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
Status of Claims
Claims 1-14 of U.S. Application No. 19/144424 filed on 06/27/2025 have been examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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 1, 3-4, 6-8 and 13-14 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Vollmer [US 2020/0377071 A1], hereinafter referred to as Vollmer.
As to Claim 1 and 14, Vollmer discloses a method for estimating a speed of a wheeled vehicle provided with at least one brake comprising at least one braking element and a braked element, in which the at least one braking element includes at least one force sensor ([see at least 0026, 0027 and 0028]) the method comprising: acquisition of a force signal generated by the at least one force sensor ([see at least 0026, 0027 and 0028]); analysis of the force signal in a time or frequency domain and calculation of at least one parameter of the force signal ([see at least 0028 and 0032]); and calculation of a vehicle speed estimate in which the calculated value of the at least one parameter is inputted into an estimate algorithm for estimating the speed of the vehicle ([see at least 0035]).
As to Claim 3, Vollmer discloses a method, wherein in the analysis in the time domain the parameter of the force signal includes a time distance between peaks of the force signal and in the analysis in the frequency domain the parameter of the force signal includes a first harmonic or fundamental frequency of a frequency spectrum of the force signal ([see at least 0010, 0028, 0031 and 0032]).
As to Claim 4, Vollmer discloses a method, wherein the estimate algorithm provides an analytical function that links with a relation of inverse proportionality the at least one parameter of the force signal to the vehicle speed estimate in the analysis in the time domain, and with a relation of direct proportionality the at least one parameter of the force signal to the vehicle speed estimate in the analysis in the frequency domain ([see at least 0010, 0028, 0031 and 0032]).
As to Claim 6, Vollmer discloses a method, wherein the force signal is acquired with a sliding buffer memory ([see at least 0031 and 0035]).
As to Claim 7, Vollmer discloses a method, wherein the calculation frequency of the vehicle speed estimate is proportionate to an inverse of a size of the sliding memory buffer ([see at least 0011, 0028 and 0032]).
As to Claim 8, Vollmer discloses a method, wherein the size of said sliding memory buffer is([see at least 0011, 0028 and 0032]).
As to Claim 13, Vollmer discloses a method claim 1, wherein the at least one brake comprises two braking elements each formed by a wearable block of friction material and a rear support plate between which the at least one force sensor is interposed ([see at least Fig. 1]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 5 and 9-12 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. The prior art fails to explicitly teach a method, wherein the at least one brake can adopt an activated status, a deactivated status or a transitory status from the activated status to the deactivated status and vice versa, wherein monitoring the status of the at least one brake and enabling or validating the calculation of the vehicle speed estimate when the at least one brake is not in said transitory status. Also the prior art fails to explicitly teach a method, wherein the at least one braking element includes a plurality of force sensors, and in that the force signal is acquired as an average of force signals
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YAZAN A SOOFI whose telephone number is (469)295-9189. The examiner can normally be reached on Flex schedule.
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/YAZAN A SOOFI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3668
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