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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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) 1-4, 10-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kilfoyle (CA 3073139) in view of Stroh (US PG Pub No. 2005/0182556)
Kilfoyle teaches
establishing, based on the requested torque (202 figure 2a page 8 line 5-15 accelerator) (Treq), a growth law (L) (page 6 line 5-10 linear fashion), which entails a linear increase in the torque target as a rotational speed (w) of the internal combustion engine (4) increases so that the growth law (L) (page 6 line 5-10 linear fashion) is a straight line on the plane (paragraph 8 and 10 and 13) having the rotational speed (w) on the x- axis and the torque target on the y-axis and so that, at every rotational speed (o), the torque target provided by the growth law (L) is lower than the maximum torque that can be generated by the internal combustion engine (4); and (page 6 line 5-10)
determining the torque target using the growth law (L) only as a function of the rotational speed of the internal combustion engine (4) so that, with the same requested torque (Treq) and, thus, with the same growth law (L), the torque target changes as the rotational speed ) of the internal combustion engine (4) changes. (figure 2a and 2b)
Kilfoyle does not explicitly teach however Stroh teaches
A method to control a road vehicle (1) provided with a naturally aspirated internal combustion engine (4), which generates a torque transmitted to at least one drive wheel (3); the control method comprises the steps of:
determining in advance a maximum torque that can be generated by the internal combustion engine (4) at each rotational speed (w) of the internal combustion engine (4);
acquiring a position of an accelerator control (12); (26 figure 1 paragraph 23)
determining a rotational speed (o) of the internal combustion engine (4); (28 figure 1)
determining a requested torque (Treq) based on the position of the accelerator control (12); (28 figure 1)
determining a torque target based on the requested torque (Treq) ;
controlling the internal combustion engine (4) so as to pursue the target torque; (paragraph 24 and 28)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify Kilfoyle based on the teachings of Stroh to teach A method to control a road vehicle (1) provided with a naturally aspirated internal combustion engine (4), which generates a torque transmitted to at least one drive wheel (3); the control method comprises the steps of: determining in advance a maximum torque that can be generated by the internal combustion engine (4) at each rotational speed (w) of the internal combustion engine (4); acquiring a position of an accelerator control (12); determining a rotational speed (o) of the internal combustion engine (4); determining a requested torque (Treq) based on the position of the accelerator control (12); determining a torque target based on the requested torque (Treq) ; controlling the internal combustion engine (4) so as to pursue the target torque. The motivation would be to effectively control the engine
Regarding claim 2, Kilfoyle teaches wherein an incline of the growth law (L) increases as the requested torque (Treq) increases and vice versa. (paragraph 6 line 5-10)
Regarding claim 3, Kilfoyle teaches wherein the growth law (L) entails, given the same rotational speed a greater torque target as the requested torque (Treq) increases and vice versa. (figure 2a)
Regarding claim 4, Kilfoyle teaches and comprising the steps of:
generating, based on the torque target, a value (T1st) for the control of the instantaneous torque, which is used to control actuators that have a quick effect on the generation of the torque; and (page 11 line 15-20 ignition timing)
generating, based on the torque target, a value (Tpre) for the control of the predicted torque, which is used to control actuators that have a slow effect on the generation of the torque. (page 11 line 15-20 variable valve timing)
Regarding claim 10, Kilfoyle teaches wherein the growth law (L) remains the same as long as the requested torque (Treq) remains the same or does not change. (figure 2a-2b)
Regarding claim 11, Kilfoyle teaches wherein, even if the growth law (L) remains the same, that is, the requested torque (Treq) remains the same, the torque target changes as the rotational speed ) changes (figure 2a-2b)
Claim(s) 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kilfoyle (CA 3073139) and Stroh (US PG Pub No. 2005/0182556) in view of Soejima (US Patent No. 8,209,104)
Regarding claim 5, kilfoyle does not explicitly teach however Soejima teaches wherein:
the internal combustion engine (4) comprises at least one cylinder (16), a spark plug (24) coupled to the cylinder (16) to ignite a mixture inside the cylinder and an intake system, which is configured to supply air to the cylinder (16) and has a throttle valve (21), which adjusts the air flow rate taken in;
the value (T1St) for the control of the instantaneous torque is used to establish a spark advance of the spark plug (24) ; and
the value (Tpre) for the control of the predicted torque is used to establish an opening of the throttle valve (21). (figure 3a-3c)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify Kilfoyle based on the teachings of Soejima to teach wherein: the internal combustion engine (4) comprises at least one cylinder (16), a spark plug (24) coupled to the cylinder (16) to ignite a mixture inside the cylinder and an intake system, which is configured to supply air to the cylinder (16) and has a throttle valve (21), which adjusts the air flow rate taken in;the value (T1St) for the control of the instantaneous torque is used to establish a spark advance of the spark plug (24) ; andthe value (Tpre) for the control of the predicted torque is used to establish an opening of the throttle valve (21). The motivation would be to ensure engine smoothness and low NVH.
Regarding claim 6, Kilfoyle does not explicitly teach however Soejima teaches wherein the value (Tpre) for the control of the predicted torque is also used to establish a stroke of the intake valve (18). (figure 3a-3c)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify Kilfoyle based on the teachings of Soejima to teach wherein the value (Tpre) for the control of the predicted torque is also used to establish a stroke of the intake valve (18). The motivation would be to ensure engine smoothness and low NVH.
Claim(s) 7-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kilfoyle (CA 3073139) and Stroh (US PG Pub No. 2005/0182556) in view of La Salle (GB2495511)
Regarding claim 7, Kilfoyle does not explicitly teach however LaSalle teaches wherein the torque target is determined using the growth law (L) only when the requested torque (Treq) exceeds a threshold value. (page 27 line 5-30 85%).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify Kilfoyle based on the teachings of La salle to teach wherein the torque target is determined using the growth law (L) only when the requested torque (Treq) exceeds a threshold value. The motivation would be to avoid dead pedal region (page 26 line 10-20 avoid dead pedal region La Salle)
Regarding claim 8, Kilfoyle does not explicitly teach however LaSalle teaches wherein the torque target is determined using the growth law (L) only when the rotation speed ) is below a threshold value. (page 27 line 5-30 85%).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify Kilfoyle based on the teachings of LaSalle to teach wherein the torque target is determined using the growth law (L) only when the rotation speed is below a threshold value. (page 27 line 5-30 85%). The motivation would be to avoid dead pedal region (page 26 line 10-20 avoid dead pedal region La Salle)
Regarding claim 9, Kilfoyle does not explicitly teach however LaSalle teaches wherein:
the vehicle (1) comprises a gearbox (7), which is interposed between the internal combustion engine (4) and the drive wheel (3) and has a plurality of gears having different gear ratios;
an engaged gear of the gearbox (7) is acquired; and
the torque target is determined using the growth law (L) only when in the gearbox (7) there is engaged a gear having a gear ratio below a threshold value. (figure 7 and 10 road load takes gear ratio into account)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify Kilfoyle based on the teachings of LaSalle to teach wherein: the vehicle (1) comprises a gearbox (7), which is interposed between the internal combustion engine (4) and the drive wheel (3) and has a plurality of gears having different gear ratios; an engaged gear of the gearbox (7) is acquired; and the torque target is determined using the growth law (L) only when in the gearbox (7) there is engaged a gear having a gear ratio below a threshold value. The motivation would be to avoid dead pedal region (page 26 line 10-20 avoid dead pedal region La Salle)
Conclusion
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/GEORGE C JIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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