DETAILED ACTION
The following is a Final Office Action is response to applicant’s amendment filed on August 5th 2025. Claims 1-6, 8-15,18-23, 25-40 and 42-44 are pending.
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 .
Response to Arguments/Amendments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the rejection of claim(s) 1-6, 8-15,18-23, 25-40 and 42-44 under 35 USC 103 have been 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.
Claim(s) 1-4,6-14, 20, 30, and 36- 38 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over Dai et al. "Dai" ( US 2007/0076918) in view of Suzuki (US 2018/0336426) in view of Gdalyahu et al. (US 2017/0010105) in further view of Titze et al. (US 2018/0322777).
Regarding Claim 1, Dai teaches a system for monitoring traffic lane congestion, the system comprising:
at least one processor programmed comprising circuitry and a memory (Para. [0029]…the image processing device 40 preferably comprises an electronic controller comprising a digital microprocessor with a high speed clock, RAM, ROM, hard-drive memory and I/O devices...), wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the circuitry
cause the at !east one processor to:
receive, from an image capture device of a host vehicle, at least one image acquired by an image capture device of a host vehicle, the at least one image being representative of an
environment of the host vehicle, the environment of the host vehicle including a traffic lane (Para. [0026]…the imaging device 10 preferably comprises a digital camera, mounted to capture images and equipped with a wide-angle optics. The imaging device is operable to regularly and ongoingly capture video images representing a panoramic view of the highway generally in front of the vehicle, and preferably including multiple lanes of traffic, road shoulders, and roadside berms and pull-off lanes.);
analyze the at least one image to determine a traffic congestion condition of the traffic lane (Para. [0031]…the image processing device 40 is operable to analyze traffic patterns in metrics of traffic density, i.e. volume of vehicles; traffic congestion, i.e. average vehicle
speed and effect upon travel time); and
transmit traffic information indicative of the traffic congestion condition to a server (Para. [0030]… The second data stream is communicated to the wireless communications device 30. The wireless communications device may comprise any one of several existing wireless communication devices operable to communicate digital data streams via a signal generator, to an antenna and remote receiver 60.)
Dai fails to teach receive time information associated with the at least one image; analyze the at least one image and the time information associated with the at least one image using a trained model to determine that a traffic congestion condition exists within the traffic lane.
However, Suzuki teaches receive time information associated with the at least one image (Para. [0057]… the parameter is determined after image processing of the image IMG2. For example, by investigating the image IMG2 after image processing of brightness or the like, the image processing system can estimate weather, time or the like) ; analyze the at least one image and the time information associated with the at least one image using a trained model (Fig. 6 steps SB01-SB07) to determine that a traffic congestion condition exists within the traffic lane (Para. [0133-0134]…the image processing system IS, first, can acquire the image IMG2 with the second image acquiring unit ISF3. Furthermore, the image processing system IS can determine each parameter of the images IMG2, based on the position data and the like. The parameter indicates the image pickup condition of each of the images IMG2, or the like. For example, the parameter is the time at which the image IMG2 is picked up, the weather, the vehicle type of a vehicle that picks up the image IMG2, the model of the camera CM, the control information about a vehicle that picks up the image IMG2, the congestion condition around a position at which the image IMG2 is picked up, the crowded condition around a position at which the image IMG2 is picked up, the space condition around a position at which the image IMG2 is picked up, the vehicle speed of a vehicle that picks up the image IMG2, a lane on which a vehicle that picks up the image. identify at least one landmark in the environment of the host vehicle.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method to monitor vehicular traffic as taught by Dai with the image processing system as taught by Suzuki to provide technologies that make it possible to grasp the balance of data such as images to be used for machine learning or the like (Suzuki, Para. [0006]).
Further, Dai fails to teach identify at least one landmark in the environment of the host vehicle; determine based on the at least one landmark, a position of the host vehicle relative to a target trajectory associated with the traffic lane, the target trajectory being represented as a three-dimensional spline in a navigational map;
transmit traffic information indicative of the traffic congestion condition to a server, the server being configured to determine a refined location of the object based on the location of the object and at least an additional location of the object reported by an additional vehicle, wherein the additional location of the object is determined by the additional vehicle based on a position of the additional vehicle relative to the target trajectory; update the target trajectory based on the traffic congestion condition; and cause the updated target trajectory to be transmitted to one or more vehicles for use in navigation
However, Gdalyahu teaches identify at least one landmark in the environment of the host vehicle (Gdalyahu, Para. [0587]… the landmark identification module 3010 may cause the processor to identify a landmark from an image captured by a camera provided on a vehicle. In some embodiments, the processor may acquire at least one environmental image associated with a host vehicle from a camera installed on the host vehicle.; determining, based on the at least one landmark, a position of the host vehicle relative to a target trajectory associated with the traffic lane (Gdalyahu, Para. [0621]… Once a recognized landmark is identified in a captured image, predetermined characteristics of the recognized landmark may be used to assist a host vehicle in navigation. For example, in some embodiments, the recognized landmark may be used to determine a current position of the host vehicle. In some cases, the current position of the host vehicle may be determined relative to a target trajectory from sparse data model…), the target trajectory being represented as a three-dimensional spline in a navigational map (Gdalyahu, Para. [0727]… sparse map 800 may include representations of a plurality of target trajectories 810 for guiding autonomous driving or navigation along a road segment. Such target trajectories may be stored as three-dimensional splines...) and;
transmit traffic information indicative of the traffic congestion condition to a server (Gdalyahu, Para. [0018]…analyze the at least one environmental image to determine navigation information related to the vehicle; transmit the navigation information from the vehicle to a server), the server being configured to determine a refined location of the object based on the location of the object (Para. [0097]..the known locations of the two recognized landmarks may be received from a server based system located remotely with respect to the vehicle. Each of the known locations may constitute a refined location determined based on a plurality of GPS-based measurements) and at least an additional location of the object reported by an additional vehicle, wherein the additional location of the object is determined by the additional vehicle based on a position of the additional vehicle relative to the target trajectory (Gdalyahu, Para. [0378]...location determinations of an identified landmark or any other feature included in sparse map 800) may be repeated as additional vehicles pass the location of the identified landmark. Some or all of the additional location determinations can be used to refine the location information stored in sparse map 800 relative to the identified landmark); update the target trajectory based on the traffic congestion condition (Gdalyahu, Para. [0524]… processor 1715 may analyze the environmental images from camera 122 to detect at least one of a barrier, an object, a lane marking, a sign, or another vehicle in the images. Process 2100 may also include determining a target trajectory, including the actual trajectory and one or more modifications to the actual trajectory based on the determined information associated with the navigational constraint (step 2125). For example, based on at least one of the barrier, object, lane marking, sign, or another vehicle detected from the environmental images, processor 1715 may modify the actual trajectory, e.g., to include a lane or a road other than the lane or road vehicle 1205 is travelling in) ; and cause the updated target trajectory to be transmitted to one or more vehicles for use in navigation (Para. [0524]…the modified actual trajectory may be used as the target trajectory. The target trajectory may reflect a safer or better trajectory than the actual trajectory vehicle 1205 is taking. Process 2100 may further include transmitting the target trajectory to a server (step 2130). For example, processor 1715 may transmit the target trajectory from vehicle 1205 to server 1230.)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method to monitor vehicular traffic as taught by Dai in view of Suzuki with the method for navigation based on expected landmark location as taught by Gdalyahu to safely and accurately navigate an autonomous vehicle to its destination (Gdalyahu, Para. [0005]).
Further, Dai fails to teach determining based on the position of the host vehicle relative to a target trajectory, a location of an object associated with the traffic congestion condition within the traffic lane, the location of the object being determined relative to at least one landmark represented in the at least one image and the server being configured to determine a refined location of the object based on the location of the object and at least one additional location of the object reported by one or more additional vehicles.
However, Titze teaches determining based on the position of the host vehicle relative to a target trajectory, a location of an object associated with the traffic congestion condition within the traffic lane (Titze, Para. [0027]…there are, for example, landmarks 26, 27 in the surrounding area 19 of the lane 22 and in the environment 12. The landmark 26 may be, for example, a tree or road lighting, but the landmark 27 may also be an obstacle in the lane 22. This may be, for example, a further motorized transportation vehicle which marks the end of a traffic jam, or an indication that work is being carried out on this lane 22 and it is necessary to change the lane 22), the location of the object being determined relative to at least one landmark represented in the at least one image (Titze, Para. [0035-0036]…highly accurate localization in a local or global coordinate system can be calculated by identifying objects 28 forming landmarks 26, 27 and averaging the associated object positions. This is used to anchor the sections 13, 20 in the digital map 60).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai in view of Suzuki and Gdalyahu with the method for creating a lane-accurate occupancy grid map as taught by Titze to improve traffic planning by increasing awareness of traffic volume on a driver’s route (Titze, Para. [0007]).
Regarding Claim 2, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teach the system of claim 1, wherein the traffic congestion condition comprises a density of vehicles within the traffic lane( Dai, Para. [0031]… the image processing device 40 is operable to analyze traffic patterns in metrics of traffic density, i.e. volume of vehicles; traffic congestion…)
Regarding Claim 3, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the traffic congestion condition comprises a density of pedestrians within the traffic lane (Gdalyahu, Para. [0516]… The navigational constraint may include at least one of a barrier ( e.g., a lane separating barrier), an object (e.g., a pedestrian, a lamppost, a traffic light post).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method to monitor vehicular traffic as taught by Dai in view of Suzuki with the method for navigation based on expected landmark location as taught by Gdalyahu to safely and accurately navigate an autonomous vehicle to its destination (Gdalyahu, Para. [0005]).
Regarding Claim 4, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teach the system of claim 1, wherein the traffic lane comprises a travel lane for at least one of cars, trucks, or motorcycles along a road segment (Dai, Para. [0027]…the radar device is operable to generate the first data stream consisting of the signal representing the captured images, comprising vehicles and other items in view of the imaging device 10 on the host vehicle…)
Regarding Claim 6, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teach the system of claim 1, wherein the traffic lane comprises a high occupancy vehicle lane (Dai, Para. [0026]…the imaging device is operable to regularly and ongoingly capture video images representing a panoramic view of the highway generally in front of the vehicle, and preferably including multiple lanes of traffic, road shoulders, and roadside berms and pull-off lanes.)
Regarding Claim 8, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teach the system of claim 1, wherein the time information comprises at least one of a current time of day or a current day of the week (Suzuki, Para. [0142]).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method to monitor vehicular traffic as taught by Dai with the image processing system as taught by Suzuki to provide technologies that make it possible to grasp the balance of data such as images to be used for machine learning or the like (Suzuki, Para. [0006]).
Regarding Claim 9, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teach the system of claim 1, wherein the traffic information includes the time information (Suzuki, Para, [0134]) .
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method to monitor vehicular traffic as taught by Dai with the image processing system as taught by Suzuki to provide technologies that make it possible to grasp the balance of data such as images to be used for machine learning or the like (Suzuki, Para. [0006]).
Regarding Claim 10, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teach the system of claim 1, wherein the traffic information includes a location of the traffic congestion condition along a road segment, (Suzuki, Para. [0134]).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method to monitor vehicular traffic as taught by Dai with the image processing system as taught by Suzuki to provide technologies that make it possible to grasp the balance of data such as images to be used for machine learning or the like (Suzuki, Para. [0006]).
Regarding Claims 13-14, please see rejection of claim 1-2.
Regarding Claim 15, please refer to rejection of claim 3.
Regarding Claims 18, please refer to the rejection of claim 10.
Regarding Claim 20, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teach the method of claim 13, wherein transmitting the traffic information comprises transmitting the traffic information to a municipality associated with the traffic lane (Dai, Para. [0007]….processed video and GPS data are selectively sent to a traffic management center over a wireless communication channel. This data is typically sent at regular intervals, and, preferably when a significant change in traffic conditions has been detected. The data is compiled and analyzed, and made available to vehicle operators and other users, e.g. traffic reporting services, for use in various publications and rebroadcasts).
Regarding Claim 30, please refer to rejection of claim 1.
Regarding Claim 33, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teach the system of claim 1, wherein the traffic congestion condition includes a density of vehicles in the traffic lane (please refer to claim 2), wherein determining the traffic congestion condition comprises determining time information indicating when the traffic congestion condition was observed (Titze, Para. [0038]… provision is made for the map creation device 3 to determine a current lane occupancy for lanes 22 in the sections 13, 20 of the digital map 60. This is carried out by assigning the at least one mobile device 2 to the lane 22 determined by the at least one mobile device 2 in the corresponding section 13, 20 on the basis of the object information and object positions, section information, the lane information and the time information received from the at least one mobile device…) wherein the server is further configured to receive traffic congestion conditions from a plurality of vehicles (Titze, Para. [0038]… then determines a traffic density from the assignments by calculating the number of mobile devices for each individual section), and generate a recommendation based on the traffic congestion conditions, and wherein the recommendation is based on a comparison of the density of vehicles to a historical density associated with at least one aspect of the timing information (Titze, Para. [0039]… Such a traffic density can then be analyzed further by the map creation device…by comparing it with a predefined limit value for the traffic density. If the limit value is exceeded in a section 13, 20, a traffic jam status of the section is set to "traffic jam". In contrast, if the limit value is not exceeded, a traffic jam status is set to "no traffic jam". The traffic jam status can then be made available to the mobile device as additional information.)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai in view of Suzuki and Gdalyahu with the method for creating a lane-accurate occupancy grid map as taught by Titze to improve traffic planning by increasing awareness of traffic volume on a driver’s route (Titze, Para. [0007])
Regarding Claim 36-38, please refer to the rejection of claim 2-4.
Claim(s) 5 ,11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dai et al. "Dai" (US 2007/0076918) in view of Suzuki (US 2018/0336426) in view of Gdalyahu et al. (US2017/0010105) in view of Titze et al. (US 2018/0322777) in further view of Whitt et al. "Whitt" (US 20190376805).
Regarding Claim 5, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teaches the system of claim 1, but fails to teach wherein the traffic lane comprises a bicycle lane.
However, Whitt teaches wherein the traffic lane comprises a bicycle lane (Para. [0026]...camera 408 may capture the presence or absence of a bicycle lane on a road, the width of the bicycle lane, the presence or absence of barriers...)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method to monitor vehicular traffic as taught by Dai in view of Suzuki and Titze with the method for routing personal mobility vehicles based on road conditions as taught by Whitt to improve user safety and overall user experience for trips involving personal mobility vehicles (Whitt, Para. [0018]).
Regarding Claim 11, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teach the system of claim 1, Whitt teaches further wherein the traffic congestion condition indicates the traffic lane is insufficient to accommodate at least one of bicycles or scooters (Whitt, Para. [0022]... the road may be affected by a condition 108 where road-going and / or lane-constrained vehicles such as cars and buses are likely to get uncomfortably close to transportation requestor 102 due to the lack of a designated bicycle lane on the road….a transportation requestor may prefer to avoid roads and / or paths with such conditions, even at the cost of a longer or otherwise less convenient trip).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method to monitor vehicular traffic as taught by Dai in view of Suzuki and Titze with the method for routing personal mobility vehicles based on road conditions as taught by Whitt to improve user safety and overall user experience for trips involving personal mobility vehicles (Whitt, Para. [0018]).
Claim(s) 12, 19, 21-23, 31-34 and 39 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dai et al. "Dai" (US 20070076918) in view of Suzuki (US 2018/0336426) in view of Gdalyahu et al. (US 2017/0010105) in further view of Titze et al. (US 2018/0322777) and in further view of Sharma (US 2019/0086224).
Regarding Claim 12, , Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teaches the system of claim 1, but fails to teach wherein transmitting the traffic information comprises transmitting the traffic information to a server configured to receive traffic congestion conditions from a plurality of vehicles and generate a recommendation based on the traffic congestion conditions.
However, Sharma teaches transmitting the traffic information comprises transmitting the traffic information to a server configured to receive traffic congestion conditions from a plurality of vehicles (Sharma, Para. [0029]… for estimating the traffic congestion on the primary route, the traffic management system 103 may receive real-time traffic data 110 from each of one or more vehicles moving and/or being stagnant on the primary route of the target vehicle) and generate a recommendation based on the traffic congestion conditions (Sharma, Para. [0034]…upon determining the optimal route 113 among the one or more alternative routes, the traffic management system 103 may recommend the optimal route 113 to the user associated with the target vehicle 101, thereby diverting the target vehicle 101 to the less congested optimal route 113. By recommending users to traverse through the optimal route 113, the traffic management system 103 ensures that the routes, which are already congested, are not further congested by the one or more vehicles moving on the same route.)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method to monitor vehicular traffic as taught by Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze with the method for preventing traffic congestion as taught by Sharma to prevent traffic congestion of vehicles in route by identifying and recommending less congested alternative routes to a user (Sharma, Para. [0101-0105]).
Regarding Claim 19, please refer to the rejection of claim 12.
Regarding Claim 21, please refer to the rejection of claims 1 and 12 which are commensurate in scope.
Regarding Claim 22, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze and Sharma teach the system of claim 21, where in the entity is a municipality associated with the traffic (Dai, Para. [0007]).
Regarding Claim 23, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze and Sharma teach the system of claim 21, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to receive additional traffic congestion conditions from a plurality of additional host vehicles (Sharma, Para. [0066]), and wherein the recommendation is further based on the additional traffic congestion conditions (Sharma, Para. [0056]).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method to monitor vehicular traffic as taught by Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu and Titze with the method for preventing traffic congestion as taught by Sharma to prevent traffic congestion of vehicles in route by identifying and recommending less congested alternative routes to a user (Sharma, Para. [0101-0105]).
Regarding Claims 31-32, please refer to the rejection of claim 21, which is commensurate in scope. Claims 31-32 being drawn to corresponding method and non-transitory computer-readable medium.
Regarding Claim 33, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teach the system of claim 1, wherein the traffic congestion condition includes a density of vehicles in the traffic lane (please refer to claim 2); determining the traffic congestion condition comprises determining time information indicating when the traffic congestion condition was observed (Titze, Para. [0038]… Provision is made for the map creation device 3 to determine a current lane occupancy for lanes 22 in the sections 13, 20 of the digital map 60. This is carried out by assigning the at least one mobile device 2 to the lane 22 determined by the at least one mobile device 2 in the corresponding section 13, 20 on the basis of the object information and object positions, section information, the lane information and the time information received from the at least one mobile device…) ;the server is further configured to receive traffic congestion conditions from a plurality of vehicles (please refer to rejection of claim 12 ), and generate a recommendation based on the traffic congestion conditions (please refer to rejection of claim 12), and wherein the recommendation is based on a comparison of the density of vehicles to a historical density associated with at least one aspect of the timing information (Titze, Para. [0039]… Such a traffic density can then be analyzed further by the map creation device…by comparing it with a predefined limit value for the traffic density. If the limit value is exceeded in a section 13, 20, a traffic jam status of the section is set to "traffic jam". In contrast, if the limit value is not exceeded, a traffic jam status is set to "no traffic jam". The traffic jam status can then be made available to the mobile device as additional information.)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method to monitor vehicular traffic as taught by Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu and Titze with the method for preventing traffic congestion as taught by Sharma to prevent traffic congestion of vehicles in route by identifying and recommending less congested alternative routes to a user (Sharma, Para. [0101-0105]).
Regarding Claim 34, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teach the system of claim 33, wherein the at least one aspect of the timing information includes at least one of a time of day or a day of the week that the traffic congestion conditions were observed and the historical density includes data collected at the time of day or the day of the week (Titze, Para. [0038])
Regarding Claim 39, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, and Titze teach the method of claim 31, wherein the entity is a municipality associated with the traffic lane (Dai, Para. [0007]).
Claim(s) 25-29, 35 and 42-44 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dai et al. "Dai" (US 2007/0076918) in view of Suzuki (US 2018/0336426) in view of Gdalyahu et al. (US 2017/0010105) in view of Titze et al. (US 2018/0322777) in view of Sharma (US 2019/0086224) in further view of Desai et al. "Desai" (US 2009/0125160) .
Regarding Claim 25, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, Titze and Sharma teach the system of claim 21, but fail the teach wherein the road segment includes a reversible traffic lane and the recommendation comprises a recommended timing for reversing a travel direction of the reversible traffic lane.
However, Desai teaches wherein the road segment includes a reversible traffic lane and the recommendation comprises a recommended timing for reversing a travel direction of the reversible traffic lane (Para. [0092] FIG. 5B shows the same roads during the evening commute, with the commute directions reversed…)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, Titze and Sharma with the method of relieving urban traffic congestion as taught by Desai to improve overall travel time, safety, operating cost, local environment quality and comfort during commuting (Desai, Para. [0168-0188]).
Regarding Claim 26, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, Titze and Sharma teach the system of claim 21, Desai further teaches wherein the recommendation includes a recommendation to add an additional lane to the road segment. (Desai, Para. [0099-0101]…the level of congestion can be measured by monitoring the speed of traffic flow if moving, and the number of miles jammed if at a standstill….Conversion of particular segments of roadway to use commuter lanes can be cyclic (repeated according to a daily use pattern) and dynamic (responding to changing local conditions). Each selected 12-foot-wide normal-width lane is converted dynamically and cyclically into two 6-foot-wide commuter lanes.)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, Titze and Sharma with the method of relieving urban traffic congestion as taught by Desai to improve overall travel time, safety, operating cost, local environment quality and comfort during commuting (Desai, Para. [0168-0188]).
Regarding Claim 27, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, Titze, and Sharma teach the system of claim 21, Desai teaches further wherein the recommendation includes a recommendation to allocate at Ieast one lane of the road segment as a special use lane (Desai, Para. [0135-0146]).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, Titze and Sharma with the method of relieving urban traffic congestion as taught by Desai to improve overall travel time, safety, operating cost, local environment quality and comfort during commuting (Desai, Para. [0168-0188]).
`Regarding Claim 28, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, Titze, Sharma and Desai teach the system of claim 27, wherein the special use lane comprises a bicycle lane (Desai, Para. [0087]…the 5-foot-wide lane can be restricted to scooters and small motorcycles while the 8-footwide lane can be restricted to vehicles of less than 4.75 ft in width..)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, Titze and Sharma with the method of relieving urban traffic congestion as taught by Desai to improve overall travel time, safety, operating cost, local environment quality and comfort during commuting (Desai, Para. [0168-0188]).
Regarding Claim 29, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, Titze, Sharma and Desai teach the system of claim 27, wherein the special use lane comprises a high occupancy vehicle lane (Desai, Para. [0021]…these solutions include building high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, new roads, or new lanes on existing roads, or alternatively building parallel rail lines, adding commuter buses...).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, Titze and Sharma with the method of relieving urban traffic congestion as taught by Desai to improve overall travel time, safety, operating cost, local environment quality and comfort during commuting (Desai, Para. [0168-0188]).
Regarding Claim 35, Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, Titze and Sharma teach the system of claim 33, Desai further teaches wherein the road segment includes a reversible traffic lane (please refer to rejection of claim 25), wherein the historical data indicates a pattern of traffic congestion conditions associated with the at least one aspect of the timing information (Dai, Para. [0031]… the image processing device 40 is operable to analyze traffic patterns in metrics of traffic density, i.e. volume of vehicles; traffic congestion, i.e. average vehicle speed and effect upon travel time; and, traffic turbulence, i.e. variability of vehicle speeds and quantity of lane changes), and wherein the recommendation comprises a recommended timing for reversing a travel direction of the reversible traffic lane based on the pattern of traffic congestion conditions (please refer to the rejection of claim (please refer to the rejection of claim 25) .
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Dai in view of Suzuki, Gdalyahu, Titze and Sharma with the method of relieving urban traffic congestion as taught by Desai to improve overall travel time, safety, operating cost, local environment quality and comfort during commuting (Desai, Para. [0168-0188]).
Regarding Claims 42-44, please refer to the rejection of claims 25-27 which are commensurate in scope.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JODI M JONES whose telephone number is (571)272-0107. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30am-5:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anne Antonucci can be reached on (313) 446-6519. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JODI JONES/Examiner, Art Unit 3666
/ANNE MARIE ANTONUCCI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3666
Prosecution Insights