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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority based on application filed in Japan on 05/26/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/20/2025 was filed. The submission 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
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shimizu et al (U.S.2015/0073678) and further in view of Broyles et al (U.S. 2021/0269000).
A vehicular braking device that is applied to a vehicle including a first braking device having a relatively short response time from an input of a braking request to generation of a braking force to be applied to the vehicle and a second braking device having a relatively long response time, and adjusts a first braking force generated by the first braking device and a second braking force generated by the second braking device to apply, to the vehicle to the vehicle [when the change rate of the lateral motion of the vehicle 2 is relatively high, the upper limit of the lateral braking force difference change rate is set to a higher value than that in the case of the straight travel, so that this can provide the lateral braking force difference quickly in response to quick change in behavior occurring at the time of the braking while turning and the like. As a result, the braking force control device 1501 can quickly provide the lateral braking force difference while allowing a necessary lateral braking force difference change rate in response to the change in behavior of the vehicle 2 at the time of the braking while turning and the like and minimize occurrence of disturbance of the behavior of the vehicle 2 due to the unintended lateral braking force difference at the time of braking while traveling straight and the like] (Paragraph. 0097), a braking force corresponding to a braking request, the vehicular braking device comprising:
a storage unit that stores a control profile indicating transitions of target values of the first braking force and the second braking force during a control target period [the braking force control device 1201 configured as described above can appropriately secure stability of the vehicle 2 corresponding to the behavior sensitivity of the vehicle 2 changing according to the generated deceleration by setting the change rate upper limit to a lower value as the generated deceleration is higher. For example, in a high-deceleration region in which relatively large lateral braking force difference is required for directional stability, the braking force control device 1201 can allow the relatively large lateral braking force difference because there is no upper limit set for the lateral braking force difference itself and then inhibit the lateral braking force difference change rate. As a result, the braking force control device 1201 can more certainly stabilize the behavior of the vehicle 2 by the braking force distribution control.] (Paragraph. 0083); and
a setting unit that derives a first response time that is the response time of the first braking device and a second response time that is the response time of the second braking device at a control target point in time based on the control profile stored in the storage unit [specifically, the braking force control device 1001 is provided with an accelerator pedal 4, a power source 5, a brake pedal 6, a braking device 7, and an ECU 8 as a control device. In the vehicle 2, the power source 5 generates power (torque) in response to operation of the accelerator pedal 4 by a driver and the power is transmitted to the wheel 3 through a power transmitting device (not illustrated) to generate driving force at the wheel 3. The vehicle 2 generates the braking force at the wheel 3 by operation of the braking device 7 in response to operation of the brake pedal 6 by the driver] (Paragraph. 0033), and sets a lead time based on the first response time and the second response time [At that time, the ECU 8 gives priority to the decrease in the brake hydraulic pressure and decrease in the braking force of the wheel other than the control target rear wheel and limits the increase in the brake hydraulic pressure and increase in the braking force of the control target rear wheel when there is a brake hydraulic pressure decreasing request to the wheel other than the control target rear wheel out of the left rear wheel 3RL and the right rear wheel 3RR. According to this, the ECU 8 inhibits the lateral braking force difference change rate from becoming the change rate upper limit or higher] (Paragraph. 0061); and
However Shimizu did not explicitly disclose a generation unit that generates a braking request for the first braking device and the second braking device based on target values of the first braking force and the second braking force corresponding to a point in time ahead of the control target point in time by the lead time set by the setting unit in the control profile stored in the storage unit.
In the same field of endeavor Broyles disclosed it is further desirable to provide a brake controller system storing a plurality of safe state deceleration profiles in a memory local to the brake controller for selection and queueing or staging the selected safe state profile by the brake controller in response to the brake controller receiving a safe state deceleration profile selection signal from an XBR controlling device, and for automatically executing the selected and queued or staged safe state deceleration profile at an appropriate time in response to the brake controller receiving a predetermined trigger signal indicating a fault in the vehicle (Paragraph. 0011).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing was made to have incorporated it is further desirable to provide a brake controller system storing a plurality of safe state deceleration profiles in a memory local to the brake controller for selection and queueing or staging the selected safe state profile by the brake controller in response to the brake controller receiving a safe state deceleration profile selection signal from an XBR controlling device, and for automatically executing the selected and queued or staged safe state deceleration profile at an appropriate time in response to the brake controller receiving a predetermined trigger signal indicating a fault in the vehicle as taught by Broyles in the method and system of Shimizu to optimize the braking system.
2. As per claim 2 Shimizu-Broyles disclosed wherein in the setting unit, a first parameter required to derive the first response time and a second parameter required to derive the second response time are different from each other (Shimizu, Paragraph. 0078).
3. As per claim 3 Shimizu-Broyles disclosed wherein the setting unit further sets a contribution ratio that is a ratio of the first braking force to the braking force applied to the vehicle, and sets the lead time based on the contribution ratio, the first response time, and the second response time (Broyles, Paragraph. 0073). Claim 3 has the same motivation as to claim 1.
Conclusion
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/ADNAN M MIRZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3667
