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 the Claims
This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s amendments and remarks filed July 22, 2025. Claims 1, 8, and 15 have been amended. Claims 2-7, 9-14, and 16-20 have been canceled. Claims 1, 8, and 15 are pending.
Response to Remarks/Arguments
Applicant’s arguments and amendments filed July 22, 2025 with respect to the previous 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections have been fully considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claims 1, 8, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gross et al., US 20220089181 A1, in view of Tang et al., US 11468285 B1, and in view of Tang, US 20220204025 A1, hereinafter referred to as Gross, Tang, and Zhang, respectively.
As to claim 1, Gross discloses a computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, at an advanced driving interface module of an autonomous vehicle over a first set of Ethernet connections using a control area network protocol, electronic control unit data from a plurality of vehicle electronic control units of the autonomous vehicle, including a vehicle propulsion system electronic control unit, a braking system electronic control unit, a steering system electronic control unit, a safety system electronic control unit, and a cabin system electronic control unit, wherein the plurality of vehicle electronic control units receive sensor data from a plurality of sensors to generate the electronic control unit data (G-SRMCD utilizes CAN communication with plurality of vehicle ECUs – See at least ¶94 and Fig. 5; Ethernet – See at least ¶94; G-SRMCD may perform autonomous driving in communication with various ECUs thereby serving as a vehicle propulsion system electronic unit, braking system electronic control unit, steering system electronic control unit, and safety system electronic control unit – See at least ¶ Computer module 500 controls cabin thereby serving as a cabin system electronic control unit – See at least 99 and Fig.5);
wherein the advanced driving interface module is configured to interface a control service, a constraint service, and a communication service of the internal computing system (Various services, i.e., “control service,” “constraint service,” and “communication service” – See at least ¶104);
processing, by the advanced driving interface module driver, the data utilizing a robotic operating system protocol (G-SRMCD utilizes CAN communication with plurality of vehicle ECUs – See at least ¶94 and Fig. 5; G-SRMCD can be configured for ROS – See at least ¶104 and Fig. 5); and
providing, by the advanced driving interface module driver, robotic operating system data based on the data processed by utilizing the robotic operating system protocol to the internal computing system, including the vehicle propulsion system electronic control unit, the braking system electronic control unit, the steering system electronic control unit, the safety system electronic control unit, and the cabin system electronic control unit (G-SRMCD utilizes CAN communication with plurality of vehicle ECUs – See at least ¶94 and Fig. 5; G-SRMCD can be configured for ROS – See at least ¶104 and Fig. 5).
Gross fails to explicitly disclose:
decoding, by the advanced driving interface module using a set of control area network database files, which include conversions between control messages and decoded messages, the electronic control unit data to produce decoded electronic control unit data that includes decoded messages;
converting, by the advanced driving interface module using an Ethernet protocol distinct from the control area network protocol, the decoded electronic control unit data into Ethernet data packets formatted for transmission over a second set of Ethernet connections to generate converted data for a plurality of services of an internal computing system of the autonomous vehicle; and
receiving, at an advanced driving interface module integrated within the internal computing system of the autonomous vehicle, the converted data from the advanced driving interface module over the second set of Ethernet connections.
However, 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 invention of Tang and include the feature of the above claimed decoding, converting, and receiving of the decoded/converted data, with a reasonable expectation of success, because Tang teaches decoding data so that it is usable for intended vehicle processes is well-known and routine in autonomous vehicles equipped with conventional components like CAN bus arrangements and processing modules (See at least Col. 12 Lines 58-67 through Col. 13 Lines 1-9), like the autonomous vehicle of Gross, which similarly uses CAN bus arrangements and corresponding CAN protocols to execute the retrieval, processing, and output necessary to control an autonomous vehicle.
The combination of Gross and Tang fails to explicitly disclose based on converting the decoded electronic control unit data into Ethernet data packets, establishing an abstraction layer between the internal computing system of the autonomous vehicle and the plurality of vehicle electronic control units of the autonomous vehicle. However, 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 combination of Gross and Tang and include the feature of based on converting the decoded electronic control unit data into Ethernet data packets, establishing an abstraction layer between the internal computing system of the autonomous vehicle and the plurality of vehicle electronic control units of the autonomous vehicle, with a reasonable expectation of success, because Zhang teaches utilizing abstraction layers as claimed is well-known and routine because abstraction layers are commonly used in vehicle control system computing environments to facilitate communication between computing resources (See at least ¶26-28 of Zhang).
Independent claims 8 and 15 are rejected under the same rationale as claim 1 because the claims recite nearly identical subject matter but for minor differences.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/LAIL A KLEINMAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3668