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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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.
Claim 2 is 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.
Claim 2 recites that “an acceleration state and a deceleration state of the hybrid vehicle are within a range of quality management in an automotive safety integrity level.” Applicant’s specification provides a definition of “a range of quality management in an automotive safety integrity level” constituting “an acceleration state of the hybrid vehicle to be within a range of quality management in Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) when the acceleration QM torque Tqma is further output to the input shaft 3i of the transmission 3 in addition to a torque corresponding to the torque command Ti* under predefined preconditions.” This does not provide a reader with the requisite detail needed to establish which ASIL standard(s) is/are being contemplated. This also creates an issue regarding ambiguity as to which ASIL standard would apply and is intended to be leveraged to define the claim’s requirement, as written, and would be limited to ASIL only an ASIL standard published at the time of effective filing.
Further, the plain meaning of a “range of quality management” is far broader than what is disclosed in Applicant’s specification as, according to plain meaning, this could be established based on arbitrary/alternative criteria which are unknown to the reader based on the disclosure. The ambiguity of the range and lack of detail in the specification provide no context as to how to interpret this portion of the claim. Further, automakers are bound to federal/state safety standards for each manufactured vehicle sold, which would necessarily require some type of quality management standard to be applied so that production vehicles meet federal and state safety regulations. The breadth and ambiguity of this claim render it indefinite.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2005045862 in view of JP 2004282852.
Regarding claim 1, JP 2005045862 discloses a hybrid vehicle that includes an engine connectable to a drive shaft (At least engine, 22 and drive shaft), an electric motor (At least one of MG1 or MG2) connectable to the drive shaft, and a battery that exchanges electric power with the electric motor (At least battery, 50), the hybrid vehicle comprising: a controller (At least one and/or a combination of ECU, 24/40/52; CPU, 72; and hybrid electronic control unit) that sets an upper limit torque and a lower limit torque of the electric motor (At least where JP 2005045862 establishes the upper and lower torque limits established for MG2 during power consumption deviation calculations are obtained in view of the reference/correction torques.) such that a difference between a torque command indicating a torque to be output to the drive shaft and an actual torque output to the drive shaft is within an allowable range based on an operational condition of the hybrid vehicle (At least where JP 2005045862 discloses setting the torque command of MG2 to encompass the required torque and the torque command and where the vehicle calculates the “required torque to be output to the ring gear shaft 32a as the drive shaft based on the accelerator opening Acc and the vehicle speed V corresponding to the depression amount of the accelerator pedal by the driver,” which is the torque command. Additionally, JP 2005045862 subsequently discloses that, “the operation of the engine 22, the motor MG1, and the motor MG2 is controlled so that the required power corresponding to the required torque is output to the ring gear shaft 32a. As operation control of the engine 22, the motor MG1, and the motor MG2, the operation of the engine 22 is controlled so that power corresponding to the required power is output from the engine 22, and all of the power output from the engine 22 is the power distribution and integration mechanism 30. Torque conversion operation mode for driving and controlling the motor MG1 and the motor MG2 so that the torque is converted by the motor MG1 and the motor MG2 and output to the ring gear shaft 32a, and the required power and the power required for charging and discharging the battery 50,” which realizes the difference with the actual torque output based on an operational condition relate to the battery.).
JP 2005045862 discusses estimating engine torque, but does not expressly discuss control of the electric motor to output torque based on a difference between the estimated output and torque command.
Nevertheless, JP 2004282852 discloses a hybrid vehicle control system which controls the electric motor to output a torque (At least where JP 2004282852 discloses that “if there is torque deviation, the assist torque of the motor is calculated based on the torque deviation and gear ratio of the transmission ) based on a difference between the torque command and an estimated output torque of the engine (At least where JP 2004282852 discloses that the “ECU obtains a torque deviation” and that the “torque deviation is a difference between the driver required torque and the actual torque of the internal combustion engine” and that the “actual torque of the internal combustion engine can be estimated from the actual operation state of the internal combustion engine” which yields a torque estimate. JP 2004282852 further discloses that “if there is torque deviation, the assist torque of the motor is calculated based on the torque deviation and gear ratio of the transmission so as to compensate for the torque deviation,” thus providing an electric motor output where a differential between torque command and estimated engine torque output exists.) within a range from the lower limit torque to the upper limit torque (At least via the torque range and power distribution as provided in JP 2005045862, which is discussed above).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a PHOSITA at the time of effective filing to have modified the system of JP 2005045862 to have controlled the electric motor output based on a difference between torque command and estimated engine torque, as taught by JP 2004282852, in order to prevent overshooting rotational speed/ damaging components and to ensure that the power output to the driveshaft is smooth for increased longevity of components and for improved driving experience.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6 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 and to overcome the outstanding rejection of claim 2 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Brodie Follman whose telephone number is (571)270-1169. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-4:30pm EST M-F.
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, Erin Piateski can be reached at (571)270-7429. 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.
/BRODIE J FOLLMAN/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3669