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 § 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) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 8 (KR 2015-0050170 A) in view of Nagayama (JP 2022-001925 A).
Regarding claims 1-2, Kyun discloses a steer-by-wire steering system comprising:
an operation device including an operation member (20) for steering operation by a user [0026: “FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of an electric vehicle for children in which a simulation device using an electric vehicle of the present invention is used, wherein the electric vehicle (1) includes, as an operating unit for driving the electric vehicle, a steering wheel (20) for controlling the driving direction of the electric vehicle”];
a steering operation device that is mechanically separated from the operation device and is configured to steer a wheel according to a steering current applied [0028: “a steering motor (not shown) is connected to the shaft connecting the driving wheel (70)”; 0030: “In this way, the electric car for children of the present invention can be said to be accelerated, decelerated, and steered by transmitting electrical signals rather than being mechanically connected”]; and
a controller (10) configured to control the steering operation device based on an operation signal received from the operation device and related to operation of the operation member [0031-0032: “The control unit (10) of the present invention is a unit that generates a pulse signal of a driving motor (not shown) using an input signal from the driving operation unit, (steering wheel, acceleration pedal, transmission lever, etc.), and can be said to be a unit that controls the entire driving of the electric vehicle for children (1). And the above control unit generates a pulse signal for the steering motor or the driving motor. The pulse signal for the steering motor or drive motor generates a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal with different widths based on the user's input signal through the driving control unit (steering wheel, accelerator pedal, deceleration pedal, transmission lever, etc.). According to this pulse width modulation signal, the steering motor and the driving motor operate for a period of time corresponding to the length or width of the PWM signal, and stop for a period of time during which the PWM signal is not detected”], wherein
the steering system is configured to switch a normal mode in which the wheel is steered based on the operation signal and a virtual mode in which a virtual moving object created as an image is steered based on the operation signal [0035: “And according to the present invention a mode selection switch (60) is electrically connected to the control unit (10), so that a driving mode and a simulation mode can be selected. Here, the driving mode is a mode in which the electric vehicle is driven by the user’s operation, which can be said to be the original function of a conventional electric vehicle for children, and the simulation mode is a mode in which each driving operation unit of the electric vehicle is used as an input device to operate and execute a simulation program in the simulation system (100)”; 0039: “The video and audio output of this simulation system (100) is output to a monitor (110) and/or audio output unit (130) as an output device, so that the user can visually and audibly enjoy running a simulation program or a game as an automatic car race”], and
the controller is configured to, in the virtual mode, set the steering current to a current value at which the wheel is not steered regardless of the operation signal, wherein the controller is configured to set the steering current to zero in the virtual mode regardless of the operation signal [0032, 0035, 0037, in the simulation mode the wheels of the electric vehicle are not steered regardless of the position of the steering wheel because the steering wheel signal is supplied to the simulation system 100 instead of to the steering motor; the steering motor is stopped when a signal is not detected, meaning the steering current is zero: “When the above mode selection switch (60) is selected as the simulation mode, the simulation system (100) loads the simulation program stored in the memory (120), and receives and executes the control value input from the driving operation unit (steering wheel, accelerator pedal, deceleration pedal, transmission lever, etc.) as the control value input unit through the steering wheel detection unit (140), the deceleration pedal detection unit (150), the accelerator pedal detection unit (160), and the transmission detection unit (170) to the control unit (10)”].
Kyun does not disclose a reaction force applying device configured to apply an operation reaction force to the operation member and the controller configured to control the reaction force applying device based on the operation signal.
Nagayama discloses a steer-by-wire steering system comprising:
an operation device including an operation member (5) for steering operation by a user and a reaction force applying device (14) configured to apply an operation reaction force to the operation member [0010: “When the steering wheel 5 is rotated by a steering angle θ by the user’s operation, the steering wheel sensor 5s detects the steering angle θ”; 0015: “The reaction force applying device 14 is a device for generating a reaction force (torque) against the rotation of the handle 5”];
a steering operation device (4) that is mechanically separated from the operation device and is configured to steer a wheel (2L, 2R) according to a steering current supplied [0010: “The steering force imparting device 4 is mechanically separated from the handle 5. In the vehicle steering device 1, the rotation of the steering wheel 5 by the user at a steering angle θ is converted into an electrical signal and transmitted to a steering force imparting device 4 that is mechanically separated from the steering wheel 5”]; and
a controller (10c) configured to control the steering operation device and the reaction force applying device based on an operation signal received from the operation device and related to operation of the operation member [0013: “the virtual running computer 10c receives an electric signal from the steering wheel sensor 5s, which includes the steering angle θ detected by the steering wheel sensor 5s”; 0024-0025: “The virtual running calculator 10c transmits the calculated vehicle speed v to the steering torque calculator 14a. The steering torque calculator 14a calculates a vehicle speed coefficient Kv from the received vehicle speed v and the graph of FIG. 4…The vehicle speed coefficient Kv is a coefficient for changing the steering torque Ht applied to the steering wheel 5…In this way, the reaction force applying device 14 applies the steering torque Ht to the steering wheel 5 based on the steering angle θ of the steering wheel 5 by the user when the vehicle is actually traveling”], wherein
the steering system is configured to switch a normal mode in which the wheel is steered based on the operation signal and a virtual mode in which a virtual moving object created as an image is steered based on the operation signal [0013-0014: “the virtual running computer 10c creates a running image of the virtual vehicle 10v by reflecting the mechanical operations of the user…The monitor 10m displays an image of the virtual vehicle 10v running”; 0018: “When the user selects the actual vehicle driving mode using the switch of the operation object switching device 12 , the operation object switching device 12 transmits an OFF signal to the virtual driving computer 10 c and an ON signal to the steering force applying device 4 . This allows the user to steer the EV vehicle 100 using the steering wheel 5 . On the other hand, when the user selects the virtual driving mode, the operation object switching device 12 sends an ON signal to the virtual driving computer 10 c and an OFF signal to the steering force applying device 4 . This allows the user to steer the virtual vehicle 10v using the steering wheel 5. Furthermore, when an OFF signal is sent to the steering force imparting device 4, the operation of the steering force imparting device 4 stops, and the operation of the traction motor (not shown) of the EV vehicle 100 also stops. This prevents the steering torque St from being applied to the front wheels 2R, 2L by operating the steering wheel 5 when the user selects the virtual driving mode, and prevents the EV vehicle 100 from traveling unintentionally”].
Nagayama teaches that it has been known in the art to apply a reaction force to an operation member using a reaction force applying device and control the reaction force applying device based on an operation signal received from the operation member to provide the driver a feel for the amount of steering he or she is doing [0004]. The reaction force applying device simulates the frictional force generated between the wheels of the vehicle and the ground, which the driver would not feel in a steering system in which the steering mechanism is mechanically separated from the operating unit [0004-0005].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to simply combine the reaction force applying device disclosed by Nakayama with the steering system disclosed by Hyun so that the controller controls the reaction force applying device based on the operation signal so that the driver receives feedback on the amount of steering he or she is doing.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kyun (KR 2015-0050170 A) in view of Nagayama (JP 2022-001925 A) and further in view of Oyama (US Patent Application Publication 2015/0183460).
Regarding claim 3, Kyun, as modified by Nagayama, discloses the system of claim 2 as discussed above but does not disclose the controller is configured to use a plurality of calculation terms and a plurality of gains in calculation of the current value of the steering current and thus does not disclose the controller setting the calculation terms to zero or setting the gains to zero in the virtual mode.
Oyama discloses a steering system with a controller (20) configured to use a plurality of calculation terms and a plurality of gains in calculation of the current value of the steering current (Icmd) [0029, 0039, equations (1) and (9), as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 4].
Oyama teaches that calculating the control amount for the electric power steering motor using the expression with the plurality of calculation terms and gains allows the controller to control the vehicle along a target course, such as within a lane [0005, 0008].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to calculate the current value of the steering current disclosed by Kyun, as modified by Nagayama, using the plurality of calculation terms and gains disclosed by Oyama so that the terms and gains can be changed to control the vehicle to remain within a travel lane. Oyama does not disclose setting the terms or gains to zero in the virtual mode. However, if the expression disclosed by Oyama is used to calculate the current value of the steering current, the terms are necessarily set to zero in order to provide the zero current to the steering operation device in the virtual mode in the steering system disclosed by Kyun.
Claim(s) 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kyun (KR 2015-0050170 A) in view of Nagayama (JP 2022-001925 A) and further in view of Inoue (JP 2021-070393 A).
Regarding claims 5-6, Kyun, as modified by Nagayama, discloses the system of claim 1 as discussed above. Kyun further discloses wherein the controller is configured to receive a steered angle signal related to a steered angle of the wheel from the steering operation device [0031], and Nagayama discloses the operation reaction force that is calculated based on the operation signal as discussed in reference to claim 1 above. Kyun does not disclose applying a compensation torque value in the virtual mode and thus, the compensation torque value applied in the virtual mode is zero, regardless of an angle difference between a target steered angle and an actual steered angle. Kyun, as modified by Nagayama, does not disclose the controller is configured to add, to a calculation value of the operation reaction force, a compensation torque value set to increase as an angle difference between a target steered angle corresponding to the operation signal and an actual steered angle corresponding to the steered angle signal increases, and in the virtual mode, set the compensation torque value to a predetermined torque value regardless of the angle difference, wherein the predetermined torque value is zero.
Inoue discloses a steering system comprising a controller (24) configured to add to a calculation value of an operation reaction force (Tab) that is calculated based on an operation signal, a compensation torque value (Tsf) set to increase as an angle difference between a target steered angle (ϴt) corresponding to the operation signal and an actual steered angle (ϴ) corresponding to the steered angle signal increases [0010, 0027].
Inoue teaches that adjusting the operation reaction force using a compensation torque value with the claimed characteristics makes it more difficult for the driver to perform a steering operation as the actual steering angle deviates from the target steering angle, thereby encouraging the driver to control the steering angle to the target angle or discourage further deviations from a required steering angle without generating a feeling that the vehicle is intervening in the steering operation [0007-0008, 0011].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to calculate the operation reaction force in the system disclosed by Hyun, as modified by Nagayama, using the calculation method disclosed by Inoue to encourage the driver to steer toward the target or required steering angle without intervening in the steering operation and causing driver unease.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 7 and 8 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner
should be directed to JOSHUA CAMPBELL whose telephone number is (571) 272-8215. The examiner
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor,
Lindsay M. Low can be reached on (571) 272-1196. The fax phone number for the organization where
this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSHUA CAMPBELL/
Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/LOGAN M KRAFT/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747