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 .
*Examiner Note: Claim language is bolded. Cited References are italicized. Examiner interpretations are preceded with an asterisk *.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/13/2025 has been entered. 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 Claims 1-4 and 11-12 have been withdrawn from consideration.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on December 13, 2025 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.
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 a previous reference 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 Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 2017/0060130A1) in view of Patterson (US 2018/0343561A1).
Regarding claim 5, Kim discloses A system for improving safety in a work area (see at least
para. [0217] of Kim which discloses “a predetermined area” and see at least para. [0187] of Kim which discloses a “crash prevention system using bidirectional wireless communication between an autonomous vehicle and pedestrians and an operating method thereof may be described” and see at least para. [0206] of Kim which discloses “a response method of the autonomous vehicle 100. That is, a first emergency mode (EmergencyMode 1) may be an operating mode for performing pedestrian tracking, a second emergency mode (EmergencyMode 2) may be an operating mode for performing evasive driving, and a third emergency mode (EmergencyMode 3) may be an operating mode for immediately stopping driving of a vehicle”) comprising: 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).
Kim does disclose 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).
Kim may not explicitly disclose the vehicle is shut down when a signal transmitted by an
unknown Bluetooth module, the signal indicative of an unknown device in a vicinity of the vehicle, is detected by the vehicle’s Bluetooth module.
However, Patterson addresses detection of unknown or unauthorized wireless devices that
may pose a safety or security risk, and such detection would have been recognized as relevant to vehicle safety systems like Kim’s. In this connection, Patterson discloses when a signal transmitted (see at least para. [0080] of Patterson which discloses “the tracking system 100 communicates with one or more community mobile devices 104 of other users 105 to detect wireless signals from the authorized tracking device of the user 103, and wireless signals from the unauthorized tracking device” and see at least para. [0072] of Patterson which discloses “a wireless device that is both unauthorized and exhibiting communication signal or connection characteristics that indicate the wireless device is tracking the user. The identification may be based on user input (e.g., device authorization based on registration) and/or programmatic analysis of communication signals between the mobile device 102 and the detected wireless devices”, *The communication signals between the device 102 and the detected wireless devices correspond to transmitted signals. Also, Patterson’s wireless communication (i.e., short-range device-to-device communication) reasonably includes Bluetooth communication, which is a well-known short range wireless protocol used for detecting nearby devices) by an unknown Bluetooth module (see at least para. [0064] of Patterson which discloses “one or more unauthorized devices 602 and one or more authorized devices 604. When an unknown device is detected by the mobile device 102 via the second network, the unknown device may be classified into one of the classes of devices 602-614. Examples of an unauthorized device 602 may include an unauthorized tracking device 606 or other unauthorized (non-tracking) wireless device 608. An authorized device 604 may include an owner tracking device 610, a shared tracking device 612, or other authorized (non-tracking) wireless device 614”, *A device that is not recognized or not associated with stored identifiers corresponds to an unknown Bluetooth Module” under the broadest reasonable interpretation), the signal indicative of an unknown device in a vicinity (see at least para. [0086] of Patterson which discloses “communication signals between the unknown device and the mobile device 102 over time. The tracking data represents the connection behavior of the unknown device with respect to the mobile device 102. The mobile device 102 may be configured to communicate with nearby wireless device over time”), is detected by the Bluetooth module (see at least para. [0087] of Patterson which discloses “a tracking device value for the unknown device based on the tracking data. The tracking device value refers to a measure of likelihood that the unknown device is behaving like a tracking device 106. The tracking device value may be used as criteria for triggering various unknown device handling tasks. These tasks may include sending warnings or notifications to the mobile device 102 regarding an unknown device, and allowing the user to classify the unknown device as an authorized device or unauthorized device”, *Patterson teaches using a detected wireless signal as indicative that a nearby wireless/Bluetooth device is an unknown (unauthorized) device).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date
of the claimed invention to incorporate Patterson’s unknown-device detection logic into Kim’s Bluetooth-equipped autonomous vehicle system such that, when the vehicle’s Bluetooth module detects a wireless/Bluetooth signal from a nearby device whose communication signals indicate it is an unknown/unauthorized device as in Patterson, such that detection of a wireless signal from a device determined to be unknown or unauthorized is treated as a hazardous condition, which Kim teaches triggers an emergency mode resulting in stopping the vehicle, thereby configuring each processor to shut down its respective vehicle when a signal transmitted by an unknown Bluetooth module, indicative of an unknown device in the vicinity of the vehicle is detected by the vehicle’s ‘Bluetooth module with a reasonable expectation of success in order to automatically detect and respond to potentially unauthorized or unknown wireless devices in the vicinity of the vehicle, thereby further improving safety by triggering Kim’s emergency vehicle stop when a nearby device exhibits unknown/unauthorized tracking behavior as identified from its wireless signals. See para. [0087] of Patterson for motivation.
Regarding claim 6, Kim, as modified by Patterson, discloses wherein the one or more
vehicles is autonomous (see at least para. [0213] of Kim which discloses “the autonomous vehicle 100”).
Regarding claim 8, Kim discloses A method for improving safety in a work area (see at least
para. [0217] of Kim which discloses “a predetermined area” and see at least para. [0187] of Kim which discloses a “crash prevention system using bidirectional wireless communication between an autonomous vehicle and pedestrians and an operating method thereof may be described” and see at least para. [0206] of Kim which discloses “a response method of the autonomous vehicle 100. That is, a first emergency mode (EmergencyMode 1) may be an operating mode for performing pedestrian tracking, a second emergency mode (EmergencyMode 2) may be an operating mode for performing evasive driving, and a third emergency mode (EmergencyMode 3) may be an operating mode for immediately stopping driving of a vehicle”) comprising: 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, 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 control operation of its respective vehicle and 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 (see at least para. [0039] of Kim which discloses “the vehicle 100 may include a communication unit 110, an input unit 120, a sensing unit 130, an output unit 140, a vehicle driving unit 150, a memory 160, an interface unit 170, a control unit 180 (or controller“, *Examiner interpret that since the control unit includes a processor, then each vehicle will be equipped with a processor, as discussed below) 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 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).
Kim does disclose 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).
Kim may not explicitly disclose scanning for Bluetooth signals transmitted by one or more
other Bluetooth modules; and shutting down the one or more vehicles when its associated vehicle Bluetooth module receives a signal transmitted by an unknown Bluetooth module, the signal indicative of an unknown device in a vicinity of the vehicle.
However, Patterson addresses detection of unknown or unauthorized wireless devices that
may pose a safety or security risk, and such detection would have been recognized as relevant to vehicle safety systems like Kim’s. In this connection, Patterson discloses scanning (see at least para. [0050] of Patterson which discloses “scanning for nearby tracking devices 106. In some configurations, the tracking device manager 404 can continuously or periodically scan (e.g., once per second) for nearby tracking devices 106”) for Bluetooth signals transmitted (see at least para. [0080] of Patterson which discloses “the tracking system 100 communicates with one or more community mobile devices 104 of other users 105 to detect wireless signals from the authorized tracking device of the user 103, and wireless signals from the unauthorized tracking device” and see at least para. [0072] of Patterson which discloses “a wireless device that is both unauthorized and exhibiting communication signal or connection characteristics that indicate the wireless device is tracking the user. The identification may be based on user input (e.g., device authorization based on registration) and/or programmatic analysis of communication signals between the mobile device 102 and the detected wireless devices”, *The communication signals between the device 102 and the detected wireless devices correspond to transmitted signals. Also, Patterson’s wireless communication (i.e., short-range device-to-device communication) reasonably includes Bluetooth communication, which is a well-known short range wireless protocol used for detecting nearby devices) by one or more other Bluetooth modules (see at least para. [0064] of Patterson which discloses “one or more unauthorized devices 602 and one or more authorized devices 604. When an unknown device is detected by the mobile device 102 via the second network, the unknown device may be classified into one of the classes of devices 602-614. Examples of an unauthorized device 602 may include an unauthorized tracking device 606 or other unauthorized (non-tracking) wireless device 608. An authorized device 604 may include an owner tracking device 610, a shared tracking device 612, or other authorized (non-tracking) wireless device 614”); and when its associated vehicle Bluetooth module (see at least para. [0047] of Patterson which discloses “a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) manager”) receives a signal (see at least para. [0025] of Patterson which discloses “if one of the community mobile devices 104 detects a communication from the tracking device 106 (e.g., if the community mobile device 104 is within range or moves within range of the communication capabilities of the tracking device 106 and receives a communication signal from the tracking device 106 including or associated with the unique identifier associated with the tracking device”) transmitted (see at least para. [0027] of Patterson which discloses “a transmitter for broadcasting a beacon. In one configuration, the tracking device 106 may periodically transmit a beacon signal that may be detected”) by an unknown Bluetooth module (see at least para. [0064] of Patterson which discloses “one or more unauthorized devices 602 and one or more authorized devices 604. When an unknown device is detected by the mobile device 102 via the second network, the unknown device may be classified into one of the classes of devices 602-614. Examples of an unauthorized device 602 may include an unauthorized tracking device 606 or other unauthorized (non-tracking) wireless device 608. An authorized device 604 may include an owner tracking device 610, a shared tracking device 612, or other authorized (non-tracking) wireless device 614”, *A device that is not recognized or not associated with stored identifiers corresponds to an unknown Bluetooth Module” under the broadest reasonable interpretation), the signal indicative of an unknown device in a vicinity (see at least para. [0086] of Patterson which discloses “communication signals between the unknown device and the mobile device 102 over time. The tracking data represents the connection behavior of the unknown device with respect to the mobile device 102. The mobile device 102 may be configured to communicate with nearby wireless device over time”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date
of the claimed invention to incorporate Patterson’s unknown-device detection logic into Kim’s Bluetooth-equipped autonomous vehicle system such that, when the vehicle’s Bluetooth module detects a wireless/Bluetooth signal from a nearby device whose communication signals indicate it is an unknown/unauthorized device as in Patterson, such that detection of a wireless signal from a device determined to be unknown or unauthorized is treated as a hazardous condition, which Kim teaches triggers an emergency mode resulting in stopping the vehicle, thereby configuring each processor to shut down its respective vehicle when a signal transmitted by an unknown Bluetooth module, indicative of an unknown device in the vicinity of the vehicle is detected by the vehicle’s Bluetooth module with a reasonable expectation of success in order to automatically detect and respond to potentially unauthorized or unknown wireless devices in the vicinity of the vehicle, thereby further improving safety by triggering Kim’s emergency vehicle stop when a nearby device exhibits unknown/unauthorized tracking behavior as identified from its wireless signals. See para. [0087] of Patterson for motivation.
Regarding claim 9, Kim, as modified by Patterson 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 2017/0060130A1) in view of Patterson (US 2018/0343561A1) and further in view of Tavares Countinho et al. (US 2018/0376357 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Kim, as modified by Patterson, 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 Patterson, 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 Patterson, 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 Patterson, 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 Patterson, 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 Patterson, 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 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. Rusciolelli et al. (US 10,152,891 B2) disclose a an autonomous vehicle that has a mission plan that provides the paths for each of the vehicles and/or other equipment to travel while performing particular agricultural operations in the field.
Conclusion
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/DANA D IVEY/Examiner, Art Unit 3662 March 21, 2026
/JELANI A SMITH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3662