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 Applicants’ filing on 08/26/2025. Claims 1 and 4 were previously pending, of which claim 1 has been amended, claim 4 has been cancelled, and no claims have been newly added. Accordingly, claim 1 is currently pending and is being examined below.
Response to Arguments
With respect to Applicant's remarks, see pages 4-6, filed 08/26/2025; Applicant’s “Amendment and Remarks” have been fully considered. Applicant’s remarks will be addressed in sequential order as they were presented.
With respect to the claim interpretation under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b), the amendment renders this interpretation moot, the amended claims are no longer rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b).
With respect to the claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103, applicant’s “Amendment and Remarks” have been fully considered and are not persuasive. While Yokota does not appear to disclose the control device being retrofitted to the vehicle, separately from the driving assistance controller as amended in claim 1, Ando does teach the limitation. It is disclosed in Ando that it is known in the art to add an ECU and an autonomous driving ECU without drastically changing the existing vehicle platform. Ando further discloses that these can be installed separately to provide autonomous function to vehicles of different types and manufacturers. Therefore, the claim is still rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103, as mapped below.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yokota (US 2020/0231153 A1), hereinafter Yokota, in view of Ishikawa (US 2019/0193726 A1), and in view of Ando (US 2020/0324788, previously cited in the 892 dated 2/7/2024), hereinafter Ando.
With respect to claim 1, Yakota discloses A control device of a vehicle, comprising: a communication interface; a memory storing an algorithm; ([0045] “The vehicle control device 10 is an electronic control unit (ECU) having at least one processor 21 and at least one memory 22.” Note: An Electronic Control Unit is known in the art and contains a microcontroller having communication links.)
and a processor configured to execute the algorithm and thereby, during automated driving control of the vehicle: ([0045] “The vehicle control device 10 is an electronic control unit (ECU) having at least one processor 21… The processor 21 reads and executes the program stored in the memory 22, thereby achieving various functions described below in the vehicle control device 10.”)
set a planned trajectory of the vehicle to a predetermined ([0046] “The planner 11 calculates a required acceleration and a required speed when the vehicle 2 travels along a set travel route from the present over a predetermined period in the future, and updates them at a constant cycle.”)
receive, via the communication interface, (Fig. 8, [0046] “The vehicle control device 10 includes a planner 11. The planner 11 calculates a required acceleration and a required speed when the vehicle 2 travels along a set travel route… The required acceleration and the required speed are calculated to maintain a distance from a preceding vehicle, adjust a vehicle speed so as not to exceed a set vehicle speed, adjust the vehicle speed so that a lateral acceleration does not exceed a specified value, and the like.” )
modify the target acceleration/deceleration to a modified target acceleration/deceleration value required by automated driving control of the vehicle on the planned trajectory; (Fig. 8, [0043] “the braking force/driving force control is performed in a vehicle control device that performs driving assist control at an automated driving level of level 1 or higher… for example, autonomous driving system (ADS) and adaptive cruise control (ACC).” [0047] “The vehicle control device 10 calculates a target acceleration composed of an acceleration feedforward term and a speed feedback term. The required acceleration calculated by the planner 11 is used as the acceleration feedforward term” [0049] “The vehicle control device 10 calculates a required acceleration force based on a corrected target acceleration obtained by adding the acceleration F/B term to the target acceleration.”)
output, via the communication interface to an accelerator controller that controls an accelerator of the vehicle, a second request signal comprising the modified target acceleration/deceleration; (Fig. 8, [0048] “The vehicle control device 10 adds an acceleration feedback term for making an actual acceleration of the vehicle 2 obtained by the speed sensor 6 match the target acceleration. [0082] “In step S1300… the required driving force calculated in step S600 is applied from the braking force/driving force correction unit 16 to the powertrain control unit 17, and the powertrain 3 is controlled according to the required driving force.” [0066] “in step S600… The calculation method of the required braking/driving force… described in the description of the configuration of the vehicle control device 10.”)
receive, via the communication interface, from the accelerator controller, a braking request signal comprising a target deceleration; (Fig. 8, [0049] “The vehicle control device 10 calculates a required acceleration force based on a corrected target acceleration obtained by adding the acceleration F/B term to the target acceleration.” [0051] “During deceleration, for example, the required braking/driving force is distributed only to the driving force in a range where the required braking/driving force can be achieved by reducing the driving force. After the driving force is reduced to the minimum driving force that can be output by the powertrain 3, the remainder obtained by subtracting the minimum driving force from the required braking/driving force is distributed to the braking force.”)
when the calculated acceleration/deceleration requires the vehicle to decelerate: determine a modified target deceleration by modifying the target deceleration according to a braking force of a brake of the vehicle required by the calculated acceleration/deceleration, and output, via the communication interface a brake controller that operates the brake of the vehicle according to the braking request signal, a modified braking request signal comprising the modified target deceleration so that the brake controller decelerates the vehicle according to the modified target deceleration, (Fig. 8, [0051] “The vehicle control device 10 corrects the braking force and the driving force distributed from the required braking/driving force by a braking force/driving force correction unit 16. A powertrain control unit 17 that operates the powertrain 3 is provided with the corrected driving force as a required driving force… After the driving force is reduced to the minimum driving force that can be output by the powertrain 3, the remainder obtained by subtracting the minimum driving force from the required braking/driving force is distributed to the braking force.”)
and when the calculated acceleration/deceleration does not require the vehicle to decelerate: omit modification of the target deceleration, output, via the communication interface to the brake controller, the braking request signal comprising the target deceleration as received so that the brake controller decelerates the vehicle according to the target deceleration; ([0058] “For example, if the vehicle 2 is in a simple traveling state, no correction is performed, and the braking force and the driving force calculated by the braking force/driving force distribution unit 15 are directly used as the required braking force and the required driving force and provided to the powertrain control unit 17 and the brake control unit 18.” [0052] “The vehicle control device 10 corrects the braking force… The brake control unit 18 operates the brake 4 with an operation amount required for achieving the required braking force.”)
Yokota discloses a vehicle acceleration/deceleration control device that performs driving assist using a planner that sets a travel path based on a predetermined period, but does not explicitly disclose that the travel route may be based on a predetermined distance.
However, Ishikawa teaches that a planner may set a planned trajectory of the vehicle to a predetermined distance ([0063] “The action plan generation unit 140 generates a target trajectory along which the subject vehicle M will travel… The trajectory point is a point that the subject vehicle M is to reach for each predetermined travel distance (for example, several meters) at a road distance, and a target speed and a target acceleration at every predetermined sampling time (for example, several tenths of a [sec]) are separately generated as part of the target trajectory.”)
As both are in the same field of endeavor, 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 predetermined period of Yokota to include the predetermined distance disclosed in Ishikawa, with reasonable expectation of success. The motivation for doing so would have been to be able to project out to a certain distance, because the time from one location another is heavily impacted by speed and an appropriate consideration of future events may not be made in time, see Ishikawa [0049].
Yokota discloses a vehicle acceleration/deceleration control device that performs driving assist at an automated driving level of level 1 or higher, which uses received sensor data to calculate and update a target acceleration, but does not explicitly disclose that the input data comes from a driving assistance controller to the control device, which is installed separately from the driving assistance controller.
However, Ando teaches the intake of information from an autonomous driving platform using a communication interface: (Fig. 2, [0051] “A vehicle control interface 300 is a device that connects the vehicle platform 100 and the autonomous driving platform 200 and relays information that the vehicle platform and the autonomous driving platform input to and output from each other.”)
wherein the control device is retrofitted to the vehicle, separately from the driving assistance controller. (see at least [0003] “it is possible to add an autonomous driving function to the vehicle by separately providing an ECU that manages vehicle power and an autonomous driving ECU without drastically changing the existing vehicle platform.” [0021] “a computer that controls vehicle power, is provided independently from an autonomous driving platform that makes determinations on autonomous driving, and both platforms are installed in a vehicle system.”)
As both are in the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Yokota to include the above limitations disclosed in Ando, with reasonable expectation of success. The motivation for doing so would have been to implement an autonomous driving platform to modify control commands to be properly applied based on the type of vehicle without drastically changing the existing vehicle platform, see Ando [0003, 0026].
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
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/S.M.O./Examiner, Art Unit 3669
/NAVID Z. MEHDIZADEH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3669