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 .
This is the first action on the merits for application 18/992,983. Responsive to the preliminary amendment filed 1/10/2025, Claims 1-11 and 13 are currently pending in this application.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. PCT/JP2023/025460, filed on 7/10/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 1/10/2025 and 3/7/2025 have been considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claim 6 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 5, “the reference value of a minimum gear step” should be changed to - -a reference value of a minimum gear step- - for claim consistency. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 6 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 6, “the reference value of a maximum gear step” should be changed to - -a reference value of a maximum gear step- - for claim consistency. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 7 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 5, “the reference value” should be changed to - -a reference value- - for claim consistency. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 1-11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) steps of acquiring information, comparing the information with a reference and estimating further information based on the comparison, which is an idea of itself. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because, as currently written, one of ordinary skill in the art could perform the same functions as a mere mental exercise. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional element(s) or combination of elements in the claim(s) other than the abstract idea per se amount(s) to no more than: recitation of generic computer structure that serves to perform generic computer functions that are well-understood, routine, and conventional activities previously known to the pertinent industry. Viewed as a whole, these additional claim element(s) do not provide meaningful limitation(s) to transform the abstract idea into a patent eligible application of the abstract idea such that the claim(s) amounts to significantly more than the abstract idea itself. Therefore, the claim(s) are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
It is suggested that independent Claims 1, 11 and 13 be amended to state how the estimated gear step is utilized (e.g., controlling the vehicle based on the estimated gear step as disclosed in paragraph [0020], transmitting the estimated gear step to a vehicle controller as disclosed in paragraph [0068], etc.). Such an amendment would be sufficient to overcome all outstanding 35 U.S.C. 101 rejections.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 10, 11 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by NIKI (US 2018/0170483 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, NIKI discloses a gear step estimation method (see Figs. 1, 2 and 22) of estimating a gear step of a switching transmission device (10) in a vehicle (A) including a power source (C1; B4), and the switching transmission device provided in a power transmission path (Fig. 1) between the power source and a wheel (A4), and capable of switching the gear step among n gear steps (paragraph [0103], “speed stages…are six”), the gear step estimation method including: a step of acquiring, at a first time, a first gear ratio that is a gear ratio of a transmission section including the switching transmission device, the transmission section being a whole or a part of the power transmission path (paragraph [0101], “calculates the transmission ratio of the bicycle internal transmission hub 10”); a step of comparing the acquired first gear ratio with n reference values set within a range of possible gear ratios taken by the n gear steps (paragraph [0101], “correspondence relationship between the transmission ratio and the speed stage is stored in the memory in advance”); and a step of estimating the gear step of the switching transmission device as an m- step (Fig. 22) in a case where the first gear ratio matches an m-th reference value from a smallest among the n reference values (paragraph [0101] “correspondence relationship between the transmission ratio and the speed stage is stored in the memory in advance”; paragraph [0103], “relationship between”, “transmission ratio…speed stage”).
Regarding Claim 10, NIKI discloses the power source includes an electric motor (C1) and a stepping force input unit (B4), and the vehicle is an electric power-assisted bicycle (Fig. 1) capable of generating an assist force by the electric motor based on an input value applied by a user to the stepping force input unit and a travel distance of the vehicle per unit time (bicycle of NIKI clearly capable of performing this function).
Regarding Claim 11, NIKI discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (see Figs. 1, 2 and 22) storing a gear step estimation program of estimating a gear step of a switching transmission device (10) in a vehicle (A) including a power source (C1; B4), and the switching transmission device provided in a power transmission path (Fig. 1) between the power source and a wheel (A4), and capable of switching the gear step among n gear steps (paragraph [0103], “speed stages…are six”), the gear step estimation program causing a processor (paragraph [0101], “electronic controller”) to execute: a process of acquiring, at a first time, a first gear ratio that is a gear ratio of a transmission section including the switching transmission device, the transmission section being a whole or a part of the power transmission path (paragraph [0101], “calculates the transmission ratio of the bicycle internal transmission hub 10”); a process of comparing the acquired first gear ratio with n reference values set within a range of possible gear ratios taken by the n gear steps (paragraph [0101], “correspondence relationship between the transmission ratio and the speed stage is stored in the memory in advance”); and a process of estimating the gear step of the switching transmission device as an m-step (Fig. 22) in a case where the first gear ratio matches an m-th reference value from a smallest among the n reference values (paragraph [0101] “correspondence relationship between the transmission ratio and the speed stage is stored in the memory in advance”; paragraph [0103], “relationship between”, “transmission ratio…speed stage”).
Regarding Claim 13, NIKI discloses a gear step estimation device (see Figs. 1, 2 and 22) that estimates a gear step of a switching transmission device (10) in a vehicle (A) including a power source (C1; B4), and the switching transmission device provided in a power transmission path (Fig. 1) between the power source and a wheel (A4), and capable of switching the gear step among n gear steps (paragraph [0103], “speed stages…are six”), the gear step estimation device including: an acquisition unit (paragraph [0101], “electronic controller”) configured to acquire, at a first time, a first gear ratio that is a gear ratio of a transmission section including the switching transmission device, the transmission section being a whole or a part of the power transmission path (paragraph [0101], “calculates the transmission ratio of the bicycle internal transmission hub 10”); and an estimation unit (paragraph [0101], “electronic controller”) configured to compare the first gear ratio acquired by the acquisition unit with n reference values set within a range of possible gear ratios taken by the n gear steps (paragraph [0101], “correspondence relationship between the transmission ratio and the speed stage is stored in the memory in advance”), and estimate the gear step of the switching transmission device as an m-step (Fig. 22) in a case where the first gear ratio matches an m-th reference value from a smallest among the n reference values (paragraph [0101] “correspondence relationship between the transmission ratio and the speed stage is stored in the memory in advance”; paragraph [0103], “relationship between”, “transmission ratio…speed stage”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Should the 35 U.S.C. 101 rejections above be overcome, Claims 2-9 would be 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
MATSUMOTO et al. (US 11,149,844) discloses a transmission ratio controller for determining a ratio abnormality (see ABSTRACT).
SASAKI et al. (US 6,125,316) discloses a method for deciding failures of an automatic transmission (see ABSTRACT).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDWIN YOUNG whose telephone number is (571)272-4781. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 10:00 am - 6:00 pm (CST).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jacob S Scott can be reached at (571)270-3415. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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EDWIN YOUNG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3655
/Edwin A Young/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655