DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the AIA first to invent provisions. 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.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-7, and 9-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)as being anticipated by Konigorski et al. (U.S. P.G. Publication No. 2016/0159216 A1; “Konigorski”).
Konigorski discloses:
Regarding claim 1:
An accelerator device (100) comprising:
a pedal lever (5) movable in accordance with a pedaling operation (7; ¶ 39);
a drive source (13) configured to generate a drive force when being energized (¶¶ 40-41, “Alternatively, the actuator 13 can exert a force on the pedal lever 5 that makes a further depression of the pedal lever harder and hence can be perceived by a driver as a pressure point when operating the pedal lever”);
a power transmission mechanism (27, 29, 31, 35; FIG. 1) including an actuator lever (29) that abuts to the pedal lever at a lever abutment point (depicted in FIG. 1), and configured to transmit the drive force of the drive source to the pedal lever and to apply a reaction force that is a force in a direction opposite to a pedaling direction of the pedal lever (¶¶ 40-41, “In the case of a circular actuating element 27 the driving element 31 can be disposed in an off-center region. Said driving element 31 can work in conjunction with a mechanical coupling element 29 provided on the pedal lever 5, which in one embodiment can be implemented for example as a force transfer element in the form of a tappet”);
a pedaling amount detector (e.g. 21, 37; FIG. 1) detecting a pedaling amount of the pedal lever (¶ 60, “The pedal system can comprise three position sensors: a sensor for detecting the angular position a of the actuator, a further sensor for detecting the angular position W of the actuating element 27 or the position of the driving element 31 on the actuating element 27, and a further sensor for detecting the angular position of the pedal lever S. In one exemplary embodiment, at least two position sensors are necessary, a first sensor for detecting the angular position of the pedal lever S and a second sensor for detecting the angular position of the suspension point S8 on the gearbox side”); and
a controller (3) including a drive force calculator configured to calculate the drive force output from the drive source (¶ 43, “The actuator 13 is activated by a control unit 3. The control unit 3 detects if a haptically perceivable signal is to be transmitted to a driver by means of the pedal lever 5, in order for example to notify the driver of the possibility of a fuel saving driving manner or a hazard situation. The control unit thereupon controls the actuator such that a constant or time varying force is exerted on the pedal lever 5 opposite to the actuation direction 7”; see also ¶ 57) and to control operation of the drive source (¶¶ 43, 57-58),
wherein the drive force calculator calculates the drive force corresponding to a target reaction force based on the pedaling amount (¶ 53, “In the block (f) the target actuator angle (PHIa, s) is calculated from the pedal angle (PHIp) and the additional restoring force (Fs)”; ¶ 49, “The control of the load torque is thus implemented by position control of the actuator angle. During this a torque sensor is simulated by means of measurement of the pedal angle and the actuator angle as well as knowledge of the spring stiffness”; see also ¶ 57-58).
Regarding claim 3
The accelerator device according to claim 1, wherein the pedaling amount detector is provided in the power transmission mechanism (37 in FIG. 1; (¶ 60, “The pedal system can comprise three position sensors: a sensor for detecting the angular position a of the actuator, a further sensor for detecting the angular position W of the actuating element 27 or the position of the driving element 31 on the actuating element 27, and a further sensor for detecting the angular position of the pedal lever S. In one exemplary embodiment, at least two position sensors are necessary, a first sensor for detecting the angular position of the pedal lever S and a second sensor for detecting the angular position of the suspension point S8 on the gearbox side”).
Regarding claim 4:
The accelerator device according to claim 3, wherein the controller learns a detection value of the pedaling amount detector when the pedal lever is in a fully-closed position (¶ 39, “For this purpose the driver must depress the pedal lever 5 in an actuation direction of the arrow 7, whereby the pedal lever 5, starting from a rest position, is caused to move along a displacement region to a maximally activated position. During this a pedal lever position sensor 21 can determine the current position or location of the pedal lever 5”).
Regarding claim 5:
The accelerator device according to claim 1, wherein the pedaling amount detector is provided in the pedal lever (21; FIG. 1)
Regarding claim 6:
The accelerator device according to claim 1, wherein the power transmission mechanism includes an elastic member (9, 19; FIG. 1, 5) that biases the actuator lever in a full-close direction of the pedal lever (¶ 39, “spring 19 biases the pedal lever 5 opposite to the actuation direction 7 towards the rest position”).
Regarding claim 7:
An accelerator device (100) comprising:
a pedal lever (5) movable in accordance with a pedaling operation (7; ¶ 39);
a drive source (13) configured to generate a drive force when being energized (¶¶ 40-41, “Alternatively, the actuator 13 can exert a force on the pedal lever 5 that makes a further depression of the pedal lever harder and hence can be perceived by a driver as a pressure point when operating the pedal lever”);
a power transmission mechanism (27, 29, 31, 35; FIG. 1) including an actuator lever (29) that abuts to the pedal lever at a lever abutment point (depicted in FIG. 1), and configured to transmit the drive force of the drive source to the pedal lever and to apply a reaction force that is a force in a direction opposite to a pedaling direction of the pedal lever (¶¶ 40-41, “In the case of a circular actuating element 27 the driving element 31 can be disposed in an off-center region. Sai d driving element 31 can work in conjunction with a mechanical coupling element 29 provided on the pedal lever 5, which in one embodiment can be implemented for example as a force transfer element in the form of a tappet”);
a pedaling amount detector (e.g. 21, 37; FIG. 1) detecting a pedaling amount of the pedal lever (¶ 60, “The pedal system can comprise three position sensors: a sensor for detecting the angular position a of the actuator, a further sensor for detecting the angular position W of the actuating element 27 or the position of the driving element 31 on the actuating element 27, and a further sensor for detecting the angular position of the pedal lever S. In one exemplary embodiment, at least two position sensors are necessary, a first sensor for detecting the angular position of the pedal lever S and a second sensor for detecting the angular position of the suspension point S8 on the gearbox side”); and
a controller (3) including at least one of a circuit and a processor having a memory storing computer program code (¶ 22, “The control unit can implement the proposed control method as well as any information analyses of sensor signals in hardware and/or in software. It can be advantageous to program a programmable control unit for implementation of the method described above. For this purpose, a computer program product can comprise computer-readable instructions that instruct the programmable control unit to carry out the steps of the respective method. The computer program product can be stored on a computer-readable medium, such as for example a CD, a DVD, a flash memory, a ROM, an EPROM or similar. In order to be able to correctly activate the arrangement to be taken up by the actuator, in addition to the processing of further sensor data, information that is stored in a database or in the form of characteristics, and that concerns for example the elastic properties of the coupling spring or a response behavior to certain control signals to be carried out by the actuator or a system response of the actuator can also be used”), wherein
the controller is configured to:
calculate the drive force output from the drive source (¶ 43, “The actuator 13 is activated by a control unit 3. The control unit 3 detects if a haptically perceivable signal is to be transmitted to a driver by means of the pedal lever 5, in order for example to notify the driver of the possibility of a fuel saving driving manner or a hazard situation. The control unit thereupon controls the actuator such that a constant or time varying force is exerted on the pedal lever 5 opposite to the actuation direction 7”) based on the pedaling amount (¶ 53, “In the block (f) the target actuator angle (PHIa, s) is calculated from the pedal angle (PHIp) and the additional restoring force (Fs)”; ¶ 49, “The control of the load torque is thus implemented by position control of the actuator angle. During this a torque sensor is simulated by means of measurement of the pedal angle and the actuator angle as well as knowledge of the spring stiffness”; see also ¶ 58), and
correct the drive force corresponding to a target reaction force (¶ 57, “The calculated spring travel/angle, which arises from the target force profile, is added to the angular position of the suspension point 54 on the pedal side that is thus correlated with the pedal opening angle beta. The result is a target position” of the actuator or of the gearbox output thereof at the suspension point 58 of the elastic coupling element 9 on the gearbox side”),
to control the operation of the drive source based on the corrective drive force (¶¶ 47, 57-58).
Regarding claim 9:
The accelerator device according to claim 7, wherein the pedaling amount detector is provided in the power transmission mechanism (37 in FIG. 1; (¶ 60, “The pedal system can comprise three position sensors: a sensor for detecting the angular position a of the actuator, a further sensor for detecting the angular position W of the actuating element 27 or the position of the driving element 31 on the actuating element 27, and a further sensor for detecting the angular position of the pedal lever S. In one exemplary embodiment, at least two position sensors are necessary, a first sensor for detecting the angular position of the pedal lever S and a second sensor for detecting the angular position of the suspension point S8 on the gearbox side”).
Regarding claim 10:
The accelerator device according to claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to learn a detection value of the pedaling amount detector when the pedal lever is in a fully-closed position (¶ 39, “For this purpose the driver must depress the pedal lever 5 in an actuation direction of the arrow 7, whereby the pedal lever 5, starting from a rest position, is caused to move along a displacement region to a maximally activated position. During this a pedal lever position sensor 21 can determine the current position or location of the pedal lever 5”).
Regarding claim 11:
The accelerator device according to claim 7, wherein the pedaling amount detector is provided in the pedal lever (21; FIG. 1)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 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.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL D YABUT whose telephone number is (571)270-5526. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor John Olszewski can be reached on (571) 272-2706. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL D YABUT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3656