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 .
This final action is in response to Applicant’s filing dated June 19, 2026. Claims 5-10 are currently pending and have been considered, as provided in more detail below. Claims 1-4 and 11-12 have been withdrawn from consideration. Claims 5 and 8 have been amended.
*Examiner Note: Claim language is bolded. Cited References are italicized. Examiner interpretations are preceded with an asterisk *.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed June 19, 2026 have been fully considered but they are moot because the amendments made have presented a combination of elements directed towards newly added elements that have necessitated new grounds of rejection as outlined below.
Response to Amendment
Regarding the previous rejections, the amendments made to the claims fail to overcome the prior art and have necessitated new grounds of rejection as outlined below. While the new ground of rejection may rely on some of the previous references applied in the prior rejection of record, new additional references have been added to the combination and introduced for Applicant’s consideration given the amended independent claims. The new grounds of rejection are outlined below.
Claim Objections
Claim 8 is objected to because of the following informalities: The phrase “as a result of receiving its at the” appears to contain a typographical error. Perhaps Applicant intended to use – as a result of receiving at the – instead. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 5-6 and 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2017/0060130A) in view of Rusciolelli (US 2017/0316692 A1) in view of Bordelon (US 2019/182620).
Regarding amended claim 5, Kim discloses one or more vehicles (Fig. 7, 100_1, 100_2) and
see at least para. [0219] of Kim which discloses “The first autonomous vehicle 100_1 … a second autonomous vehicle 100_2”) wherein each vehicle is equipped with a Bluetooth module (see at least para. [0216] of Kim which discloses “Bluetooth module for receiving the corresponding response signal may be installed at each of front, back, right, and left positions of the autonomous vehicle 100”) installed on the vehicle and configured to send and receive signals from other Bluetooth modules (see at least para. [0219] of Kim which discloses “The first autonomous vehicle 100_1 may receive, from a fixed type beacon terminal 3000, location and speed information of a third pedestrian 730 positioned outside the communication network of the first autonomous vehicle 100_1, and receive location and speed information of a fourth pedestrian 740 from a mobile beacon terminal 300_2 installed in a second autonomous vehicle 100_2”); a processor (see at least para. [0092] of Kim which discloses “The control unit 180 may be implemented in a hardware type by using at least one of application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, and other electrical units for executing functions”) connected to each vehicle, wherein each processor is configured to control operation of its respective vehicle (see at least para. [0091] of Kim which discloses “The control unit 180 may control a general operation of each unit (or device) within the vehicle 100. The control unit 180 may be called an engine control unit (ECU)”) and communicate with its respective Bluetooth module (see at least para. [0192] of Kim which discloses “The predetermined short-range wireless communication may be Bluetooth communication” and see at least para. [0237] of Kim which discloses “The controller 280 may activate Bluetooth low energy (BLE) communication to enter a beacon reception mode in response to occurrence of a specific event, a user command, and/or the like (S1110)”, *Kim discloses a processor (control unit 180) that controls operation of the vehicle 100 and communicates with Bluetooth modules installed on the vehicle via Bluetooth/BLE short-range communication); and wherein each processor is further configured to shut down its respective vehicle (see at least para. [0230] of Kim which discloses “When the determined level of an emergency mode is the third emergency mode (S650), the control unit 180 may immediately stop the driving of the vehicle (S665)”, *Kim teaches that when an emergency condition is detected, the control unit immediately stops the driving of the vehicle, which corresponds to shutting down the vehicle) as a result of receiving at the vehicle’s Bluetooth module a signal transmitted by a Bluetooth module (see at least para. [0216] of Kim which disclose “The control unit 180 may receive a response signal corresponding to the beacon signal from the mobile terminal(s) 200 of surrounding pedestrian(s) (S635) (or nearby pedestrian). The response signal may include identification information of the mobile terminal 200, location and speed information of pedestrians, pedestrian group information, and so on. In order to prevent locations of pedestrians from being missed, at least one Bluetooth module for receiving the corresponding response signal may be installed at each of front, back, right, and left positions of the autonomous vehicle”), the signal indicative of a field user physically present in the work area in a vicinity of the vehicle (see at least para. [0216] of Kim which disclose “The control unit 180 may receive a response signal corresponding to the beacon signal from the mobile terminal(s) 200 of surrounding pedestrian(s) (S635) (or nearby pedestrian)”, *Examiner interprets the pedestrian to be a field user and see at least para. [0219] of Kim which discloses “The first autonomous vehicle 100_1 may receive, from a fixed type beacon terminal 3000, location and speed information of a third pedestrian 730 positioned outside the communication network of the first autonomous vehicle 100_1, and receive location and speed information of a fourth pedestrian 740 from a mobile beacon terminal 300_2 installed in a second autonomous vehicle 100_2”).
Kim may not explicitly disclose operation control by executing a mission plan for a work
operation in the work area.
However, Rusciolelli discloses operation control by executing a mission plan (see at least
para. [0036] of Rusciolelli which discloses “the mission plan for the vehicles 10, receive progress information from the vehicles 10, monitor for event conditions, which may be reported by the vehicles 10, and provide revised mission plans for the vehicles 10”) for a work operation in the work area (Fig. 3, 50 and see at least para. [0031] of Rusciolelli which discloses “an exemplar mission plan for execution in an agricultural field 50 using multiple vehicles 10”, *Examiner interprets the agricultural field 50 to be the work area).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date
of the claimed invention to modify the operation control of Kim to include executing a mission plan for a work operation in the work area, as taught in Rusciolelli with a reasonable expectation of success in order to facilitate the vehicle’s performance of a planned work task along a predetermined route in the work area while coordinating vehicle operation and responding to detected safety events to improve operation efficiency and reducing the risk of collisions between vehicles and workers/individuals. See para. [0008] of Rusciolelli for motivation.
Kim, as modified by Rusciolelli, may not explicitly disclose a device that is not a recognized
Bluetooth module belonging to the vehicle or another of the one or more vehicles.
However, Bordelon discloses comparing an identifier of an incoming Bluetooth enabled
device against a stored list of previously associated/known device identifiers to determine a device that is not a recognized Bluetooth module (see at least para. [0037] of Bordelon which discloses “an application running on the user equipment will alert the user that a beacon is detected. In the example of FIG. 5, the beacon carries a universally unique identifier that is not previously in the list of construction vehicles being tracked”) see at least claim 12 of Bordelon which discloses “determining whether the received unique identification code corresponds to a known construction vehicle; responsive to determining the received unique identification code does not correspond to a known construction vehicle, prompting a user for an input”), the recognized identifier belonging to the vehicle or another of the one or more vehicles (see at least para. [0007] of Bordelon which discloses “a construction vehicle tracking system includes a Bluetooth beacon mounted on a construction vehicle” and see at least para. [0033] of Bordelon which discloses “Unattended Bluetooth Receivers such as 310 can be installed in equipment that remains on a job site, for example in an excavator or paver … As other vehicles carrying a Bluetooth beacon come into that portion of the job site and in range of the Unattended Bluetooth Receiver, the UUIDs received are forwarded by the antenna to the Cloud Data Platform” and see at least claim 12 of Bordelon which describes “a known construction vehicle”. *Bordelon discloses a Bluetooth beacon mounted on and uniquely associated with each tracked construction vehicle such that a recognized identifier on the known device list corresponds to another tracked vehicle. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would recognize Kim’s vehicle mounted Bluetooth receiver, which is configured to receive external response signals from pedestrians’ mobile terminals and other vehicles’ beacon terminals (see para. [0216] and [0219] of Kim), would be configured to distinguish those external signals from the vehicle’s own transmissions as a basic matter of Bluetooth/RF receiver design, such that a vehicle’s own signal would not be treated as an external response signal requiring evaluation, i.e. it would be ignored.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date
of the claimed invention to modify the system of Kim, as modified by Rusciolelli, to incorporate Bordelon’s known identifier comparison technique, so as to distinguish a Bluetooth module that is not a recognized module belonging to the vehicle or another of the one or more vehicles with a reasonable expectation of success such that Kim’s shutdown response (see at least para. [0230]) is triggered specifically when the received signal originates from a device that is not on the known device list while a signal from the vehicle’s own module or another known fleet vehicle (see Bordelon’s known construction vehicle description) is disregarded and does not trigger a shutdown. This will allow Kim’s system to distinguish between a trusted fleet vehicle communication and an actual unknown person safety trigger to improve the reliability of the shutdown function. See para. [0037] and claim 12 of Bordelon for motivation.
Regarding claim 6, Kim, as modified by Rusciolelli and Bordelon discloses wherein the one
or more vehicles is autonomous (see at least para. [0213] of Kim which discloses “the autonomous vehicle 100”).
Regarding amended claim 8, Kim discloses operating one or more vehicles (Fig. 7, 100_1,
100_2) and see at least para. [0219] of Kim which discloses “The first autonomous vehicle 100_1 … a second autonomous vehicle 100_2”) in the work area (Fig. 7 illustrates vehicles 100-1 and 100-2 and see at least para. [0217] of Kim which discloses one or more vehicles “in a predetermined area”, *Examiner interprets this predetermined area to be a work area), wherein each vehicle is equipped with a vehicle Bluetooth module (see at least para. [0216] of Kim which discloses “Bluetooth module for receiving the corresponding response signal may be installed at each of front, back, right, and left positions of the autonomous vehicle 100”) installed on the vehicle and configured to send and receive signals from other Bluetooth modules (see at least para. [0219] of Kim which discloses “The first autonomous vehicle 100_1 may receive, from a fixed type beacon terminal 3000, location and speed information of a third pedestrian 730 positioned outside the communication network of the first autonomous vehicle 100_1, and receive location and speed information of a fourth pedestrian 740 from a mobile beacon terminal 300_2 installed in a second autonomous vehicle 100_2”), and each vehicle is equipped (Fig. 3 illustrates vehicle 100 equipped with control unit 180 that includes a processor) with a processor (see at least para. [0092] of Kim which discloses “The control unit 180 may be implemented in a hardware type by using at least one of application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, and other electrical units for executing functions”) configured to control operation of its respective vehicle (see at least para. [0091] of Kim which discloses “The control unit 180 may control a general operation of each unit (or device) within the vehicle 100. The control unit 180 may be called an engine control unit (ECU)”) and communicate with its respective vehicle Bluetooth module (see at least para. [0192] of Kim which discloses “The predetermined short-range wireless communication may be Bluetooth communication” and see at least para. [0237] of Kim which discloses “The controller 280 may activate Bluetooth low energy (BLE) communication to enter a beacon reception mode in response to occurrence of a specific event, a user command, and/or the like (S1110)”, *Kim discloses a processor (control unit 180) that controls operation of the vehicle 100 and communicates with Bluetooth modules installed on the vehicle via Bluetooth/BLE short-range communication); and shutting down the one or more vehicles (see at least para. [0230] of Kim which discloses “When the determined level of an emergency mode is the third emergency mode (S650), the control unit 180 may immediately stop the driving of the vehicle (S665)”, *Kim teaches that when an emergency condition is detected, the control unit immediately stops the driving of the vehicle, which corresponds to shutting down the vehicle) as a result of receiving at the one or more vehicle’s Bluetooth module (see at least para. [0216] of Kim which disclose “The control unit 180 may receive a response signal corresponding to the beacon signal from the mobile terminal(s) 200 of surrounding pedestrian(s) (S635) (or nearby pedestrian). The response signal may include identification information of the mobile terminal 200, location and speed information of pedestrians, pedestrian group information, and so on. In order to prevent locations of pedestrians from being missed, at least one Bluetooth module for receiving the corresponding response signal may be installed at each of front, back, right, and left positions of the autonomous vehicle”) a signal transmitted (see at least para. [0252] of Kim which discloses “a beacon signal transmitted”) by a Bluetooth module, the signal indicative of an unknown device in a vicinity of the vehicle (see at least para. [0216] of Kim which disclose “The control unit 180 may receive a response signal corresponding to the beacon signal from the mobile terminal(s) 200 of surrounding pedestrian(s) (S635) (or nearby pedestrian)” and see at least para. [0219] of Kim which discloses “The first autonomous vehicle 100_1 may receive, from a fixed type beacon terminal 3000, location and speed information of a third pedestrian 730 positioned outside the communication network of the first autonomous vehicle 100_1, and receive location and speed information of a fourth pedestrian 740 from a mobile beacon terminal 300_2 installed in a second autonomous vehicle 100_2”).
Kim may not explicitly disclose operation control by executing a mission plan for a work
operation in the work area.
However, Rusciolelli discloses operation control by executing a mission plan (see at least
para. [0036] of Rusciolelli which discloses “the mission plan for the vehicles 10, receive progress information from the vehicles 10, monitor for event conditions, which may be reported by the vehicles 10, and provide revised mission plans for the vehicles 10”) for a work operation in the work area (Fig. 3, 50 and see at least para. [0031] of Rusciolelli which discloses “an exemplar mission plan for execution in an agricultural field 50 using multiple vehicles 10”, *Examiner interprets the agricultural field 50 to be the work area).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date
of the claimed invention to modify the operation control of Kim to include executing a mission plan for a work operation in the work area, as taught in Rusciolelli with a reasonable expectation of success in order to facilitate the vehicle’s performance of a planned work task along a predetermined route in the work area while coordinating vehicle operation and responding to detected safety events to improve operation efficiency and reducing the risk of collisions between vehicles and workers/individuals. See para. [0008] of Rusciolelli for motivation.
Kim, as modified by Rusciolelli, may not explicitly disclose scanning for Bluetooth signals
transmitted by one or more other Bluetooth modules and a device that is not a recognized Bluetooth module belonging to the vehicle or another of the one or more vehicles.
However, Bordelon discloses scanning for Bluetooth signals transmitted by one or more
other Bluetooth modules (see at least para. [0041] of Bordelon which discloses “The Unattended Bluetooth Receiver will wait until a Bluetooth beacon is within range as indicated by receipt of a Bluetooth beacon signal. If no beacon is in range, the method continues in loop that begins at 701. Once a Bluetooth signal from a beacon is received, as indicated by the “yes” branch from decision block 701, the method 700 transitions to step 703”) and comparing an identifier of an incoming Bluetooth enabled device against a stored list of previously associated/known device identifiers to determine a device that is not a recognized Bluetooth module (see at least para. [0037] of Bordelon which discloses “an application running on the user equipment will alert the user that a beacon is detected. In the example of FIG. 5, the beacon carries a universally unique identifier that is not previously in the list of construction vehicles being tracked”) see at least claim 12 of Bordelon which discloses “determining whether the received unique identification code corresponds to a known construction vehicle; responsive to determining the received unique identification code does not correspond to a known construction vehicle, prompting a user for an input”), the recognized identifier belonging to the vehicle or another of the one or more vehicles (see at least para. [0007] of Bordelon which discloses “a construction vehicle tracking system includes a Bluetooth beacon mounted on a construction vehicle” and see at least para. [0033] of Bordelon which discloses “Unattended Bluetooth Receivers such as 310 can be installed in equipment that remains on a job site, for example in an excavator or paver … As other vehicles carrying a Bluetooth beacon come into that portion of the job site and in range of the Unattended Bluetooth Receiver, the UUIDs received are forwarded by the antenna to the Cloud Data Platform” and see at least claim 12 of Bordelon which describes “a known construction vehicle”. *Bordelon discloses a Bluetooth beacon mounted on and uniquely associated with each tracked construction vehicle such that a recognized identifier on the known device list corresponds to another tracked vehicle. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would recognize Kim’s vehicle mounted Bluetooth receiver, which is configured to receive external response signals from pedestrians’ mobile terminals and other vehicles’ beacon terminals (see para. [0216] and [0219] of Kim), would be configured to distinguish those external signals from the vehicle’s own transmissions as a basic matter of Bluetooth/RF receiver design, such that a vehicle’s own signal would not be treated as an external response signal requiring evaluation, i.e. it would be ignored.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date
of the claimed invention to modify the system of Kim, as modified by Rusciolelli, to scan for Bluetooth signals transmitted by one or more other Bluetooth modules and to incorporate Bordelon’s known identifier comparison technique, so as to distinguish a Bluetooth module that is not a recognized module belonging to the vehicle or another of the one or more vehicles with a reasonable expectation of success such that Kim’s shutdown response (see at least para. [0230]) is triggered specifically when the received signal originates from a device that is not on the known device list while a signal from the vehicle’s own module or another known fleet vehicle (see Bordelon’s known construction vehicle description) is disregarded and does not trigger a shutdown. This will allow Kim’s system to distinguish between a trusted fleet vehicle communication and an actual unknown person safety trigger to improve the reliability of the shutdown function. See para. [0037] and claim 12 of Bordelon for motivation.
Regarding claim 9, Kim, as modified by Rusciolelli and Bordelon discloses herein the
plurality of vehicles is autonomous (see at least para. [0213] of Kim which discloses “the autonomous vehicle 100” and see Fig. 7, 100_1, 100_2) and see at least para. [0219] of Kim which discloses “The first autonomous vehicle 100_1 … a second autonomous vehicle 100_2”))
Claims 7 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2017/0060130A) in view of Rusciolelli (US 2017/0316692 A1) in view of Bordelon (US 2019/182620) and further in view of Tavares Countinho et al. (US 2018/0376357 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Kim, as modified by Rusciolelli and Bordelon discloses the one or more
vehicles (Fig. 7, 100_1, 100_2) and see at least para. [0219] of Kim which discloses “The first autonomous vehicle 100_1 … a second autonomous vehicle 100_2”).
Kim, as modified by Rusciolelli and Bordelon may not explicitly disclose wherein the one or
more vehicles is remotely controlled.
However, Tavares Coutinho et al. disclose wherein the one or more vehicles is remotely
controlled (see at least para. [0027] of Tavares Countinho et al. which discloses “autonomous and/or remote controlled vehicles”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date
of the claimed invention to modify the system of Kim, as modified by Rusciolelli and Bordelon, to include autonomous and remotely controlled vehicles as taught in Tavares Countinho with a reasonable expectation of success in order to facilitate effective communication and improve field safety. See para. [0027] of Tavares Countinho for motivation.
Regarding claim 10, Kim, as modified by Rusciolelli and Bordelon, discloses the one or more
vehicles (Fig. 7, 100_1, 100_2 and see at least para. [0219] of Kim which discloses “The first autonomous vehicle 100_1 … a second autonomous vehicle 100_2”).
Kim, as modified by Rusciolelli and Bordelon, may not explicitly disclose wherein the one or
more vehicles is remotely controlled.
However, Tavares Coutinho et al. disclose wherein the one or more vehicles is remotely
controlled (see at least para. [0027] of Tavares Countinho et al. which discloses “autonomous and/or remote controlled vehicles”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date
of the claimed invention to modify the system of Kim, as modified by Rusciolelli and Bordelon, to include autonomous and remotely controlled vehicles as taught in Tavares Countinho with a reasonable expectation of success in order to facilitate effective communication and improve field safety. See para. [0027] of Tavares Countinho for motivation.
Additional Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Foster et al. (US 9,952,596 B2) discloses a command and a control system suitable for issuing certain commands to the autonomous vehicle, and the autonomous vehicle may respond to the commands by autonomously actuating certain system (e.g., steering system, throttle system, transmission system) to drive around an operations area. Talty (US 2013/0017816A1) discloses a portable device 14 includes a transceiver 16, or transmitter and receiver, for transmitting and receiving signals. The portable device 14 includes Bluetooth wireless technology which allows for autonomous communications with other wireless devices. The portable device 14 utilizes conventional Bluetooth wireless technology and Bluetooth low energy (BLE) wireless technology. BLE consumes a very small portion of the power of conventional Bluetooth enabled devices and therefore is desirable for low power applications. Conventional Bluetooth may be referred to as Bluetooth high energy herein for the purposes of showing that the conventional Bluetooth operates at a higher power level relative to BLE.
Conclusion
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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/DANA D IVEY/Examiner, Art Unit 3662
/D.D.I/September 10, 2026
/JELANI A SMITH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3662
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