Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-28 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.
Examiner like to point out that regarding Applicant’s argument on p. 7+ that Uchiyama prior art fails to possess sensors without receiving communication signals, it is not entirely correct. Uchiyama indeed describes use of non-communicating sensors (para. 73 & para. 69, 73, 378, 389), but such sensor information is only exchanged between vehicles. Furthermore, reporting of measurement & interference (non-communicating) are also done between terminals (fig. 20 S410 & S414).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 20-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Chambers (US 2022/0340158) in view of Yang (US 2021/0272462).
Regarding claim 20, Chambers describes a first user equipment (UE) device (fig. 1, host vehicle 10 (UE)) comprising:
at least one sensor configured to sense, without receiving communication signals, a heading of a second UE device and a heading of a third UE device (fig. 2 & para. 42, direction sensor 40 of host vehicle 10 determines & provides heading/direction of each of remote vehicles 14 (second & third UE devices)).
Chamber already describes sensor data obtained comprising the heading/direction of each of second & third UE devices (above), but fails to further explicitly describe:
a transmitter configured to transmit, to a first base station, a first report containing such sensor data.
Yang also describes vehicular monitoring comprising vehicles with sensors & a network comprising server (fig. 1 & abstract), further describing:
a transmitter configured to transmit, to a first base station, a first report containing sensor data (fig. 3 step 354, method 350 implemented on server 101 in network receives sensor data (report) transmitted by a second vehicle (UE)), the network being 3G, 4G, 5G or any cellular (para. 28 or 35), i.e. comprising via base station).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the sensor data obtained comprising the heading/direction of each of second & third UE devices in Chambers to provided to a base station in the network as in Yang.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this enables the system to effective consider the surrounding traffic on the driving behaviors of the vehicles (Yang, para. 2).
Regarding claim 21, Chambers and Yang combined already describe:
reporting sensor data (see claim 20).
Chambers further describe:
the data further contains first location information pertaining to the second UE device and second location information pertaining to the third UE ((para. 25, data comprising position, heading, speed, identification of vehicles. See also para. 38).
Regarding claim 22, Chambers and Yang combined already describe:
reporting sensor data (see claim 20).
Chambers further describe:
the data contains a first identifier associated with a vehicle in which the second UE device is located and a second identifier associated with a vehicle in which the third UE device is located (para. 25, data comprising position, heading, speed, identification of vehicles).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-19 allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding independent claims 1 and 15, first closest prior art Uchiyama describes in all scenarios of fig. 16-18 & 21-22 & respective supporting para., the base station initially assigned resource pool allocation to the terminals 200A-200C before the terminal generates interference report information back to the base station for feedback determination (eg. fig. 21 step S514). Although interference report sent by terminal comprises direction of travel (para. 219), base station does not assign resources based on interference report sent by terminals.
Second closest prior art, Chambers (US 2022/0340158) describes in each vehicle a monitoring system 12 that can receive and transmit operating information (data) to and from the host vehicle 10 and the remote vehicles 14, sent as a BSM message including position, heading, speed, identification (para. 25-26), but fails to explicitly describe such data to/from base station 22, as the vehicle within itself evaluates the operation information as opposed to sending to base station (para. 30).
E.g. “[0038] Using changes location data (location information) of each of the remote vehicles 14 over time, the host vehicle 10 can determine heading and speed of each of the remote vehicles 14”.
Each vehicle also has sensors 36, 38, 40, 42, but for its use:
E.g. “[0042] direction sensor 40 can be used to provide heading (direction) information of the transmitting vehicles (remote vehicles 14), .. in order to determine the heading of the transmitting vehicle (one of the remote vehicles 14)”.
Third closest prior art, Yang (US 2021/0272462) describes a first connected vehicle reporting sensor data of nearby environment to the network server 101, plus a second connected vehicle reporting sensor data of unconnected vehicles (para. 60), then transmitting (directing) to first connected vehicle a vehicle action.
Hence, all 3 closest prior art, Uchiyama, Chambers & Yang, in combination, fail to render each of independent claims 1 and 15’s features as a whole obvious.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Claims 23-28 are 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.
Regarding claim 23, the prior art fails to further explicitly describe:
wherein the first report further contains an indicator that indicates whether the first UE device intends to transmit a sidelink transmission.
The closest prior art, Chambers and Yang combined describing parental claims’ features and that vehicle-to-vehicle (sidelink) C communication uses BSM-type message is used (fig. 1 & para. 25), in combination with Uchiyama (US 2021/0099847) describing UE reporting interference report information to base station 100 in step S514 after measuring interference amount measurement in step S508), in combination, fail to explicitly render the above additional features a whole obvious.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Jackson (US 2015/183440) describing electronic circuit monitoring at least 1 sensor signal regarding road quality condition & transmitting report of road quality to the server (abstract & fig. 5), Madine (US 9,955,307) describing mobile obtaining absolute positional information on plurality of mobile devices comprising travel direction for positioning map purpose in an IBSS environment (detx 75), Bai (US 2019/0164423) describing vehicular communications system that receives signals from road users + own sensors for detecting road users located within surrounding environments, including directional attributes (para. 380), Zhahid (US 12,608,655) describing network comprising sensor node 102 such as cameras, lidars, etc. to detect proximity between vehicles & other events for self-learning (fig. 1G-1J), Yang (US 2019/0311614) describing generation of a dynamic road map based on the determined one or more dynamics of the connected vehicle, the one or more dynamics of the unconnected vehicle, and the one or more roadside infrastructures (abstract), Dong (US 2018/0240335) describing network receiving first vehicle sensor data. The first vehicle sensor data includes first location data and first camera data. The first vehicle sensor data is joined with an existing data cluster of second vehicle sensor data corresponding to additional vehicles. The second vehicle sensor data includes second location data and second camera data. A vehicle heading sequence of the first vehicle is determined, and additional vehicle heading sequences of the additional vehicles based on the second vehicle sensor data is determined (abstract), and Slusar (9,623,876) describing driving data from multiple vehicles collected by vehicle sensors & transmitted using V2V communications to driving analysis server to be analyzed and compared to determine various driving behaviors by the drivers of the vehicle (fig. 2 & abstract).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WARNER WONG whose telephone number is (571)272-8197. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am - 3:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached at 571-272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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WARNER WONG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2469
/WARNER WONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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