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 § 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, 9-10, and 12-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by the Wu reference (CN 114211927A).
4. Regarding claim 1, the Wu reference discloses:
a pneumatic valve arrangement [Page 12, Last paragraph—front and rear ends of the valve] for controlling an air flow of compressed air, [Page 12, Last paragraph—are the air source and the air spring] the pneumatic valve arrangement comprising: a pneumatic valve unit including an input port for receiving the compressed air [Page 12, last paragraph—front end] and an output port for controllably providing the compressed air [Page 12—last paragraph-rear end];
said pneumatic valve unit further including an actuator unit configured to actuate a pneumatic connection between said input port and said output port (implicit);
said pneumatic valve unit further including a valve-control unit configured to control said actuator unit of said pneumatic valve unit (1001);
said valve-control unit being configured to:
ascertain a respective actuation function associated with each of a plurality of available air flow characteristics [Page 12, last paragraph—target duty cycle set];
ascertain, from the plurality of available air flow characteristics, a target air flow characteristic for delivering the compressed air by said pneumatic valve unit (Step S401); and,
control said actuator unit using the actuation function associated with the target air flow characteristic for delivering the compressed air in accordance with the target air flow characteristic (S402).
5. Regarding claim 2, the Wu reference further discloses:
wherein at least one of the actuation functions defines a repeating pulse-pattern (S402—PWM control signal) including off-cycles with an off-cycle duration and on-cycles with an on-cycle duration (current number of cycles).
6. Regarding claim 3, the Wu reference further discloses:
wherein said valve-control unit is configured to control said actuator unit to actuate said pneumatic valve unit in a connection state for connecting said input port to said output port
during the on-cycles and in a disconnection state for disconnecting said input port from said output port during the off- cycles (implicit).
7. Regarding claim 7, the Wu reference further discloses:
wherein said pneumatic valve unit further includes an exhaust port; and, wherein the valve-control unit is further configured to control said actuator unit to actuate said pneumatic valve unit for connecting said output port and said exhaust port during the off-cycles (implicit).
8. Regarding claim 9, the Wu reference discloses:
a pneumatic arrangement comprising:
a pneumatic valve arrangement [Page 12, Last paragraph—front and rear ends of the valve] having a pneumatic valve unit including an input port for receiving compressed air and an
output port for controllably providing the compressed air [Page 12, Last paragraph—are the air source and the air spring];
said pneumatic valve unit further including an actuator unit configured to actuate a pneumatic connection between said input port and said output port (implicit);
said pneumatic valve unit further including a valve-control unit configured to control said actuator unit of said pneumatic valve unit;
said valve-control unit being configured to:
ascertain a respective actuation function associated with each of a plurality of available air flow characteristics;
ascertain, from the plurality of available air flow characteristics, a target air flow characteristic for delivering the compressed air by said pneumatic valve unit; and,
control said actuator unit using the actuation function associated with the target air flow characteristic for delivering the compressed air in accordance with the target air flow characteristic [Page 12, last paragraph—target duty cycle set];
a compressed air supply unit connected to said input port of said pneumatic valve unit and configured to supply compressed air to said input port of said pneumatic valve unit (Step S401); and,
a pneumatic unit connected to said output port of said pneumatic valve unit and configured to receive the compressed air from said output port of said pneumatic valve unit for operation of said pneumatic unit (S402).
9. Regarding claim 10, the Wu reference further comprising:
further comprising an air reservoir arranged between said compressed air supply unit and said input port and configured to store the compressed air or arranged between said output
port of said pneumatic valve unit and said pneumatic unit (any volume of air in the line between the supply and the input could be considered an air reservoir that stores compressed air).
10. Regarding claim 12, the Wu reference further discloses:
a commercial vehicle comprising the pneumatic suspension system of claim 11 [Paragraph 0004].
11. Regarding claim 13, the Wu reference discloses:
a method for controlling a pneumatic valve arrangement [Page 12, Last paragraph—front and rear ends of the valve], the method comprising:
ascertaining a respective actuation function associated with each of a plurality of available air flow characteristics [Page 12, Last paragraph];
ascertaining, from the plurality of available air flow characteristics, a target air flow characteristic for delivering compressed air by a pneumatic valve unit [Page 12, last paragraph—target duty cycle set]; and,
controlling an actuator unit using the actuation function associated with the target air flow characteristic for delivering the compressed air in accordance with the target air flow characteristic (S401-S402).
12. Regarding claim 14, the Wu reference further discloses:
wherein at least one of the actuation functions defines a repeating pulse-pattern (S402—PWM control signal) including off-cycles with an off-cycle duration and on-cycles with an on-cycle duration (current number of cycles).
13. Regarding claim 15, the Wu reference further discloses:
controlling the actuator unit for actuating a pneumatic valve unit in a connection state for connecting an input port to an output port during the on-cycles and for actuating the pneumatic
valve unit in a disconnection state for disconnecting the input port from the output port during the off-cycles (implicit).
14. Regarding claim 16, the Wu reference further discloses: a computer program product comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a valve-control unit, cause the valve-control unit to carry out the method of claim 13 (implicit).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
15. 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.
16. Claim(s) 4 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the Wu reference in light of the Henry reference (WO 2020/163832A1).
17. Regarding claim 4, the Wu reference fails to disclose:
wherein said actuator unit is configured to actuate said pneumatic valve unit against a spring element that is arranged and configured to exert a spring force such that, without actuation, said input port is disconnected from said output port.
The Henry reference teaches it is conventional in the art of the pneumatic valves to provide as taught in [Paragraph 0082] wherein said actuator unit (50) is configured to actuate said pneumatic valve unit (FIG. 2B) against a spring element (52) that is arranged and configured to exert a spring force such that, without actuation, said input port (P4) is disconnected from said output port (P1). Such configurations/structures would allow termination of fluid flow to the ride spring [Paragraph 0082].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art by the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the arrangement of the reference, such that the arrangement further includes wherein said pneumatic valve unit further includes an exhaust port; and, wherein the valve-control unit is further configured to control said actuator unit to actuate said pneumatic valve unit for connecting said output port and said exhaust port, as clearly suggested and taught by the Henry reference, in order to allow termination of fluid flow to the ride spring [Paragraph 0082].
18. Regarding claim 6, the Wu reference fails to disclose:
wherein said pneumatic valve unit further includes an exhaust port; and,
wherein the valve-control unit is further configured to control said actuator unit to actuate said pneumatic valve unit for connecting said output port and said exhaust port.
The Henry reference teaches it is conventional in the art of the pneumatic valves to provide as taught in [Paragraph 0082] wherein said pneumatic valve unit (FIG. 2B) further includes an exhaust port (P2); and, wherein the valve-control unit (FIG. 2) is further configured to control said actuator unit to actuate said pneumatic valve unit (FIG. 2B) for connecting said output port (P5) and said exhaust port (P2). Such configurations/structures would allow termination of fluid flow to the ride spring [Paragraph 0082].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art by the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the arrangement of the reference, such that the arrangement further includes wherein said pneumatic valve unit further includes an exhaust port; and, wherein the valve-control unit is further configured to control said actuator unit to actuate said pneumatic valve unit for connecting said output port and said exhaust port, as clearly suggested and taught by the Henry reference, in order to allow termination of fluid flow to the ride spring [Paragraph 0082].
19. Claim(s) 5, 8, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the Wu reference.
20. Regarding claim 5, the Wu reference fails to disclose:
wherein said pneumatic valve unit and said actuator unit are configured as a 2/2-way solenoid valve. This would be obvious to try. There are only finite ways to create a solenoid valve and a person of ordinary of skill in the art would be motivated to try different ones until the one that optimizes the design with a reasonable expectation of success is located. Accordingly, there is allowable subject matter.
21. Regarding claim 8, the Wu reference fails to disclose:
wherein said pneumatic valve unit and said actuator unit are configured as a 3/2-way solenoid valve. This would be obvious to try. There are only finite ways to create a solenoid valve and a person of ordinary of skill in the art would be motivated to try different ones until the one that optimizes the design with a reasonable expectation of success is located. Accordingly, there is allowable subject matter.
22. Regarding claim 11, the Wu reference fails to disclose:
wherein said pneumatic unit includes a suspension-bellows configured to be operated with the compressed air. The examiner takes Official Notice that it is well known in the art of pneumatic devices to use a suspension-bellows with the air tools for the purpose of utilization elements. See US 2018/0319239 [Abstract] as one example.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES J BRAUCH whose telephone number is (313)446-6511. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 AM to 6 PM.
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/CHARLES JOSEPH BRAUCH/
Examiner
Art Unit 3747
/LONG T TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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