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 .
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.
Claims 1, 2, 5-9, 12-16, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2008/089966 A2 (hereinafter WO ‘966).
Regarding claims 1, 8, and 15, WO ‘966 discloses vehicle traveling through a lane width irregularity, the autonomy computing system comprising: at least one memory storing executable instructions defining a lane positioning module; and at least one processor, wherein the processor, upon executing the lane positioning module, is configured to: detect the lane width irregularity; select a lane marking to be used as a guide through the lane width irregularity, as below.
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and maintain a predefined distance from the lane marking through the lane width irregularity.
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However, the prior art reference does not expressly mention that this can be used in the autonomous vehicle traveling. Since WO ‘966 teaches to keep the vehicle within the lanes on the various road conditions of the lanes, it would be within the ability of one of ordinary in the art to apply such teaching to autonomous vehicle traveling.
Regarding claims 2, 9, and 16, WO discloses the lane positioning module maintains a center position between a left lane marking and a right lane marking as explained.
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Regarding claims 5, 12, and 19, the claimed solid line indication an outer lane marking of the roadway, it is considered a conventional way of marking of the end of the side of the roadway.
Regarding claims 7, 14 and 20, the claimed the detecting irregularity the width by measuring solid line indication an outer lane marking of the roadway, it is considered a conventional measuring the width of the roadway because the width is measured between the two lines.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 4, 10, 11, 17 and 18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN KWON whose telephone number is (571)272-4846. The examiner can normally be reached M-F; 9A-5P. EST.
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/JOHN KWON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747 February 7, 2026