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 .
2. This Office Action is sent in response to Applicant's Communication received on January 16, 2025 for application number 19/023,418. This Office hereby acknowledges receipt of the following and placed of record in file: Specification, Drawings, Abstract, Oath/Declaration, and Claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 16, 2025 was submitted in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
4. 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 2024-066122 filed on April 16, 2024.
Disposition of Claims
Claims 1-5 are pending in this application.
Claims 1-5 are rejected.
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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by (MIZOO – JP 2020011606 A).
Regarding claim 1, MIZOO discloses:
A lane keep control device configured to:
perform lane keep control for controlling lateral movement of a vehicle to cause the vehicle to travel along a target path set in an own lane in which the vehicle is traveling ([Abstract]: “A drive assisting device 10 comprises: a steering mechanism that mechanically couples a steering handle and a steering wheel; and a motor 61 provided in the steering mechanism. On the basis of an amount of first steering control for traveling an own vehicle along a target travel line set within a travel lane and an amount of second steering control for assisting an operation of a steering handle by a driver, the drive assisting device calculates an amount of torque control and, on the basis of the amount of torque control, the drive assisting device drives the motor. If a predetermined approach condition is satisfied when it is predicted that the own vehicle has approached a marked lane or an object, the amount of torque is corrected such that an amount of torque control right after the determination that approach condition has been satisfied is equal to a value by which an amount of torque control right before the determination is changed by a torque component in a direction in which the own vehicle is brought near the target travel line”),
the lane keep control device being configured to, when a lane change intention is detected, reduce control strength of the lane keep control as the vehicle deviates from the target path, as compared to when the lane change intention is not detected, the lane change intention being an intention of a driver to make a lane change ([0068, 0096]: “When the white line approach condition (the first condition and the second condition) is satisfied, the driving support ECU 10 determines whether or not the driver intends to cause the own vehicle 100 to deviate from the traveling lane 610. The driving support ECU 10 determines that the driver has an intention to cause the host vehicle 100 to deviate from the traveling lane 610 when a predetermined intention determination condition is satisfied. The intention determination condition is satisfied when at least one of the following conditions A and B is satisfied” and “As described above, when the first device determines that the above-described white line approach condition is satisfied during the execution of the lane keeping control (that is, {{{both the first condition and the second condition are satisfied}}}), the {{{first device sets the assist torque Atr to zero}}}. The first correction control is performed to decrease the value to the torque control amount Trc immediately after the white line approach condition is satisfied (time t2) is a value obtained by excluding the assist torque Atr from the torque control amount Trc immediately before the white line approach condition is satisfied (time t2)”).
Regarding claim 4, MIZOO discloses:
A lane keep control method in which a computer mounted on a vehicle performs lane keep control for controlling lateral movement of the vehicle to cause the vehicle to travel along a target path set in an own lane in which the vehicle is traveling, the lane keep control method comprising:
detecting a lane change intention by the computer, the lane change intention being an intention of a driver to make a lane change ([Abstract]: “A drive assisting device 10 comprises: a steering mechanism that mechanically couples a steering handle and a steering wheel; and a motor 61 provided in the steering mechanism. On the basis of an amount of first steering control for traveling an own vehicle along a target travel line set within a travel lane and an amount of second steering control for assisting an operation of a steering handle by a driver, the drive assisting device calculates an amount of torque control and, on the basis of the amount of torque control, the drive assisting device drives the motor. If a predetermined approach condition is satisfied when it is predicted that the own vehicle has approached a marked lane or an object, the amount of torque is corrected such that an amount of torque control right after the determination that approach condition has been satisfied is equal to a value by which an amount of torque control right before the determination is changed by a torque component in a direction in which the own vehicle is brought near the target travel line”); and
when the lane change intention is detected, reducing control strength of the lane keep control by the computer as the vehicle deviates from the target path, as compared to when the lane change intention is not detected ([0068, 0096]: “When the white line approach condition (the first condition and the second condition) is satisfied, the driving support ECU 10 determines whether or not the driver intends to cause the own vehicle 100 to deviate from the traveling lane 610. The driving support ECU 10 determines that the driver has an intention to cause the host vehicle 100 to deviate from the traveling lane 610 when a predetermined intention determination condition is satisfied. The intention determination condition is satisfied when at least one of the following conditions A and B is satisfied” and “As described above, when the first device determines that the above-described white line approach condition is satisfied during the execution of the lane keeping control (that is, {{{both the first condition and the second condition are satisfied}}}), the {{{first device sets the assist torque Atr to zero}}}. The first correction control is performed to decrease the value to the torque control amount Trc immediately after the white line approach condition is satisfied (time t2) is a value obtained by excluding the assist torque Atr from the torque control amount Trc immediately before the white line approach condition is satisfied (time t2)”).
Regarding claim 5, MIZOO discloses:
A non-transitory storage medium storing a program that causes a computer mounted on a vehicle to:
perform lane keep control for controlling lateral movement of the vehicle to cause the vehicle to travel along a target path set in an own lane in which the vehicle is traveling, the program causing the computer to detect a lane change intention, the lane change intention being an intention of a driver to make a lane change ([Abstract]: “A drive assisting device 10 comprises: a steering mechanism that mechanically couples a steering handle and a steering wheel; and a motor 61 provided in the steering mechanism. On the basis of an amount of first steering control for traveling an own vehicle along a target travel line set within a travel lane and an amount of second steering control for assisting an operation of a steering handle by a driver, the drive assisting device calculates an amount of torque control and, on the basis of the amount of torque control, the drive assisting device drives the motor. If a predetermined approach condition is satisfied when it is predicted that the own vehicle has approached a marked lane or an object, the amount of torque is corrected such that an amount of torque control right after the determination that approach condition has been satisfied is equal to a value by which an amount of torque control right before the determination is changed by a torque component in a direction in which the own vehicle is brought near the target travel line”), and
when the lane change intention is detected, reduce control strength of the lane keep control as the vehicle deviates from the target path, as compared to when the lane change intention is not detected ([0068, 0096]: “When the white line approach condition (the first condition and the second condition) is satisfied, the driving support ECU 10 determines whether or not the driver intends to cause the own vehicle 100 to deviate from the traveling lane 610. The driving support ECU 10 determines that the driver has an intention to cause the host vehicle 100 to deviate from the traveling lane 610 when a predetermined intention determination condition is satisfied. The intention determination condition is satisfied when at least one of the following conditions A and B is satisfied” and “As described above, when the first device determines that the above-described white line approach condition is satisfied during the execution of the lane keeping control (that is, {{{both the first condition and the second condition are satisfied}}}), the {{{first device sets the assist torque Atr to zero}}}. The first correction control is performed to decrease the value to the torque control amount Trc immediately after the white line approach condition is satisfied (time t2) is a value obtained by excluding the assist torque Atr from the torque control amount Trc immediately before the white line approach condition is satisfied (time t2)”).
Regarding claim 2, MIZOO disclose the lane keep control device according to claim 1, and further on MIZOO also discloses:
wherein the lane keep control device is configured to, when the lane change intention is detected and the vehicle enters an adjacent lane adjacent to the own lane, restore the control strength to the control strength that is used when the lane change intention is not detected, as the vehicle approaches a target path set in the adjacent lane ([0032-00456, 0068, 0096]).
Regarding claim 3, MIZOO disclose the lane keep control device according to claim 2, and further on MIZOO also discloses:
wherein the lane keep control device is configured to acquire, based on at least a shape of the own lane and a lateral distance between the vehicle and the target path in the own lane, a target value for causing the vehicle to travel along the target path in the own lane and reducing deviation of the vehicle from the target path, control the lateral movement of the vehicle based on the target value, when the lane change intention is detected, determine whether the vehicle has entered the adjacent lane, when the vehicle has not entered the adjacent lane, acquire such a gain that the target value decreases as the vehicle deviates from the target path in the own lane, and set a new target value to a product of the gain and the target value to reduce the control strength as the vehicle deviates from the target path, as compared to when the lane change intention is not detected, when the vehicle has entered the adjacent lane, acquire such a gain that, as the vehicle approaches the target path in the adjacent lane, the target value approaches the target value that is used when the lane change intention is not detected, and set the new target value to the product to restore the control strength to the control strength that is used when the lane change intention is not detected, as the vehicle approaches the target path in the adjacent lane, when the vehicle moves beyond the target path of the adjacent lane, perform the lane keep control with the control strength that is used when the lane change intention is not detected, and detect the lane change intention when the driver performs an operation to activate a direction indicator of the vehicle (([0032-00456, 0068, 0096]): “The gain calculation unit 522 determines / sets the control gain Krc based on the vehicle surrounding information, the steering angle θ, and the like. In the present embodiment, the control gain Krc is set to one of “0” and “1”. Gain calculation section 522 outputs control gain Krc to multiplier 523” and “The multiplier 523 obtains a value (= Krc × Trb) obtained by multiplying the basic assist torque Trb output from the basic assist torque calculation unit 521 by the control gain Krc output from the gain calculation unit 522, and calculates this value as assist. The torque is output to the adder 530 as the torque Atr. The assist torque Atr is a steering control amount for assisting the driver to operate the steering wheel SW, and may be referred to as a “second steering control amount”” and “In addition, if the intention determination condition is satisfied when the CPU proceeds to step 1050, the CPU determines “Yes” in step 1050 and proceeds to step 1070. When the CPU proceeds to step 1070, the CPU sets the value of the control gain Krc to “1”. Next, the CPU proceeds to step 1080 and calculates the assist torque Atr (= Krc × Trb) as the second steering control amount. Thereafter, the CPU proceeds to step 1095 and ends this routine once”).
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 2020/0031344 A1 - OKANO
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ruben Picon-Feliciano whose telephone number is (571)-272-4938. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday within 11:30 am-7:30 pm ET.
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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/RUBEN PICON-FELICIANO/Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/GRANT MOUBRY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747