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 Claims
This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s amendments and remarks filed on September 30, 2025.
Claims 1, 5, 7-9, and 11-13 are currently amended.
Claims 2-4 were previously canceled.
Claims 1 and 5-16 are pending and have been examined.
Response to Arguments
Regarding the outstanding Claim Objections:
The claim objection of claim 1 is withdrawn in view of Applicant’s amendments deleting “calculate a standard deviation of the vehicle calculated a plurality of times” to “calculate a standard deviation of the velocity of the vehicle calculated a plurality of times”.
Regarding the outstanding 35 U.S.C. § 101 Rejections:
The outstanding 35 USC 101 rejections of claims 1 and 5-16 are withdrawn in view of the addition of the limitation, “the vehicle is operating under cruise control, including adaptive cruise control, during the period in which the input information is received.”
Regarding the outstanding 35 U.S.C. § 103 Rejections:
Applicant’s arguments filed on September 30, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that “O’Dea, paragraph 63, step 312, discloses the calculating of the difference between the right or left wheel speed magnitude and the wheel reference speed (Id. At step 324). This difference between the (right/left) wheel speed magnitude and the wheel reference speed is then compared to the first predetermined threshold (Id. At paragraph [0065]) to determine if the particular wheel speed is stable or unstable. If unstable, the reference flag for that particular wheel is set and the rate limit is applied (Id. At paragraph [0066).” See p. 16 of Remarks filed 9/30/2025.
Applicant further argues that, “assuming that the right wheel as disclosed in O’Dea is above the wheel reference speed while the left wheel is not, then this means that there is a difference in wheel speed between the right wheel and the left wheel. However, O’Dea fails to disclose the reference “second threshold value” in amended claim 1 that is used as a reference for this difference in wheel speed between the right wheel and the left wheel.” See p. 16 of Remarks filed 9/30/2025.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. Referring to FIG. 3, wheel reference speeds are acquired, as shown in box 324/326. Box 330, indicates “calculate difference of 2 inputs.” This disclosure does not limit the inputs of the wheel speeds that are used in the difference calculation.
Further, O’Dea discloses in paragraphs [0064] that “a determination is made as to whether a magnitude of the difference … is greater than a first predetermined threshold” and that the “first predetermined threshold represents an expected or allowable difference between the wheel speed magnitude” and in [0046] that a timing element is involved in capturing the wheel data to make determinations.
The claim limitation of the current application requires that “the predetermined condition includes a condition that a traveling state in which the velocity of the vehicle is higher than a first threshold value”. The first threshold value is related to a velocity of the vehicle. The claim limitation of the current application further requires that “the predetermined condition includes a condition that … a magnitude of a difference between the wheel velocities of the right and left wheels is smaller than a second threshold value continues for a predetermined time or more”. The second threshold value is related to a difference between the wheel velocities of the right and left wheels. The Nath reference is cited for its disclosure of a first threshold related to a velocity of the vehicle. The O’Dea reference is cited for its disclosure of a second threshold related to a difference between the wheel velocities of the right and left wheels.
Therefore, the Examiner interprets this disclosure to cover the limitation, “a magnitude of a difference between the wheel velocities of the right and left wheels is smaller than a second threshold value continues for a predetermined time or more”.
Regarding the Applicant’s arguments regarding the newly added claim language regarding, “receiving input information during cruise control mode”, the Examiner has updated the search in view of the newly added amendments and has found a new reference that discloses this limitation, Zhou, et al. (Publication US 2023/0174105 A1.)
The outstanding 35 USC 103 rejections are maintained but are slightly modified in view of Applicant’s amendments.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 8, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qu, Publication US 2006/0265127 A1, in view of Nath, et al., Publication US 2012/0150381 A1, O’Dea, et al., Publication US 2011/0276242 A1, Suzuki, Publication US 2016/0284211 A1, Hahn, et al., Publication US 2020/0226922 A1, Shimada, et al., Publication US 2018/0149492 A1, Zhou, et al., Publication US 2023/0174105 A1, and Masanao, JP2019191802A (hereinafter referred to as “Qu”, “Nath”, “O’Dea”, “Suzuki”, “Hahn”, “Shimada”, “Zhou”, and “Masanao”, respectively.)
As per claim 1 (representative of claims 8 and 9), Qu discloses a vehicle information processing system [See at least Qu Figs. 1, 2] comprising:
a vehicle including a vehicle information processing device including one or more processors [see at least Qu [0023] "Calculation unit 4, for calculating the vehicle moving velocity, direction and position coordinate…The calculation unit 4 may be an universal single chip microprocessor…"] configured to:
receive input information on wheel velocities of right and left wheels of the vehicle [see at least Qu [0010] "..Sensing respectively the moving velocity of both side wheels ...by the velocity sensor elements mounted on the left and right side of the vehicle, and calculating the vehicle moving velocity and the azimuth angle variation in moving direction according to the velocity measured by the velocity sensor."]; and
calculate a velocity of the vehicle traveling … as a feature by using the input information [see at least Qu [0010] "..Sensing respectively the moving velocity of both side wheels ...by the velocity sensor elements mounted on the left and right side of the vehicle, and calculating the vehicle moving velocity and the azimuth angle variation in moving direction according to the velocity measured by the velocity sensor."].
Qu fails to disclose … vehicle traveling on an expressway …, wherein the input information is information that is received during a period in which a predetermined condition is satisfied out of a period in which the one or more processors receive the input information, the predetermined condition includes a condition that a traveling state in which the velocity of the vehicle is higher than a first threshold value…; and … the one or more processors are further configured to generate a congestion level… of the expressway by using a distribution of a plurality of the features calculated during the period in which the predetermined condition is satisfied. However, Nath teaches these limitations:
… vehicle traveling on an expressway … [see at least Nath [0046] ”Decision point 407 assigns the distance and time associated with the segment (or aggregation of segments in the multiple sample embodiment) with either "highway" or "city" driving, based upon a simple comparison to parameter V.sub.h, the threshold for determining highway driving velocity...If the average computed velocity of the device during the segment traveled from T.sub.1 to T.sub.2 exceeds the V.sub.h highway velocity parameter, the distance computed for the segment is accumulated into the logged value storing total "highway" miles (D.sub.highway= D.sub.highway+D.sub.seg) driven.”],
wherein the input information is information that is received during a period in which a predetermined condition is satisfied out of a period in which the one or more processors receive the input information [See at least Nath [0046] “Decision point 407 assigns the distance and time associated with the segment (or aggregation of segments in the multiple sample embodiment) with either "highway" or "city" driving, based upon a simple comparison to parameter V.sub.h, the threshold for determining highway driving velocity...If the average computed velocity of the device during the segment traveled from T.sub.1 to T.sub.2 exceeds the V.sub.h highway velocity parameter, the distance computed for the segment is accumulated into the logged value storing total "highway" miles (D.sub.highway=D.sub.highway+D.sub.seg) driven”],
the predetermined condition includes a condition that a traveling state in which the velocity of the vehicle is higher than a first threshold value… [see at least Nath [0046] “Decision point 407 assigns the distance and time associated with the segment (or aggregation of segments in the multiple sample embodiment) with either "highway" or "city" driving, based upon a simple comparison to parameter V.sub.h, the threshold for determining highway driving velocity...If the average computed velocity of the device during the segment traveled from T.sub.1 to T.sub.2 exceeds the V.sub.h highway velocity parameter, the distance computed for the segment is accumulated into the logged value storing total "highway" miles (D.sub.highway=D.sub.highway+D.sub.seg) driven”; [0041] "...once the device is successful in its initial location determination at T.sub.1, the sample time in 402, it continue to sample location information from the GPS system at intervals T.sub.sam identified above. The next sampled device location is stored according to 403 at time T.sub. 2..."]; and
… the one or more processors are further configured to generate a congestion level…of the expressway by using a distribution of a plurality of the features calculated during the period in which the predetermined condition is satisfied [see at least Nath [0046] “Decision point 407 assigns the distance and time associated with the segment (or aggregation of segments in the multiple sample embodiment) with either "highway" or "city" driving, based upon a simple comparison to parameter V.sub.h,” “the threshold for determining highway driving velocity... If the average computed velocity of the device during the segment traveled from T.sub.1 to T.sub.2 exceeds the V.sub.h highway velocity parameter, the distance computed for the segment is accumulated into the logged value storing total "highway" miles (D.sub.highway=D.sub.highway+D.sub.seg) driven”].
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 system as disclosed in Qu to use … vehicle traveling on an expressway …, wherein the input information is information that is received during a period in which a predetermined condition is satisfied out of a period in which the one or more processors receive the input information, the predetermined condition includes a condition that a traveling state in which the velocity of the vehicle is higher than a first threshold value…; and … the one or more processors are further configured to generate a congestion level… of the expressway by using a distribution of a plurality of the features calculated during the period in which the predetermined condition is satisfied as disclosed in Nath with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of improved vehicle system efficiency by accurately determining vehicle velocity [see at least Nath para [0045].]
The combination of Qu and Nath fails to disclose …the predetermined condition includes a condition that … a magnitude of a difference between the wheel velocities of the right and left wheels is smaller than a second threshold value continues for a predetermined time or more … . However, O’Dea teaches this limitation [see at least O’Dea [0064] "For each of the wheels, a determination is then made as to whether a magnitude of the difference...is greater than a first predetermined threshold...Preferably the first predetermined threshold represents an expected or allowable difference between the wheel speed magnitude and the wheel reference speed under typical conditions...in which the wheels are operating properly and measurements pertaining thereto are obtained correctly." ; [0046] "…if it is determined that the timer has exceeded the predetermined timer threshold, then the vehicle travel forward flag ... is set equal to the initial or temporary value of the vehicle direction movement...the initial or temporary value of the vehicle direction of movement is deemed to represent the vehicle's direction of movement only if the average wheel speed is within the predetermined wheel speed range ... and the timer has exceeded the predetermined timer threshold."; Referring to FIG. 3, wheel reference speeds are acquired, as shown in box 324/326. Box 330, indicates “calculate difference of 2 inputs.”]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu and Nash to use … a magnitude of a difference between the wheel velocities of the right and left wheels is smaller than a second threshold value continues for a predetermined time or more … as disclosed in O’Dea with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of an improved method and system for determining a velocity in forward motion. [See at least O'Dea [0004].]
The combination of Qu, Nath, and O’Dea fails to disclose …the one or more processors are further configured to generate a congestion level indicating a degree of congestion…. However, Suzuki teaches this limitation [see at least Suzuki [0060] "...The three ranks are set as heavy congestion, light congestion, and smooth. Moreover, a determination subject average velocity is classified into three ranks by a combination of the thresholds α and β. That is, the congestion level is determined to be heavy congestion when (average velocity)<(threshold α), the congestion level is determined to be light congestion when (threshold α)≦(average velocity)<(threshold β), and the congestion level is determined to be smooth when (threshold β)≦(average velocity)."]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu and Nath to use …the one or more processors are further configured to generate a congestion level indicating a degree of congestion … as disclosed in Suzuki with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of improved accuracy of road congestion information based on improved data collected [see at least Suzuki para [0070].]
The combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, and Suzuki fails to disclose … calculate a standard deviation of the velocity of the vehicle calculated a plurality of times during the period in which the predetermined condition is satisfied … . However, Hahn teaches this limitation [see at least Hahn [0101] "Velocity-related statistical properties ('V') relating to road segment ID…may include, for example: [0102] historical mean and standard deviation values of vehicle speed..."]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, and Suzuki to use … calculate a standard deviation of the velocity of the vehicle calculated a plurality of times during the period in which the predetermined condition is satisfied as disclosed in Hahn with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of improved accuracy of road congestion information [see at least Hahn para [0003].]
The combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, and Hahn fails to disclose … set the congestion level to a value indicating that the expressway is congested, when the standard deviation is larger than a threshold value. However, Shimada teaches this limitation [see at least Shimada [0049] "...the apparatus 100 for finding a point to be improved on a road finds a management unit in which the standard deviation of the speed of the vehicles in the second group of vehicles is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, as a road section that is at a high occurrence likelihood of an accident or a traffic jam.."]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, and Hahn to use … set the congestion level to a value indicating that the expressway is congested, when the standard deviation is larger than a threshold value as disclosed in Shimada with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of identifying road sections having a likelihood of a traffic jam [see at least Shimada para [0030].]
The combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, and Shimada fails to disclose … further includes that the vehicle is operating under cruise control, including adaptive cruise control, during the period in which the input information is received … . However, Zhou teaches this limitation [see at least Zhou [0091] "Adaptive cruise control (Adaptive Cruise Control, ACC): When a vehicle is driving, an inter-vehicle distance sensor (radar) disposed in the front of the vehicle continuously scans a road in front of the vehicle, and a wheel speed sensor collects a vehicle speed signal."; [0109] "... a preference mode collected recently in a same time period..."]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, and Shimada to use … further includes that the vehicle is operating under cruise control, including adaptive cruise control, during the period in which the input information is received … as disclosed in Zhou with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of more efficient road transportation. [See at least Zhou [0003].]
The combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, and Zhou fails to disclose … wherein the set congestion level value is included in a plurality of congestion level values obtained within a particular period to calculate a peak value of a required travel time by another vehicle traveling the same expressway, wherein the calculated peak value is used to adjust the required travel time for the other vehicle to reach an exit of the expressway. However, Masanao teaches this limitation [see at least Masanao [0024] "...the congestion degree of the link corresponding to the section of the expressway including a toll gate can be determined more accurately."; [0036] "...The congestion degree may be identified by a level value or the like. In this case, for example, smoothness may be defined as level 0, congestion as level 1, and congestion as level 2."; [0039] "In the information providing system 1 of the present embodiment, the information providing apparatus 2 collects probe information ...and calculates the link travel time and link congestion degree calculated from the collected probe information. Such a traffic information is distributed to ... the user terminal 6 of the other user 5."]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, and Zhou to use … wherein the set congestion level value is included in a plurality of congestion level values obtained within a particular period to calculate a peak value of a required travel time by another vehicle traveling the same expressway, wherein the calculated peak value is used to adjust the required travel time for the other vehicle to reach an exit of the expressway as disclosed in Masanao with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of accurately determining and providing congestion degree determination information. [See at least [0005].]
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qu, in view of Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, Zhou, Masanao, Surpi, US Patent 9,595,191 B1, and Liu, et al., Publication US 2017/0151948 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Surpi” and “Liu”, respectively.)
As per claim 5, the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, Zhou, and Masanao as shown in the rejection above, discloses all of the limitations of claim 1.
The combination of Qu, Nath, and O’Dea fails to disclose wherein the one or more processors are further configured to set the congestion level to a value indicating that the expressway is congested… . However, Suzuki teaches this limitation [see at least Suzuki [0060] "...The three ranks are set as heavy congestion, light congestion, and smooth. Moreover, a determination subject average velocity is classified into three ranks by a combination of the thresholds α and β. That is, the congestion level is determined to be heavy congestion when (average velocity)<(threshold α), the congestion level is determined to be light congestion when (threshold α)≦(average velocity)<(threshold β), and the congestion level is determined to be smooth when (threshold β)≦(average velocity)."]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu, Nath, and O’Dea to use wherein the one or more processors are further configured to set the congestion level to a value indicating that the expressway is congested… as disclosed in Suzuki with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of improved accuracy of road congestion information based on improved data collected [see at least Suzuki para [0070].]
The combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, and Shimada fails to disclose … set the congestion level to a value indicating that the expressway is congested, when a rate is smaller than a threshold value during the period in which the predetermined condition is satisfied. However, Surpi teaches this limitation [see at least Surpi [col 10, lines 39-57(37) " .... consider the case of a car driving on a freeway with posted speed limit of 65 Mph and where the vehicle sensors report its speed 10 times per second; the vehicle speed is monitored over the 5 minute windows, which provides 300 estimations of the ratio between the vehicle speed and the posted speed; it is calculated how many times the ratio was under each threshold; for example, the traffic proxy measure was not under a threshold value of 0.5, was under the threshold value of 0.6 8 times, under 0.7 25 times, was under 0.8 55 times, was under 0.9 122 times and was under 1 300 times. In 706, it is determined whether to update the event recorder threshold. In some embodiments, the likelihood of detecting an event decreases as the event recorder threshold increases and the event recorder threshold should be a high value in the event that the traffic proxy measure is above a threshold (e.g., light traffic) and the event recorder threshold should be a low value in the event the traffic proxy measure is below a threshold (e.g., heavy traffic).]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, and Shimada to use … set the congestion level to a value indicating that the expressway is congested, when a rate is smaller than a threshold value during the period in which the predetermined condition is satisfied as disclosed in Surpi with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of a simple method of categorizing the flow of traffic [see at least Surpi col 3, lines 41-51.]
The combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, and Surpi fails to disclose …wherein …the rate is a rate at which the velocity of the vehicle under the cruise control achieves a target velocity set in the cruise control. However, Liu teaches this limitation [see at least Liu [0044] "…during said step for checking cruising speed, the vehicle speed deviation is less than the set cruising speed deviation threshold, with a count of 1 being added to the vehicle speed stability counter…"]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, and Surpi to use …wherein …the rate is a rate at which the velocity of the vehicle under cruise control achieves a target velocity set in the cruise control as disclosed in Liu with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of benefit of improved road safety[see at least Liu para [0059].]
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qu, in view of Nath, further in view of O’Dea, further in view of Suzuki, further in view of Hahn, further in view of Shimada, and further in view of Shimamori, Publication US 2017/0229015 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Shimamori”.)
As per claim 6, the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, Zhou, and Masanao, as shown in the rejection above, discloses all of the limitations of claim 1.
The combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, Zhou, and Masanao fails to disclose wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit information on the congestion level to outside of the vehicle. However, Shimamori teaches this limitation [see at least Shimamori [0037] "The congestion information transmission unit 130 transmits (for example, broadcasts) the congestion location information received from the congestion information generation unit 128 to other vehicles surrounding the vehicle itself via the wireless transmitter 110."]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, Zhou, and Masanao to use wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit information on the congestion level to outside of the vehicle as disclosed in incorporate the teaching of Shimamori with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of detecting congestion occurring and sharing the information regarding locations where congestion is occurring between vehicles even when there are no map databases or prior information regarding congestion accident areas [see at least Shimamori para [0005].]
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qu, in view of Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, Zhou, Masanao, and Yoshikawa, et al., Publication US 2006/0004511 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Yoshikawa”.)
As per claim 7, the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, Zhou, and Masanao, as shown in the rejection above, discloses all of the limitations of claim 1.
The combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, Zhou, and Masanao, fails to disclose … wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transmit the congestion level to an external server for use in predicting the required travel time in a predetermined section in which the vehicle travels on the expressway by using information from a plurality of the vehicles equipped with the vehicle information processing device; and wherein the external server predicts the required travel time from a proportion of the vehicles with a predetermined congestion level in the vehicles. However, Yoshikawa teaches these limitations:
… wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transmit the congestion level to an external server for use in predicting the required travel time in a predetermined section in which the vehicle travels on the expressway by using information from a plurality of the vehicles equipped with the vehicle information processing device [see at least Yoshikawa Fig. 2 “11 information distribution server”; [0019] “…The navigation system may include…an information distribution server 11, which may be included in a computer…”; [0041] “The information distribution server 11 may include a communication unit 17, for example, for communicating with the onboard device 31. When the communication unit 17 receives, for example, … a request for predicted congestion information,…Then, the communication unit 17 may send the requested data to the identified onboard device 31.”; [0028] “The traffic information portion 13 may also store, for example, information given by a plurality of registered users. As a result, the registered users may, for example, provide detailed traffic information such as, road congestion information, information concerning traffic control, and/or restriction information.” [0047]"...the predict section 26 may predict link travel time patterns for the remainder of the vehicle's route based on the past link travel time patterns stored in the traffic information portion 13.”]; and
wherein the external server predicts the required travel time from a proportion of the vehicles with a predetermined congestion level in the vehicles [see at least Yoshikawa [0047] "...That is, the predict section 26 may select the stored link travel time patterns that most closely match of the created prior link travel time pattern in terms of the range from the origin point to the current time based on the horizontal axis and predict the remaining link travel times for the vehicle based on those selected stored link travel time patterns. The predict section 26 may predict the remaining link travel times by, for example, statistically or otherwise combining the selected stored link travel time patterns. Then the predict section 26 may select a part of the predicted link travel time pattern that is after the current time and sets it as a predicted link travel time pattern for the predicted term.”]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, Zhou, and Masanao to use … wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transmit the congestion level to an external server for use in predicting a required travel time in a predetermined section in which the vehicle travels on the expressway by using information from a plurality of the vehicles equipped with the vehicle information processing device; and wherein the external server predict the required travel time from a proportion of the vehicles with a predetermined congestion level in the vehicles as disclosed in Yoshikawa with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of improving the accuracy of a predicted arriving time at a destination [see at least Yoshikawa [0064].]
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qu, in view of Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, Zhou, Masanao, and further in view of Ko, Publication US 2017/0066450 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Ko”.)
As per claim 10, the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, Zhou, and Masanao as shown in the rejection above, discloses all of the limitations of claim 1.
Qu fails to disclose set an expressway traveling [indicator]… in a case where the one or more processors determine that the predetermined condition is satisfied … . However, Nath teaches this limitation [see at least Nath [0046] Decision point 407 assigns the distance and time associated with the segment (or aggregation of segments in the multiple sample embodiment) with either "highway" or "city" driving, based upon a simple comparison to parameter V.sub.h, the threshold for determining highway driving velocity...If the average computed velocity of the device during the segment traveled from T.sub.1 to T.sub.2 exceeds the V.sub.h highway velocity parameter, the distance computed for the segment is accumulated into the logged value storing total "highway" miles (D.sub.highway=D.sub.highway+D.sub.seg) driven”].
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 system as disclosed in Qu to use set an expressway traveling [indicator] … in a case where the one or more processors determine that the predetermined condition is satisfied … as disclosed in Nath with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of improved vehicle system efficiency by accurately determining vehicle velocity [see at least Nath para [0045].]
The combination of Qu, Nath, and O’Dea fails to disclose …set the congestion level …. However, Suzuki teaches this limitation [see at least Suzuki [0060] "...The three ranks are set as heavy congestion, light congestion, and smooth. Moreover, a determination subject average velocity is classified into three ranks by a combination of the thresholds α and β. That is, the congestion level is determined to be heavy congestion when (average velocity)<(threshold α), the congestion level is determined to be light congestion when (threshold α)≦(average velocity)<(threshold β), and the congestion level is determined to be smooth when (threshold β)≦(average velocity)."]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu, Nath, and O’Dea to use …set the congestion level … as disclosed in Suzuki with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of improved accuracy of road congestion information based on improved data collected [see at least Suzuki para [0070].]
The combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, Zhou, and Masanao fails to disclose … set an expressway traveling flag and a value of the expressway traveling flag to a value indicating an ON state… and … in a case where the processor set the expressway traveling flag. However, Ko teaches these limitations [see at least Ko [0183] “…the road rank information may be set so as to have a flag value of “1” in the case of the highway, and a flag value of “0” in the case of the general road.”]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Hahn, Shimada, Zhou, and Masanao to use … set an expressway traveling flag and a value of the expressway traveling flag to a value indicating an ON state… and …in a case where the processor set the expressway traveling flag as disclosed in Ko with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of safe driving. [See at least Ko [0012].]
Claims 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qu, in view of Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, Surpi, Liu, Zhou, and Masanao.
As per claim 11 (representative of claims 12 and 13), Qu discloses a vehicle information processing system [See at least Qu Figs. 1, 2] comprising:
a vehicle including a vehicle information processing device including one or more processors [see at least Qu [0023] "Calculation unit 4, for calculating the vehicle moving velocity, direction and position coordinate…The calculation unit 4 may be an universal single chip microprocessor…"] configured to:
receive input information on wheel velocities of right and left wheels of the vehicle [see at least Qu [0010] "..Sensing respectively the moving velocity of both side wheels ...by the velocity sensor elements mounted on the left and right side of the vehicle, and calculating the vehicle moving velocity and the azimuth angle variation in moving direction according to the velocity measured by the velocity sensor."]; and
calculate a velocity of the vehicle traveling … as a feature by using the input information [see at least Qu [0010] "..Sensing respectively the moving velocity of both side wheels ...by the velocity sensor elements mounted on the left and right side of the vehicle, and calculating the vehicle moving velocity and the azimuth angle variation in moving direction according to the velocity measured by the velocity sensor."].
Qu fails to disclose … vehicle traveling on an expressway …, wherein the input information is information that is received during a period in which a predetermined condition is satisfied out of a period in which the one or more processors receive the input information, the predetermined condition includes a condition that a traveling state in which the velocity of the vehicle is higher than a first threshold value…; and … generate a congestion level… of the expressway by using a distribution of a plurality of the features calculated during the period in which the predetermined condition is satisfied. However, Nath teaches these limitations:
… vehicle traveling on an expressway … [see at least Nath [0046] ”Decision point 407 assigns the distance and time associated with the segment (or aggregation of segments in the multiple sample embodiment) with either "highway" or "city" driving, based upon a simple comparison to parameter V.sub.h, the threshold for determining highway driving velocity...If the average computed velocity of the device during the segment traveled from T.sub.1 to T.sub.2 exceeds the V.sub.h highway velocity parameter, the distance computed for the segment is accumulated into the logged value storing total "highway" miles (D.sub.highway= D.sub.highway+D.sub.seg) driven.”],
wherein the input information is information that is received during a period in which a predetermined condition is satisfied out of a period in which the one or more processors receive the input information [See at least Nath [0046] “Decision point 407 assigns the distance and time associated with the segment (or aggregation of segments in the multiple sample embodiment) with either "highway" or "city" driving, based upon a simple comparison to parameter V.sub.h, the threshold for determining highway driving velocity...If the average computed velocity of the device during the segment traveled from T.sub.1 to T.sub.2 exceeds the V.sub.h highway velocity parameter, the distance computed for the segment is accumulated into the logged value storing total "highway" miles (D.sub.highway=D.sub.highway+D.sub.seg) driven”],
the predetermined condition includes a condition that a traveling state in which the velocity of the vehicle is higher than a first threshold value… [see at least Nath [0046] “Decision point 407 assigns the distance and time associated with the segment (or aggregation of segments in the multiple sample embodiment) with either "highway" or "city" driving, based upon a simple comparison to parameter V.sub.h, the threshold for determining highway driving velocity...If the average computed velocity of the device during the segment traveled from T.sub.1 to T.sub.2 exceeds the V.sub.h highway velocity parameter, the distance computed for the segment is accumulated into the logged value storing total "highway" miles (D.sub.highway=D.sub.highway+D.sub.seg) driven”; [0041] "...once the device is successful in its initial location determination at T.sub.1, the sample time in 402, it continue to sample location information from the GPS system at intervals T.sub.sam identified above. The next sampled device location is stored according to 403 at time T.sub. 2..."]; and
… generate a congestion level…of the expressway by using a distribution of a plurality of the features calculated during the period in which the predetermined condition is satisfied [see at least Nath [0046] “Decision point 407 assigns the distance and time associated with the segment (or aggregation of segments in the multiple sample embodiment) with either "highway" or "city" driving, based upon a simple comparison to parameter V.sub.h,” “the threshold for determining highway driving velocity... If the average computed velocity of the device during the segment traveled from T.sub.1 to T.sub.2 exceeds the V.sub.h highway velocity parameter, the distance computed for the segment is accumulated into the logged value storing total "highway" miles (D.sub.highway=D.sub.highway+D.sub.seg) driven”].
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 system as disclosed in Qu to use … vehicle traveling on an expressway …, wherein the input information is information that is received during a period in which a predetermined condition is satisfied out of a period in which the one or more processors receive the input information, the predetermined condition includes a condition that a traveling state in which the velocity of the vehicle is higher than a first threshold value…; and … generate a congestion level… of the expressway by using a distribution of a plurality of the features calculated during the period in which the predetermined condition is satisfied as disclosed in Nath with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of improved vehicle system efficiency by accurately determining vehicle velocity [see at least Nath para [0045].]
The combination of Qu and Nath fails to disclose …the predetermined condition includes a condition that … a magnitude of a difference between the wheel velocities of the right and left wheels is smaller than a second threshold value continues for a predetermined time or more … . However, O’Dea teaches this limitation [see at least O’Dea [0064] "For each of the wheels, a determination is then made as to whether a magnitude of the difference...is greater than a first predetermined threshold...Preferably the first predetermined threshold represents an expected or allowable difference between the wheel speed magnitude and the wheel reference speed under typical conditions...in which the wheels are operating properly and measurements pertaining thereto are obtained correctly." ; [0046] "…if it is determined that the timer has exceeded the predetermined timer threshold, then the vehicle travel forward flag ... is set equal to the initial or temporary value of the vehicle direction movement...the initial or temporary value of the vehicle direction of movement is deemed to represent the vehicle's direction of movement only if the average wheel speed is within the predetermined wheel speed range ... and the timer has exceeded the predetermined timer threshold."; Referring to FIG. 3, wheel reference speeds are acquired, as shown in box 324/326. Box 330, indicates “calculate difference of 2 inputs.”]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu and Nash to use …the predetermined condition includes a condition that … a magnitude of a difference between the wheel velocities of the right and left wheels is smaller than a second threshold value continues for a predetermined time or more … as disclosed in O’Dea with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of an improved method and system for determining a velocity in forward motion. [See at least O'Dea [0004].]
The combination of Qu, Nath, and O’Dea fails to disclose …the one or more processors are further configured to generate a congestion level indicating a degree of congestion… and …set the congestion level to a value indicating that the expressway is congested… . However, Suzuki teaches this limitation [see at least Suzuki [0060] "...The three ranks are set as heavy congestion, light congestion, and smooth. Moreover, a determination subject average velocity is classified into three ranks by a combination of the thresholds α and β. That is, the congestion level is determined to be heavy congestion when (average velocity)<(threshold α), the congestion level is determined to be light congestion when (threshold α)≦(average velocity)<(threshold β), and the congestion level is determined to be smooth when (threshold β)≦(average velocity)."]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu and Nath to use …the one or more processors are further configured to generate a congestion level indicating a degree of congestion … as disclosed in Suzuki with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of improved accuracy of road congestion information based on improved data collected [see at least Suzuki para [0070].]
The combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, and Suzuki fails to disclose … set the congestion level to a value indicating that the expressway is congested, when a rate is smaller than a threshold value during the period in which the predetermined condition is satisfied. However, Surpi teaches this limitation [see at least Surpi [col 10, lines 39-57(37) " .... consider the case of a car driving on a freeway with posted speed limit of 65 Mph and where the vehicle sensors report its speed 10 times per second; the vehicle speed is monitored over the 5 minute windows, which provides 300 estimations of the ratio between the vehicle speed and the posted speed; it is calculated how many times the ratio was under each threshold; for example, the traffic proxy measure was not under a threshold value of 0.5, was under the threshold value of 0.6 8 times, under 0.7 25 times, was under 0.8 55 times, was under 0.9 122 times and was under 1 300 times. In 706, it is determined whether to update the event recorder threshold. In some embodiments, the likelihood of detecting an event decreases as the event recorder threshold increases and the event recorder threshold should be a high value in the event that the traffic proxy measure is above a threshold (e.g., light traffic) and the event recorder threshold should be a low value in the event the traffic proxy measure is below a threshold (e.g., heavy traffic).]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, and Suzuki to use … set the congestion level to a value indicating that the expressway is congested, when a rate is smaller than a threshold value during the period in which the predetermined condition is satisfied as disclosed in Surpi with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of a simple method of categorizing the flow of traffic [see at least Surpi col 3, lines 41-51.]
The combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, and Surpi fails to disclose …the rate is a rate at which the velocity of the vehicle under cruise control achieves a target velocity set in the cruise control. However, Liu teaches this limitation [see at least Liu [0044] "…during said step for checking cruising speed, the vehicle speed deviation is less than the set cruising speed deviation threshold, with a count of 1 being added to the vehicle speed stability counter…"]
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 system as disclosed in the combination of Qu, Nath, O’Dea, Suzuki, and Surpi to use …wherein …the rate is a rate at which the velocity of the vehicle under cruise control achieves a target velocity set in the cruise control as disclosed in Liu with a reasonable expectation of success for the benefit of benefit of improved road safet