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, 5, 10, and 12-14 are pending
Claims 2-4, 6-9, 11, and 15-20 are cancelled
Claims 1, 5, 10, and 12-14 are amended
Response to Arguments
Rejection under 35 U.S.C. §112(b)
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the rejection of claims 6, 7, 18, 19 under 35 U.S.C. §112(b) has been fully considered and are persuasive. Given the cancellation of the claims, the rejection under 35 U.S.C. §112(b) has been withdrawn.
Rejection under 35 U.S.C. §101
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the rejection of claims 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. §101 has been fully considered and are persuasive. Given the addition of the active step “control a wheel acceleration in response to the pothole being stepped on when the wheel acceleration increases by a predetermined value or more”, the rejection under 35 U.S.C. §101 for claims 1, 5, 10, and 12-14 has been withdrawn.
Rejection under 35 U.S.C. §103
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 5, 10, and 12-14 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.
Although the majority of additions to claims 1 and 14 are from the cancelled claims, the addition of scope-narrowing language regarding the defining of the abnormality (first) behavior being defined as “performing an S- shaped travel at a time of avoiding the abnormality in the road” and the collection/control of wheel acceleration for “in response to the pothole being stepped on when the wheel acceleration increases by a predetermined value or more” requires further search and evaluation.
The applicant’s argument regarding the KIMURA in view of TAKEUCHI not teaching “there is the abnormality in the road in response to a first portion of the plurality of vehicles that output the information about the first behavior among the plurality of vehicles that output the first information being less than a second portion of the plurality of vehicles that output the information about the first behavior among the plurality of vehicles that do not output the first information” is unpersuasive. ¶ 0062-¶ 0065 of TAKEUSHI discloses the tracking of multiple vehicles and increasing the reliability of a road abnormality. Given the broadest reasonable interpretation, the index system accounts for changes in percentages of vehicles though the assignment of varying scores for vehicles that encounter the abnormality. Additionally, TAKEUSHI does anticipate the use of a percentage representation in ¶ 0092 “…In the above embodiment, the reliability, which is a unitless number, is used as a value indicating the probability of the occurrence of a road surface abnormality according to the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the value indicating the probability may be the probability value itself expressed as a percentage, such as 80%, or may be expressed as a fraction, such as 5/4. Alternatively, the value indicating the probability may be expressed in words, such as extremely high, somewhat high, high, normal, low, etc. For example, the server control unit 11 may display a value indicating the probability of a road surface abnormality point 65 having a reliability in the range of 101 to 110 as "high."”.
The rejection under 35 U.S.C. §103 is sustained. Please see 35 U.S.C. §103 rejection below.
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, 5, 10, and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KIMURA (US 20190329786 A1) in view of TAKEUCHI (JP2021189470A) in further view of MATSUDA (US 20050104378 A1).
Regarding claim 1:
KIMURA discloses:
a plurality of vehicles that each comprise: (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0011, “A first aspect of a road surface condition estimation apparatus of the present invention is a road surface condition estimation apparatus having: a collecting device that is configured to collect, from each of a plurality of vehicles, behavior information relating to a behavior of each vehicle; a determining device that is configured to determine on the basis of the behavior information whether or not an abnormality condition is satisfied, the abnormality condition being set on the basis of a specific behavior, the specific behavior being a behavior expected to be taken by the vehicle when the vehicle encounters a road surface abnormality, the road surface abnormality including at least one of a defect of a road surface and an obstacle on the road surface; and an estimating device that is configured to estimate a condition of the road surface on the basis of a determined result of the determining device.”)
a wheel speed sensor; and (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0035, “The detect apparatus 22 is configured to detect the behavior of the vehicle 2. For example, the detect apparatus 22 may be configured to detect information that directly represents the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. At least one of a vehicle speed, a wheel speed, a longitudinal acceleration rate (in other words, an acceleration ratio in a front to rear direction), a lateral acceleration rate, a yaw rate, a yaw angle, a roll angle, a pitch angle and a slip ratio is one example of the information that directly represents the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. In this case, the detect apparatus 22 may include a sensor that is configured to detect the information that directly represents the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. Moreover, for example, the detect apparatus 22 may be configured to detect information that directly affects the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. In this case, the detect apparatus 22 may include a sensor that is configured to detect the information that directly affects the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. An information relating to an operational state of an operational apparatus that is operable by a driver to drive the vehicle 2 is one example of the information that directly affects the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. At least one of a handle (in other words, a steering wheel), an acceleration pedal, a brake pedal, a shift lever (alternatively, a selector) and a turn indicator is one example of the operational apparatus. At least one of a steering angle, a steering speed, a pedaled amount of the acceleration pedal, an acceleration position, a pedaled amount of the brake pedal and a gear range selected by the shift lever is one example of the information that directly affects the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. An information relating to an operational state of an assist system of the vehicle 2 to assist the traveling of the vehicle 2 is another one example of the information that directly affects the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. At least one of a LDA (Lane Departure Alert) system, an ABS (Anti-lock Brake System), a TRC (Traction Control) system and ESC (Electronic Stability Control) system is one example of the assist apparatus. Moreover, for example, the detect apparatus 22 may be configured to detect information relating to a circumstance of the vehicle 2 that may indirectly affect the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. In this case, the detect apparatus may include a sensor that is configured to detect the circumstance of the vehicle 2. At least one of a camera, any radar, any LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is one example of the sensor that is configured to detect the circumstance of the vehicle 2.”)
a plurality of sensors; and (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0035)
an information processing apparatus comprising: (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0030, “The server 1 is provided with: an information processing apparatus (in other words, a controller) 11 such as CPU (Central Processing Unit); and a storage apparatus 12 such as a recording medium (for example, at least one of a semiconductor memory and a hard disk). The information processing apparatus is one specific example of a “controller” in the below described additional statement”; ¶ 0031, “The information processing apparatus 11 is a main apparatus that is configured to execute the road surface condition estimation operation. The information processing apparatus 11 is an apparatus that is programmed to execute the road surface condition estimation operation. The information processing apparatus 11 is configured to execute the road surface condition estimation operation by executing a computer program that makes the information processing apparatus 11 execute the road surface condition operation. In order to execute the road surface condition estimation operation, the information processing apparatus 11 includes, as processing blocks that are logically realized in the information processing apparatus 11 or processing circuits that are physically realized in the information processing apparatus 11, a data collecting part 111 that is one specific example of a “collecting device” in the below described additional statement and a road surface condition estimating part 112 that is one specific example of each of a “determining device” and a “estimating device” in the below described additional statement. Although an operation of each of the data collecting part 111 and the road surface condition estimating part 112 will be described later in detail with reference to FIG. 2 and so on, overview of the operation will be briefly described here. The data collecting part 111 is configured to collect a behavior data relating to a behavior of each of the plurality of vehicles 2 from each of the plurality of vehicles 2. The road surface condition estimating part 112 is configured to estimate the condition of the road surface on the basis of the behavior data collected by the data collecting part 111.”)
a controller configured to (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0030; ¶ 0031)
determine, in response to obtaining the first information about a possibility of an abnormality in the road, the abnormality in the road based on behaviors of the plurality of vehicles in a predetermined range including a position corresponding to the first information, (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0030; ¶ 0031)
in the predetermined range, determine whether or not there is the abnormality in the road based on a number of the plurality of vehicles that output information about a first behavior, (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0012, “A second aspect of a road surface condition estimation apparatus of the present invention is a road surface condition estimation apparatus having: a collecting device that is configured to collect, from a vehicle, behavior information relating to a behavior of the vehicle; a determining device that is configured to determine on the basis of the behavior information whether or not the behavior of the vehicle is a specific behavior that the vehicle avoids a road surface abnormality, the road surface abnormality including at least one of a defect of a road surface and an obstacle on the road surface; and an estimating device that is configured to estimate a position of the road surface abnormality on the basis of a determined result of the determining device.”)
the first behavior including a behavior corresponding to the plurality of vehicles performing an S- shaped travel at a time of avoiding the abnormality in the road; (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0043, “Then, the road surface condition estimating part 112 determines on the basis of the behavior data collected at the step S111 whether or not there is a timing at which the behavior of the vehicle 2 is the first specific behavior to avoid the road surface abnormality during the vehicle 2 traveling (the step S112). In other words, the road surface condition estimating part 112 determines on the basis of the behavior data collected at the step S111 whether or not there is a timing at which the behavior of the vehicle 2 is the first specific behavior that is expected to be taken by the vehicle 2 to avoid road surface abnormality when the vehicle 2 encounters the road surface abnormality during the vehicle 2 traveling (the step S112). Namely, the road surface condition estimating part 112 determines on the basis of the behavior data collected at the step S111 whether or not the first specific behavior is detected during the vehicle 2 traveling (the step S112).”; ¶ 0044, “For example, there is a possibility that the vehicle 2 travels to dodge the road surface abnormality in order to avoid the collision with the road surface abnormality (alternatively, to avoid the traveling on the road at which there exists the road surface abnormality, the same applies to the following description). Therefore, a behavior that the vehicle 2 that has traveled straightforwardly (alternatively, along a driving lane) suddenly turns either one of rightward and leftward to dodge something, then returns to the previously traveled route by turning the other one of rightward and leftward and then continues to travel straightforwardly (alternatively, to travel along the driving lane) again is one example of the first specific behavior to avoid the road surface abnormality. Alternatively, there is a possibility that the vehicle 2 goes over (in other words, crosses) a while line representing the driving lane as a result of the vehicle 2 traveling to avoid the road surface abnormality. Therefore, a behavior that the LDA system suddenly operates on the vehicle 2 that has traveled straightforwardly (alternatively, along a driving lane) and then the vehicle 2 continues to travel straightforwardly (alternatively, to travel along the driving lane) again is another one example of the first specific behavior to avoid the road surface abnormality. Alternatively, there is a possibility that the vehicle 2 decelerate rapidly or stops suddenly in order to avoid the collision with the road surface abnormality. Therefore, a behavior that the vehicle 2 that has traveled straightforwardly (alternatively, along a driving lane) decelerates rapidly or stops suddenly is another one example of the first specific behavior to avoid the road surface abnormality. Alternatively, there is a possibility that the vehicle 2 suddenly turns rightward or leftward without the operation of the turn indicator in order to avoid the collision with the road surface abnormality. Therefore, a behavior that the vehicle 2 that has traveled straightforwardly (alternatively, along a driving lane) suddenly turns rightward or leftward without the operation of the turn indicator is another one example of the first specific behavior to avoid the road surface abnormality. Note that the first specific behavior may be set in advance on the basis of a result of at least one of an experiment, a simulation and so on.”; ¶ 0076, “Moreover, there is higher possibility that the vehicles 2 travel at different positions in the same driving lane, respectively, when the vehicles 2 travel in the same driving lane, as the number of the vehicles 2 becomes larger. For example, there is a relatively high possibility that one vehicle 2 travel at a center position in the driving lane and another vehicle 2 travel at a left or right position in the same driving lane. In this case, the road surface condition estimation system SYS1 is capable of estimating the condition of the road surface in a relatively wide area in the same driving lane. Therefore, an area in the driving lane in which the road surface abnormality is not detected is reduced as much as possible.”)
notify an external terminal of a position at which the abnormality is present in response to determining there is the abnormality in the road, and wherein: (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0070, “The second predetermined value is a value for determining whether or not there exists the local concavity and/or convexity (for example, the pothole). The second predetermined value is set in advance to a fixed value or a variable value that varies on the basis of any physical amount or any parameter. The second predetermined value is larger than the first predetermined value. The second predetermine value may be set to the index value calculated when there exists the pothole at which the maintenance is necessary on the basis of the relationship between the index value and the condition of the road surface. The relationship between the index value and the condition of the road surface may be calculated by collecting the index value representing the degree of the concavity and/or the convexity at the road surface while changing the condition of the road surface by an experiment or a simulation.”; ¶ 0103, “The maintenance proposing part 113 is configured to execute a maintenance proposal operation for proposing a maintenance of the road on the basis of the estimated result of the road surface condition estimating part 112 (namely, the road surface condition data). The proposal of the maintenance of the road may include at least one of a generation and an output (for example, an output to a display) of an information relating to the maintenance of the road, for example. The information relating to the maintenance of the road may include at least one of an information relating to a position of the road surface that is desired to be maintained, an information relating to a condition of the road surface that is desired to be maintained, an information relating to a timing at which the road surface is desired to be maintained, an information relating to the road surface abnormality that exists on the road surface, an information relating to an urgency of the maintenance, an information that is useful for preparing a plan of the maintenance of the road surface, an information relating to the plan of the maintenance of the road surface and an information that is useful for actually maintaining the road surface, for example. The maintenance proposing part 113 may propose the maintenance of the road to at least one of a user of the road surface condition estimation system SYS2, a responsible person for preparing the plan of the maintenance of the road surface and a responsible person for actually maintaining the road.”; ¶ 0105, “The maintenance proposing part 113 may execute the maintenance proposal operation on the basis of an abnormality position information relating to the position of the road surface abnormality included in the road surface condition data. Specifically, the maintenance proposing part 113 may propose the maintenance of the road surface at the position of the road surface abnormality.”; ¶ 0113, “When the maintenance proposing part 113 generates the map in which the point of the road surface abnormality is visualized, the maintenance proposing part 113 may further overlay a first layer at which the point of the road surface abnormality is plotted on a second layer at which another information that is different from the information included in the first layer (namely, the information relating to the condition of the road surface) to thereby generate a map having a multi-layered structure (namely, a changeable map including the information that is changeable depending on the usage of the map) in which another information as well as the point of the road surface abnormality are visualized. The map generated by the maintenance proposing part 113 may be displayed on a display.”)
the plurality of vehicles are configured to: detect, by the wheel speed sensor, a pothole as the abnormality in the road; and (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0058, “Alternatively, the amount of the variation of the wheel speed of the non-driven wheel includes a component caused by the acceleration rate of the vehicle 2 itself. Note that the acceleration rate of the vehicle 2 is an amount of a variation per unit time of an average value of wheel speeds of a plurality of wheels. Thus, even if the amount of the variation of the wheel speed of the non-driven wheel indicates a sign that is expected to be observed when the vehicle 2 travels at the position where there exists the road surface abnormality, there is a possibility that it is not clear which the sign is a right sign that is caused by the traveling of the vehicle 2 at the position whether there exists the road surface abnormality or a wrong sign that is caused by the acceleration rate of the vehicle 2. Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the road surface condition estimating part 112 may subtract the acceleration rate of the vehicle 2 (see an center graph in FIG. 4) from the amount of the variation of the wheel speed of the non-driven wheel (see an upper graph in FIG. 4), in order to determine whether or not the abnormality condition #21 is satisfied. There is a relatively high possibility that the amount of the variation of the wheel speed of the non-driven wheel from which the acceleration rate of the vehicle 2 is already subtracted (namely, a difference between the amount of the variation of the wheel speed of the non-driven wheel and the acceleration rate of the vehicle 2, and see a lower graph in FIG. 4) is the amount of the variation of the wheel speed of the non-driven wheel that is caused by the traveling of the vehicle 2 at the position whether there exists the road surface abnormality. Namely, there is a relatively high possibility that the vehicle 2 travels at the position whether there exists the road surface abnormality at the timing when the amount of the variation of the wheel speed of the non-driven wheel from which the acceleration rate of the vehicle 2 is already subtracted is equal to or larger than the predetermined amount (in other words, the difference between the amount of the variation of the wheel speed of the non-driven wheel and the acceleration rate of the vehicle 2 is equal to or larger than the predetermined amount). Thus, the road surface condition estimating part 112 estimates the position of the road surface abnormality more accurately by using the amount of the variation of the wheel speed of the non-driven wheel from which the acceleration rate of the vehicle 2 is already subtracted (namely, the difference between the amount of the variation of the wheel speed of the non-driven wheel and the acceleration rate of the vehicle 2), compared to the case where the road surface condition estimating part 112 uses the amount of the variation of the wheel speed of the non-driven wheel from which the acceleration rate of the vehicle 2 is not subtracted yet. Namely, a behavior that the amount of the variation of the wheel speed of the non-driven wheel from which the acceleration rate of the vehicle 2 is already subtracted (namely, the difference between the amount of the variation of the wheel speed of the non-driven wheel and the acceleration rate of the vehicle 2) is equal to or larger than the predetermined amount is another one example of the second specific behavior. Using this second specific behavior results in an improvement of the accuracy of the estimation of the road surface abnormality. In this case, in order to eliminate an influence of a natural frequency (a character frequency) of the vehicle 2 that is relatively low frequency, the road surface condition estimating part 112 may eliminate a variable component due to the natural frequency from the difference between the amount of the variation of the wheel speed of the non-driven wheel and the acceleration rate of the vehicle 2 by using a HPF (High Pass Filter), and then estimate the position of the road surface abnormality on the basis of the difference from which the influence of the natural frequency is already eliminated.”)
EXAMINERS NOTE: Although KIMURA does not explicitly disclose "s-shaped travel", KIMURA does anticipate detecting vehicle behavior wherein the vehicle "traveled straightforwardly (alternatively, along a driving lane) suddenly turns either one of rightward and leftward to dodge something, then returns to the previously traveled route" which would be understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art to resemble an “S” shape. Furthermore, within ¶ 0046 of the specification of the pending application, S-Shape travel would be defined as "the S-shaped travel includes a case where the steering wheel is operated in the order of left, right, and left, and a case where the steering wheel is operated in the order of right, left, and right.".
KIMURA does not disclose, but TAKEUCHI teaches:
a server that includes (see at least TAKEUCHI, ¶ 0035, “The communication module 38 is a communication device for receiving traffic information, weather information, and the like transmitted from a traffic information center, for example, a VICS center or other external center, and corresponds to, for example, a mobile phone or DCM. It also includes vehicle-to-vehicle communication devices that perform communication between vehicles and road-to-vehicle communication devices that perform communication with roadside units. It is also used to transmit and receive probe information and distribution information to and from the server device 3.")
obtain first information based on output values from the plurality of sensors that are provided in the plurality of vehicles, respectively, the plurality of sensors being configured to output signals related to conditions of a road; (see at least TAKEUCHI, ¶ 0045, “Further, the detection value transmitted from the navigation device 6 to the server device 3 is not limited to the value of the pulse signal of the vehicle speed sensor. The detection value to be transmitted may be, for example, a value such as a wheel speed calculated from a pulse signal of a vehicle speed sensor, or a value of the height of unevenness on the road surface estimated from the degree of vibration. Therefore, the detection value in this application is not limited to the detection value itself detected by the vehicle-mounted sensor 7, but may be a value calculated or estimated from the detection value. Furthermore, the on-board sensor 7 for detecting potholes is not limited to a vehicle speed sensor. For example, a vertical acceleration sensor that detects acceleration acting on the wheels of the vehicle 5 in the vertical direction may be used as the on-board sensor 7. The server control unit 11 may then determine the height of unevenness in the road surface or the depth of a pothole, i.e., the occurrence of an abnormality in the road surface, based on fluctuations in vertical acceleration detected by a vertical acceleration sensor, for example. In addition, for example, a suspension sensor that detects the amount of expansion and contraction of the wheel suspension device (displacement amount of the suspension arm) and a vehicle height sensor that detects the amount of displacement of the vehicle height may be used as the on-board sensors 7, and the server control unit 11 may estimate the height of the unevenness in the road surface from the difference between the amount of displacement of the suspension arm and the amount of displacement of the vehicle height, and determine the occurrence of a pothole.”; ¶ 0064, “After executing S7, the server control unit 11 executes S5. The server control unit 11 does not newly register the arbitrary point to be processed, but adds +20 to the reliability of the road surface abnormality point at the same point as the arbitrary point to be processed (S5). This makes it possible to increase the reliability based on the fact that a road surface abnormality is detected by the same vehicle 5 at the same road surface abnormality point. Furthermore, when the server control unit 11 executes S5 after executing S7, it adds +1 to the number of times the vehicle 5 has traveled through the road surface abnormality point. That is, the process of adding up the number of times each vehicle has been driven is performed.”)
in the predetermined range, determine there is the abnormality in the road in response to a first portion of the plurality of vehicles that output the information about the first behavior among the plurality of vehicles that output the first information being less than a second portion of the plurality of vehicles that output the information about the first behavior among the plurality of vehicles that do not output the first information; and (see at least TAKEUCHI, ¶ 0062, “In S6, the server control unit 11 determines whether or not the traveling vehicle has previously traveled through the arbitrary point to be processed. The server control unit 11 determines whether the vehicle ID of the vehicle 5 that has traveled through the arbitrary point to be processed matches the vehicle ID of the road surface abnormality point determined to have been registered in S3. That is, it is determined whether the vehicle 5 that has traveled through the arbitrary processing point where a road surface abnormality has been detected in the current processing is the vehicle 5 that has previously detected a road surface abnormality at the same road surface abnormality point. For example, when the server control unit 11 executes S8 described below and then executes S5 (if the vehicle 5 is a different vehicle 5), it adds the vehicle ID of the vehicle 5 that traveled through the arbitrary point being processed this time to the vehicle ID column of the management DB 14. Then, for example, in the next or subsequent judgment process of S6, if the vehicle ID of a vehicle 5 that has traveled through an arbitrary point to be processed is among the multiple vehicle IDs stored in the vehicle ID field of the road surface abnormality point that was determined to have been registered in S3, the server control unit 11 determines that the vehicle IDs match (S6: YES)."; ¶ 0064, “After executing S7, the server control unit 11 executes S5. The server control unit 11 does not newly register the arbitrary point to be processed, but adds +20 to the reliability of the road surface abnormality point at the same point as the arbitrary point to be processed (S5). This makes it possible to increase the reliability based on the fact that a road surface abnormality is detected by the same vehicle 5 at the same road surface abnormality point. Furthermore, when the server control unit 11 executes S5 after executing S7, it adds +1 to the number of times the vehicle 5 has traveled through the road surface abnormality point. That is, the process of adding up the number of times each vehicle has been driven is performed.”; ¶ 0065, “On the other hand, in S6, if the vehicle ID of the vehicle 5 that traveled through the arbitrary point to be processed does not match the vehicle ID of the road surface abnormality point determined to have been registered in S3, the server control unit 11 makes a negative judgment (S6: NO) and executes S8. In S8, the server control unit 11 sets +10 as the change amount for increasing the reliability of the road surface abnormality point. The server control unit 11 executes S5 after executing S8, and adds +10 to the reliability of the road surface abnormality point at the same point as the arbitrary point to be processed. This makes it possible to increase the reliability based on the fact that a road surface abnormality is detected by different vehicles 5 at the same road surface abnormality point. In addition, for example, when the server control unit 11 executes S8 and then S5, i.e., when a road surface abnormality is detected in a vehicle 5 that has not been previously registered, the server control unit 11 adds the vehicle ID of that vehicle 5 to the management DB 14."; ¶ 0091, “According to this, a road surface abnormality point 65 where a new road surface abnormality has been detected is registered, and an initial value of the reliability indicating the probability that a road surface abnormality has occurred at that road surface abnormality point 65 is set. The server control unit 11 updates the reliability based on the detection value of the on-board sensor 7 of the vehicle 5 traveling on the road. This allows the road surface abnormality point 65 to be registered and its reliability to be set early, at the time of new detection, so that information on the road surface abnormality can be quickly provided to road managers and the like. Furthermore, if pebbles, garbage, fruit from roadside trees, or the like have fallen onto the road surface, there is a risk that an abnormality in the road surface will be erroneously detected. Therefore, when the reliability value of a road surface abnormality point 65 becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value, the registration of the road surface abnormality point 65 is cancelled. By updating the reliability while eliminating registration of road surface abnormality points 65 due to erroneous detection based on the detection values of the on-board sensor 7, it is possible to provide information on the road surface abnormality points 65 while improving the accuracy of the reliability.")
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the behavior-based information processing apparatus with tracking of vehicle swerving of KIMURA with the road abnormality reliability score, communication module, server for registering road abnormalities of TAKEUCHI to effectively yield a crowd-sourced multi-vehicle road abnormality mapping system to warn drivers of road abnormalities with advanced notice and increased resiliency of false positives.
KIMURA in view of TAKEUCHI does not disclose, but MATSUDE teaches:
control a wheel acceleration in response to the pothole being stepped on when the wheel acceleration increases by a predetermined value or more. (see at least MATSUDA, ¶ 0006, “It has been discovered that in order to keep acceleration slippage of the main drive wheels in check, some four-wheel drive vehicles are provided with a traction control function (also called "engine TCS")that suppresses the output of the engine in such a manner as to adjust the amount of acceleration slippage at the main drive wheels to a target slippage amount.”; ¶ 0038, “With the 4WD controller 8 of the present invention, as explained in more detail below, a target acceleration slippage degree is increased only when it is determined that the vehicle is stuck and, therefore, that the steering response at that time is not particularly important. This increase in the target acceleration slippage degree enables the rotational speed of the electric generator 7 to increase and, thus, the drive force of the subordinate drive wheels 3L and 3R to increase. As a result, a large drive force can be obtained when a large drive force is necessary for the vehicle to accelerate from a stopped condition (i.e., when the vehicle is stuck) and a large electric generator is not needed.”; ¶ 0110, “In some cases when the vehicle is starting into motion from a stop, the road surface on which the vehicle is stopped has a large resistance to motion of the vehicle due to deep snow, sand, potholes, or slushy snow. If the front wheels 1L and 1R (main drive wheels 1L and 1R) undergo acceleration slippage on such a road surface, the vehicle may become stuck and unable to start into motion. More specifically, if the front wheels 1L, 1R slip to such a degree that the acceleration slippage amount .DELTA.V exceeds the reference target slippage amount Tslip0, engine TCS control is executed and the output of the engine 2 is suppressed such that the acceleration slippage amount .DELTA.V is adjusted to the normal target slippage amount Tslip0 (e.g., 8 km/h). Consequently, the rotational speed of the engine 2 is limited, which means the rotational speed and thus the output of the electric generator 7 is limited, which means the torque of the rear wheels 3L and 3R driven by the motor 4 is limited.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine, with a reasonable expectation of success, the behavior-based information processing apparatus with tracking of vehicle swerving and wheel acceleration with the communication module and server for registering road abnormalities of KIMURA in view of TAKEUCHI to include the traction control system for wheel slippage cause by surface abnormalities within MATSUDA to yield a safer vehicle capable of protecting the driver and passengers from the instability caused by the unstable acceleration of wheels slipping.
Regarding claim 5:
KIMURA in view of TAKEUCHI in further view of MATSUDA discloses the limitations within claim 1 and KIMURA further discloses:
the first behavior includes that the plurality of vehicles have moved more than a predetermined distance to the right and to the left, respectively. (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0044, “For example, there is a possibility that the vehicle 2 travels to dodge the road surface abnormality in order to avoid the collision with the road surface abnormality (alternatively, to avoid the traveling on the road at which there exists the road surface abnormality, the same applies to the following description). Therefore, a behavior that the vehicle 2 that has traveled straightforwardly (alternatively, along a driving lane) suddenly turns either one of rightward and leftward to dodge something, then returns to the previously traveled route by turning the other one of rightward and leftward and then continues to travel straightforwardly (alternatively, to travel along the driving lane) again is one example of the first specific behavior to avoid the road surface abnormality. Alternatively, there is a possibility that the vehicle 2 goes over (in other words, crosses) a while line representing the driving lane as a result of the vehicle 2 traveling to avoid the road surface abnormality. Therefore, a behavior that the LDA system suddenly operates on the vehicle 2 that has traveled straightforwardly (alternatively, along a driving lane) and then the vehicle 2 continues to travel straightforwardly (alternatively, to travel along the driving lane) again is another one example of the first specific behavior to avoid the road surface abnormality. Alternatively, there is a possibility that the vehicle 2 decelerate rapidly or stops suddenly in order to avoid the collision with the road surface abnormality. Therefore, a behavior that the vehicle 2 that has traveled straightforwardly (alternatively, along a driving lane) decelerates rapidly or stops suddenly is another one example of the first specific behavior to avoid the road surface abnormality. Alternatively, there is a possibility that the vehicle 2 suddenly turns rightward or leftward without the operation of the turn indicator in order to avoid the collision with the road surface abnormality. Therefore, a behavior that the vehicle 2 that has traveled straightforwardly (alternatively, along a driving lane) suddenly turns rightward or leftward without the operation of the turn indicator is another one example of the first specific behavior to avoid the road surface abnormality. Note that the first specific behavior may be set in advance on the basis of a result of at least one of an experiment, a simulation and so on.”; ¶ 0076, “Moreover, there is higher possibility that the vehicles 2 travel at different positions in the same driving lane, respectively, when the vehicles 2 travel in the same driving lane, as the number of the vehicles 2 becomes larger. For example, there is a relatively high possibility that one vehicle 2 travel at a center position in the driving lane and another vehicle 2 travel at a left or right position in the same driving lane. In this case, the road surface condition estimation system SYS1 is capable of estimating the condition of the road surface in a relatively wide area in the same driving lane. Therefore, an area in the driving lane in which the road surface abnormality is not detected is reduced as much as possible.”)
Regarding claim 10:
KIMURA in view of TAKEUCHI in further view of MATSUDA discloses the limitations within claim 1 and KIMURA further discloses:
the controller obtains the behaviors of the plurality of vehicles in the predetermined range by (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0011, “A first aspect of a road surface condition estimation apparatus of the present invention is a road surface condition estimation apparatus having: a collecting device that is configured to collect, from each of a plurality of vehicles, behavior information relating to a behavior of each vehicle; a determining device that is configured to determine on the basis of the behavior information whether or not an abnormality condition is satisfied, the abnormality condition being set on the basis of a specific behavior, the specific behavior being a behavior expected to be taken by the vehicle when the vehicle encounters a road surface abnormality, the road surface abnormality including at least one of a defect of a road surface and an obstacle on the road surface; and an estimating device that is configured to estimate a condition of the road surface on the basis of a determined result of the determining device.”)
obtaining detected values of the plurality of sensors that are related to a direction of travel. (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0033, “Each vehicle 2 is provided with: a GPS (Global Positioning System) apparatus 21; a detect apparatus 22; and an ECU (Electric Control Unit) 23.”; ¶ 0035, “The detect apparatus 22 is configured to detect the behavior of the vehicle 2. For example, the detect apparatus 22 may be configured to detect information that directly represents the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. At least one of a vehicle speed, a wheel speed, a longitudinal acceleration rate (in other words, an acceleration ratio in a front to rear direction), a lateral acceleration rate, a yaw rate, a yaw angle, a roll angle, a pitch angle and a slip ratio is one example of the information that directly represents the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. In this case, the detect apparatus 22 may include a sensor that is configured to detect the information that directly represents the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. Moreover, for example, the detect apparatus 22 may be configured to detect information that directly affects the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. In this case, the detect apparatus 22 may include a sensor that is configured to detect the information that directly affects the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. An information relating to an operational state of an operational apparatus that is operable by a driver to drive the vehicle 2 is one example of the information that directly affects the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. At least one of a handle (in other words, a steering wheel), an acceleration pedal, a brake pedal, a shift lever (alternatively, a selector) and a turn indicator is one example of the operational apparatus. At least one of a steering angle, a steering speed, a pedaled amount of the acceleration pedal, an acceleration position, a pedaled amount of the brake pedal and a gear range selected by the shift lever is one example of the information that directly affects the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. An information relating to an operational state of an assist system of the vehicle 2 to assist the traveling of the vehicle 2 is another one example of the information that directly affects the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. At least one of a LDA (Lane Departure Alert) system, an ABS (Anti-lock Brake System), a TRC (Traction Control) system and ESC (Electronic Stability Control) system is one example of the assist apparatus. Moreover, for example, the detect apparatus 22 may be configured to detect information relating to a circumstance of the vehicle 2 that may indirectly affect the behavior itself of the vehicle 2. In this case, the detect apparatus may include a sensor that is configured to detect the circumstance of the vehicle 2. At least one of a camera, any radar, any LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is one example of the sensor that is configured to detect the circumstance of the vehicle 2.”)
Regarding claim 12:
KIMURA in view of TAKEUCHI in further view of MATSUDA discloses the limitations within claim 1 and KIMURA further discloses:
a memory configured to store data about the behaviors of the plurality of vehicles that have traveled in the predetermined range. (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0030, “The server 1 is provided with: an information processing apparatus (in other words, a controller) 11 such as CPU (Central Processing Unit); and a storage apparatus 12 such as a recording medium (for example, at least one of a semiconductor memory and a hard disk). The information processing apparatus is one specific example of a “controller” in the below described additional statement”; ¶ 0116, “When the map generated by the maintenance proposing part 113 is used for the maintenance proposal operation, another information visualized in the map may include an information that is usable to prioritize the maintenance of the road surface. Note that each of the information relating to the traffic and the information relating to the distribution of the inhabitants is one example of the information that is usable to prioritize the maintenance of the road surface. This is because the maintenance proposing part 113 is capable of preferentially proposing the maintenance of the road surface on the road having the large traffic on the basis of the information relating to the traffic and preferentially proposing the maintenance of the road surface at the point where the relatively many inhabitants inhabit and/or the point where relatively many vulnerable road persons inhabit, as described above. At least one of an information relating to a traffic of the vehicles, an information relating to a traffic of a pedestrians, an information relating to a traffic of a large-size vehicles (for example, a ratio of the large-size vehicles to all vehicles) and an information relating to an average speed of the vehicles is one example of the information relating to the traffic. Moreover, an information relating to a width of the road, an information relating to the presence of a sidewalk (in other words, a footpath), an information relating to a presence of a side strip (in other words, a roadside), an information relating to a presence of a fork road, an information relating to a presence of an intersection, an information relating to a presence of a signal, an information relating to a distribution of a building (for example, an information relating to a distribution of at least one of a school, a house, a shopping plaza (in other words, a commercial facility) and a plant), an information relating to a sunshine condition and an information relating to a location condition of the road (in other words, an information relating to a construction condition of the road, and for example, an information indicating whether or not the road is a central street (in other words, a high street or a main street)) is another one example of the information that is usable to prioritize the maintenance of the road surface. Even in this case, the maintenance proposing part 113 is capable of proposing the maintenance in an appropriate manner on the basis of the road surface condition data and another information that is usable to prioritize the maintenance of the road surface.”)
Regarding claim 13:
KIMURA in view of TAKEUCHI in further view of MATSUDA discloses the limitations within claim 1 and KIMURA further discloses:
the controller determines whether or not there is the abnormality in the road, after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since an inspection is performed by a user. (see at least KIMURA, ¶ 0109, “The maintenance proposing part 113 is capable of estimating whether or not the degree of the deterioration of the road surface at a certain point rapidly increases, or gradually (in other words, mildly) increases or does not increase (namely, does not vary) on the basis of the deterioration speed information included in the road surface condition data. Alternatively, even if the road surface condition data does not include the deterioration speed information, when the road surface condition data includes the information relating to the degree of the deterioration of the road surface at a certain point at one time and the information relating to the degree of the deterioration of the road surface at the same certain point at another time, the maintenance proposing part 113 is capable of estimating whether or not the degree of the deterioration of the road surface at the certain point rapidly increases, or gradually increases or does not increase. In this case, the maintenance proposing part 113 may preferentially propose the maintenance of the road surface at which the degree of the deterioration rapidly increases. As a result, the maintenance proposing part 113 is capable of proposing the maintenance of the road surface before the deterioration of the road surface progresses to lead to the large trouble of the traveling of the vehicle 2. Moreover, the maintenance proposing part 113 may not propose the maintenance of the road surface at which the degree of the deterioration gradually increases. However, the maintenance proposing part 113 may inform that the maintenance of the road surface at which the degree of the deterioration gradually increases will be needed in the future before the maintenance of the road surface at which the degree of the deterioration gradually increases is actually needed. As a result, a person responsible for the maintenance of the road surface may secure a budget to prepare the future maintenance of the road surface and/or prepare the plan of the maintenance of the road surface in advance.”; ¶ 0156, “A road surf