DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
This Office action is in response to the information disclosure statement filed on 10/14/2025. Claims 1-20 are currently pending and are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/14/2025 was filed after the mailing date of the Notice of Allowance on 09/16/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
The indicated allowability of claims 1-20 is withdrawn in view of the newly discovered reference to Tokuhiro (US 2021/0380097 A1). Rejections based on the newly cited reference follow.
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 1 and 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tokuhiro (US 2021/0380097 A1) in view of Schoenherr (DE 10 2014 216 577 A1).
Regarding claim 1:
Tokuhiro discloses the following limitations:
“A parking assistance apparatus comprising an electronic control unit.” (Tokuhiro ¶ 44: “Driving assistance apparatus 10 is configured to include, for example, central processing unit (CPU) 10a… some or all of the functions of driving assistance apparatus 10 may be implemented by processing of a digital signal processor (DSP) or a dedicated hardware circuit (e.g., ASIC or FPGA), instead of or together with the processing of CPU 10a.”)
“wherein the electronic control unit is configured to execute an information memorization control to: detect at least one feature point as a start feature point from a taken image and memorize the detected start feature point as a registered start feature point when an own vehicle stops near a parking space.” (Tokuhiro ¶¶ 59-60 and FIG. 3A reproduced below: “the estimated current position of vehicle 1 is corrected to the actual current position based on camera images generated by in-vehicle camera 40. … training data generator 130 starts storage of the traveling route in response to a command of starting the training traveling mode from the user, and terminates the storage of the traveling route in response to a command of terminating the training traveling mode from the user. The training traveling typically starts with vehicle 1 stopped at a desired position outside the parking space (P1 in FIG. 3A).”)
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“and memorize as route information, information on a moving route of the own vehicle between a point of time when the start feature point is detected and a point of time when a driver of the own vehicle completes manually parking the own vehicle at the parking space, wherein manually parking the own vehicle corresponds to parking the own vehicle by a driving operation carried out by the driver.” (Tokuhiro ¶ 60: “Training data generator 130 stores the traveling route of the training traveling, and generates, from the traveling route, training data D1 related to the target route for vehicle 1 to travel automatically in the automatic traveling mode (hereinafter, simply referred to as a ‘target route’). … The training traveling typically starts with vehicle 1 stopped at a desired position outside the parking space (P1 in FIG. 3A), and terminates with vehicle 1 stopped at a parking target position in the parking space (P2 in FIG. 3A).” Also, Tokuhiro ¶ 13 discloses that the driving assistance apparatus comprises “a training data generator that stores a traveling route traveled by the vehicle according to a driving operation of a user in a training traveling mode,” which implies that the stored traveling route is a route that is manually driven by the driver.)
“wherein in case that, at a time when the feature point corresponding to the registered start feature point is detected, automatically parking the own vehicle at the parking space is requested, the electronic control unit is configured to execute an automatic parking control to: set a target moving route, based on the route information; move the own vehicle along the target moving route; and park the own vehicle at the parking space.” (Tokuhiro ¶ 93: “When an execution command for the automatic traveling mode is received from a user, vehicle controller 160 moves vehicle 1 along the target route indicated by training data D1 acquired from target route reader 150 while recognizing the current position of vehicle 1. Then, vehicle controller 160 stops vehicle 1 at the end point of the target route (i.e., at a position corresponding to the end point of the traveling route in the training traveling),” where the end point is a parking space as illustrated in FIG. 3B. Also, Tokuhiro ¶ 96: “vehicle controller 160 only needs to determine the most accessible target point among the target points between the start point and the end point of the target route indicated in training data D1, based on the initial position and the orientation of vehicle 1 at the start of the automatic traveling mode.”)
“wherein in case that, at the time when the feature point corresponding to the registered start feature point is detected, automatically parking the own vehicle at the parking space is not requested, and the driver starts manually parking the own vehicle at the parking space, the electronic control unit is configured to set a reference moving route, based on the route information, wherein after the driver starts manually parking the own vehicle at the parking space, the electronic control unit is configured to execute the automatic parking control.” (Tokuhiro ¶ 96: “When vehicle controller 160 causes vehicle 1 to travel automatically, vehicle 1 does not necessarily start the automatic traveling from the position of the start point of the target route indicated in training data D1, and may start from the position between the start point and the end point of the target route indicated in training data D1. In this case, vehicle controller 160 only needs to determine the most accessible target point among the target points between the start point and the end point of the target route indicated in training data D1, based on the initial position and the orientation of vehicle 1 at the start of the automatic traveling mode, for example, using a predetermined evaluation function. This allows vehicle 1 to get on the target route smoothly even when the initial position of vehicle 1 is off the start point of the target route.”)
“when (i) automatically parking the own vehicle at the parking space is requested.” (Tokuhiro ¶ 93: “When an execution command for the automatic traveling mode is received from a user, vehicle controller 160 moves vehicle 1 along the target route.”)
Tokuhiro does not specifically disclose that “the electronic control unit is configured to execute the automatic parking control when … (ii) a positional relationship between the own vehicle and the reference moving route satisfies a predetermined condition, and wherein the predetermined condition is a condition that the own vehicle exists at a position within a predetermined distance range from the reference moving route.” However, Schoenherr does teach these limitations. (Schoenherr ¶¶ 32-33 disclose the determination of an “offset between the stored starting position 20 and the actual starting position of the vehicle 10,” where “a comparison of current position data of the vehicle (e.g. B recorded via GPS) with stored position data for the starting position 20, it is recognized that the vehicle is in the vicinity of the stored starting position 20 and the driver can activate the execution phase.”)
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Tokuhiro by allowing the automatic parking operation to be executed when the vehicle is located within a predetermined distance range of the route as taught by Schoenherr with a reasonable expectation of success. A person having ordinary skill in the art could have been motivated to do this because Schoenherr ¶ 35 teaches that “Due to the method according to the invention, the requirements for the accuracy and range of the environment sensors 12 are lower than in the methods known from the prior art (see Fig. 2), since exact environment information is only required in the immediate vicinity of the target position 30 to complete the driving maneuver.” Therefore, a person having ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the use of a predetermined distance range condition would allow for more lenient requirements for sensing accuracy and range, which could help to reduce the cost of the sensors.
Regarding claim 3:
The combination of Tokuhiro and Schoenherr teaches “The parking assistance apparatus as set forth in claim 1,” and Tokuhiro further teaches “wherein the route information obtained during the information memorization control includes a change of a steering amount of the own vehicle associated with a moving distance of the own vehicle between the point of time when the start feature point is detected and the point of time when the driver completes manually parking the own vehicle at the parking space.” (Tokuhiro ¶ 73: “the ‘reference traveling information’ at each target point on the target route included in training data D1 is, for example, traveling information (e.g., the steering angle and the vehicle speed) detected at each point on the traveling route during the training traveling of vehicle 1. This reference traveling information is used as a reference (e.g., referred to as a feed-forward element) when vehicle controller 160, which will be described later, controls vehicle driving apparatus 20 (e.g., the steering angle of the steering device) at each point on the traveling route in performing automatic traveling.”)
Regarding claim 4:
The combination of Tokuhiro and Schoenherr teaches “The parking assistance apparatus as set forth in claim 1,” and Tokuhiro additionally teaches “wherein the electronic control unit is configured to: while the electronic control unit executes the information memorization control, detect at least one feature point as a middle point feature point from the taken image between the point of time when the start point feature point is detected and the point of time when the driver completes manually parking the own vehicle at the parking space; memorize the detected at least one middle point feature point as a registered middle point feature point; memorize as the route information, first information representing the moving route of the own vehicle between the point of time when the start point feature point is detected and a point of time when the middle point feature point memorized as the registered middle point feature point is detected; memorize as the route information, second information representing the moving route of the own vehicle after the middle point feature point memorized as the registered middle point feature point is detected; set the reference moving route, based on the first information when the feature point corresponding to the registered start point feature point is detected; and set the reference moving route, based on the second information when the feature point corresponding to the registered middle point feature point is detected.” (Tokuhiro ¶¶ 52-53 and FIGS. 3A-3B reproduced below: “FIG. 3A illustrates a parking operation in the training traveling mode by the driving operation of the user, from position P1 outside the parking space to target parking position P2 in the parking space. The target route in FIG. 3B is generated based on the traveling route of vehicle 1 in the training traveling mode illustrated in FIG. 3A, and most of the target route is the same as the traveling route. The only changes made to the target route from the original traveling route are points of turn. To be more specific, vehicle 1 is turned at positions T1 and T2 (here, turned from forward to backward) on the traveling route in FIG. 3A, but the target route in FIG. 3B is generated by cutting unnecessary routes due to the turns of vehicle 1 on the traveling route, and vehicle 1 is turned at positions T1′ and T2′.” The turning points T1 and T2 read on the “at least one middle point feature point.”)
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Conclusion
Applicant's submission of an information disclosure statement under 37 CFR 1.97(c) with the timing fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(p) on 10/14/2025 prompted the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 609.04(b). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Madison R Inserra whose telephone number is (571)272-7205. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday: 9:30 AM - 6:30 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Aniss Chad can be reached at 571-270-3832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Madison R. Inserra/Examiner, Art Unit 3662
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