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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-9 are currently pending and have been examined in this application. This communication is the first action on the merits.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy of the foreign priority application JP2024-097511 has been received.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/12/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kumagai et al. (US 2022/0274615 A1), hereinafter Kumagai, in view of Han et al. (CN 117698715 A), hereinafter Han.
With respect to claims 1 and 8-9, Kumagai discloses a control device for a vehicle, the control device comprising processing circuitry configured to: receive a requested acceleration from a driver-assistance system of the vehicle; (see at least [0007] “The driving force control system comprises a controller that calculates a required acceleration, and that transmits the calculated required acceleration in the form of command signal.”)
determine an initial acceleration, wherein the initial acceleration is a starting point for modifying a vehicle acceleration toward the requested acceleration; (see at least [0007] “calculate a basic target acceleration based on a position of the accelerator pedal and a speed of the vehicle;”)
generate a transition acceleration that connects the initial acceleration to the requested acceleration; (see at least [0007] “calculate a corrected target acceleration to increase the basic target acceleration”)
and output, based on the transition acceleration, an instruction signal that is used to control an actuator of the vehicle. (see at least [0007] “converts the corrected target acceleration into a target driving force to propel the vehicle so as to achieve the corrected target acceleration by generating the target driving force.”)
Kumagai discloses the adjustment to a calculated required acceleration to meet the acceleration requirement, but does not explicitly disclose that the calculated required acceleration comes from a driver-assistance system.
However, Han teaches a driver-assistance request signal being modified to transition from an actual vehicle acceleration to a required acceleration received from (see at least [n0052] “The current actual vehicle acceleration can be obtained through communication between ADAS and the vehicle, while the target required acceleration is obtained from the internal control signal of ADAS.” [n0062] “Then, based on the required acceleration change rate limit, the vehicle can be controlled to transition from the actual vehicle acceleration at the time of arrival of the specified time period to the target required acceleration.”)
As both are in the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the plurality of ECUs taught by Kumagai to include the ADAS disclosed in Han, with reasonable expectation of success. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a well-known driver assistance system as one of the ECUs arranged in the vehicle to support the execution of individual control by subsystems, see Kumagai [0048].
With respect to claim 2, Kumagai discloses the processing circuitry is configured to: acquire a change rate of the vehicle acceleration that is used to modify the vehicle acceleration toward the requested acceleration; (see at least [0008] “The acceleration enrichment value may be calculated by multiplying a difference between the basic target acceleration and an intended acceleration required by a driver, by a predetermined control gain.” [0053] “an acceleration enrichment value Gsgain (=Gs·Gain) is calculated by multiplying the difference Gs by a predetermined control gain Gain as an adjustment rate”)
and generate the transition acceleration based on the change rate. (see at least [0054] “At step S6, a corrected target acceleration Gh is calculated by adding the acceleration enrichment value Gsgain calculated at step S5 to the basic target acceleration Gb”)
With respect to claim 3, Kumagai discloses the control device and an other control device that is included in the driver-assistance system are connected to each other for mutual communication via an external bus. (see at least [0048] “Specifically, the ECU 7… transmits the calculated target drive torque to the prime mover 1 in the form of command signal so as to control an output power of the prime mover 1… to decelerate the vehicle Ve in such a manner as to achieve the target acceleration or deceleration calculated based on a state of the accelerator pedal 4 or the brake pedal 5. Although only one ECU 7 is depicted in FIG. 1, a plurality of ECUs may be arranged in the vehicle Ve to control the specific devices individually.”)
With respect to claim 4, Kumagai discloses an accelerator pedal is operated by a driver of the vehicle, (see at least [0044] “a position of the accelerator pedal 4 that is manipulated by a driver.”)
an accelerator acceleration is determined from an operation amount of the accelerator pedal, (see at least [0008] “The intended acceleration may be calculated based on the position of the accelerator pedal”)
and the processing circuitry is configured to substitute the requested acceleration into the initial acceleration without generating the transition acceleration when the requested acceleration is an acceleration that acts in a driving direction of the vehicle and the requested acceleration is less than or equal to the accelerator acceleration. (see at least [0052] “a difference Gs (=Gi−Gb) between the basic target acceleration Gb and the intended acceleration Gi is calculated. Then, at step S5, an acceleration enrichment value Gsgain (=Gs·Gain) is calculated by multiplying the difference Gs by a predetermined control gain Gain as an adjustment rate of a control variable of the prime mover 1 that generates the driving force.” [0056] “Thereafter, it is determined at step S8 whether the control gain Gain is reduced to zero. If the control gain Gain has been reduced to zero so that the answer of step S8 is YES, the routine returns. As a result, an acceleration enrichment control is terminated”)
With respect to claim 5, Kumagai discloses the processing circuitry is configured to substitute the requested acceleration into the initial acceleration without generating the transition acceleration when the requested acceleration is an acceleration that acts in a braking direction of the vehicle and the requested acceleration is greater than or equal to the acceleration that acts in the braking direction of the vehicle. (see at least [0075] “The corrected target acceleration Gh is further reduced with a reduction in depression of the accelerator pedal 4 to the basic target acceleration Gb when the required acceleration G decreases to the terminating magnitude A at point t2. Consequently, the acceleration enrichment control is terminated at point t2 , and then, the required acceleration G turns into the negative value.”)
With respect to claim 6, Kumagai discloses an accelerator pedal is operated by a driver of the vehicle, and the processing circuitry is configured to: calculate an accelerator-off acceleration, wherein the accelerator-off acceleration is the vehicle acceleration when the accelerator pedal is released; (see at least [0005] “the corrected target acceleration is reduced to an initial value when the acceleration is reduced to zero.”)
and substitute the accelerator-off acceleration into the initial acceleration when the requested acceleration is an acceleration that acts in a driving direction of the vehicle and the vehicle acceleration is an acceleration that acts in a braking direction of the vehicle. (see at least [0076] “Then, the accelerator pedal 4 is returned close to the initial position at point t3 so that the required acceleration G turns into a negative value.” [0083] “If the acceleration enrichment control is executed in the same manner as the case of travelling on a flat road also when travelling uphill whose road grade is steeper than a predetermined road grade, the acceleration enrichment control would be continued undesirably even if the driver does not intend to accelerate the vehicle Ve any longer. According to another example, therefore, the acceleration enrichment control is executed taking account of a road grade.”)
With respect to claim 7, Kumagai discloses an accelerator pedal is operated by a driver of the vehicle, and the processing circuitry is configured to: calculate an accelerator-off acceleration, wherein the accelerator-off acceleration is the vehicle acceleration when the accelerator pedal is released; (see at least [0005] “the corrected target acceleration is reduced to an initial value when the acceleration is reduced to zero.”)
and substitute the accelerator-off acceleration into the initial acceleration when the requested acceleration is an acceleration that acts in a braking direction of the vehicle and the vehicle acceleration is an acceleration that acts in a driving direction of the vehicle. (see at least [0074] “the required acceleration G turns into a negative value, and consequently, the vehicle Ve is stopped.” [0076] “Then, the accelerator pedal 4 is returned close to the initial position at point t3 so that the required acceleration G turns into a negative value.”)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ishikawa et al. (US 5,417,623 A) discloses a method of controlling continuously variable transmission for motor vehicle for acceleration and deceleration skip control.
Kudo (US 2025/0108687 A1) discloses a vehicle drive assist apparatus that calculates a target acceleration rate based on a basic acceleration characteristic, and adjusts a vehicle speed to the set vehicle speed by using the target acceleration rate.
Matsushita et al. (US 2012/0296541 A1) discloses a target acceleration as a target output value is multiplied by a gain so that an absolute value of the target acceleration is increased.
Kitazawa (US 2005/0075826 A1) discloses converting an amount of operation of an accelerator pedal operated by a driver of a motor vehicle into an electric signal and transmitting the electric signal to an actuator for controlling an opening of an accelerator of an engine.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHELLEY MARIE OSTERHOUT whose telephone number is (703)756-1595. The examiner can normally be reached Mon to Fri 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM.
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, Navid Mehdizadeh can be reached on (571) 272-7691. 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.
/S.M.O./Examiner, Art Unit 3669
/NAVID Z. MEHDIZADEH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3669
Prosecution Insights