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 . 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.
DETAILED ACTION
The following FINAL Office Action is in response to communication filed on 06/24/2025.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Status of Claims
Claims 1, 4-8, 10, 13-15, 17, 20 are currently pending of which:
Claims 1, 4-7, 10, 13-15, 17, 20 are amended.
Claims 1, 4-8, 10, 13-15, 17, 20 are currently under examination and have been rejected as follows.
IDS
The information disclosure statements filed on 06/30/2023 and 12/20/2024 comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609 and is considered by the Examiner.
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Response to Amendments
The previously pending rejection under 35 USC 101 has been reviewed in light of the amendments submitted by applicant 6/24/2025. After further examination, the rejection under 35 USC 101 is withdrawn.
The previously pending rejection under 35 USC 102 is withdrawn.
New grounds for rejection under 35 USC 103 are applied.
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Response to Arguments
Regarding Applicant’s remarks pertaining to 35 USC 101:
After further examination in light of the amendments, the rejection under 35 USC 101 is withdrawn.
Regarding Applicant’s remarks pertaining to 35 USC 102/103:
Applicant submits on p. 13 of remarks 6/24/2025: “Escapa fails to disclose the parts mentioned above, namely "when it is determined that the first equipment in the facility at the destination location of the first user is under maintenance and thus the first equipment is not usable, making a first user's terminal used by the first user display information indicating that the first equipment is not usable and information to allow the first user to select whether or not to continue accepting a request for a ride on the on-demand bus; receiving, from the first user's terminal, information indicating a continuation of accepting the request for the ride on the on-demand bus, the continuation being selected by the first user, as a response to displaying the information to allow the first user to select whether or not to continue accepting the request for the ride; in response to receiving the information indicating the continuation of accepting the request for the ride on the on-demand bus, determining at least one candidate location for the first pick-up and drop-off location based on the starting location and the destination location". (Underline is added for emphasis.) In this manner, at least one claimed element is not present in the asserted combination of references (i.e., Ho, Jia, Oh and Escapa).
Examiner respectfully disagrees. The above references in combination teach or suggest the claims as amended and emphasized by Applicant above, particularly in view of Jia et al. US 20210272463 A1 hereinafter Jia, and Oh US 20190178677 A1 hereinafter Oh, specfically:
making a first user's terminal used by the first user display information indicating that the first equipment is not usable (See Oh ¶ [0009, 0010]) and information to allow the first user to select whether or not to continue accepting a request for a ride on the on-demand bus (See Jia ¶ [0103]:);
receiving, from the first user's terminal, information indicating a continuation of accepting the request for the ride on the on-demand bus, the continuation being selected by the first user, as a response to displaying the information to allow the first user to select whether or not to continue accepting the request for the ride (See Jia ¶ [0103]);
in response to receiving the information indicating the continuation of accepting the request for the ride on the on-demand bus (See Jia ¶ [0059]).
See updated rejections based on 35 USC 103 below for additional details regarding the above and other amendments to the claims.
Thus, the previously pending rejection under 35 USC 102 is withdrawn and new grounds for rejection under 35 USC 103 are applied.
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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 of this title, 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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 1, 4-5, 7, 10, 13-15, 17, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over:
Ho, William P.C. WO 2019136472 A1 hereinafter Ho in view of
Jia et al. US 20210272463 A1 hereinafter Jia,
Oh US 20190178677 A1 hereinafter Oh, and
Escapa et al. US 20190354910 A1 hereinafter Escapa. As per,
Claims 1, 17: Ho teaches:
An information processing apparatus comprising a controller including at least one processor, the controller being configured to create an operation plan for an on-demand bus (claim 1) / An information processing method comprising creating, by a computer, an operation plan for an on-demand bus (claim 17) (Ho ¶ [0019]: the disclosed technology relates to scheduling systems and in particular to systems for producing route schedules that service user requested trips. Although the technology is described with respect to paratransit requested trips, it will be appreciated that the technology is applicable to any type of scheduling system in which individual trips or shipments are combined on a common carrier. Such trips could be for ridesharing or package/food delivery etc.)
in which a stop time length at a first pick-up and drop-off location at which a first user in a wheelchair is to be picked up or dropped off is set longer than a stop time length at a second pick-up and drop-off location at which a user other than the first user is to be picked up or dropped off (See the scoring algorithm for determining the order of routes in Ho ¶ [0049] which accounts for a wheel chair passenger in Trip 101 and only ambulatory passengers in Trip 202 along with further explanation in ¶ [0050-0055]. Specifically, in ¶ [0054]: "Driving past my stop" - Suppose the above scenario does not make the ride for Trip 101 Client(s) too long. Nevertheless, unloading Trip 101 Client(s) at their destination would take 5 minutes of time to unload [due to the wheelchair passenger]. This would cause the pick for Trip 879 to be late, so route goes to pick up Trip 879 Client(s) without stopping first. ¶ [0020]: In a paratransit system, users request rides from a pickup location to a drop off location within a certain time window. The users may indicate that they will be travelling with a guest or helper and that they may have special needs such as needing a wheel chair etc. It is the job of the scheduling system to develop routes for a fleet of vehicles that can service the requested trips in an efficient manner so that each (or most) of the trips will be completed with certain quality parameters. ¶ [0024]: …Data for a trip request generally include a requested pickup time and a requested drop off time, a pickup location and a drop off location, the number of riders to go on the trip, any special needs of a rider (e.g. wheelchair needed or special medical needs). Other trip attributes that are determined for the requested trip are its distance and expected travel time. [Also see ¶ [0070]),
[..]
wherein the controller is configured to execute the following processing, when determining the first pick-up and drop-off location:
obtaining information on a starting location and a destination location of the first user (Ho ¶ [0020]: In a paratransit system, users request rides from a pickup location to a drop off location within a certain time window);
[..]
and
in response to receiving the information indicating the continuation of accepting the request for the ride on the on-demand bus, determining at least one candidate location for the first pick-up and drop-off location based on the starting location and the destination location (Ho ¶ [0034]: …trips that could possibly be grouped together are identified by trip requests that begin within a predefined geographic radius of each trip and are headed in the same general direction. This is called "common pick" [pick-up location] as shown in Figure 1. The trip requests in each of the clusters are then analyzed to determine if they can be included in single packet. ¶ [0035]: …identifying trips that could possibly by grouped together involves identifying trips with a drop location that is within a predefined radius of a drop location of a seed trip and that arrive from the same general direction (usually 180 degrees from a trip's travel direction). This is referred to as a "common drop" [drop-off location] and is shown in Figure 2. Clusters of trips are then analyzed to determine which trips can be combined in single packet);
making the first user's terminal display first information related to the at least one candidate location and information to allow the first user to select one of the at least one candidate location (Ho ¶ [0034]: To provide for interaction with a user, embodiments of the subject matter described in this specification can be implemented on a computer having a display device, e.g., an LCD (liquid crystal display), LED (light emitting diode), or OLEO (organic light emitting diode) monitor, for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing device, e.g., a mouse or a trackball, by which the user can provide input to the computer. In some implementations, a touch screen can be used to display information and to receive input from a user);
[..]
wherein the controller is further configured to:
transmit a command to travel according to the created operation plan to a terminal provided on the on-demand bus, the created operation plan including the first pick-up and dropoff
location and the stop time length at the first pick-up and drop-off location [..] (Ho ¶ [0020]: In a paratransit system, users request rides from a pickup location to a drop off location within a certain time window. The users may indicate that they will be travelling with a guest or helper and that they may have special needs such as needing a wheel chair etc. It is the job of the scheduling system to develop routes for a fleet of vehicles that can service the requested trips in an efficient manner so that each (or most) of the trips will be completed with certain quality parameters. ¶ [0024]: …Data for a trip request generally include a requested pickup time and a requested drop off time, a pickup location and a drop off location, the number of riders to go on the trip, any special needs of a rider (e.g. wheelchair needed or special medical needs). Other trip attributes that are determined for the requested trip are its distance and expected travel time).
Although Ho teaches an on-demand vehicle and producing route schedules based on passenger input, Ho does not explicitly teach the on-demand vehicle being autonomous, allowing the user seeking transportation to select a common pick-up or drop-off location from the list of candidates, or allowing the user to continue confirming selection after presentation of additional information.
However, Jia in analogous art of managing ride share travel plans based on passenger information further teaches or suggests:
the on-demand bus being a vehicle that travels autonomously by autonomous driving (Jia ¶ [0026]: According to the boarding / alighting point determination method in one or more embodiments of the present invention, the vehicle has an autonomous travel function. By calculating the common point, it is possible to reduce the number of points at which the autonomously traveling vehicle makes stops to allow the users to board / alight, thus reducing the trip time. The autonomous traveling is performed on the basis of the vehicle allocation plan in which the predetermined points are defined to allow the users to board / alight, and human errors do not occur, such as the vehicle passing through the predetermined point without noticing the stop point); and
[..]
[..] making a first user's terminal used by the first user display [..] information to allow the first user to select whether or not to continue accepting a request for a ride on the on-demand bus (Jia ¶ [0103]: Referring again to FIG . 3 , in step 106 , the processor 10 presents the calculated common point to each user using the user terminal apparatus 300. A single common point may be presented or a plurality of common points may also be presented. In step 107, the processor 10 makes an inquiry to the user about the user's acceptance of the common point via the user terminal apparatus 300. The processor 10 controls the user terminal apparatus 300 to output a message for confirming the user's intention, such as «Do you accept boarding at the common point?», «Do you accept alighting at the common point?», or «Do you fix the reservation?»… the processor 10 controls the user terminal apparatus 300 to output a message for confirming the user's selection intention and usage intention, such as «There is a plurality of boarding point candidates. Please specify the boarding point» or «There is a plurality of alighting point candidates. Please specify the alighting point»);
receiving, from the first user's terminal, information indicating a continuation of accepting the request for the ride on the on-demand bus, the continuation being selected by the first user, as a response to displaying the information to allow the first user to select whether or not to continue accepting the request for the ride (Jia mid-¶ [0103]: The user terminal apparatus 300 receives the input of an acceptance instruction for the common point. The acceptance instruction includes an input command for selecting one common point from among a plurality of common points. In this case);
receiving, from the first user's terminal, information on the candidate location selected by
the first user as a response to displaying the information to allow the first user to select one of the
at least one candidate location; and in response to receiving the information on the candidate location, determining the candidate location selected by the first user as the first pick-up and drop-off location (Jia ¶ [0059]: Referring again to FIG . 3 , in step 106 , the processor 10 presents the calculated common point to each user using the user terminal apparatus 300. A single common point may be presented or a plurality of common points may also be presented. In step 107, the processor 10 makes an inquiry to the user about the user's acceptance of the common point via the user terminal apparatus 300. The processor 10 controls the user terminal apparatus 300 to output a message for confirming the user's intention, such as «Do you accept boarding at the common point?», «Do you accept alighting at the common point?», or «Do you fix the reservation?». The user terminal apparatus 300 receives the input of an acceptance instruction for the common point. The acceptance instruction includes an input command for selecting one common point from among a plurality of common points. In this case, the processor 10 controls the user terminal apparatus 300 to output a message for confirming the user's selection intention and usage intention, such as «There is a plurality of boarding point candidates. Please specify the boarding point» or «There is a plurality of alighting point candidates. Please specify the alighting point),
[..] to make the on-demand bus travel autonomously according to the operation plan (Jia ¶ [0026]: According to the boarding / alighting point determination method in one or more embodiments of the present invention, the vehicle has an autonomous travel function. By calculating the common point, it is possible to reduce the number of points at which the autonomously traveling vehicle makes stops to allow the users to board / alight, thus reducing the trip time. The autonomous traveling is performed on the basis of the vehicle allocation plan in which the predetermined points are defined to allow the users to board / alight, and human errors do not occur, such as the vehicle passing through the predetermined point without noticing the stop point).
Jia is found as analogous art to managing ride share travel plans based on passenger information. It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have modified Ho’s method and apparatus for route planning to have included Jia’s teachings around allowing the user seeking transportation to select a common pick-up or drop-off location from the list of candidates. The benefit of these additional features would have decreased overall trip times improving passenger travel efficiency to and from pick-up and drop-off locations (Jia ¶ [0003-0004]). The predictability of such modifications and/or variations, would have been corroborated by the broad level of skill of one of ordinary skills in the art (see MPEP 2143 G).
Further, the claimed invention could have also been viewed as a mere combination of old elements in a similar field of endeavor of managing ride share travel plans based on passenger information. In such combination each element would have merely performed same organizational and managerial function as it did separately. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that, given existing technical ability to combine the elements, as evidenced by Ho in view of Jia above, the to- be combined elements would have fit together like pieces of a puzzle in a logical, complementary, technologically feasible and/or economically desirable manner. Thus, it would have been reasoned that the results of the combination would have been predictable (see MPEP 2143 A).
Although Ho / Jia in combination addresses the creation of travel plans accommodating passengers in wheelchairs, it fails to specifically teach the identification of facilities with wheelchair accommodation equipment.
However, Oh in analogous art to the instant application of navigation services for disabled persons teaches or suggests:
a memory storing information on whether or not each of a plurality of facilities located in
the operation area of the on-demand bus has a first equipment for a wheelchair (Oh ¶ [0009]: In one general aspect, there is provided a system for providing navigation service for disabled people, the system comprising: a navigation device (100) configured to receive navigation map information, comprising information about a path to an arbitrary destination and disabled facility Point Of Interest (POI) information [usable equipment information cited from ¶ [0010] below], from a service server (200), display the received navigation map information…. ¶ [0010]: The disabled facility POI (point of interest) information may include at least one of the following: information about a braille block on a road, information about a height of a curb, information about a building ramp, information about a toilet, and information about an elevator. [Also see Figs. 2, 3 and related text])
[..]
obtaining, from the memory, the information on whether or not a facility located at the destination location of the first user has the first equipment, the facility being a facility of the plurality of facilities (Oh ¶ [0009]: In one general aspect, there is provided a system for providing navigation service for disabled people, the system comprising: a navigation device (100) configured to receive navigation map information, comprising information about a path to an arbitrary destination and disabled facility Point Of Interest (POI) information [usable equipment information cited from ¶ [0010] below], from a service server (200), display the received navigation map information…. ¶ [0010]: The disabled facility POI (point of interest) information may include at least one of the following: information about a braille block on a road, information about a height of a curb, information about a building ramp, information about a toilet, and information about an elevator. [Also see Figs. 2, 3 and related text]), and
[..]
determining whether the first equipment is usable in the facility at the destination location
of the first user based on the information on whether or not the facility has the first equipment (Oh ¶ [0009]: In one general aspect, there is provided a system for providing navigation service for disabled people, the system comprising: a navigation device (100) configured to receive navigation map information, comprising information about a path to an arbitrary destination and disabled facility Point Of Interest (POI) information [usable equipment information cited from ¶ [0010] below], from a service server (200), display the received navigation map information…. ¶ [0010]: The disabled facility POI (point of interest) information may include at least one of the following: information about a braille block on a road, information about a height of a curb, information about a building ramp, information about a toilet, and information about an elevator. [Also see Figs. 2, 3 and related text])
[..]
Oh is found as analogous art to the instant application of navigation services for disabled persons. It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have modified Ho / Jia’s method and apparatus for route planning to have included Oh’s teachings around the identification of boarding and alighting areas with accommodations for wheelchairs. The benefit of these additional features would have enhanced navigation services for passengers in wheelchairs in identifying safe and convenient locations at and around boarding and alighting areas (Oh ¶ [0002-0007]). The predictability of such modifications and/or variations, would have been corroborated by the broad level of skill of one of ordinary skills in the art (see MPEP 2143 G).
Further, the claimed invention could have also been viewed as a mere combination of old elements in a similar field of endeavor of navigation services for disabled persons. In such combination each element would have merely performed same organizational and managerial function as it did separately. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that, given existing technical ability to combine the elements, as evidenced by Ho in view of Jia and Oh above, the to- be combined elements would have fit together like pieces of a puzzle in a logical, complementary, technologically feasible and/or economically desirable manner. Thus, it would have been reasoned that the results of the combination would have been predictable (see MPEP 2143 A).
Although Ho / Jia / Oh in combination establishes a ride share navigation service which identifies locations with wheelchair accommodation equipment, it falls short of specifying whether the equipment is in current working order.
However, Escapa in analogous art to the instant application of scheduling physical areas for users based on accommodations teaches or suggests”
and information related to maintenance of the first equipment in each of the facilities (Escapa ¶ [0092]: …the schedule analysis engine may also consider distances between rooms (e.g., in the case when one or more users have to travel from a first meeting to a second meeting), accessibility requirements of one or more users, fitness goals of one or more users, current working order of devices/equipment within a given space, current service requests associated with devices/equipment of a given room, or any other applicable factor. For instance, assume a first room that has great accessibility (e.g., wheelchair accessibility)…)
the information related to maintenance of the first equipment provided in the facility (Escapa ¶ [0092]: …the schedule analysis engine may also consider distances between rooms (e.g., in the case when one or more users have to travel from a first meeting to a second meeting), accessibility requirements of one or more users, fitness goals of one or more users, current working order of devices/equipment within a given space, current service requests associated with devices/equipment of a given room, or any other applicable factor. For instance, assume a first room that has great accessibility (e.g., wheelchair accessibility)…);
the information related to maintenance of the first equipment in the facility (Escapa ¶ [0092]: …the schedule analysis engine may also consider distances between rooms (e.g., in the case when one or more users have to travel from a first meeting to a second meeting), accessibility requirements of one or more users, fitness goals of one or more users, current working order of devices/equipment within a given space, current service requests associated with devices/equipment of a given room, or any other applicable factor. For instance, assume a first room that has great accessibility (e.g., wheelchair accessibility)…);
Escapa is found as analogous art to the instant application of scheduling physical areas for users based on accommodations. It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have modified Ho / Jia / Oh’s method and apparatus for route planning to have included Escapa’s teachings around identifying locations with information about working order of wheelchair accommodation equipment. The benefit of these additional features would have efficiently connected users with information on properties of specific areas when making plans (Escapa ¶ [0004]). The predictability of such modifications and/or variations, would have been corroborated by the broad level of skill of one of ordinary skills in the art (see MPEP 2143 G).
Further, the claimed invention could have also been viewed as a mere combination of old elements in a similar field of scheduling physical areas for users based on accommodations. In such combination each element would have merely performed same organizational and managerial function as it did separately. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that, given existing technical ability to combine the elements, as evidenced by Ho in view of Jia, Oh, and Escapa above, the to- be combined elements would have fit together like pieces of a puzzle in a logical, complementary, technologically feasible and/or economically desirable manner. Thus, it would have been reasoned that the results of the combination would have been predictable (see MPEP 2143 A).
Claims 4, 20: Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa teaches all of the limitations of claims 1, 17 above.
Although Ho teaches analyzing potential candidates for common pick-up and drop-off locations to improve travel plan efficiency, Ho does not explicitly teach the pick-up location falling within a predetermined distance from the starting location and the slope of the paths to and from the vehicle not exceeding a threshold value.
However, Jia in analogous art of managing ride share travel plans based on passenger information further teaches “wherein the candidate location includes a candidate location for the pick-up location that is located within a predetermined distance from the starting location” (Jia ¶ [0059]: For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4A, a predetermined range Q1 may be set as a range that is preliminarily defined by (X2, Y2) in accordance with a mesh section of the map information 123. The shape of the predetermined range is not limited. The shape of the predetermined range may be any of a polygon, a circle / ellipse, and a shape having an irregular outer edge. The scheme of defining the size of the predetermined range is not limited, but the predetermined range is set as a common-sense range so that a user (person) can access the predetermined point on foot. [Also see Figs. 3, 4B and related text]) “and for which
“the slope of the path from the starting location to the candidate location does not exceed a threshold value and a candidate location for the drop-off location that is located within a predetermined distance from the destination location and for which the slope of the path from the candidate location to the destination location does not exceed the threshold value” (Jia ¶ [0055]: when boarding, the user can board at a common point [pick-up location] to which the walking time is X minutes or less or the walking distance is a certain distance or less from the request point [starting location] (the current location, a desired boarding can arrive along a route with an up-and-down slope (an altitude difference) of Y m or less. When alighting, the user can alight at a common point [drop-off location] to which the walking time is X minutes or less or the walking distance is a certain distance or less from the request point [destination location] (the destination, a desired alighting point, or an expected alighting point) and at which the user can arrive along a route with an up-and-down slope (an altitude difference) of Y m or less).
Rationales to have combined / modified Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa are above and reincorporated.
Claim 5: Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 above.
Although Ho addresses the creation of travel plans accommodating passengers in wheelchairs, it fails to specifically teach the identification of boarding and alighting areas with accommodations for wheelchairs.
However, Oh in analogous art to the instant application of navigation services for disabled persons teaches or suggests “wherein the candidate location includes a candidate location for the pick-up location that is located within a predetermined distance from the starting location and has a space where a person in a wheelchair can wait” (Oh ¶ [0069]: Therefore, by crawling information necessary for free movement of a wheelchair on a road or a sidewalk and providing navigation service in which corresponding road information is reflected, it is possible to enable a disabled person to safely move or reach a specific destination. ¶ [0072]: The present invention may crawl information necessary for free movement of a wheelchair on a road or a sidewalk, generate a database in which corresponding road information is reflected, and provide navigation service based on the generated database, so that a disabled person is enabled to move safely. ¶ [0045]: original road view images provided from an arbitrary portal service may be configured by a predetermined number of images per reference distance. The online information collector 410 may crawl only a part of the original road view images to use for analysis. For example, original road view images may be configured by 60 images per 10 meters. The online information collector 410 may sample and crawl only 20 images of 60 original road view images).
Oh is found as analogous art to the instant application of navigation services for disabled persons. It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have modified Ho / Jia’s method and apparatus for route planning to have included Oh’s teachings around the identification of boarding and alighting areas with accommodations for wheelchairs. The benefit of these additional features would have enhanced navigation services for passengers in wheelchairs in identifying safe and convenient locations at and around boarding and alighting areas (Oh ¶ [0002-0007]). The predictability of such modifications and/or variations, would have been corroborated by the broad level of skill of one of ordinary skills in the art (see MPEP 2143 G).
Further, the claimed invention could have also been viewed as a mere combination of old elements in a similar field of endeavor of navigation services for disabled persons. In such combination each element would have merely performed same organizational and managerial function as it did separately. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that, given existing technical ability to combine the elements, as evidenced by Ho in view of Jia and Oh above, the to- be combined elements would have fit together like pieces of a puzzle in a logical, complementary, technologically feasible and/or economically desirable manner. Thus, it would have been reasoned that the results of the combination would have been predictable (see MPEP 2143 A).
Claim 10: Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 above.
Ho does not specifically teach the identification of facilities where certain wheelchair accommodations are not present.
However, Oh in analogous art to the instant application of navigation services for disabled persons teaches or suggests “wherein the controller is configured to determine that the first equipment is not usable, when the first equipment is not provided in the facility at the destination location” (Oh ¶ [0009]: In one general aspect, there is provided a system for providing navigation service for disabled people, the system comprising: a navigation device (100) configured to receive navigation map information, comprising information about a path to an arbitrary destination and disabled facility Point Of Interest (POI) information [usable equipment information cited from ¶ [0010] above], from a service server (200), display the received navigation map information….).
Rationales to have combined / modified Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa are above and reincorporated.
Claim 13: Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 above.
Ho does not explicitly teach the identification of facilities with specific types of wheelchair accommodation equipment, such as a slope.
However, Oh in analogous art to the instant application of navigation services for disabled persons teaches or suggests “wherein the first equipment is a slope for a wheelchair” (Oh ¶ [0054]: The disabled facility POI information includes a braille block on a road, a height of a boundary stone, a runway entrance of a building, a toilet, and elevator information. ¶ [0059]: In addition, in Step S100, the crawling unit 400 extracts POI information of disabled facilities, such as a building ramp, a toilet entrance, and an elevator, from an image captured at an arbitrary POI, such as a specific building, a pedestrian overpass, an underpass, a public toilet, and a subway station, using the offline information collector 420; and stores the extracted location information about the POI information of disabled facilities in the database in S120)).
Rationales to have combined / modified Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa are above and reincorporated.
Claim 14: Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 above.
Ho does not explicitly teach the identification of facilities with specific types of wheelchair accommodation equipment, such as an elevator.
However, Oh in analogous art to the instant application of navigation services for disabled persons teaches or suggests “wherein the first equipment is an elevator for a wheelchair” (Oh ¶ [0034]: the service server 200 may generate the information about a path optimized based on a facility including a disabled toilet and a disabled elevator. ¶ [0035]: …the navigation map information may include information about a sidewalk, information about a crosswalk, location about an elevator for an overpass or an underpass, and location information about a wheelchair lift, so that a wheelchair user is enabled to move).
Rationales to have combined / modified Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa are above and reincorporated.
Claim 15: Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 above.
Ho does not explicitly teach the identification of facilities with specific types of wheelchair accommodation equipment, such as a toilet.
However, Oh in analogous art to the instant application of navigation services for disabled persons teaches or suggests “wherein the first equipment is a toilet for a person in a wheelchair” (Oh ¶ [0034]: the service server 200 may generate the information about a path optimized based on a facility including a disabled toilet and a disabled elevator. ¶ [0059]: In addition, in Step S100, the crawling unit 400 extracts POI information of disabled facilities, such as a building ramp, a toilet entrance, and an elevator, from an image captured at an arbitrary POI, such as a specific building, a pedestrian overpass, an underpass, a public toilet, and a subway station, using the offline information collector 420; and stores the extracted location information about the POI information of disabled facilities in the database in S120).
Rationales to have combined / modified Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa are above and reincorporated.
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Claims 6, 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over:
Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa as outlined above, in further view of
Pandit et al. US 20220089189 A1 hereinafter Pandit. As per,
Claim 6: Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 above.
Although Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa in combination addresses the creation of travel plans accommodating passengers in wheelchairs, it fails to explicitly teach the identification of boarding and alighting areas with the specific accommodations such as a roof.
However, Pandit in analogous art of managing ride share travel plans based on passenger information teaches or suggests “The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the candidate location includes a candidate location for the pick-up location that is located within a predetermined distance from the starting location and has a roof and a candidate location for the drop-off location that is located within a predetermined distance from the destination location and has a roof” (Pandit ¶ [0063]: …For instance, a high temperature or high precipitation rate threshold may be associated with a set of characteristics including features such as awnings, overhangs, trees or other vegetation, locations where a passenger could enter a building or reach the vehicle from that building quickly, etc. In this regard, if the temperature or rate of precipitation is too high (or rather meets the high temperature or high precipitation rate threshold), the search may include looking in the map information for one or more nearby locations with certain characteristics such as awnings, overhangs, trees or other vegetation, locations where a passenger could enter a building or reach the vehicle from that building quickly, etc. In addition if the rate of precipitation is too high, the search may include looking for nearby locations where the vehicle may be able to wait longer to enable the passenger to "wait it out" for a couple of minutes to see if rain lightens up before entering or exiting a vehicle…. [Also see Fig. 9 and related text]).
Pandit, along with Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa, is found as analogous art to managing ride share travel plans based on passenger information. It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have modified Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa’s method and apparatus for route planning to have included Pandit’s teachings around the identification of locations with specific accommodations such as a roof. The benefit of these additional features would have provided additional convenience and shelter to riders while waiting for or departing from a vehicle (Pandit ¶ [0063]). The predictability of such modifications and/or variations, would have been corroborated by the broad level of skill of one of ordinary skills in the art (see MPEP 2143 G).
Further, the claimed invention could have also been viewed as a mere combination of old elements in a similar field of managing ride share travel plans based on passenger information. In such combination each element would have merely performed same organizational and managerial function as it did separately. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that, given existing technical ability to combine the elements, as evidenced by Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa in further view of Pandit above, the to- be combined elements would have fit together like pieces of a puzzle in a logical, complementary, technologically feasible and/or economically desirable manner. Thus, it would have been reasoned that the results of the combination would have been predictable (see MPEP 2143 A).
Claim 8: Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa / Pandit teaches all of the limitations of claim 7 above.
Although Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa in combination addresses the creation of travel plans accommodating passengers in wheelchairs, it fails to specifically teach the identification of boarding and alighting areas with specific accommodations such as a roof.
However, Pandit in analogous art of managing ride share travel plans based on passenger information teaches or suggests “The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the candidate location includes a candidate location for the pick-up location that is located within a predetermined distance from the starting location and has a roof and a candidate location for the drop-off location that is located within a predetermined distance from the destination location and has a roof” (Pandit ¶ [0063]: …For instance, a high temperature or high precipitation rate threshold may be associated with a set of characteristics including features such as awnings, overhangs, trees or other vegetation, locations where a passenger could enter a building or reach the vehicle from that building quickly, etc. In this regard, if the temperature or rate of precipitation is too high (or rather meets the high temperature or high precipitation rate threshold), the search may include looking in the map information for one or more nearby locations with certain characteristics such as awnings, overhangs, trees or other vegetation, locations where a passenger could enter a building or reach the vehicle from that building quickly, etc. In addition if the rate of precipitation is too high, the search may include looking for nearby locations where the vehicle may be able to wait longer to enable the passenger to "wait it out" for a couple of minutes to see if rain lightens up before entering or exiting a vehicle…. [Also see Fig. 9 and related text]).
Rationales to have combined / modified Ho / Jia / Oh / Escapa / Pandit are above and reincorporated.
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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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The following art is made of record and considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure:
Colijn et al. US 20160370194 A1, Determining pickup and destination locations for autonomous vehicles.
Džafić, Dženan, Jorge L. Candiotti, and Rory A. Cooper. "Improving wheelchair route planning through instrumentation and navigation systems." 2020 42nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC). IEEE, 2020.
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=9176481
Iwasaki et al. US 20200175432 A1, Travel schedule determination device, autonomous vehicle, travel schedule determination method, and program.
Juel et al. US 20220234627 A1, User-specified location-based autonomous vehicle behavior zones.
Machida et al. US 20010027375 A1, Geographic information output system.
Schlesinger et al. US 20180143027 A1, Dynamic Route planning for demand-based transport.
Miyajima, Yasushi EP 3637357 A1, Information processing device and information processing method, which teaches user position communication for boarding buses.
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/REED M. BOND/Examiner, Art Unit 3624
August 4, 2025 /PATRICIA H MUNSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3624