DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Application
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 action is in response to the applicant’s filing on October 01, 2205. Claims 1, 13, and 16 have been amended. Claims 10 - 11 have been cancelled. Claims 1 – 9, 12 – 14, and 16 are pending and examined below.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in The Republic of Korea on November 01, 2022.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 6 - 12, filed on October 01, 2025, with respect to the rejection of claims 1 – 9, 12 - 14 and 16 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, new grounds of rejection are made in view of Suzuki in view of Koji, and further in view of Umeda.
Regarding the previous 35 U.S.C. § 101 rejection and the Applicant’s arguments for amended claims 1, 13, and 16, with respect to the rejection of claims 1 – 14 and 16 are withdrawn in light of the present claim amendments.
Applicant’s response arguments, with regards to claims 1 – 14 and 16, filed on October 01, 2025 are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection under the combination of Suzuki, Koji, and Hong which are necessitated by 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 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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 1 – 3, 7, 9, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2017/0076605 A1 to SUZUKI et al. (herein after "Suzuki") in view of U.S. Patent No. US 10,889,298 B2 to HAYASHI (herein after "Koji"), and further in view of in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2020/0180635 A1 to HONG (herein after "Hong").
As to Claim 1,
Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system discloses a lane change recommendation system (see ¶0181 ~ "other vehicles traveling on the periphery of the subject vehicle may be the other vehicles detected by the periphery monitoring system 3. in the viewable range of the subject vehicle", ¶0182 ~ "The overtaking determination section F91 determines whether the subject vehicle attempts to overtake the other vehicle", and ¶0184; thus teaching a lane change recommendation system) comprising:
one or more processors (see Fig. 2 ~ illustrating a general arrangement of controller 1 exhibiting a computer system and
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¶0065 ~ controller 1 comprises computer having a CPU); and
memory configured to store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations (see ¶0065 ~ controller 1 comprises computer having a CPU and nonvolatile memories) that include:
determining whether a host vehicle being driven on a driving lane satisfies a plurality of driving situation conditions for lane change from the driving lane into a target lane
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see ¶0094 ~ "the detected relative position and the detected relative speed are employed as the relative position and relative speed of the other vehicle, and the positional information of the other vehicle is specified from the detected relative position and positional information of the subject vehicle detected by the subject-vehicle position detection section F1... the same is applied to other parameters such as acceleration" and ¶0162 ~ "Fig. 9... a schematic view showing a situation where a vehicle A attempts to overtake a vehicle B. A vehicle C is a preceding vehicle for the vehicle B. A lane on which the vehicle B travels is assumed to be crowded as compared with a lane on which the vehicle A travels"; thus pursuant to [0014] of the disclosure, the subject-vehicle determines acceleration / speed values between the subject-vehicle and the other vehicle via a periphery monitoring system 3 that identifies the other vehicle on a driving lane and a target lane); and
generating an instruction of lane recommendation in response to determination of whether the plurality of driving situation conditions for the lane change and the lane condition for the lane change are satisfied. (See Figs. 5, 7 ~ process method steps S101-S103 S301 - S307: wherein a lane changing process flow outlines a subject-vehicle recognizing the presence of a target vehicle in a target lane and then upon that changes lane when lane conditions are satisfied,
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see ¶0169, and ¶0182 - ¶0184; wherein the resulting processing by the subject-vehicle yields an outcome wherein when the driving situation conditions are satisfied (i.e. NO other vehicle obstructs the target lane, etc.) then the subject-vehicle changes lane).
As shown above, Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system teaches determining whether a host vehicle being driven on a driving lane satisfies a plurality of driving situation conditions for lane change from the driving lane into a target lane determining whether a host vehicle being driven on a driving lane satisfies a plurality of driving situation conditions for lane change from the driving lane into a target lane (see ¶0094 and ¶0162 of Suzuki) and generating an instruction of lane recommendation in response to determination of whether the plurality of driving situation conditions for the lane change and the lane condition for the lane change are satisfied. (See Figs. 5, 7 ~ process method steps S101-S103 S301 - S307, ¶0169, and ¶0182 - ¶0184 of Suzuki), but does NOT explicitly disclose determining whether a lane condition for the lane change from the driving lane into the target is satisfied based on a color and type of a lane between the driving lane and the target lane; and
determining whether a condition for lane return is satisfied based on speeds of other vehicles being driven on a passing lane when the host vehicle is on the passing lane after the lane change,
wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate an instruction for the lane return when the speeds of the other vehicles being driven on the passing lane are equal to or greater than a predetermined speed.
Hayashi’s vehicle following control system, on the other hand, discloses determining whether a lane condition for the lane change from the driving lane into the target is satisfied based on a color and type of a lane between the driving lane and the target lane (see Koji’s vehicle following system discloses white lane line determination wherein Col. 8, Lines 12-29 ~ white lane line detection is acquired by imaging device 11; thus teaching a lane (line) color determination, Col. 8, Lines 39-44 ~ own vehicle determines if target vehicle has deviated to an adjacent lane, Col. 8, Lines 65-67 through Col. 9, Lines 1 - 7 ~ regarding wherein white line detection program even estimates lane (line) markings when undetectable; thus suggesting a different type of lane.
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Koji then discloses satisfying lane change conditions wherein Col. 7, Lines 14-30 “when the ratio of the width of target vehicle to be followed by the white line calculated by the detection ECU10”; teaches satisfying a first lane condition, Col. 10, Lines 39-64 ~ ECU10 and imaging device 11, determines a calculated acceleration of the target vehicle relative to a threshold value; Pursuant to [0014] and [0016] of the disclosure, teaches satisfying a second lane condition.
Upon satisfaction of the lane change conditions, the own vehicle (subject-vehicle) then performs the lane change as disclosed wherein Col. 9, Lines 1 - 7 ~ regarding wherein an own vehicle follows a preceding target vehicle based upon lane conditions as acquired by radar (12) and image data (11) capture, Col. 9, Lines 15 – 23, and Col. 10, Lines 39-64 ~ regarding conditions in which the own vehicle determines that the target vehicle has deviated to an adjacent lane and wherein determination of the white line being crossed by image capture device 11 is performed, and the own vehicle detects the acceleration values of the target Vehicle and is controlled to follow the target vehicle accordingly; thus Koji’s vehicle following system suggests determining whether a lane condition for the lane change from the driving lane into the target is satisfied based on a color and type of a lane between the driving lane and the target lane)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system with the white lane line detection system, as taught by Koji, where the resultant combination would successfully provide lane line color and type detection and suggests advisory of vehicle lane change based on lane conditions, thereby enabling benefits, including but not limited to: increasing reliability, timing, and precision of vehicle lane changing, when at least one of the white lines forming the traffic lane is a dashed line, due to being blocked by the automatically followed vehicle depending on the inter-vehicular distance between the own vehicle and the automatically followed vehicle.
Hong’s vehicle driving control system is introduced to disclose determining whether a condition for lane return is satisfied based on speeds of other vehicles being driven on a passing lane when the host vehicle is on the passing lane after the lane change,
wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate an instruction for the lane return when the speeds of the other vehicles being driven on the passing lane are equal to or greater than a predetermined speed. (See Fig. Fig. 3 ~ process method steps S120 - S150, ¶0047 ~ regarding vehicle lane return to previous lane is performed, ¶0078 ~ "The vehicle driving control apparatus 100 may perform return control to the previous lane when the relative distance and the relative speed conditions are satisfied"; thus teaching calculating a condition for lane return being satisfied based on relative speeds of other vehicles being driven on a passing lane when the host vehicle is on the passing lane after the lane change).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system with the autonomous lane return system, as taught by Hong, where the resultant combination would successfully provide smooth stutter/jerk free automatic lane change back into an original lane, thereby enabling benefits, including but not limited to: increased vehicle occupant comfort in automated driving.
As to Claim 2,
Modified Suzuki substantially discloses the system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to
determine whether one or more of the plurality of driving situation conditions are satisfied based on one or more of
a relative speed between the host vehicle and a front vehicle on the driving lane (see Fig. 9, ¶0094, and ¶0162 of Suzuki ~ regarding relative speed / acceleration between a preceding vehicle and a following vehicle), a vehicle type of the front vehicle (see ¶0031 of Suzuki ~ vehicle type is communicated by V2V exchange wherein the vehicle type is encoded with the vehicle ID wherein Fig. 9, a front vehicle's (target vehicle) information is communicated to a following vehicle (own vehicle)), and a difference between a relative distance between the host vehicle and the front vehicle and an inter-vehicle distance. (See Col. 2, Lines 22 – 38 of Hayashi).
As to Claim 3,
Modified Suzuki substantially discloses the system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to
determine whether one or more of the plurality of driving situation conditions are satisfied based on one or more of
a relative distance between the host vehicle and a side front vehicle on the target lane and a relative distance between the host vehicle and a side rear vehicle on the target lane. (See Fig. 9, ¶0094, ¶0162, and ¶0182 - ¶0184 of Suzuki).
As to Claim 7,
Modified Suzuki substantially discloses the system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured
based on acceleration gain values between the host vehicle and surrounding vehicles on the driving lane and the target lane as presented in Col. 7, Lines 14-30 and Col. 10, Lines 39-64 of Koji; and utilizing the conditional analysis of Koji as taught / suggested in Col. 9, Lines 1 – 7, Col. 9, Lines 15 – 23, and Col. 10, Lines 39-64 of Koji; Suzuki then establishes (determines) whether the host vehicle satisfies a second lane change recommendation condition as seen in Figs. 5, 7 ~ process method steps S101-S103 and S301 - S307, ¶0169, and ¶0182 - ¶0184 of Suzuki.
As to Claim 9,
Modified Suzuki substantially discloses the system of claim 7,
wherein whether the host vehicle satisfies the second lane change recommendation condition is determined (see Col. 7, Lines 14-30 of Suzuki)
based on whether the acceleration gain values are equal to or greater than one or more predetermined threshold values. (See Col. 10, Lines 39-694 of Suzuki).
As to Claim 16,
Suzuki discloses a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing instructions for execution by one or more processors that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors (see ¶0065 ~ controller 1 comprises computer having a CPU and nonvolatile memories; thus reciting a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing instructions for execution by one or more processors) to:
determine whether a host vehicle being driven on a driving lane satisfies a plurality of driving situation conditions for lane change from the driving lane into a target lane (see Fig. 9, ¶0094, and ¶0162); and
generate an instruction of lane recommendation in response to determination of whether the plurality of driving situation conditions for the lane change and the lane condition for the lane change are satisfied. (See Figs. 5, 7 ~ process method steps S101-S103, S301 - S307, ¶0169, and ¶0182 - ¶0184).
As shown above, Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system teaches determining whether a host vehicle being driven on a driving lane satisfies a plurality of driving situation conditions for lane change from the driving lane into a target lane determining whether a host vehicle being driven on a driving lane satisfies a plurality of driving situation conditions for lane change from the driving lane into a target lane (see ¶0094 and ¶0162 of Suzuki) and generating an instruction of lane recommendation in response to determination of whether the plurality of driving situation conditions for the lane change and the lane condition for the lane change are satisfied. (See Figs. 5, 7 ~ process method steps S101-S103 S301 - S307, ¶0169, and ¶0182 - ¶0184 of Suzuki), but does NOT explicitly disclose determining whether a lane condition for the lane change from the driving lane into the target is satisfied based on a color and type of a lane between the driving lane and the target lane; and
determining whether a condition for lane return is satisfied based on speeds of other vehicles being driven on a passing lane when the host vehicle is on the passing lane after the lane change,
wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate an instruction for the lane return when the speeds of the other vehicles being driven on the passing lane are equal to or greater than a predetermined speed.
On the contrary, Hayashi discloses determining whether a lane condition for the lane change from the driving lane into the target is satisfied based on a color and type of a lane between the driving lane and the target lane (see Koji’s vehicle following system discloses white lane line determination wherein Col. 8, Lines 12-29 ~ white lane line detection is acquired by imaging device 11; thus teaching a lane (line) color determination, Col. 8, Lines 39-44 ~ own vehicle determines if target vehicle has deviated to an adjacent lane, Col. 8, Lines 65-67 through Col. 9, Lines 1 - 7 ~ regarding wherein white line detection program even estimates lane (line) markings when undetectable; thus suggesting a different type of lane.
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Koji then discloses satisfying lane change conditions wherein Col. 7, Lines 14-30 “when the ratio of the width of target vehicle to be followed by the white line calculated by the detection ECU10”; teaches satisfying a first lane condition, Col. 10, Lines 39-64 ~ ECU10 and imaging device 11, determines a calculated acceleration of the target vehicle relative to a threshold value; Pursuant to [0014] and [0016] of the disclosure, teaches satisfying a second lane condition.
Upon satisfaction of the lane change conditions, the own vehicle (subject-vehicle) then performs the lane change as disclosed wherein Col. 9, Lines 1 - 7 ~ regarding wherein an own vehicle follows a preceding target vehicle based upon lane conditions as acquired by radar (12) and image data (11) capture, Col. 9, Lines 15 – 23, and Col. 10, Lines 39-64 ~ regarding conditions in which the own vehicle determines that the target vehicle has deviated to an adjacent lane and wherein determination of the white line being crossed by image capture device 11 is performed, and the own vehicle detects the acceleration values of the target Vehicle and is controlled to follow the target vehicle accordingly; thus Koji’s vehicle following system suggests determining whether a lane condition for the lane change from the driving lane into the target is satisfied based on a color and type of a lane between the driving lane and the target lane)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system with the white lane line detection system, as taught by Koji, where the resultant combination would successfully provide lane line color and type detection and suggests advisory of vehicle lane change based on lane conditions, thereby enabling benefits, including but not limited to: increasing reliability, timing, and precision of vehicle lane changing, when at least one of the white lines forming the traffic lane is a dashed line, due to being blocked by the automatically followed vehicle depending on the inter-vehicular distance between the own vehicle and the automatically followed vehicle.
Conversely, Hong discloses determining whether a condition for lane return is satisfied based on speeds of other vehicles being driven on a passing lane when the host vehicle is on the passing lane after the lane change,
wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate an instruction for the lane return when the speeds of the other vehicles being driven on the passing lane are equal to or greater than a predetermined speed. (See Fig. Fig. 3 ~ process method steps S120 - S150, ¶0047 ~ regarding vehicle lane return to previous lane is performed, ¶0078 ~ "The vehicle driving control apparatus 100 may perform return control to the previous lane when the relative distance and the relative speed conditions are satisfied"; thus teaching calculating a condition for lane return being satisfied based on relative speeds of other vehicles being driven on a passing lane when the host vehicle is on the passing lane after the lane change).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system with the autonomous lane return system, as taught by Hong, where the resultant combination would successfully provide smooth stutter/jerk free automatic lane change back into an original lane, thereby enabling benefits, including but not limited to: increased vehicle occupant comfort in automated driving.
Claims 5 – 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2017/0076605 A1 to SUZUKI et al. (herein after "Suzuki") in view of U.S. Patent No. US 10,889,298 B2 to HAYASHI (herein after "Koji"), and further in view of in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2020/0180635 A1 to HONG (herein after "Hong") as to claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2020/0117916 A1 to LIU (herein after "Liu").
As to Claim 5,
Modified Suzuki substantially discloses the system of claim 1.
However, Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system does not teach wherein the one or more processors are configured to
determine whether the host vehicle satisfies a first lane change recommendation condition based on a relevancy between the host vehicle and surrounding vehicles on the driving lane and the target lane by using a learned machine learning model.
Taking the combination of Suzuki/Koji teaching wherein lane conditions including, but not be limited to, a color and type of a lane for a lane change are satisfied ; and subsequently modifying the combination with Liu’s deep learning lane line detection system for autonomous vehicles, where Liu is relied upon to teach a learned machine learning model wherein his model 600 can assess a lane condition based on type of lane (suggesting for instance: differentiation between solid lane vs. dashed lane) ~
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See Fig. 10 ~ illustrating a process flow wherein an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) acquires lane markers in the periphery of the ADV and detects whether the lane line is continuous; subsequently generating trajectory based on this determination and then controlling the ADV per that trajectory.
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See ¶0058 regarding determining whether the host vehicle satisfies a lane change recommendation condition (see aforementioned solid lane line vs. dashed lane solid lane line vs. dashed lane line) based on a relevancy between the host vehicle and surrounding vehicles (other vehicles) on the driving lane and the target lane.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further provide Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system with machine learning learned lane line detection system, as taught by Liu, where the resultant combination would successfully provide detection of continuous lane lines based on lane markers in captured images using a machine learning model, thereby enabling benefits, including but not limited to: greater precision, reliability and timing with ADVs performing lane changes where it is challenging to determine the integrity of a lane line.
As to Claim 6,
Modified Suzuki substantially discloses the system of claim 5, wherein the machine learning model comprises
a support vector machine (SVM) model (see ¶0048 ~ regarding a machine learning model being taught that comprises support vector machines (SVM)) learned to classify data associated with a situation of changing a lane and data associated with a situation of not changing the lane. (See ¶0058 ~ Liu suggests classifying data associated with conditions and / or situations wherein changing a lane and data (including but not limited to, solid lane line vs. dashed lane solid lane line vs. dashed lane line, etc.) associated with a situation of not changing the lane).
Claims 4 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2017/0076605 A1 to SUZUKI et al. (herein after "Suzuki") in view of U.S. Patent No. US 10,889,298 B2 to HAYASHI (herein after "Koji"), and further in view of in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2020/0180635 A1 to HONG (herein after "Hong") as to claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2020/0361477 A1 to HA et al. (herein after "Ha"), .
As to Claim 4,
Modified Suzuki substantially discloses the system of claim 1.
However, Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system does NOT explicitly disclose, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
receive a setting speed input by a driver or an operator, and
determine whether one or more conditions of the plurality of driving situation conditions are satisfied
based on a difference between the setting speed input by the driver or operator and an actual driving speed of the host vehicle.
On the contrary, Ha discloses wherein the one or more processors are configured to: receive a setting speed input by a driver or an operator, and determine whether one or more conditions of the plurality of driving situation conditions are satisfied (see Figs. 5, 7 ~ process method steps S101-S103 and S301 - S307, ¶0169, and ¶0182 - ¶0184 of Suzuki) based on a difference between the setting speed input by the driver or operator and an actual driving speed of the host vehicle. (See ¶0099 of Ha).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system with the white lane line detection system, as taught by Ha, where the resultant combination would successfully provide driving setting information, thereby enabling benefits, including but not limited to: increasing reliability and control flexibility in vehicle lane changing.
As to Claim 12,
Modified Suzuki substantially discloses the system of claim 1.
As shown above, Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system teaches determining whether a host vehicle being driven on a driving lane satisfies a plurality of driving situation conditions for lane change from the driving lane into a target lane determining whether a host vehicle being driven on a driving lane satisfies a plurality of driving situation conditions for lane change from the driving lane into a target lane (see ¶0094 and ¶0162 of Suzuki) and generating an instruction of lane recommendation in response to determination of whether the plurality of driving situation conditions for the lane change and the lane condition for the lane change are satisfied. (See Figs. 5, 7 ~ process method steps S101-S103 S301 - S307, ¶0169, and ¶0182 - ¶0184 of Suzuki), but does NOT explicitly disclose
wherein the plurality of driving situation conditions for the lane change from the driving lane into the target lane comprises
a condition of whether the vehicle is unable to be driven at a speed around a setting speed input by a driver or operator.
Conversely, Ha’s vehicle operating moving object based on edge computing discloses wherein the plurality of driving situation conditions for the lane change from the driving lane into the target lane comprises a condition of whether the vehicle is unable to be driven at a speed around a setting speed input by a driver or operator. (See ¶0099 of Ha ~ suggesting whether the vehicle is unable to be driven at a speed around a setting speed input by a driver, informing the driving situation conditions for the lane change from driving lane into a target lane).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system with the white lane line detection system, as taught by Ha, where the resultant combination would successfully provide driving setting information, thereby enabling benefits, including but not limited to: increasing reliability and control flexibility in vehicle lane changing.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2017/0076605 A1 to SUZUKI et al. (herein after "Suzuki") in view of U.S. Patent No. US 10,889,298 B2 to HAYASHI (herein after "Koji"), and further in view of in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2020/0117916 A1 to LIU (herein after "Liu"), and further in view of in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2020/0180635 A1 to HONG (herein after "Hong").
As to Claim 13,
Suzuki discloses a lane change recommendation method performed by at least one processor (see ¶0181 ~ "other vehicles traveling on the periphery of the subject vehicle may be the other vehicles detected by the periphery monitoring system 3. in the viewable range of the subject vehicle", ¶0182 ~ "The overtaking determination section F91 determines whether the subject vehicle attempts to overtake the other vehicle", and ¶0184; thus teaching a lane change recommendation system), the method comprising:
determining whether a host vehicle being driven on a driving lane satisfies a plurality of driving situation conditions for lane change from the driving lane into a target lane (see Fig. 9, ¶0094, and ¶0162).
As shown above, Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system teaches determining whether a host vehicle being driven on a driving lane satisfies a plurality of driving situation conditions for lane change from the driving lane into a target lane determining whether a host vehicle being driven on a driving lane satisfies a plurality of driving situation conditions for lane change from the driving lane into a target lane (see ¶0094 and ¶0162 of Suzuki) and generating an instruction of lane recommendation in response to determination of whether the plurality of driving situation conditions for the lane change and the lane condition for the lane change are satisfied. (See Figs. 5, 7 ~ process method steps S101-S103 S301 - S307, ¶0169, and ¶0182 - ¶0184 of Suzuki), but does NOT explicitly disclose determining whether a lane condition for lane change is satisfied based on a color and type of a lane between the driving lane and the target lane;
determining whether the host vehicle satisfies a first lane change recommendation condition based on a relevancy between the host vehicle and surrounding vehicles on the driving lane and the target lane by using a learned machine learning model;
determining whether the host vehicle satisfies a second lane change recommendation condition based on acceleration gain values between the host vehicle and the surrounding vehicles on the driving lane and the target lane; and
generating an instruction of lane recommendation when the plurality of driving situation conditions for the lane change,
the lane condition for the lane change,
the first lane change recommendation condition, and
the second lane change recommendation condition are satisfied; and
determining whether a condition for lane return is satisfied based on speeds of other vehicles being driven on a passing lane when the host vehicle is on the passing lane after the lane change,
wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate an instruction for the lane return when the speeds of the other vehicles being driven on the passing lane are equal to or greater than a predetermined speed.
.
On the contrary, Hayashi discloses determining whether a lane condition for the lane change from the driving lane into the target is satisfied based on a color and type of a lane between the driving lane and the target lane (see Koji’s vehicle following system discloses white lane line determination wherein Col. 8, Lines 12-29 ~ white lane line detection is acquired by imaging device 11; thus teaching a lane (line) color determination, Col. 8, Lines 39-44 ~ own vehicle determines if target vehicle has deviated to an adjacent lane, Col. 8, Lines 65-67 through Col. 9, Lines 1 - 7 ~ regarding wherein white line detection program even estimates lane (line) markings when undetectable; thus suggesting a different type of lane.
Koji then discloses satisfying lane change conditions wherein Col. 7, Lines 14-30 “when the ratio of the width of target vehicle to be followed by the white line calculated by the detection ECU10”; teaches satisfying a first lane condition, Col. 10, Lines 39-64 ~ ECU10 and imaging device 11, determines a calculated acceleration of the target vehicle relative to a threshold value; Pursuant to [0014] and [0016] of the disclosure, teaches satisfying a second lane condition.
Upon satisfaction of the lane change conditions, the own vehicle (subject-vehicle) then performs the lane change as disclosed wherein Col. 9, Lines 1 - 7 ~ regarding wherein an own vehicle follows a preceding target vehicle based upon lane conditions as acquired by radar (12) and image data (11) capture, Col. 9, Lines 15 – 23, and Col. 10, Lines 39-64 ~ regarding conditions in which the own vehicle determines that the target vehicle has deviated to an adjacent lane and wherein determination of the white line being crossed by image capture device 11 is performed, and the own vehicle detects the acceleration values of the target Vehicle and is controlled to follow the target vehicle accordingly; thus Koji’s vehicle following system suggests determining whether a lane condition for the lane change from the driving lane into the target is satisfied based on a color and type of a lane between the driving lane and the target lane).
Hayashi further determines whether the host vehicle satisfies a second lane change recommendation condition based on acceleration gain values between the host vehicle and the surrounding vehicles on the driving lane and the target lane (see Col. 7, Lines 14-30; Col. 10, Lines 39-64; Upon satisfaction of the lane change conditions, the own vehicle (subject-vehicle) then performs the lane change as disclosed wherein Col. 9, Lines 1 - 7 ~ regarding wherein an own vehicle follows a preceding target vehicle based upon lane conditions as acquired by radar (12) and image data (11) capture, Col. 9, Lines 15 – 23, and Col. 10, Lines 39-64); and generating an instruction of lane recommendation when the plurality of driving situation conditions for the lane change, the lane condition for the lane change, the first lane change recommendation condition, and the second lane change recommendation condition are satisfied. (When satisfaction of the lane change conditions, the own vehicle (subject-vehicle) then performs the lane change as disclosed wherein Col. 9, Lines 1 - 7 ~ regarding wherein an own vehicle follows a preceding target vehicle based upon lane conditions as acquired by radar (12) and image data (11) capture, Col. 9, Lines 15 – 23, and Col. 10, Lines 39-64 ~ regarding conditions in which the own vehicle determines that the target vehicle has deviated to an adjacent lane and wherein determination of the white line being crossed by image capture device 11 is performed, and the own vehicle detects the acceleration values of the target Vehicle and is controlled to follow the target vehicle accordingly; thus Koji’s vehicle following system suggests determining whether a lane condition for the lane change from the driving lane into the target is satisfied based on a color and type of a lane between the driving lane and the target lane).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system with the white lane line detection system, as taught by Koji, where the resultant combination would successfully provide lane line color and type detection and suggests advisory of vehicle lane change based on lane conditions, thereby enabling benefits, including but not limited to: increasing reliability, timing, and precision of vehicle lane changing, when at least one of the white lines forming the traffic lane is a dashed line, due to being blocked by the automatically followed vehicle depending on the inter-vehicular distance between the own vehicle and the automatically followed vehicle.
Taking the combination of Suzuki/Koji teaching wherein lane conditions including, but not be limited to, a color and type of a lane for a lane change are satisfied ; and subsequently modifying the combination with Liu’s deep learning lane line detection system for autonomous vehicles, where Liu is relied upon to teach a learned machine learning model wherein his model 600 can assess a lane condition based on type of lane (suggesting for instance: differentiation between solid lane vs. dashed lane) ~ see Fig. 10 ~ illustrating a process flow wherein an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) acquires lane markers in the periphery of the ADV and detects whether the lane line is continuous; subsequently generating trajectory based on this determination and then controlling the ADV per that trajectory. See ¶0058 regarding determining whether the host vehicle satisfies a lane change recommendation condition (see aforementioned solid lane line vs. dashed lane solid lane line vs. dashed lane line) based on a relevancy between the host vehicle and surrounding vehicles (other vehicles) on the driving lane and the target lane.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system with machine learning learned lane line detection system, as taught by Liu, where the resultant combination would successfully provide detection of continuous lane lines based on lane markers in captured images using a machine learning model, thereby enabling benefits, including but not limited to: greater precision, reliability and timing with ADVs performing lane changes where it is challenging to determine the integrity of a lane line.
Conversely, Hong discloses determining whether a condition for lane return is satisfied based on speeds of other vehicles being driven on a passing lane when the host vehicle is on the passing lane after the lane change,
wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate an instruction for the lane return when the speeds of the other vehicles being driven on the passing lane are equal to or greater than a predetermined speed. (See Fig. Fig. 3 ~ process method steps S120 - S150, ¶0047 ~ regarding vehicle lane return to previous lane is performed, ¶0078 ~ "The vehicle driving control apparatus 100 may perform return control to the previous lane when the relative distance and the relative speed conditions are satisfied"; thus teaching calculating a condition for lane return being satisfied based on relative speeds of other vehicles being driven on a passing lane when the host vehicle is on the passing lane after the lane change).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system with the autonomous lane return system, as taught by Hong, where the resultant combination would successfully provide smooth stutter/jerk free automatic lane change back into an original lane, thereby enabling benefits, including but not limited to: increased vehicle occupant comfort in automated driving.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2017/0076605 A1 to SUZUKI et al. (herein after "Suzuki") in view of U.S. Patent No. US 10,889,298 B2 to HAYASHI (herein after "Koji"), and further in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2020/0117916 A1 to LIU (herein after "Liu"), and further in view of in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2020/0180635 A1 to HONG (herein after "Umeda”) as to claim 13 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2020/0361477 A1 to HA et al. (herein after "Ha").
As to Claim 14,
Modified Suzuki substantially discloses the method of claim 13.
As shown above, Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system teaches determining whether a host vehicle being driven on a driving lane satisfies a plurality of driving situation conditions for lane change from the driving lane into a target lane determining whether a host vehicle being driven on a driving lane satisfies a plurality of driving situation conditions for lane change from the driving lane into a target lane (see ¶0094 and ¶0162 of Suzuki) and generating an instruction of lane recommendation in response to determination of whether the plurality of driving situation conditions for the lane change and the lane condition for the lane change are satisfied. (See Figs. 5, 7 ~ process method steps S101-S103 S301 - S307, ¶0169, and ¶0182 - ¶0184 of Suzuki), but does NOT explicitly disclose
in response to determining that the host vehicle is unable to be driven at a speed around a setting speed set by a driver or an operator,
determining the plurality of driving situation conditions for the lane change, the lane condition for the lane change, the first lane change recommendation condition, and the second lane change recommendation condition.
Conversely, Ha’s vehicle operating moving object based on edge computing discloses in response to determining that the host vehicle is unable to be driven at a speed around a setting speed set by a driver or an operator, determining the plurality of driving situation conditions for the lane change, the lane condition for the lane change, the first lane change recommendation condition, and the second lane change recommendation condition. (See ¶0099 of Ha).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Suzuki’s vehicle recognition notification system with the white lane line detection system, as taught by Ha, where the resultant combination would successfully provide driving setting information, thereby enabling benefits, including but not limited to: increasing reliability and control flexibility in vehicle lane changing.
.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The prior art does not appear to explicitly teach or disclose the above recited claim limitations.
To that end and although further search and consideration would always need to be performed based upon any submitted amendments by the Applicant, it is the Examiner’s position that incorporating these above recited claim limitations into independent claims 1, 13, and 16 could potentially advance prosecution.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to ASHLEY L. REDHEAD, JR. whose telephone number is (571) 272 - 6952. The Examiner can normally be reached on weekdays, Monday through Thursday, between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s Supervisor, Peter Nolan can be reached Monday through Friday, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at (571) 270 – 7016. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ASHLEY L REDHEAD JR./Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3661