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.
Claim(s) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the Furuta reference (CN 113752772 B).
4. Regarding claim 1, the Furuta reference discloses:
a vehicle control system (20) to be applied to a vehicle (10) including an actuator (17) that applies a control force (Fc) in an up-down direction to a suspension of a wheel (11), the vehicle control system (20) comprising one or more processors [Content of the Invention—Paragraph 0027] that control the actuator to execute vibration suppression control for
suppressing vibration of a sprung structure on the wheel [Content of the Invention—Paragraph 0027], wherein:
the vibration suppression control includes rear preview control [Abstract];
the rear preview control includes
acquiring a front wheel up-down motion parameter (z1) related to up-down motion (z0) caused when a front wheel (11F) passes through a first position based on a measurement result from a sensor mounted on the vehicle (pro via (31)), and controlling the actuator (17R) so as to suppress the vibration (via Fcr) caused when a rear wheel (11R) passes through a target position (Lpr) corresponding to the first position (pro) based on the front wheel up-down motion parameter (z0);
a rear preview gain (Ar) is a gain of the rear preview control (Equation 9).
The Furuta reference discloses the invention as essentially claimed. However, the Furuta reference fails to disclose the one or more processors are configured to set the rear preview gain at a time when a speed of the vehicle is a first speed to be lower than the rear preview gain at a time when the speed is a second speed higher than the first speed.
This is an example of obvious to try. There are six possible combinations. Gain 1 less than gain b and first speed less than second speed. First gain less than gain b and first speed greater than second speed. First gain equal to gain b and first speed less than second speed. First gain equal to gain b and first speed greater than second speed. First gain greater than gain b and first speed less than second speed. First gain greater than gain b and first speed greater than second speed. Since, there are only six possible choices that can be made for the gain in the processor which are a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a
reasonable expectation of success since gain engineering is well known in the art claim 1 is obvious over the prior art.
5. Regarding claim 2, the Furuta reference further discloses:
wherein: the vibration suppression control further includes feedback control; the feedback control includes acquiring a rear wheel up-down motion parameter related to up-down motion caused when the rear wheel passes through the target position based on a measurement result from a sensor mounted on the vehicle, and controlling the actuator so as to suppress the vibration based on the rear wheel up-down motion parameter;
a feedback gain is a gain of the feedback control [Deformed Example Eight—Paragraph 0001]; and
The Furuta reference discloses the invention as essentially claimed. However, the Furuta reference fails to disclose the one or more processors are configured to set the feedback gain at the time when the speed is the first speed to be higher than the feedback gain at the time when the speed is the second speed.
This is an example of obvious to try. There are six possible combinations. First gain higher than feedback gain when second speed. First gain higher than feedback gain when first speed. First gain less than feedback gain when second speed. First gain less than feedback gain when first speed. First gain equal to feedback gain when second speed. First gain equal to feedback when first speed. Since, there are only six possible choices that can be made for the gain in the processor which are a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success since gain engineering is well known in the art claim 2 is obvious over the prior art.
6. Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the Furuta reference in view of the Ataka reference (US Patent No. 4,926,954).
7. Regarding claim 5, the Furuta reference further discloses:
the rear preview gain (Ar)
The Furuta reference discloses the invention as essentially claimed. However, the Furuta reference fails to disclose wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: acquire a degree of deviation between a trajectory of the front wheel and a trajectory of the rear wheel; and set the gain at a time when the degree of deviation is a first level to be lower than the gain at a time when the degree of deviation is a second level lower than the first level.
The Ataka reference teaches it is conventional in the art of steering systems to provide as taught in (FIG. 3) wherein the one or more processors (10) are further configured to: acquire
a degree of deviation between a trajectory of the front wheel and a trajectory of the rear wheel (FIG. 3). Such configurations/structures would allow proper locomotion (FIG. 3).
The combination of the reference and Ataka reference teach the invention as claimed. However, the combination fails to teach to set the gain at a time when the degree of deviation is a first level to be lower than the gain at a time when the degree of deviation is a second level lower than the first level. This is an example of obvious to try. There are six possible combinations. First gain is lower than the second gain when second level lower than first level. First gain is lower than the second gain when second level higher than the first level. First gain is higher than the second gain when second level is lower than first level. First gain is higher than the second gain when the second level is higher than the first level. First gain is equal to the second gain when the second level is lower than the first level. First gain is equal to the second gain when the second level is higher than the first level. Since there are only six possible choices that can be made for the gain in the processor which are a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success since gain engineering is well known in the art claim 5 is obvious over the prior art.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4 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 CHARLES J BRAUCH whose telephone number is (313)446-6511. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 AM to 6 PM.
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/CHARLES JOSEPH BRAUCH/
Examiner
Art Unit 3747
/LONG T TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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