DETAILED ACTION
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 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Isami et al. (US 2022/0041070 A1) in view of Miyoshi et al. (US 2025/0317687 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
However, Isami et al. failed to specifically disclose when the electric vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode, virtually determine the operation state of the accelerator pedal and the shift device and change at least one of the motor torque output by the electric motor and the pseudo engine sound in response to the virtual operation state.
However, Miyoshi et al. teach an electric vehicle operating under autonomous driving mode configured to control output torque for simulating a manual transmission (par. 446) and generate acoustic sound (par. 196 and 9) to reproduce a manual transmission (MT) vehicle in a simulated manner (par. 323) based on virtual operation of the accelerator pedal and shift lever (par. 450 and 318).
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 taught by Isami et al., such that electric vehicle is configured to control output torque for simulating a manual transmission and generate acoustic sound to reproduce a manual transmission (MT) vehicle in a simulated manner, in view of Miyoshi et al., with reasonable expectation of success, since doing so would have achieved the benefit of permitting a driver to drive an electric vehicle with a sensation close to a manual shifting operation of a manual transmission vehicle (par. 323 and 343).
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) ).
However, Isami et al. failed to specifically disclose when the electric vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode, determine the virtual operation state based on operation characteristic information selected from the one or more pieces of operation characteristic information.
However, Miyoshi et al. teach an electric vehicle operating under autonomous driving mode configured to control output torque for simulating a manual transmission (par. 446) based on virtual operation of the accelerator pedal and shift lever (par. 450 and 318).
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 taught by Isami et al., such that electric vehicle is configured to control output torque for simulating a manual transmission based on virtual operation of the accelerator pedal and shift lever, in view of Miyoshi et al., with reasonable expectation of success, since doing so would have achieved the benefit of permitting a driver to drive an electric vehicle with a sensation close to a manual shifting operation of a manual transmission vehicle (par. 323 and 343).
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., the 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
However, Isami et al. failed to specifically disclose when the electric vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode, virtually determine the operation state of the accelerator pedal and the shift device and change at least one of the motor torque output by the electric motor and the pseudo engine sound in response to the virtual operation state.
However, Miyoshi et al. teach an electric vehicle operating under autonomous driving mode configured to control output torque for simulating a manual transmission (par. 446) and generate acoustic sound (par. 196 and 9) to reproduce a manual transmission (MT) vehicle in a simulated manner (323), which requires the electric vehicle to determine a virtual operating state of the accelerator pedal and shift lever (par. 450 and 318).
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 taught by Isami et al., such that electric vehicle is configured to control output torque for simulating a manual transmission and generate acoustic sound to reproduce a manual transmission (MT) vehicle in a simulated manner, in view of Miyoshi et al., with reasonable expectation of success, since doing so would have achieved the benefit of permitting a driver to drive an electric vehicle with a sensation close to a manual shifting operation of a manual transmission vehicle (par. 323 and 343).
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)).
However, Isami et al. failed to specifically disclose the processing circuitry is further configured to, when the electric vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode, determine the virtual operation state based on operation characteristic information selected from the one or more pieces of operation characteristic information.
However, Miyoshi et al. teach an electric vehicle operating under autonomous driving mode configured to control output torque for simulating a manual transmission (par. 446) based on virtual operation of the accelerator pedal and shift lever (par. 450 and 318).
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 taught by Isami et al., such that electric vehicle is configured to control output torque for simulating a manual transmission based virtual operation of the accelerator pedal and shift lever, in view of Miyoshi et al., with reasonable expectation of success, since doing so would have achieved the benefit of permitting a driver to drive an electric vehicle with a sensation close to a manual shifting operation of a manual transmission vehicle (par. 323 and 343).
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)).
Conclusion
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.
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, 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.
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.
/Jorge O Peche/Examiner, Art Unit 3656