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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1-2 recite recites the limitation "the setpoint angular position" in lines 11 and 3 respectively. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claims. For the purpose of examination over the prior art, the limitation will be construed as “the target angular position” in reference to the recitation on line 7 of Claim 1.
Claims 3-11 depend from claim 1 and are deficient for the reason presented above with respect to Claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-6 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Kunihiro et al. (U.S. 2017/0088166A1). Kunihiro discloses “A driving support device may be configured to calculate a target steering angle for allowing a vehicle to travel along a target course; set, as a reference steering angle, a steering angle when a difference between the steering angle and the target steering angle is small; calculate an indication value indicating intention of a driver's steering operation as a sum of a first product of a corrected steering angle and a steering torque, a second product of a derivative of the corrected steering angle and the steering torque, and a third product of the corrected steering angle and a derivative of the steering torque; and correct the target steering angle based on the indication value so that a target driving support torque is corrected in accordance with the intention of the driver's steering operation.” (Abstract)
Regarding Claim 1, Kunihiro discloses:
A method (Fig. 2-6 )for securing a setpoint torque (Fig. 2, S130, Tat; target steering assist torque) for a motor (Fig. 1, electric power steering assist motor 36; ¶0080),said motor exerting a motor torque on a device (Fig. 1, wheels, “for automatically steering the front wheels 20FL and 20FR”; ¶0080)of a power steering system of a vehicle so as to modify an angular position of said device (Fig. 1; ¶0135; “By the EPS control device 14 controlling the target driving support torque Tdt in accordance with the flowcharts illustrated in FIGS. 2-5, the steering angle of the front wheels 20FL and 20FR is controlled to attain the steering angle corresponding to the target steering angle θt.” And ¶0098-0099, overall motor torque control), the method being executed by at least one controller and comprising:
- A first determination step in which at least one first intermediate value (Fig. 2, Target Driving Support Torque Tdt; S120) of the setpoint torque (Fig. 2, S130, Tat; target steering assist torque) is determined as a function of at least one parameter representative of a target angular position (Fig. 3, step 42, target steering angle Θt) of the device and of at least one parameter representative of the angular position (Fig. 3, step 44, steering angle Θ) of the device (¶0097; “The target driving support torque Tdt is calculated as a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) feedback control amount that is based on a deviation (eta-e) between the corrected target steering angle θta and the steering angle θ”; θta see Fig. 2 step 120);
- A second determination step in which a limit value (Fig. 52, S100 and Fig. 5, S114, ¶0127; target correction amount Δθt) of the at least one first intermediate value ((Fig. 2, Target Driving Support Torque Tdt; S120) of the setpoint torque is determined as a function of at least the parameter representing the target angular position (Fig. 5; S106 calculation of basic correction amount ΔΘtb is based on Fig. 4 calculation of Idsi which is based on calculation of Fig. 3 Reference steering torque Ts which is based on Fig. 3 Low-Pass Filtered Target Steering angle Θtf) and at least the parameter representing the angular position (Fig. 5, S102, ¶0121; “in Step 102, it is determined whether or not the vehicle 18 has finished turning based on, for example, the steering angle θ.”)):
- A third determination step in which a parameter representing the average motor torque exerted at a previous instant is determined (Fig. 3, S58, ¶0112; “in Step 60, the basic reference steering torque Tsb is low-pass filtered to calculate the reference steering torque Ts. The low-pass filtering in Step 60 is performed to prevent a drastic change of the reference steering torque Ts by limiting the magnitude of the time rate of change of the reference steering torque Ts to the limit rate of change or less set in advance”);
- A securing step in which a target value of the setpoint torque (Fig. 2, S130, Tat) is determined as a function of at least the first intermediate value ((Fig. 2, Target Driving Support Torque Tdt; S120) of the setpoint torque), the limit value (Fig. 52, S100 and Fig. 5, S114, ¶0127; target correction amount Δθt) the first intermediate value Fig. 2, Target Driving Support Torque Tdt; S120) of the setpoint torque and the parameter (Fig. 3, S58, ¶0112; “in Step 60, the basic reference steering torque Tsb is low-pass filtered to calculate the reference steering torque Ts. The low-pass filtering in Step 60 is performed to prevent a drastic change of the reference steering torque Ts by limiting the magnitude of the time rate of change of the reference steering torque Ts to the limit rate of change or less set in advance”)representing the average motor torque exerted at the previous instant.
Regarding Claim 2, Kunihiro discloses wherein the parameter representing the average motor torque exerted at the previous instant is determined as a function of at least the parameter representing the setpoint angular position and at least the parameter representing the angular position of the device (Fig. 3, S50, “under a situation in which the absolute value of the difference between the steering angle θf and the target steering angle θtf “)
Regarding Claim 3, Kunihiro further discloses: wherein the parameter (Fig. 3, S58, ¶0112; “in Step 60, the basic reference steering torque Tsb “) representing the average motor torque exerted at the previous instant is determined as a function of a measurement of a parameter representing the exerted motor torque (Fig. 3, S58, ¶0112; “in Step 60, the basic reference steering torque Tsb is low-pass filtered to calculate the reference steering torque Ts. The low-pass filtering in Step 60 is performed to prevent a drastic change of the reference steering torque Ts by limiting the magnitude of the time rate of change of the reference steering torque Ts to the limit rate of change or less set in advance”);at the previous instant.
Regrding Claim 4, Kunihiro further discloses: wherein the parameter representing the average motor torque exerted at the previous instant is determined by applying a low-pass filter to the measurement of the parameter representing the motor torque exerted at the previous instant. (Fig. 3, S58, ¶0112; “in Step 60, the basic reference steering torque Tsb is low-pass filtered to calculate the reference steering torque Ts. The low-pass filtering in Step 60 is performed to prevent a drastic change of the reference steering torque Ts by limiting the magnitude of the time rate of change of the reference steering torque Ts to the limit rate of change or less set in advance”)
Regarding Claim 5, Kunihiro further discloses wherein the first determination step determines the at least one first intermediate value of the setpoint torque also as a function of the speed of the vehicle. (Fig. 2, S10, “First, in Step 10, a basic steering assist torque Tab for alleviating a steering load on the driver is calculated by referring to a map shown in FIG. 11 based on the steering torque T and the vehicle speed V. As shown in FIG. 11, the basic steering assist torque Tab is generally calculated so that the magnitude of the basic steering assist torque Tab becomes larger as the absolute value of the steering torque T becomes larger and so that the absolute value of the basic steering assist torque Tab becomes larger as the vehicle speed V becomes lower.”)
Regarding Claim 6, Kunihiro further discloses wherein the second determination step determines the limit value of the at least one intermediate value of the setpoint torque as a function f the speed of the vehicle. (Fig. 5, Step 108)
Regarding Claim 9, Kunihiro discloses: a first securing step in which at least one target value (Fig. 2, Target Driving Support Torque Tdt; S120) of the at least one first intermediate value of the setpoint torque is determined as a function of the at least one first intermediate value of the setpoint torque (Fig. 2, Target Driving Support Torque Tdt; S120) and the limit value Fig. 52, S100 and Fig. 5, S114, ¶0127; target correction amount Δθt) of the at least one first intermediate value of the setpoint torque; the securing step determining the target value (Fig. 2, S130, Tat; target steering assist torque) of the setpoint torque as a function of at least the target value of the at least one first intermediate value (Fig. 2, Target Driving Support Torque Tdt; S120) of the setpoint torque and the parameter (Fig. 3, S58, ¶0112; “in Step 60, the basic reference steering torque Tsb is low-pass filtered to calculate the reference steering torque Ts. The low-pass filtering in Step 60 is performed to prevent a drastic change of the reference steering torque Ts by limiting the magnitude of the time rate of change of the reference steering torque Ts to the limit rate of change or less set in advance”)representative of the average motor torque exerted at the previous instant.
Regarding Claim 10, Kunihiro further discloses wherein the first determination step also determines a second intermediate value (Fig. 3, S54, Θsb) of the setpoint torque as a function of the at least one parameter representative of a setpoint speed of said device and a parameter representative of a speed of said device, and the second determination step also determines a limit value of the second intermediate value of the setpoint torque as a function of at least the parameter representative of the setpoint speed of said device and the parameter representative of the speed of said device. (¶0111; Fig. 3, S54; “the basic reference steering angle θsb is low-pass filtered to calculate the reference steering angle θs. The low-pass filtering in Step 56 is performed to prevent a drastic change of the reference steering angle θs by limiting the magnitude of a time rate of change dθs of the reference steering angle θs to a limit rate of change dθs0 (positive constant) or less set in advance.”; in other words the speed (rate of change) of steering angle change is compared to a predetermined rate and limited thereto).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kunihiro et al. (U.S. 2017/0088166A1) in view of Matsumoto et al. (U.S. 2005/0125153A1). Matsumoto discloses “The present invention relates to an automotive lane deviation prevention apparatus, and specifically to the improvement of an automatic lane deviation prevention control technology capable of preventing a host vehicle from deviating from its driving lane” (¶0001) and “As shown in FIG. 16, a conventional rack-and-pinion steering mechanism is provided between front road wheels 5FL and 5FR. The conventional steering mechanism is comprised of at least a rack 24 linked to a steering arm such as a steering knuckle of each front road wheel 5FL (5FR), a pinion 25 in meshed-engagement with rack 24, and a steering shaft 27 through which steering torque is transmitted from steering wheel 21 to pinion gear 25. … In lieu thereof, the steering-actuator equipped LDP control system may be constructed by a so-called steer-by-wire (SBW) vehicle steering system in which a steering reaction torque applied to a steering wheel and a steer angle at steered road wheels 5FL and 5FR can be arbitrarily determined.” (¶0122). In other words, the prior art discloses that both conventional mechanically linked and so called steer-by-wire (sbw) vehicle steering systems for use in automotive lane deviation control.
Regarding Claim 11, Kunihiro teaches all the elements of Claim 1 as indicated above and further discloses A vehicle (Fig. 1, 18) comprising a power steering system (12) with a mechanical link (28, 34) implementing a securing method according to Claim 1. However, Kunihiro does not explicitly teach: A vehicle comprising a power steering system without a mechanical link implementing a securing method according to Claim 1.
Matsumoto discloses A vehicle comprising a power steering system without (¶0122, steer-by-wire (SBW) a mechanical link implementing a securing method (LDP control, e.g. LKA control as disclosed by Kunihiro).
“The Court quoting In re Kahn, 441 F.3d 977, 988, 78 USPQ2d 1329, 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2006), stated that “‘[R]ejections on obviousness cannot be sustained by mere conclusory statements; instead, there must be some articulated reasoning with some rational underpinning to support the legal conclusion of obviousness.’” KSR, 550 U.S. at ___, 82 USPQ2d at 1396. Exemplary rationales that may support a conclusion of obviousness include:
(A) Combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results;
(B) Simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results;
(C) Use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way;
(D) Applying a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results.
(E) “Obvious to try” – choosing from a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success;
(F) Known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art;
(G) Some teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference or to combine prior art reference teachings to arrive at the claimed invention.
Here, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time of the invention to include A vehicle comprising a power steering system without a mechanical link implementing a securing method according to Claim 1 by (B) Simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results as taught by Matsumoto into the teachings of Kunihiro because doing so yields predictable results of automatically controlling vehicle steering since mechanically linked and steer-by-wire (SBW) steering control systems were known in the art prior applicants filing and applicable to lane deviation prevention and/or lane keep assist type steering control and it has been held that the combination of familiar elements according to known methods is likely to be obvious when it does no more than yield predictable results (MPEP 2143).
Indicated Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 7 recites: comprising:
- a first evaluation step in which a temporary value of the setpoint torque is evaluated as a function of the at least one first intermediate value of the setpoint torque and of the parameter representative of the average motor torque exerted at the previous instant, and
- a second evaluation step in which a limit value of the temporary value of the setpoint torque is determined as a function of the limit value of the at least one first intermediate value of the setpoint torque and of the parameter representative of the average motor torque exerted at the previous instant:
the securing step determining the target value of the setpoint torque as a function of at least the temporary value of the setpoint torque and the limit value of the temporary value of the setpoint torque.
Kunihiro et al. (U.S. 2017/0088166A1) and Matsumoto et al. (U.S. 2005/0125153A1) are considered the closest prior art. However, the prior art whether considered separately or in combination fails to explicitly teach or suggest each and every limitation of the claim(s) as indicated above when considered as whole with the remaining limitation(s) of the claim(s).
Claim 8 depends from Claim 7 and is allowable for at least the reason(s) presented above with respect to Claim 7.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Nomura et al. (U.S. 2009/0240389A1) discloses “The present invention relates to an electric power steering apparatus which generates a steering assisting force in accordance with a steering torque input into a steering system.” (¶0001).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN R KIRBY whose telephone number is (571)270-3665. The examiner can normally be reached Telework: M-F, 9a-5p.
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/BRIAN R KIRBY/Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/LINDSAY M LOW/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747