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
This is in response to applicant’s filing date of July 17, 2025. Claims 1-15 are currently pending.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority to Application DE10 2024 206 784.9, filed on July 18, 2024. The certified copy of the application as required by 37 CFR 1.55 has been received.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on July 17, 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 U.S.C. § 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over OGATA et al (US-20230202558-A1)(“Ogata”) and Scherl et al (US-20090222170-A1)(“Scherl”), corresponding US Application of EP-1888394-B1 submitted by applicant in the IDS filed on 7/17/2025.
As per claim 1, Ogata discloses a method for operating a motor vehicle (Figure 8), which has (i) a steering system having a driver-actuatable steering handle for specifying a steering request (Ogata at Figure 1, steering wheel 1.) and (ii) at least one wheel defining a steering angle that is adjustable by the steering system (Ogata at Figure 1, left and right steering wheels 3, and Para. [0050] disclosing that the rotation of the steering wheel determines the direction of the vehicle:” In FIG. 1, is a device that changes the direction of the own vehicle by steering the left and right steering wheels 3 according to the rotation of the steering wheel shaft 2 connected to the steering wheel 1 provided on the own vehicle body 9 of the own vehicle, in the motor 4, the steering wheel 3 can be steered by generating a motor torque with respect to the steering wheel shaft 2.”) , the method comprising:
when an actual and/or expected deviation of an actual trajectory of the motor vehicle from a target trajectory of the motor vehicle is detected (Ogata at Para. [0053] detecting path or trajectory deviation:” as illustrated in FIG. 10, when there is roadblock 10RO on travel path 10 of the left side lane marking 10LL and the right side lane marking 10RL, for example, for the lateral deviation at each point P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 along the travel route 10TL to become LD-P1, LD-P2, LD-P3, LD-P4, LD-P5, in other words, as shown in FIG. 10, for the tracing to be illustrated by the thick arrow, the automatic steering control of the own vehicle 90 is performed.”), asymmetrically modifying a steering profile for the steering handle for triggering an actuator associated with the steering system (Ogata at Para. [0070 disclosing that the steering profile for the steering handle (wheel 1) is changed based on a predetermined amount of deviation (ya at Fig. 4) where the ability of the driver to correct the deviation becomes less as the deviation increases (yb at Fig. 4):” the limit suppression gain Gdec does not decrease near the target route with a lateral deviation of ya or less, and the steering intention of the driver is given higher priority, but as the lateral deviation of the own vehicle increases, the limit suppression gain Gdec decreases, and the amount of release or restriction of automatic steering control or steering support control, for the steering of the driver decreases. The maximum amount of suppression of the control limit rate due to the increase in lateral deviation is determined by Gymin.”),
Ogata does not disclose, but Scherl discloses a process wherein a change in a steering angle of the wheel towards the target trajectory (Scherl at Para. [0013] discloses recognizing a change by the driver when combined with a turn signal and steering wheel change:” sensor 20 acquires the state of the vehicle turn signal indicator, thus forming a device with which an intention to change lanes on the part of the driver, as well as the direction of the lane change, can be recognized”.) when the steering handle is actuated by a driver is more strongly supported than a change counter to a direction of the target trajectory (Scherl at Para. [0021] discloses that during a lane change or passing maneuver the actions of the driver is more strongly supported:” the lane change process may be regarded as completed if, after the blinker is activated, a prespecified time interval has elapsed. Upon completion of the lane change process, control device 14 returns to curve 36, so that now an automatic lane maintenance on the target trajectory of left lane 28 takes place. The transition from curve 40 to curve 36 can usefully take place in such a way that the right branch of curve 40 is gradually (continuously) displaced to the left, or the "mid-piece" 41 of the curve in FIG. 2 is gradually increased from 0 to F.sub.max.”)
Scherl is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because it is in the same field of systems which monitors deviation of a vehicle from its prepared trajectory. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ogata further in view of Scherl to allow for asymmetrically modifying a lane change in the direction towards the recognized target lane while deviations from the center of the lane in the opposite direction continue to trigger a corrective regulating intervention. Motivation to do so would allow for reducing negative effects of having a driver stray from the home lane too far in the opposite direction when preparing to change lanes if the driver’s action is combined with the controlled deviation correction. (Scherl at Para. [0006]).
As per claim 2, Ogata and Scherl disclose a method according to claim 1, wherein at least one input variable characterizing an actuation of the steering handle is assigned to at least one output variable used for the actuation of the actuator in the steering profile (Ogata at Figure 1, steering wheel 1 and controller 8, and Para. [0050] discloses that the steering wheel 1 in combination with controller 8 produces a variable which indicates the steering input for the vehicle to navigate:” automatic steering control device 8 which is also called a steering controller, based on the steering force applied to the steering wheel 1 by the driver detected by the steering force detection part 5”.).
As per claim 3, Ogata and Scherl disclose a method according to claim 1, wherein the asymmetric modifying of the steering profile includes modifying at least one of a steering support and a steering ratio of the steering profile (Ogata at Para. [0086] discloses that the described method are applicable to modification of steering ratio:” intended to appropriately release or suppress control of the steering of the driver during automatic steering, not only steering assist with electric power steering, but also steering assist, and it can also be applied to vehicles having a steering mechanism such as steer-by-wire and variable gear ratio.”).
As per claim 4, Ogata and Scherl disclose a method according to claim 3, wherein the modifying of the at least one of the steering support and the steering ratio of the steering profile includes amplifying the steering support towards the target trajectory and/or modifying the steering ratio to become more direct (Ogata at Figures 4-5 and Para. [0070] discloses that the gain is decreased when the vehicle moves away or increases the deviation:” the limit suppression gain Gdec does not decrease near the target route with a lateral deviation of ya or less, and the steering intention of the driver is given higher priority, but as the lateral deviation of the own vehicle increases, the limit suppression gain Gdec decreases, and the amount of release or restriction of automatic steering control or steering support control, for the steering of the driver decreases.”) .
As per claim 5, Ogata and Scherl disclose a method according to claim 3, wherein the modifying of the at least one of the steering support and the steering ratio of the steering profile includes decreasing the steering support counter to the direction of the target trajectory and/or modifying the steering ratio to become more indirect (Ogata at Para. [0075] discloses limiting the drivers steering capabilities when the vehicle crosses a predetermined deviation:” when the own vehicle position increases in the deviation direction (lateral deviation increases) due to driver steering on a straight road, when the lateral acceleration is increasing by (Point P1 (lateral deviation LD-P1), point P2 (lateral deviation LD-P2), point P3 (lateral deviation LD-P3) in FIG. 10), or by the curve of the traveling path 10 (point P4 (lateral deviation LD-P4), P5 (lateral deviation LD-P5) in FIG. 10), by taking a value close to 0, the limit suppression gain Gdec, the product of the steering torque and the limit factor correction gain is smaller than the steering torque, as shown by β in FIG. 7, the decrease in the automatic steering control limit gain becomes smaller as the steering torque increases.”).
As per claim 6, Ogata and Scherl disclose a method according to claim 1, wherein the asymmetric modifying of the steering profile includes modifying the steering profile as a function of at least one of an actuation path of the steering handle (Scherl at Para. [0019] discloses modifying the profile based on the vehicle path as commanded by the driver through the steering system:” curve is asymmetrical relative to the target trajectory on home lane 26, represented by line 30. If there are deviations to the left, in this case no steering intervention is carried out via actuating element 16, so that when steering towards the target lane the driver does not have to overcome a counterforce of actuating element 16.”), a steering direction, a current steering angle, an amount of deviation, and a driving situation (Ogata at Para. [0075] discloses limiting profile based on direction, angle, and other attributes of steering:” when the lateral deviation and lateral acceleration are increasing, such as when own the vehicle position is increasing in the deviation direction on a curve, the value of the limit factor correction gain takes a value closer to 0, since the corrected steering torque value is even smaller than the steering torque, reduction of automatic steering control limit gain is suppressed, but, when the steering torque at that time reaches the limit suppression upper limit steering force, the steering force upper limit gain increases and the restriction suppression is stopped”.).
Scherl is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because it is in the same field of systems which monitors deviation of a vehicle from its prepared trajectory. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ogata further in view of Scherl to allow for asymmetrically modifying a lane change in the direction towards the recognized target lane while deviations from the center of the lane in the opposite direction continue to trigger a corrective regulating intervention. Motivation to do so would allow for reducing negative effects of having a driver stray from the home lane too far in the opposite direction when preparing to change lanes if the driver’s action is combined with the controlled deviation correction. (Scherl at Para. [0006]).
As per claim 7, Ogata and Scherl disclose a method according to claim 1, wherein the asymmetric modifying of the steering profile includes modifying the steering profile by a specified constant or characteristic (Ogata at Para. [0070] discloses altering the steering profile by a specific amount:” limit suppression gain Gdec decreases, and the amount of release or restriction of automatic steering control or steering support control, for the steering of the driver decreases.”).
As per claim 8, Ogata and Scherl disclose a method according to claim 1, wherein the asymmetric modifying of the steering profile includes modifying a center return of the steering handle into a position associated with a straight-line travel of the motor vehicle by shifting a center used as a reference in the steering profile (Scherl at Par. [0031] discloses shifting the center used for the trajectory after completion of a lane change:” Upon completion of the lane change process, control device 14 returns to curve 36, so that now an automatic lane maintenance on the target trajectory of left lane 28 takes place.”).
Scherl is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because it is in the same field of systems which monitors deviation of a vehicle from its prepared trajectory. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ogata further in view of Scherl to allow for asymmetrically modifying a lane change in the direction towards the recognized target lane while deviations from the center of the lane in the opposite direction continue to trigger a corrective regulating intervention. Motivation to do so would allow for reducing negative effects of having a driver stray from the home lane too far in the opposite direction when preparing to change lanes if the driver’s action is combined with the controlled deviation correction. (Scherl at Para. [0006]).
As per claim 9, Ogata and Scherl disclose a method according to claim 1, wherein a drive system and/or brake system associated with the at least one wheel of the motor vehicle is additionally triggered in the steering profile (Ogata at Figure 1, steering control 8, and Para. [0057] disclosing actuating automatic control based on steering wheel and deviation from trajectory:” automatic steering control device 8 has a target route calculation part 201, a lateral deviation calculation part 202, which calculates the lateral deviation based on the result of the target route calculation part 201, and an automatic steering control amount calculation part 203 that calculates the automatic steering control amount required to follow the own vehicle to the target route, but these calculations may use well-known techniques used in own vehicle lane keeping control, and as a method for calculating the lateral deviation of the own vehicle with respect to the target route and a method for calculating the automatic steering control amount, a well-known calculation method may be adopted.”)
As per claim 10, Ogata and Scherl disclose a method according to claim 1, further comprising detecting the deviation of the actual trajectory from the target trajectory by monitoring the motor vehicle and/or a surrounding environment of the motor vehicle for at least one of (i) μ-split conditions, and (ii) exiting a lane, roadway, and/or a route specified by a navigation system (Scherl at Para. [0016] discloses that intervention is in effect only when a deviation is more than a predetermined limit:” vehicle is traveling on the target trajectory, no steering intervention via actuating element 16 takes place, and if the lateral position of the vehicle in one direction or the other deviates from the target trajectory (deviation A), the force F exerted by actuating element 16 increases progressively up to a specified maximum value. The direction of the force is always such that the vehicle is led back to the target trajectory. The same holds correspondingly for the left part of curve 36, which corresponds to left lane 28 and which represents the lane maintenance function for travel on the left lane. The system operates in an analogous manner on roadways having three lanes.”).
As per claim 11, Ogata and Scherl disclose a method according to claim 1, further comprising ending the asymmetric modifying of the steering profile when the actual trajectory again corresponds to the target trajectory (Scherl at Para. [0005] discloses that asymmetric modification is ended after the lane is recognized and change has been made:” is asymmetrically modified in such a way that the lane change in the direction towards the recognized target lane is made easier, while deviations from the center of the lane in the opposite direction continue to trigger a corrective regulating intervention. For this purpose, it is necessary to recognize not only the lane change intention as such, but also the direction of the lane change. However, this precondition is already met when the lane change is recognized, for example on the basis of the state of the turn signal indicator.”).
As per claim 12, Ogata and Scherl disclose a method according to claim 1, wherein the driver-actuatable steering handle is a driver-rotatable steering wheel (Ogata at Para. [0024] disclosing the use of a steering wheel to indicate the driver’s contribution:” based on the steering force of the driver's operation of the steering wheel detected by the steering force detection part and the lateral deviation of the own vehicle detected by the lateral deviation calculation part in the direction perpendicular to the travel direction on the travel path”.).
As per claim 13, Ogata and Scherl disclose a control unit comprising:
a computer device specifically configured to perform the method according to claim 1 (Ogata at Figure 1, controller 8, and the discussion of claim 1 above.).
As per claim 14, Ogata discloses a motor vehicle (Figure 1, vehicle 90.) comprising:
a steering system with at least one driver-actuatable steering handle configured to provide a steering request (Ogata at Figure 1, steering wheel 1, and Paras. [0050]-[0053].);
at least one wheel having a steering angle that is adjustable by the steering system (Ogata at Figure 1, left and right steering wheels 3, and Para. [0050] disclosing that the rotation of the steering wheel determines the direction of the vehicle:” In FIG. 1, is a device that changes the direction of the own vehicle by steering the left and right steering wheels 3 according to the rotation of the steering wheel shaft 2 connected to the steering wheel 1 provided on the own vehicle body 9 of the own vehicle, in the motor 4, the steering wheel 3 can be steered by generating a motor torque with respect to the steering wheel shaft 2.”); and
a control unit configured to, when an actual and/or expected deviation of an actual trajectory of the motor vehicle from a target trajectory of the motor vehicle is detected (Ogata at Figure 1, controller 8, and Para. [0053] detecting path or trajectory deviation:” as illustrated in FIG. 10, when there is roadblock 10RO on travel path 10 of the left side lane marking 10LL and the right side lane marking 10RL, for example, for the lateral deviation at each point P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 along the travel route 10TL to become LD-P1, LD-P2, LD-P3, LD-P4, LD-P5, in other words, as shown in FIG. 10, for the tracing to be illustrated by the thick arrow, the automatic steering control of the own vehicle 90 is performed.”), asymmetrically modify a steering profile for the steering handle for triggering an actuator associated with the steering system (Ogata at Para. [0070 disclosing that the steering profile for the steering handle (wheel 1) is changed based on a predetermined amount of deviation (ya at Fig. 4) where the ability of the driver to correct the deviation becomes less as the deviation increases (yb at Fig. 4):” the limit suppression gain Gdec does not decrease near the target route with a lateral deviation of ya or less, and the steering intention of the driver is given higher priority, but as the lateral deviation of the own vehicle increases, the limit suppression gain Gdec decreases, and the amount of release or restriction of automatic steering control or steering support control, for the steering of the driver decreases. The maximum amount of suppression of the control limit rate due to the increase in lateral deviation is determined by Gymin.”),
Ogata does not disclose, but Scherl discloses a process wherein a change in a steering angle of the wheel towards the target trajectory (Scherl at Para. [0013] discloses recognizing a change by the driver when combined with a turn signal and steering wheel change:” sensor 20 acquires the state of the vehicle turn signal indicator, thus forming a device with which an intention to change lanes on the part of the driver, as well as the direction of the lane change, can be recognized”.) when the steering handle is actuated by a driver is more strongly supported than a change counter to a direction of the target trajectory (Scherl at Para. [0021] discloses that during a lane change or passing maneuver the actions of the driver is more strongly supported:” the lane change process may be regarded as completed if, after the blinker is activated, a prespecified time interval has elapsed. Upon completion of the lane change process, control device 14 returns to curve 36, so that now an automatic lane maintenance on the target trajectory of left lane 28 takes place. The transition from curve 40 to curve 36 can usefully take place in such a way that the right branch of curve 40 is gradually (continuously) displaced to the left, or the "mid-piece" 41 of the curve in FIG. 2 is gradually increased from 0 to F.sub.max.”)
Scherl is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because it is in the same field of systems which monitors deviation of a vehicle from its prepared trajectory. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ogata further in view of Scherl to allow for asymmetrically modifying a lane change in the direction towards the recognized target lane while deviations from the center of the lane in the opposite direction continue to trigger a corrective regulating intervention. Motivation to do so would allow for reducing negative effects of having a driver stray from the home lane too far in the opposite direction when preparing to change lanes if the driver’s action is combined with the controlled deviation correction. (Scherl at Para. [0006]).
As per claim 15, Ogata and Scherl disclose a motor vehicle according to claim 14, wherein the driver-actuatable steering handle is a driver-rotatable steering wheel (Ogata at Para. [0024] disclosing the use of a steering wheel to indicate the driver’s contribution:” based on the steering force of the driver's operation of the steering wheel detected by the steering force detection part and the lateral deviation of the own vehicle detected by the lateral deviation calculation part in the direction perpendicular to the travel direction on the travel path”.).
CONCLUSION
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
VEEN; Jan et al. (US-20230391352-A1) MANAGING AN INTEGRAL PART OF A CONTROLLER OF AN AUTOMATED VEHICLE;
INOUE; Go et al. (US-20200339152-A1) VEHICLE TRAVEL CONTROL DEVICE;
Fujii; Shota (US-20180345978-A1) STEERING ASSIST SYSTEM;
YOSHIMATSU, Yuka et al. (WO-2013136781-A1) DRIVING OPERATION ASSISTING DEVICE, DRIVING OPERATION ASSISTING METHOD, AND HOLDING STATE DETERMINATION METHOD;
Kojo; Takahiro et al. (US-20120203431-A1) VEHICLE DRIVING CONTROL APPARATUS;
Hayakawa; Yasuhisa et al. (US-8145385-B2) Vehicle driving control apparatus and vehicle driving control method;
Matsumoto, Shinji et al. (US-20050125125-A1) Lane keep control apparatus and method for automotive vehicle;
Sadano, On (US-20030014162-A1) Lane-keep control system for vehicle.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELLIS B. RAMIREZ whose telephone number is (571)272-8920. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30 am to 5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ramon Mercado can be reached at 571-270-5744. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ELLIS B. RAMIREZ/ Examiner, Art Unit 3658
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