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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 7, 14, 16 & 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being read upon by Gerum et al., US PG Pub 2007/0170774 A1., (hereafter Gerum).
Regarding claim 1 where it is disclosed by Gerum to have:
“An operating system (100) [at least figure 4 where it shows Ecu 1 & 2 for braking system for a vehicle, see Abstract] for a vehicle (300) [see at least the abstract and figure 4], wherein the operating system (100) includes a first control unit (110) [see at least figure 4 device labeled “ECU1” box 20], and the first control unit (110) comprises: a first primary input acquisition unit (112) for acquiring first inputs (114) into the first control unit (110) [at least paragraphs 28, 30, 43 & 50 where the input from the braking system is feed into the ECU] and for outputting first primary electrical information (116) depending on the acquired first inputs (114) [at least paragraphs 50 & 55-56],a first secondary input acquisition unit (118) for acquiring the first inputs (114) into the first control unit (110) and for outputting first secondary electrical information (120) depending on the acquired first inputs (114) [at least figure 4 and paragraphs 28, 30, 43 & 50],a first communication unit (122) connected to the first primary input acquisition unit (112) to receive the first primary electrical information (116), wherein the first communication unit (122) is further configured to transmit data (124) to a primary control device (126) depending on the first primary electrical information (116) [at least figure 4 and paragraphs 19, 22, 28 & 30], and a first interface (128) for connecting to a second control unit (210) to receive second secondary electrical information (220) from a second secondary input acquisition unit (218) of the second control unit (210),wherein the first communication unit (122) is connected to the first interface (128) to receive the second secondary electrical information (220) and wherein the first communication unit (122) is further configured to transmit data (124) to the primary control device (126) depending on the second secondary electrical information (220) [at least paragraphs 28, 30-33 & 35].”
Regarding claim 2 where it is disclosed by Gerum in at least figures 4-5 and paragraphs 35-37 to have, “the first control unit (110) includes a first power supply module (130) to supply power (132) to the first primary input acquisition unit and the first communication unit (122),wherein the first interface (128) is configured to supply the second secondary input acquisition unit (218) of the second control unit (210) with energy (132) from the first power supply module (130).”
Regarding claim 3 where it is disclosed by Gerum in at least figures 4-5 and paragraphs 19, 22, 28, 30-33 & 35 to have, “the first secondary input acquisition unit (118) is connected to the first interface (128) to output the first secondary electrical information (120) at the first interface (128) depending on the acquired first inputs (114).”
Regarding claim 7 where it is disclosed by Gerum in at least figure 4-5 and paragraphs 28, 30 & 48-49, this is read upon by applicants claim to, “the first control unit (110) is a service brake control unit (133) with a pedal (134), wherein the first primary input acquisition unit (112) includes a primary sensor (136) and the first secondary input acquisition unit (118) includes a secondary sensor (138) to each acquire a pedal position (140) of the pedal (134) as the first inputs (114) wherein the primary sensor (136) is configured to generate the first primary electrical information (116), depending on the pedal position (140), and wherein the secondary sensor (138) is configured to generate the first secondary electrical information (120) depending on the pedal position (140).”
Regarding claim 14 which is the corresponding vehicle claim for claim 1 and thus rejected for the same reasons as stated for claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 16 where it is disclosed by Gerum in at least paragraphs 33, 35, 53 & 63-64 to have, “the first secondary input acquisition unit (118) is galvanically separated or separable from the first communication unit (122) and/or the first power supply module (130).”
Regarding claim 20 where it is disclosed by Gerum in at least figures 4-5 and associated paragraphs to have, “the operating system (100) includes the primary control device (126).”
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6, 8-13 & 17-19 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.
Claim 15 is allowed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BHAVESH V AMIN whose telephone number is (571)270-3255. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thur, 8-6:30, EST.
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, Abby Lin can be reached at (571) 270-3976. 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.
BHAVESH V. AMIN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3657
/BHAVESH V AMIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3657
Prosecution Insights