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
Claims 1-15 are pending in this application.
Claims 1 and 8 are presented as currently amended claims.
No claims are newly presented.
No claims are cancelled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Konala et al. (US 11493353 B1) in view of Curlander (US 20170148316 A1) (the combination of which will be referenced as "combination Konala" supra). As regards the individual claims:
Regarding claim 1, Konala teaches a method for:
parallel use of a(Konala: ¶ 046, Col 12, Lns. 34-38; vehicle allocation system 210 can select an autonomous vehicle (e.g., the autonomous vehicle 1 506) that will be able to access and use the reserved zone for the pickup) reserved for scheduled vehicles (Konala: ¶ 031, Col 8, Lns. 29-32; plurality of reserved zones within proximity of the requested pullover location for the ride) (Konala: ¶ 047, Col 12, Lns. 43-45; reserved zone can be a public transportation lane (e.g., a bus lane)) by a plurality of unscheduled autonomous vehicles in a transportation network (Konala: ¶ 044, Col 11, Lns. 57-59; vehicle allocation system 210 to select an autonomous vehicle from a fleet of autonomous vehicles 504) and a plurality of scheduled vehicles,(Konala: Clm. 1; a plurality of public transportation vehicles) the method comprising: determining for at least one of the plurality of the unscheduled autonomous vehicles (Konala: ¶ 046, Col 12, Lns. 34-38; vehicle allocation system 210 can select an autonomous vehicle (e.g., the autonomous vehicle 1 506) that will be able to access and use the reserved zone for the pickup)) a route from an origin to a destination in the transportation network, wherein at least a portion of said route comprises a stretch of the reserved road space which the autonomous vehicle is determined to travel along between the origin and the destination; (Konala: ¶ 040, Col 10, Lns. 37-46; route planning system 142 can plan a route of the autonomous vehicle 102 to the reserved zone. . . . Accordingly, the reserved zone can be selected as the actual pullover location when utilizing such route. The route of the autonomous vehicle 102 can be planned by the route planning system 142 to the reserved zone) (Konala: ¶ 045, Col 12, Lns. 23-24; a route to the reserved zone can be planned (e.g., by the autonomous vehicle) (Konala: ¶ 047, Col 12, Lns. 43-45; reserved zone can be a public transportation lane (e.g., a bus lane).) predicting, using the, conflicts for ones of the plurality of scheduled vehicles with ones of the unscheduled autonomous vehicles . . . and generating, using the predicted conflicts, conflict avoidance instructions for ones of the plurality of unscheduled autonomous vehicles for avoidance of the predicted conflicts. (Konala: ¶ 045, Col 12, Lns. 26-29; the autonomous vehicle 1 506 can delay arriving at the reserved zone until the time period during which the reserved zone is available e.g., the autonomous vehicle 1 506 can take a longer route, drive slower, pause, etc.).
To the extent Konala is silent about or does not teach: in the reserved road space; Curlander teaches:
in the reserved road space (Curlander: ¶ 023; system 115 can instruct the vehicles 105a, 105b, 105c to move to lane 107 and rely upon the autonomous navigation features associated with the vehicles 105 entering the lane 107 and the vehicles 105 already in the lane 107 to safely merge with one another) (Curlander: ¶ 052; requests are transmitted to a roadway management system 115 that manages a particular roadway on the route )
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Curlander with the teachings of Konala because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of “maximize a speed of vehicles moving through the roadway” (Curlander: ¶ 012).
Regarding claim 2, as detailed above, combination Konala teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 1. Konala further teaches:
predicting of the conflicts in the reserved road space using a scheduled traffic pattern model (Konala: ¶ 050; Col. 12 ln 67 – Col. 13 Ln. 5; a trip request for a ride in the autonomous vehicle can be received (e.g., by the autonomous vehicle, from a dispatch computing system). The trip request can specify a requested pullover location for the ride. At 604, public transportation data specifying an expected arrival time of a public transportation vehicle at a reserved zone can be received)
Regarding claim 3, as detailed above, combination Konala teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 1. Curlander further teaches:
transmitting of the conflict avoidance instructions to infrastructure elements in the transportation network. (Curlander: ¶ 023; system 115 can instruct the vehicles 105a, 105b, 105c to move to lane 107 and rely upon the autonomous navigation features associated with the vehicles 105 entering the lane 107 and the vehicles 105 already in the lane 107 to safely merge with one another) (Curlander: ¶ 052; requests are transmitted to a roadway management system 115 that manages a particular roadway on the route )
Regarding claim 4, as detailed above, combination Konala teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 1. Curlander further teaches:
notifying one or multiple ones of the unscheduled autonomous vehicles to avoid the conflicts using the transmitted conflict avoidance instructions . (Curlander: ¶ 018; system 115 can make such a determination by analyzing a state of the roadway and its various travel lanes and assigning a requesting vehicle entrance to the roadway at a particular lane at a particular time and at a particular velocity or velocity range.)
Regarding claim 5, as detailed above, combination Konala teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 1. Curlander further teaches:
adjusting speeds of ones of the plurality of unscheduled autonomous vehicles (Curlander: ¶ 018; system 115 can make such a determination by analyzing a state of the roadway and its various travel lanes and assigning a requesting vehicle entrance to the roadway at a particular lane at a particular time and at a particular velocity or velocity range.) to avoid the conflicts with ones of the plurality of scheduled vehicles travelling in the reserved road space (Curlander: ¶ 046; can communicate with an autonomous vehicle controller 160 of another vehicle 105 to facilitate navigation through a roadway and to eliminate vehicle collisions)
Regarding claim 6, as detailed above, combination Konala teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 1. Curlander further teaches:
adjusting the route for at least one of the unscheduled autonomous vehicles using the conflict avoidance instructions (Curlander: ¶ 018; system 115 can make such a determination by analyzing a state of the roadway and its various travel lanes and assigning a requesting vehicle entrance to the roadway at a particular lane at a particular time and at a particular velocity or velocity range.) (Curlander: ¶ 046; can communicate with an autonomous vehicle controller 160 of another vehicle 105 to facilitate navigation through a roadway and to eliminate vehicle collisions)
Regarding claim 7, as detailed above, combination Konala teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 1. Curlander further teaches:
continuously updating the scheduled traffic pattern model based on travel patterns of the scheduled vehicles using interaction data from at least one of a plurality of sensing elements. (Curlander: ¶ 022; roadway management system 115 can generate and transmit an update to the previous roadway assignment that assigned the vehicles 105a, 105b, 105c to lane 106. In this scenario, the roadway assignment can include an identification of the lane 107 as well as a time that the vehicles 105a, 105b, 105c should enter the lane)
Claims 8-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Konala et al. (US 11493353 B1) in view of Curlander (US 20170148316 A1) in view of Racah et al. (EP 3355028 A1). As regards the individual claims:
Regarding claim 8, Konala teaches a system for:
operation of a transportation network (Konala: ¶ 046, Col 12, Lns. 34-38; vehicle allocation system 210 can select an autonomous vehicle (e.g., the autonomous vehicle 1 506) that will be able to access and use the reserved zone for the pickup) for a plurality of scheduled vehicles (Konala: Clm. 1; a plurality of public transportation vehicles)and a plurality of unscheduled autonomous vehicles, (Konala: ¶ 044, Col 11, Lns. 57-59; vehicle allocation system 210 to select an autonomous vehicle from a fleet of autonomous vehicles 504) . . . the system comprising: a public transit communication unit for communicating with a public transit management center and receiving scheduled vehicle data relating to the locations of ones of the plurality of scheduled vehicles; (Konala: ¶ 050, Col 7, Lns. 7-10; public transportation data can be received from an external computing system, a dispatch computing system (e.g., the dispatch computing system can obtain the public transportation data from the external computing system)). . . and a control management processor for calculating conflict avoidance instructions for the unscheduled autonomous vehicles from the scheduled vehicle data and the unscheduled vehicle data. (Konala: ¶ 045, Col 12, Lns. 23-24; a route to the reserved zone can be planned (e.g., by the autonomous vehicle) (Konala: ¶ 047, Col 12, Lns. 43-45; reserved zone can be a public transportation lane (e.g., a bus lane).)
To the extent Konala is silent about or does not teach: . . . .an infrastructure communications unit for communicating with a plurality of infrastructure elements and ones of the plurality of unscheduled autonomous vehicles and receiving unscheduled vehicle data relating to the locations of ones of the plurality of unscheduled autonomous vehicles; . . . Curlander teaches:
. . . .an infrastructure communications unit for communicating with a plurality of infrastructure elements (Curlander: ¶ 030; roadway status monitor 124 can obtain data from various roadway sensors) and ones of the plurality of unscheduled autonomous vehicles and receiving unscheduled vehicle data relating to the locations of ones of the plurality of unscheduled autonomous vehicles; . . . (Curlander: ¶ 023; system 115 can instruct the vehicles 105a, 105b, 105c to move to lane 107 and rely upon the autonomous navigation features associated with the vehicles 105 entering the lane 107 and the vehicles 105 already in the lane 107 to safely merge with one another) (Curlander: ¶ 052; requests are transmitted to a roadway management system 115 that manages a particular roadway on the route )
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Curlander with the teachings of Konala because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of “maximize a speed of vehicles moving through the roadway” (Curlander: ¶ 012).
To the extent Konala is silent about or does not teach: . . . .including a plurality of determined stops or stations for the autonomous vehicles to travel between on pre-determined routes,
Racah teaches: . . . .including a plurality of determined stops or stations (Racah: ¶ 005; configured to select, based on the current travel route of the rideshare vehicle, virtual bus stops for the identified rideshare vehicle, wherein the virtual bus stops include a pick-up location and a drop-off location for the user)for the autonomous vehicles (Racah: ¶ 019; autonomous vehicles) to travel between on pre-determined routes, (Racah: ¶ 113; vehicle may be assigned to circular routes in high demand areas)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Racah with the teachings of Konala because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of reducing the total wait time for all the users (Racah: ¶ 025).
Regarding claim 9, as detailed above, combination Konala in view of Racah teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 8. Konala further teaches:
the transportation network comprises a plurality of roads with at least one reserved road space for sharing between the plurality of scheduled vehicles and the plurality of unscheduled autonomous vehicles(Konala: ¶ 046, Col 12, Lns. 34-38; vehicle allocation system 210 can select an autonomous vehicle (e.g., the autonomous vehicle 1 506) that will be able to access and use the reserved zone for the pickup))
Regarding claim 10, as detailed above, combination Konala in view of Racah teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 8. Racah further teaches:
the system further comprises a control center memory for storing (Racah: ¶ 088; memory)of at least one of a structure model and the scheduled traffic pattern model (Racah: ¶ 083; defining the likely routes is based on at least on one of the traffic pattern data, the traffic volume data, and the pedestrian walkway information; based on the definition of the likely routes, selecting locations for virtual bus stops along the likely routes, wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to select virtual bus stops that are accessible to pedestrian traffic,
Regarding claim 11, as detailed above, combination Konala in view of Racah teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 10. Racah further teaches:
the scheduled traffic pattern model stores at least one of a scheduled arrival time, (Racah: ¶ 026; processing device may when the rideshare vehicle is assigned to the user, generate a first time-estimation for the rideshare vehicle to arrive at the selected virtual bus stop for picking-up the user;) a scheduled departure time, a scheduled dwell time for at least one of the plurality of the stations disposed in the transportation network. (Racah: ¶ 128; duration of time which each candidate ride-sharing vehicle is held up in a traffic until a respective final virtual drop-off bus stop associated with the last ride-sharing passenger during a particular time period)
Regarding claim 12, as detailed above, combination Konala in view of Racah teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 8. Konala further teaches:
the reserved road space comprises at least one of a bus-lane, a HOV lane, a fire-lane, an emergency-lane, or other types of a restricted-access-lanes on a road within the transportation network. (Konala: ¶ 047, Col 12, Lns. 43-45; reserved zone can be a public transportation lane (e.g., a bus lane))
Regarding claim 13, as detailed above, combination Konala in view of Racah teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 8. Konala further teaches:
the reserved road space comprises at least one of a one-lane reserved road space, a multi-lane reserved road space a road space with all lanes travelling in one direction, a road space with lanes travelling in opposite directions, or a road space with lanes being used in both directions. (Konala: ¶ 047, Col 12, Lns. 43-45; reserved zone can be a public transportation lane (e.g., a bus lane))
Regarding claim 14, as detailed above, combination Konala in view of Racah teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 8. Konala further teaches:
the scheduled vehicles comprise at least one of a bus, a cable-car, a tram, a streetcar, or other types of public transit vehicles operating on the reserved road space on a road within the transportation network (Konala: ¶ 047, Col 12, Lns. 43-45; reserved zone can be a public transportation lane (e.g., a bus lane))
Regarding claim 15, as detailed above, combination Konala in view of Racah teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 8. Curlander further teaches:
the unscheduled autonomous vehicles comprise at least one of autonomously driving vehicle comprising at least one of a vehicle processor, a vehicle memory, . . . (Curlander: ¶ 042; vehicle 105 can include an autonomous vehicle controller 160, a drive system 163, a communications interface 166, a vehicle data store 173, camera 175, location detection system 178, a radar detector 181, and/or other vehicle related components. The autonomous vehicle controller 160 may be embodied as analog, digital, or mixed analog and digital processing circuitry and memory that direct the operation of the vehicle)
Curlander does not explicitly teach: and a vehicle antenna; however, Curlander does teach:
Using wireless communications systems that a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize use an antenna (Curlander: ¶ 046; communications interface 166 may include one or more wired or wireless (e.g., cellular, satellite, WiFi®, Bluetooth®, etc.) communications interfaces.).
Therefore before the effective filling date of the claimed invention a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that Curlander teaches or suggests: and a vehicle antenna because operation of wireless (e.g., cellular, satellite, WiFi®, Bluetooth®, etc.) communications interfaces requires an antenna.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed July 6, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive Applicant argues with respect to claim 1 that:
KONALA does not disclose the autonomous vehicle to use the reserved space to travel along but only as a origin and/or destination. Thus, KONALA does not disclose an actual sharing of the reserved space but only a use of the space by an autonomous vehicle in case it is not utilized by the vehicles it is reserved for, which are only the public transportation vehicles. (Applicant’s Arguments filed July 6, 2026, pg. 6).
A person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that in order to reach and exit a drop-off point serviced by a bus-only lane of road, the vehicle would have to “travel along” the roadway in question. Further, if both public transportation vehicles and the autonomous vehicle can use the space, they are sharing the space. At no point can both the public transportation vehicles and the autonomous vehicle occupy the same space a the same time without an accident, at best they can share a segment of the same road at different times – which is what Konala teaches.
Applicant also argues that:
This is a significant conceptional difference as in the system of KONALA the autonomous vehicle does not rely on the use of the reserved space but can only use it on a short-term basis to an advantage if available. In the present application, on the other hand, the autonomous vehicle utilizes the reserved space as travel path in the transportation network it is using and therefore relies upon the reserved space for route planning, i.e. to arrive at a certain destination or not. KONALA only refers to optional use of the reserved space and not to obligatory use of the space. In particular, even in regard to the disclosure of KONALA that the reserved space may be a bus lane (KONALA, cl. 12, 1. 38 to 46), the autonomous vehicle is only disclosed to utilize the curb space at this lane, meaning it stops on the bus-lane for loading/unloading and immediately leaves the bus-lane afterwards. No other understanding can be deducted from KONALA, in particular no understanding, which would include traveling along the reserved space by the autonomous vehicle. (Applicant’s Arguments filed July 6, 2026, pg. 6).
Any real-time reservation system for a moving vehicle would reserve the location for “a short-term basis” because a moving vehicle would only ever need the location for a short term before proceeding to the next roadway by the dint of it being a moving vehicle. Konala’s teaching of stopping in the reserved space, if anything, indicates longer use of the space than is required by the claims. To the extent Konala teaches that the space can only be reserved if available, any reservation system would only allow reservation of available space – otherwise no reservation would be required. In other words, if the claimed invention always allowed reservation there would be no need for conflict resolution or even requesting a reservation – the vehicle could simply use the roadway reserved entirely for itself.
Finally, in response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., “obligatory use of the space”) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993). The claims do not require “obligatory use of the space” by the autonomous vehicle. Consequently, Applicant’s arguments and amendments with respect to claim 1-7 are not persuasive.
Applicant argues with respect to claim 8 that:
KONALA does not refer to determined stops or stations to be used by the autonomous vehicles. In fact, the whole problem discussed in KONALA arises from the fact that the autonomous vehicles in KONALA have no determined stops or stations but need to find loading/ unloading options wherever they arrive. With determined stops or station, D1 becomes irrelevant as prior art. (Applicant’s Arguments filed July 6, 2026, pg. 7).
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 8-15 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Newly applied art Racah et al. (EP 3355028 A1) teaches a system in which historical data is used to create a temporary or semi-permeant transit route (Racah: ¶ 113) in which the location of virtual stops are selected and updated based on user demand (Racah: ¶ 005). Consequently, Applicant’s arguments and amendments with respect to claim 8-15 are not persuasive.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure Smith, “Transit Signal Priority (TSP): A Planning and Implementation Handbook" which discloses a method of controlling scheduled vehicle services and traffic infrastructure to maintain schedule timetables more efficiently.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/C.P./Examiner, Art Unit 3663
/ANGELA Y ORTIZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3663
