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
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.
Claims 1, 2, 10, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Applicant-admitted prior art CN 104048037.
Regarding claim 1, CN 104048037 discloses a gear shifting control method, comprising: determining a torque exchange duration (At least t1-t2; flip-flop) and a total clutch request torque TO in a torque exchange phase; and within the torque exchange duration, gradually decreasing a gear shifting torque Toff allocated to an offgoing clutch, and gradually increasing a gear shifting torque Ton allocated to an oncoming clutch, wherein it is satisfied that Toff +Ton =TO; wherein Ton and Toff are set to change nonlinearly within the torque exchange duration to suppress an impact of a response speed change of a torque control system on smoothness of a torque exchange (At least M; see at least Fig. 2b; during flip-flop operation via control from an ECU).
Even though the phrase claimed “suppress an impact” does not explicitly appear in CN 104048037, a PHOSITA would have readily recognized at the time of invention that CN 104048037 necessarily achieves this since the invention leverages an ECU to gradually reduce/increase torque curves during a torque exchange phase thus reducing shock. Further, the background of CN 104048037 discusses the problems in the state of the art, specifically within a torque exchange phase, being “jolts” in the torque variation curves which manifest at the coupler and are felt by the driver.
Regarding claim 2, the primary reference, CN 104048037 discloses that the torque control system is a hydraulic control system, and absolute values of gradients of Ton and Toff, are set to first change from small to large within the torque exchange duration (At least via the torque exchange process disclosed and shown – see Fig. 2b; flip-flop).
Claims 10 and 11 are rejected as substantially covering the same limitations as those found in claims 1 and 2, which have been rejected as discussed supra.
Claims 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Applicant-admitted prior art CN 104048037 in view of U.S. PG Pub. 2019/0176798 to Ford et al.
Regarding claims 18-20, CN 104048037 discloses the claimed invention except for a vehicle with a hybrid vehicle transmission and a non-transitory computer readable medium.
Nevertheless, Ford teaches a vehicle, comprising a vehicle controller wherein the vehicle is a hybrid vehicle, and the offgoing clutch and the oncoming clutch are clutches in a hybrid transmission (At least Par. [0001-0005]) and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the non- transitory computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the gear shifting control method according to claim 1 is capable of being implemented (At least at Par. [0090]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a PHOSITA at the time of effective filing to have modified the vehicle of CN 104048037 to have a hybrid transmission and non-transitory computer readable storage medium, as taught by Ford, in order to provide a vehicle which has greater data permeance and is more environmentally friendly.
Further, the use of both hybrid transmissions and non-transitory computer readable storage mediums for computer programs is ubiquitous in the vehicle arts and is widely contemplated and known within the vehicle transmission control arts.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-9 and 12-17 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Brodie Follman whose telephone number is (571)270-1169. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-4:30pm EST M-F.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Erin Piateski can be reached at (571)270-7429. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/BRODIE J FOLLMAN/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3669
Prosecution Insights