DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office Action is sent in response to Applicant’s Communication received on January 15, 2025 for application number 19/021,575. This Office hereby acknowledges receipt of the following and placed of record in file: Specification, Drawings, Abstract, Oath/Declaration, and Claims.
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. JP 2024-050035 filed on March 26, 2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 15, 2025 is noted. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 5, 6 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mukai et al. (WO 2017/179505 A1), hereinafter “Mukai”.
Regarding claim 1, Mukai discloses a vehicle collision mitigation apparatus (Abstract: (“a vehicle control device (10), comprising: a collision assessment unit (S12) which assesses the possibility of a collision between a host vehicle and an object which is ahead of the host vehicle”)) configured to cause a braking device or a steering system of a vehicle to operate and mitigate collision of the vehicle (Abstract: (“if it has been assessed by the collision assessment unit that there is a possibility of a collision, executes automatic steering control for steering the host vehicle as collision avoidance control for avoiding the collision between the host vehicle and the object”)), the vehicle collision mitigation apparatus comprising: one or more on-board sensors provided in the vehicle, the one or more on-board sensors comprising an accelerometer configured to perform a detection of at least an acceleration rate of the vehicle as a traveling state of the vehicle; and a controller configured to acquire information based on a detection by the one or more on-board sensors and execute a collision mitigation process of causing one or both of the braking device and the steering system of the vehicle to operate, wherein the controller is configured to set a central position of the vehicle as a calculation starting-point position for a predicted course of the vehicle that is turning, generate the predicted course of the vehicle that is turning by calculating an amount of movement made by the vehicle making a turn from the calculation starting-point position and calculating a post-movement position, by using the information based on the detection by the one or more on-board sensors, or an actual moving velocity of the vehicle that is turning, the actual moving velocity being oriented in a direction of a sideslip angle of the vehicle that is turning, the sideslip angle being calculated based on the information based on the detection by the one or more on-board sensors, predict and determine interference with an obstacle to traveling, assuming that the vehicle moves along the predicted course of the vehicle that is turning, and when the controller predicts and determines that the interference with the obstacle to traveling will occur, execute the collision mitigation process of causing one or both of the braking device and the steering system to operate (paragraphs 15, 23-28, 32-36, 45-59).
Regarding claim 2, Mukai discloses the vehicle collision mitigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to set a central position of multiple wheels provided in the vehicle as the calculation starting-point position for the predicted course of the vehicle that is turning (paragraphs 15, 23-28).
Regarding claim 5, Mukai discloses the vehicle collision mitigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to generate an interference determination plane on which an interference area of the interference, assuming that the vehicle travels along the predicted course of the vehicle that is turning at the actual moving velocity is set, and predict and determine the interference with the obstacle to traveling, based on a position and a moving direction of the obstacle to traveling on the generated interference determination plane (paragraphs 32-36, 45-59).
Regarding claim 6, Mukai discloses the vehicle collision mitigation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to generate an interference determination plane on which an interference area of the interference, assuming that the vehicle travels along the predicted course of the vehicle that is turning at the actual moving velocity is set, and predict and determine the interference with the obstacle to traveling, based on a position and a moving direction of the obstacle to traveling on the generated interference determination plane (paragraphs 15, 23-28, 45-59).
Regarding claim 9, Mukai discloses a vehicle collision mitigation apparatus (Abstract: (“a vehicle control device (10), comprising: a collision assessment unit (S12) which assesses the possibility of a collision between a host vehicle and an object which is ahead of the host vehicle”)) configured to cause a braking device or a steering system of a vehicle to operate and mitigate collision of the vehicle (Abstract: (“if it has been assessed by the collision assessment unit that there is a possibility of a collision, executes automatic steering control for steering the host vehicle as collision avoidance control for avoiding the collision between the host vehicle and the object”)), the vehicle collision mitigation apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and one or more on-board sensors provided in the vehicle, the one or more on-board sensors comprising an accelerometer configured to perform a detection of at least an acceleration rate of the vehicle as a traveling state of the vehicle, wherein the at least one processor is configured to set a central position of the vehicle as a calculation starting-point position for a predicted course of the vehicle that is turning, generate the predicted course of the vehicle that is turning by calculating an amount of movement made by the vehicle making a turn from the calculation starting-point position and calculating a post-movement position, by using information based on a detection by the one or more on-board sensors, or an actual moving velocity of the vehicle that is turning, the actual moving velocity being oriented in a direction of a sideslip angle of the vehicle that is turning, the sideslip angle being calculated based on the information based on the detection by the one or more on-board sensors, predict and determine interference with an obstacle to traveling, assuming that the vehicle moves along the predicted course of the vehicle that is turning, and when the at least one processor predicts and determines that the interference with the obstacle to traveling will occur, execute a collision mitigation process of causing one or both of the braking device and the steering system to operate (paragraphs 15, 23-28, 32-36, 45-59).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 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 OMAR MORALES whose telephone number is (571)272-5923. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday thru Friday.
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/O.M/Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/LINDSAY M LOW/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747