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 .
The current application related to a Foreign Application Priority JP-2024-088763 filed on May 31, 2024.
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.
Claim(s) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chikuma (20120247888) in view of Yoshimi (20140375001).
With regard to claim 1, Chikuma discloses a vehicle control system comprising:
a deceleration operation unit operated by a driver when a vehicle is to be decelerated (a brake pedal, see [0054]-[0055]+);
a starting operation unit operated by the driver when the vehicle is to be started (accelerator pedal, see [0054]-[0055]+);
suspensions interposed between a vehicle body of the vehicle and wheels (left and right front/rear wheel suspensions, see [0021]-[0022]+); and
a control unit configured to control at least one of a damping force of the suspensions and a vehicle height of the vehicle, (a controller 37 controls drive of the actuator 20 of the damping force (the left and right front/rear wheel suspensions) mechanism 18,, see [0077]+, the vehicle’s height sensors are mounted on the wheels which are used to stabilize the posture of the vehicle body when the vehicle is running on a bad road, see [0107]+).
Chikuma fails to teach when both the deceleration, and the acceleration are operated while the vehicle is stop, the controller performs controlling of the damping force, vehicle’s height.
Yoshimi discloses a vehicle control system detects amount of depression of the accelerator and brake pedal, controls the stroke (damping force) corresponding the vehicle’s height, see [0030]-[0035].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Chikuma by including controlling the vehicle’s damping force, and height when detecting amount of depression of the accelerator and the braking as taught by Yoshimi for improving the vehicle’s driving smoothly.
With regarding to claim 2, Chikuma teaches that the vehicle control system according to claim 1, further comprising a detection unit configured to detect a physical quantity corresponding to an inclination angle of the vehicle body with respect to a horizontal plane (detecting a pitch state and roll of the vehicle body, see [0103]+) ,
wherein the control unit performs the change control processing when an absolute value of the inclination angle obtained by using the physical quantity detected by the detection unit is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold (controller perform correcting a posture change such as a roll movement, a pitch movement, and etc. to stabilize the posture of the vehicle body, see [0107]+) .
With regarding to claim 3, Chikuma teaches that the vehicle control system according to claim 2, wherein the suspensions include a first suspension interposed between the vehicle body and a front wheel of the wheels and a second suspension interposed between the vehicle body and a rear wheel of the wheels (see [0022]+), and in the change control processing, the control unit increases a damping force of the first suspension and increases a damping force of the second suspension (the damping force adjustable with the frequency response unit 24, see [0022]).
With regard to claims 4-6, Yoshimi teaches that the vehicle height adjustment device is performed for lowering the vehicle height, see [0030]-[0035] which meets the scope of the claims.
With regarding to claim 7, Chikuma teaches that the vehicle control system according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit configured to present notification information notifying that setting in the vehicle is to be changed, wherein the control unit activates the notification unit and causes the notification unit to present the notification information when both the deceleration operation unit and the starting operation unit are operated while the vehicle is stopped (the map calculating unit output a characteristic line indicated value of a target damping force according to an extension/compression stroke and a sprung speed, see [0062]+).
With regarding to claim 8, Chikuma teaches that the vehicle control system according to claim 1, wherein the deceleration operation unit is a brake pedal, and the starting operation unit is an accelerator pedal (see [0055]+).
With regarding to claim 9, Chikuma teaches that the vehicle control system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle is a side-by-side vehicle (see Fig.1).
With regard to claim 10, Chikuma discloses a vehicle control device comprising:
a first input unit to which first information indicating an operation amount of a deceleration operation unit operated by a driver when a vehicle is to be decelerated is input; a second input unit to which second information indicating an operation amount of a starting operation unit operated by the driver when the vehicle is to be started is input; a third input unit to which third information indicating a vehicle speed of the vehicle is input (braking amoung, acceleration amount and rotational speed of each vehicle are detected and input into the controller 37, see [0054]-[0056]+);
A control unit configured to control at least one of a damping force of suspensions interposed between a vehicle body of the vehicle and wheels and a vehicle height of the vehicle. Wherein the control unit performs change control processing before the vehicle starts, the change control processing changing one of the damping force and the vehicle height in a case where the one is controlled and changing both of the damping force and the vehicle height in a case where the both elements are controlled (a controller 37 includes a calculation unit 42 which calculates and control damping force characteristic between the hard side and the soft side in a continuous manner or a stepwise manner (see [0057]-[0058]+)
Chikuma fails to teach determining when both the deceleration, and the acceleration are operated while the vehicle is stop, the controller performs controlling of the damping force, vehicle’s height.
Yoshimi discloses a vehicle control system detects and determines amount of depression of the accelerator and brake pedal, controls the stroke (damping force) corresponding the vehicle’s height, see [0030]-[0035].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Chikuma by including controlling the vehicle’s damping force, and height when detecting amount of depression of the accelerator and the braking as taught by Yoshimi for improving the vehicle’s driving smoothly.
Prior Arts Cited
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Hirao (20190255903) discloses a suspension control apparatus mounted on a vehicle for controlling a vibration of the vehicle (see the abstract).
Conclusion
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NGA X. NGUYEN
Examiner
Art Unit 3662
/NGA X NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3662
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