g., an electric vehicle 10 comprising an electric motor 2 as a driving source (par. 42)), comprising:
one or more memories (e.g., memory 54 (par. 50)); and
processing circuitry connected to the one or more memories (e.g., a processing circuitry of the ECU 50 configured to read out and executes the control program or the like from the memory 54 (par. 50 )),
wherein the electric vehicle is configured to be switchable to an autonomous driving mode in which at least acceleration and deceleration are automatically performed without driving operation by a driver (e.g., electric vehicle configured to switch from manual transmission (MT) travel mode to an autonomous travel mode (par. 79)), the electric vehicle comprises:
an accelerator pedal (e.g., an accelerator pedal 22 (par. 44));
a shift device (e.g., a shift lever (26) / pseudo-shift lever (par. 45)) for selecting a gear stage that simulates operation of a transmission (e.g., a shift lever (26) configured to operate as pseudo-shifter for the driver to select virtual gear stage mode simulating the gear stages of manual transmission (MT) vehicle (par. 46 and Figure 1)); and
a speaker (e.g., a speaker) that outputs a pseudo engine sound that simulates an engine sound (e.g., the speaker outputs simulating engine sound corresponding to a virtual engine speed (par. 82)), and
the processing circuitry (e.g., a processing circuitry of the ECU 50 (par. 50 ) is configured to:
when the electric vehicle is not in the autonomous driving mode (e.g., electric vehicle operating on MT travel mode (par. 78-79)), change a motor torque output by the electric motor (e.g., electric motor driving torque TP (par. 68)) and the pseudo engine sound (e.g., engine sound output from the speaker (par. 82)) in response to an operation state of the accelerator pedal (e.g., input accelerator opening Pap (par. 58)) and the shift device operated by the driver (e.g., changing the output of the electric motor driving torque (TP) and engine sound output from the speaker based on the input operation of the clutch pedal and shift lever by the driver (par. 66-68) ); and
when the electric vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode (e.g., the electric vehicle operating under automated driving function / mode – par. 79) virtually determine the operation state of the accelerator pedal and the shift device without relying on any driver inputs and change the motor torque output by the electric motor (e.g., as the electric vehicle performs automatous driving to a destination, the vehicle required to determine a virtual accelerator pedal and shift device operation states for changing the vehicle electric motor torque while driving across multiple road types to a destination (e.g., slope, flat and other surfaces) – par. 79).
However, Isami et al. failed to specifically disclose (i) generate a driving plan for the autonomous driving mode and (ii) calculating, as the virtual operation state, an accelerator opening and a shift position for causing the vehicle to travel in accordance with the driving plan.
However, Kishi et al. teach a self-driving vehicle (par. 27) configured to generate an action plan for traveling along a target path (par. 45) by calculating (i) target acceleration based on simulated acceleration opening angle (par. 49-50) and (ii) shift operation reference of the transmission using shift map / chart across multiple times (par. 49-50 and 46 and Figures 3-4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the electric vehicle (under automated driving function / self-driving ) as taught by Isami et al. such that the self-driving vehicle generates an action plan for traveling along a target path by calculating target acceleration and shift operation reference of the transmission across multiple times, in view of Kishi et al., with reasonable expectation of success, since doing so would have achieved the benefit of controlling the drive power source and the transmission so that the self-driving vehicle travels in accordance with the action plan generated (par. 5) and providing a smooth acceleration of the vehicle (par. 4).
Isami et al., as modified by Kishi et al., teach when the electric vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode (e.g., the electric vehicle operating under automated driving function / mode – Isami et al.’s par. 79), change the motor torque output by the electric motor (e.g., as the electric vehicle performs automatous driving to a destination, the vehicle required to determine a virtual accelerator pedal and shift device operation states for changing the vehicle electric motor torque while driving across multiple road types to a destination (e.g., slope, flat and other surfaces) – Isami et al.’s par. 79 and in view of Kishi et al.’s par. 49-50 and 41) and the pseudo engine sound in response to the virtual operation state (e.g., under automated driving function / mode, the ECU 50 generates engine sound that simulate the sound of selected engine type based driver selection and virtual engine speed – Isami et al.’s par. 82).
Regarding claim 10, Isami et al. disclose system of an electric vehicle wherein the one or more memories stores one or more pieces of operation characteristic information representing a characteristic of an operation related to at least one of the accelerator pedal and the shift device (e.g. ,the memory 54 stores various control programs for controlling the electric vehicle 10, the latest shift position Gp, a map, and the like (par. 50 and 58)).
when the electric vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode (e.g., the electric vehicle operating under automated driving function / mode – par. 79), determine the virtual operation state based on operation characteristic information selected from the one or more pieces of operation characteristic information (e.g., under automated driving function / mode, engine sound is configured to allow a user to select a preferred engine type to simulate the sound of selected engine type – par. 82).
Regarding claim 11, Isami et al. disclose system of an electric vehicle wherein the one or more memories stores a MT vehicle model simulating a torque characteristic of drive wheel torque in a MT vehicle (e.g., memory 54 for storing various control programs for controlling the electric vehicle 10, the latest shift position Gp, a map, and the like (par. 50) and torque characteristic simulating gear stage of the MT vehicle (par. 46)) including an internal combustion engine in which an engine torque is controlled by operation of a gas pedal, a manual transmission in which a gear stage is switched by operation of a shifter, and a clutch that connects the internal combustion engine and the manual transmission (e.g., the torque characteristic simulation is based on virtual engine, manual transmission and clutch mechanism operations (par. 53 and 68) ), and
the processing circuitry (e.g., processing circuitry) is further configured to:
determine an operation amount of the gas pedal to the MT vehicle model from the operation state of the accelerator pedal (e.g., determine input accelerator opening degree Pap / accelerator opening Pap (%) (par. 58 and 44));
determine an operation amount of the shifter and an operation of the clutch to the MT vehicle model from the operation state of the shift device (e.g., detecting a shift position Gp of the shift lever 26 representing a position of the virtual gear stage mode via a shift position sensor 36 (par. 47) and detecting the operation of the clutch pedal via sensor (par. 48));
calculate the drive wheel torque and a virtual engine speed of the internal combustion engine using the MT vehicle model (e.g., calculate the virtual engine speed Ne based on a driving condition (par. 55)) based on the operation amount of the gas pedal and the operation amount of the shifter (e.g., the virtual engine speed Ne is calculated based on a shift position Gp of the shift lever 26 and operation of the clutch pedal (abstract, par. 48, 55 and 100));
when changing the motor torque in response to the operation state, change the motor torque to apply the drive wheel torque to a drive wheel of the electric vehicle (e.g., changing the output of the electric motor driving torque (TP) based on the input operation of the clutch pedal and shift lever by the driver (par. 66-68) ); and when changing the pseudo engine sound in response to the operation state, change the pseudo engine sound using the virtual engine speed as a parameter (e.g., generating an engine sound that simulated the sound of the selected engine type (par. 82)).
Regarding claims 12, Isami et al. failed to specifically disclose a traveling environment detection sensor that detects a traveling environment, wherein the controller is configured to generate the driving plan based on detection information detected by the traveling environment detection sensor and a vehicle speed of the electric vehicle.
However, Kishi et al. teach a self-driving vehicle (par. 27) configured to generate an action plan for traveling along a target path (par. 45) based on recognized external object surrounding the vehicle via an external recognition unit (44) (e.g., other vehicle(s), road boundary, pedestrian and other objects) (par, 44 and 83) and vehicle speed (par. 33).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the electric vehicle’s ECU (under automated driving function / self-driving ) as taught by Isami et al. such that the vehicle’s ECU generates an action plan for traveling along a target path based on recognized external object surrounding the vehicle and vehicle speed, in view of Kishi et al., with reasonable expectation of success, since doing so would have achieved the benefit of controlling the drive power source and the transmission so that the self-driving vehicle travels in accordance with the generated action plan (par. 5) and providing a smooth acceleration of the vehicle (par. 4).
Regarding claims 15, Isami et al. failed to specifically disclose a traveling environment detection sensor that detects a traveling environment, and the processing circuitry is further configured to generate the driving plan based on detection information detected by the traveling environment detection sensor and a vehicle speed of the electric vehicle..
However, Kishi et al. teach a self-driving vehicle (par. 27) configured to generate an action plan for traveling along a target path (par. 45) based on recognized external object surrounding the vehicle via an external recognition unit (44) (e.g., other vehicle(s), road boundary, pedestrian and other objects) (par, 44 and 83) and vehicle speed (par. 33).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the electric vehicle’s ECU (under automated driving function / self-driving ) as taught by Isami et al. such that the vehicle’s ECU generates an action plan for traveling along a target path based on recognized external object surrounding the vehicle and vehicle speed, in view of Kishi et al., with reasonable expectation of success, since doing so would have achieved the benefit of controlling the drive power source and the transmission so that the self-driving vehicle travels in accordance with the generated action plan (par. 5) and providing a smooth acceleration of the vehicle (par. 4).
Claims 13 and 16 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Isami et al. (US 2022/0041070 A1) in view of Kishi et al. (Pub. No.: US 2019/0129439 A1) and Geller (Pub. No.: US 20170213137 A1).
Regarding claims 13 and 16, Isami et al., as modified by Kishi et al., failed to specifically disclose wherein each of the one or more pieces of operation characteristic information corresponds to a model driver and includes information regarding a characteristic of the model driver, and the controller / processor circuit is configured to select, in response to a request input by the driver, the operation characteristic information used to determine the virtual operation state.
However, Geller teaches an autonomous / manual vehicle configured to operate under economy model, normal mode or a sport mode per user selection (par. 6, 39, 66, 83).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to further modify the electric vehicle (under automated driving function / self-driving ) as taught by the combination of Isami et al. in view of Kishi et al. such that the vehicle operates under economy model, normal mode or a sport mode per user selection, in view of Geller, with reasonable expectation of success, since doing so would have achieved the benefit of determining a current and a potential range of the vehicle based on current and historical range and selected operation mode (par. 2 and 6).
Claims 14 and 17 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Isami et al. (US 2022/0041070 A1) in view of Kishi et al. (Pub. No.: US 2019/0129439 A1) and Becker et al. (US 2021/0110716 A1).
Regarding claims 14 and 17, Isami et al., as modified by Kishi et al., teach self-driving vehicle configured to generate an action plan for traveling along a target path by calculating (i) target acceleration based on simulated acceleration opening angle (Kishi et al.’s par. 49-50) and (ii) shift operation reference of the transmission using shift map / chart across multiple times (Kishi et al.’s par. 49-50 and 46 and Figures 3-4).
However, modified Isami et al. failed to specifically disclose wherein the MT vehicle model is the same when the electric vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode as when the electric vehicle is not in the autonomous driving mode, and the processing circuitry is configured to, when the electric vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode, input the accelerator opening calculated as the virtual operation state to the MT vehicle model as the operation amount of the gas pedal, and input the shift position calculated as the virtual operation state to the MT vehicle model as the operation amount of the shifter (added remarks).
However, Becker et al. teach an autonomous vehicle configured to operate under a machine-learned model (par. 77 and 34), wherein the model is being trained to model human operator behavior (for instance, operating a vehicle as manual transmission model). The autonomous vehicle is configured to operate under manual mode (par. 76), which covers the machine learning model to be the same when the vehicle operates under machine-learned model or manual mode while processing input data.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to further modify the electric vehicle (under automated driving function / self-driving ) as taught by the combination of Isami et al. in view of Kishi et al. such that the vehicle operates under a machine-learned model trained to model human operator behavior, in view of Becker et al., while processing target acceleration and shift operation reference input data with reasonable expectation of success, since doing so would have achieved the benefit of sensing vehicle surrounding, navigating with no human input and identifying an appropriate motion path through surrounding environment (par. 3).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Isami et al. (US 2024/0300505 A1) is directed to an electric vehicle configured to simulate manual transmission and reproduce engine sound.
Imamura et al. (US 2022/0041157 A1) is directed to an electric vehicle configured to imitate behavior of convention vehicle having an engine and a manual transmission and imitate engine noise sound.
Kim et al. (US 2016/0129907 A1) is directed to an autonomous vehicle configured to generate a driving path planning and longitudinal acceleration and deceleration profile for the vehicle to navigate without collision.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jorge O. Peche whose telephone number is (571)270-1339. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Khoi H. Tran can be reached at 571 272 6919. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Jorge O Peche/ Examiner, Art Unit 3656
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