DETAILED ACTION
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 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.
2. Claims 1-4 are pending in Instant Application.
Priority
3. Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statement (IDS) filed 02/25/2025 has been received and considered by the examiner. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97.
Examiner’s Note
5. Examiner has cited particular paragraphs/columns and line numbers or figures in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing the responses, to fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all of part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner. Applicant is reminded that the Examiner is entitled to give the broadest reasonable interpretation to the language of the claims. Furthermore, the Examiner is not limited to Applicant’s definition which is not specifically set forth in the claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
6. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/10/2021, 03/31/2022, 02/07/2023, 03/21/2024, 4/03/2024, and 9/13/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is/are being considered if signed and initialed by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 6/22/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that Claim 3 should be grouped with Group I and not Group II. This argument was found persuasive because Claim 3 depends on Claim 1.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or non-obviousness.
9. Claims 1 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosono (US 20240400134) in view of Kodera (US 11046358 B2).
Regarding Claim 1, Hosono discloses A driving control apparatus, comprising a hardware processor, wherein the hardware processor is configured to: (Hosono, see at least [Fig. 2, Fig. 4 and Claim 1] in which discloses a steering device including a processor configured to execute steering control algorithms for controlling a steering syste,)
detect an operation amount signal that is outputted from an operation member when a driver operates the operation member; (Hosono, see at least [0047-0056] and [0071-0076] detecting steering torque generated by a drivers operation of the steering wheel. The steering torque sensor detects the driver’s steering input, which is used as an input signal for control processing. ** Examiner notes that the steering wheel corresponds to the operation member and the steering torque signal corresponds to the operation amount signal.)
calculate a phase delay characteristic that maintains a phase delay of the operation amount signal at a constant level; (Hosono, see at least [0076-0083] and Fig. 4, wherein disclosed is a phase delay compensation process (M60) that delays the steering torque signal using delay characteristics determined by filter coefficients. Also see [0032] wherein the phase delay compensation process may be speciifcying variables used as an input for the phase delay specifying variable. The phase delay specifying variable may be a variable that specifi )
and apply the advance angle compensation and the phase delay characteristic to the operation amount signal, (Hosono, see at least [0076-0093] and Fig. 4, wherein disclosed is applying both the phase delay compensation process and the phase advance compensation process to the detected steering input to calculate the steering reaction force command supplied to the steering actuator.)
and transmit a resulting signal as a control amount signal for controlling an operation target. (Hosono, see at least Claim Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, wherein MSs and MSt are signals. Also see [0064- 0066] wherein the signals are transmitted from the control device to the reaction force inverter 24 and/or the turning motor 42.)
Hosono does not explicitly disclose calculate advance angle compensation that compensates for a phase delay in an operation frequency band, the operation frequency band indicating a range of operation speed at which the driver operates the operation member;
However, Kodera discloses calculate advance angle compensation that compensates for a phase delay in an operation frequency band, the operation frequency band indicating a range of operation speed at which the driver operates the operation member; (Kodera, see at least [Column 8, Lines 55-60], wherein steering delay is improved by advancing the phase of the target angle, which is computed by the steering angle ratio change control circuit 62. That is, the steering response is secured in accordance with the steered speed. ** Examiner notes that while Hosono does disclose calculating an angle compensation that compensates for a phase delay in an operation frequency, it does not explicitly disclose wherein the operation frequency is a range of operation speeds.)
Accordingly, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in modified Hosono with the teachings of Kodera to include the capability of computing a steering angle in which compensates for a steering delay, wherein this helps improve responsiveness, reduce oscillations and assist in maintaining an accurate path for the vehicle. This would further improve the managing or controlling of a vehicle.
Regarding Claim 3, Hosono in view of Kodera discloses The driving control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hardware processor is configured to (see claim above)
Hosono does not explicitly disclose calculate a phase amount such that the calculated phase amount and a phase delay from the operation amount signal to the control amount signal are symmetrical about phase 0*, and conduct the advance angle compensation such that the phase delay is eliminated.
However, Kodera discloses calculate a phase amount such that the calculated phase amount and a phase delay from the operation amount signal to the control amount signal are symmetrical about phase 0*, and conduct the advance angle compensation such that the phase delay is eliminated. (Kodera, see at least [Column 12 Line 81 -Column 13 Line 12], When the axial force has a negative value, the friction compensation amount has a negative value. When the axial force has a positive value in the vicinity of zero, the friction compensation amount is increased in the positive direction as the absolute value of the axial force becomes larger. When the axial force has a negative value in the vicinity of zero, the friction compensation amount is increased in the negative direction as the absolute value of the axial force becomes larger. When the absolute value of the axial force has a predetermined value or more, the absolute value of the friction compensation amount does not depend on the axial force, and has a constant value. ** Examiner notes that when there is a delay and the delay is to be compensated for, a phase amount is used in which is opposite of the applied phase amount (symmetrical about phase 0) in order to cancel the delay.)
Accordingly, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in modified Hosono with the teachings of Kodera to include the capability of compensating when the system has a phase delay, wherein this helps improve responsiveness, reduce oscillations and assist in maintaining an accurate path for the vehicle. This would further improve the managing or controlling of a vehicle.
Relevant Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20160325776 – A first-stage phase compensation means, a second-stage phase compensation means, and a third-stage phase compensation means are configured in such a way that a frequency at which a phase calculated through the transfer function of the first-stage phase compensation means becomes maximal and a frequency at which a phase calculated through a transfer function of the first-stage phase compensation means and the third-stage phase compensation means becomes maximal coincide with each other; a motor for generating assist torque is controlled, based on a torque signal to which the first-stage phase compensation means, the second-stage phase compensation means, and the third-stage phase compensation means have applied phase compensation.
US 20190039429 – A vehicle attitude control device includes a controller including a low-pass filter. The controller calculates a manipulated variable of the actuator that allows the roll of the vehicle to be suppressed. The controller processes the roll angle acceleration with the low-pass filter, integrates the roll angle acceleration in which a high-frequency component has been removed by the low-pass filter, and converts a roll angle velocity obtained by the integration, into the manipulated variable. The low-pass filter has a first vehicle speed-cutoff frequency characteristic in which a cutoff frequency becomes higher with increase in the vehicle speed, and the first vehicle speed-cutoff frequency characteristic is designed such that a peak frequency in roll vibration coincides with a local minimum roll frequency in wheelbase filtering, the roll vibration being amplified by a dead time and a phase delay in control by the controller.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NADA MAHYOOB ALQADERI whose telephone number is (571) 272-2052. The examiner can normally be reached Monday – Friday, 8AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rachid Bendidi can be reached on (571) 272-4896. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NADA MAHYOOB ALQADERI/Examiner, Art Unit 3664
/RACHID BENDIDI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3664
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