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 .
Inventorship
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because
the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) determining (evaluation) at least one load characteristic of the current vehicle configuration; determining (evaluation) a setpoint variable of the vehicle for a driving situation; determining (evaluation) a manipulated variable expected value, which specifies a predicted value of a manipulated variable to be provided to set the manipulated variable at a steering system, wherein the determination of the manipulated variable expected value is performed using the at least one load characteristic; determining (evaluation) an actual variable corresponding to the setpoint variable in the driving situation; determining (evaluation) a manipulated variable actual value, which is provided in the driving situation at the steering system, in order to modulate the actual variable; determining (evaluation) at least one of a manipulated variable deviation between the manipulated variable expected value and the manipulated variable actual value and a setpoint-actual deviation between the setpoint variable and the corresponding actual variable; and, approximating (judgement) the friction value based on the determined at least one load characteristic and based on the determined at least one of the manipulated variable deviation and the setpoint-actual deviation. There is no transformation, no controlling/adjusting the steering wheel based on the determined values. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the claim perform abstract idea of evaluation/judgement process without a controller/ecu for determining the values and controlling the steering wheel based on the determined values.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Choi et al 12,269,478 teaches a method of estimating maximum road friction coefficient.
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/HAI H HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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