DETAILED ACTION
This is the final Office action and is responsive to the papers filed 01/13/2026. The amendments filed on 01/13/2026 have been entered and considered by the examiner. Claims 1-15 are currently pending and examined below. Claims 1, 14 and 15 have been amended.
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 7, filed 01/13/2026, with respect to claim 14 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The claim objection of claim 14 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 8, filed 01/13/2026, with respect to claim 14 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The claim rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) of claim 14 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 8, filed 01/13/2026, with respect to claims 1-15 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. 101 of claims 1-15 have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 6-8 and 10-15 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In claims 2 and 6, the recitation “the relationship between the current location of the vehicle and the parking-lot entrance/exit” unclear. It is unclear if “the relationship” in claims 2 and 6 are referring to “a distance between a parking-lot entrance/exit, which is a boundary between the public road and the lot, and a current location of the vehicle” in claim 1.
Claims 3-5 and 7-8 are rejected as they depend upon rejected claims 2 and 6, respectively.
Appropriate corrections are required.
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 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, 6-8 and 10-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Katoh et al. (US 20080009990 A1; hereinafter Katoh) in view of Yamada et al. (US 20190176813 A1; hereinafter Yamada).
Regarding claim 1, Katoh discloses:
A driving assistance device (Fig. 1: drive assist system) for assisting a driver in driving operations of a vehicle between a public road and a parking space in a lot along the public road ([0011] “a drive assist system to decrease a driver's load in starting a vehicle from a stop point such as a parking lot”, [0034] “A subject vehicle is moved forward to enter an individual parking space of a side-by-side parking lot (shown in FIG. 4A)”), comprising:
a route storage unit ([0042] storage circuit) configured to store, in a storage unit, route information including a travel route ([0042] swept path) that the vehicle travels when the driver performs one of a parking operation of the vehicle into the parking space ([0042] “The exit assist control unit stores in the storage circuit, as information during parking the vehicle, a vehicle swept path during parking the vehicle”) and an unparking operation of the vehicle from the parking space, and an environmental situation of the vehicle in the travel route ([0046] “the computed surrounding information”),
the route storage unit being further configured to, when the driver performs the one of the parking operation and the unparking operation, automatically initiate or terminate storing of the route information in the storage unit based on at least a distance ([0045] “passes through the entrance/exit of the parking lot”) between a parking-lot entrance/exit, which is a boundary between the public road and the lot, and a current location of the vehicle ([0045] “the exit assist control unit of the control unit 2 stores a swept path from when the vehicle passes through the entrance/exit of the parking lot to when the vehicle arrives at the individual parking space”).
Katoh does not specifically disclose:
a route generation unit configured to generate a target route to be traveled by the vehicle when the vehicle is parked or unparked based on the route information,
wherein the vehicle is automatically controlled to move along the target route towards the parking space.
However, Yamada discloses:
a route generation unit configured to generate a target route to be traveled by the vehicle when the vehicle is parked or unparked based on the route information ([0044] “the route generating part 1322 generates, as the target route TR_target along which the vehicle 1 should travel, a traveling route that reaches the complete waypoint WP_end from the start waypoint WP_start via the shift change waypoint WP_shift on the basis of the read waypoint information”),
wherein the vehicle is automatically controlled to move along the target route towards the parking space ([0045] “the vehicle 1 is automatically parked in the parking space SP without requiring the user's operation of an acceleration pedal, a brake pedal, a steering wheel and a shift lever (in other words, a selector)”).
Katoh and Yamada are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of drive assist. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Katoh’s drive assist to further incorporate Yamada’s drive assist for the advantage of automatically controlling the vehicle which results in reducing driver’s unnecessary operation and allowing the vehicle to travel along a desired traveling route (Yamada’s [0007]).
Regarding claim 6, Katoh discloses:
wherein
the route storage unit is configured to, when the driver performs the parking operation, automatically initiate storing of the route information in the storage unit based on the relationship ([0045] “passes through the entrance/exit of the parking lot”) between the current location of the vehicle and the parking-lot entrance/exit ([0045] “the exit assist control unit of the control unit 2 stores a swept path from when the vehicle passes through the entrance/exit of the parking lot to when the vehicle arrives at the individual parking space”).
Regarding claim 7, Katoh discloses:
wherein
the route storage unit is configured to automatically initiate storing of the route information in the storage unit in response to a distance ([0045] “passes through the entrance/exit of the parking lot”) between the vehicle and the parking-lot entrance/exit when traveling to approach the parking-lot entrance/exit from a public road side becoming a reference distance or less ([0045] “the exit assist control unit of the control unit 2 stores a swept path from when the vehicle passes through the entrance/exit of the parking lot to when the vehicle arrives at the individual parking space”).
Regarding claim 8, Katoh discloses:
wherein
the route storage unit is configured to terminate storing of the route information in the storage unit in response to the parking operation of the vehicle into the parking space ([0045] “the exit assist control unit of the control unit 2 stores a swept path from when the vehicle passes through the entrance/exit of the parking lot to when the vehicle arrives at the individual parking space”).
Regarding claim 10, Katoh does not specifically disclose:
wherein
the route storage unit is configured to store the route information in the storage unit when the vehicle has traveled different travel routes, and
the route generation unit is configured to learn a plurality of pieces of the route information stored in the storage unit and generate a target route suitable for the parking operation or the unparking operation based on a learning result.
However, Yamada discloses:
wherein
the route storage unit is configured to store the route information in the storage unit when the vehicle has traveled different travel routes (Fig. 2 learning process whenever driver requests), and
the route generation unit is configured to learn a plurality of pieces of the route information ([0050] “the learning unit 131 to store an information that relates to the learned result of the start waypoint WP_start, the shift change waypoint WP_shift and the complete waypoint WP_end”) stored in the storage unit and generate a target route suitable for the parking operation or the unparking operation based on a learning result ([0044] “the route generating part 1322 generates, as the target route TR_target along which the vehicle 1 should travel, a traveling route that reaches the complete waypoint WP_end from the start waypoint WP_start via the shift change waypoint WP_shift on the basis of the read waypoint information”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Katoh’s drive assist to further incorporate Yamada’s drive assist for the advantage of learning and controlling the vehicle which results in reducing driver’s unnecessary operation and allowing the vehicle to travel along a desired traveling route (Yamada’s [0007]).
Regarding claim 11, Katoh does not specifically disclose:
wherein
the route generation unit is configured to, when an assistance initiation position for the parking operation is outside the travel route stored in the storage unit, generate a predicted route from the assistance initiation position to the travel route based on road information around the parking space, and generate the target route based on the predicted route and the route information.
Yamada discloses:
wherein
the route generation unit is configured to, when an assistance initiation position for the parking operation is outside the travel route stored in the storage unit, generate a predicted route from the assistance initiation position to the travel route based on road information around the parking space ([0083] from a current position WP_current of the vehicle 1 [Wingdings font/0xE0] the shift change waypoint WP_shift), and generate the target route based on the predicted route and the route information ([0083] the route generating part 1322 generates the target route TR_target from a current position WP_current of the vehicle 1 [Wingdings font/0xE0] the shift change waypoint WP_shift [Wingdings font/0xE0] the complete waypoint WP_end as illustrated in FIG. 11B).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Katoh’s drive assist to further incorporate Yamada’s drive assist for the advantage of learning and controlling the vehicle which results in reducing driver’s unnecessary operation and allowing the vehicle to travel along a desired traveling route (Yamada’s [0007]).
Regarding claim 12, Katoh does not specifically disclose:
further comprising a notification device configured to notify the driver of storage-related information regarding storage of the route information by the route storage unit in the storage unit.
Yamada discloses:
further comprising a notification device configured to notify the driver of storage-related information regarding storage of the route information by the route storage unit in the storage unit ([0032] the driver requests an execution of the learning process).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Katoh’s drive assist to further incorporate Yamada’s drive assist for the advantage of engaging with the driver the vehicle’s learning process which results in driver satisfaction.
Regarding claim 13, Katoh does not specifically disclose:
wherein
the storage-related information includes at least one of information about initiation of storing of the route information in the storage unit and information about termination of storing of the route information in the storage unit.
However, Yamada discloses:
wherein
the storage-related information includes at least one of information about initiation of storing of the route information in the storage unit and information about termination of storing of the route information in the storage unit ([0032] the driver requests an execution of the learning process).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Katoh’s drive assist to further incorporate Yamada’s drive assist for the advantage of engaging with the driver the vehicle’s learning process which results in driver satisfaction.
Regarding claim 14, Katoh discloses:
A driving assistance method (Fig. 1: drive assist system) for assisting a driver in driving operations of a vehicle between a public road and a parking space in a lot along the public road ([0011] “a drive assist system to decrease a driver's load in starting a vehicle from a stop point such as a parking lot”, [0034] “A subject vehicle is moved forward to enter an individual parking space of a side-by-side parking lot (shown in FIG. 4A)”), comprising:
storing, in a storage unit ([0042] storage circuit), route information including a travel route ([0042] swept path) that the vehicle travels when the driver performs one of a parking operation of the vehicle into the parking space and an unparking operation of the vehicle from the parking space ([0042] “The exit assist control unit stores in the storage circuit, as information during parking the vehicle, a vehicle swept path during parking the vehicle”), and an environmental situation of the vehicle in the travel route ([0046] “the computed surrounding information”), wherein the storing, in the storage unit, route information comprises:
when the driver performs the one of the parking operation and the unparking operation, automatically initiating or terminating storing of the route information in the storage unit based on at least a distance ([0045] “passes through the entrance/exit of the parking lot”) between a parking-lot entrance/exit, which is a boundary between the public road and the lot, and a current location of the vehicle ([0045] “the exit assist control unit of the control unit 2 stores a swept path from when the vehicle passes through the entrance/exit of the parking lot to when the vehicle arrives at the individual parking space”).
Katoh does not specifically disclose:
generating a target route to be traveled by the vehicle when the vehicle is parked or unparked based on the route information,
wherein the vehicle is automatically controlled to move along the target route towards the parking space.
However, Yamada discloses:
generating a target route to be traveled by the vehicle when the vehicle is parked or unparked based on the route information ([0044] “the route generating part 1322 generates, as the target route TR_target along which the vehicle 1 should travel, a traveling route that reaches the complete waypoint WP_end from the start waypoint WP_start via the shift change waypoint WP_shift on the basis of the read waypoint information”),
wherein the vehicle is automatically controlled to move along the target route towards the parking space ([0045] “the vehicle 1 is automatically parked in the parking space SP without requiring the user's operation of an acceleration pedal, a brake pedal, a steering wheel and a shift lever (in other words, a selector)”).
Katoh and Yamada are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of drive assist. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Katoh’s drive assist to further incorporate Yamada’s drive assist for the advantage of automatically controlling the vehicle which results in reducing driver’s unnecessary operation and allowing the vehicle to travel along a desired traveling route (Yamada’s [0007]).
Regarding claim 15, Katoh discloses:
A driving assistance device (Fig. 1: drive assist system) for assisting a driver in driving operations of a vehicle between a public road and a parking space in a lot along the public road ([0011] “a drive assist system to decrease a driver's load in starting a vehicle from a stop point such as a parking lot”, [0034] “A subject vehicle is moved forward to enter an individual parking space of a side-by-side parking lot (shown in FIG. 4A)”), comprising:
a non-transitory memory ([0039] storage circuit) storing one or more computer programs; and
a processor ([0039] control unit 2) executing the one or more computer programs to:
store, in a storage unit ([0042] storage circuit), route information including a travel route ([0042] swept path) that the vehicle travels when the driver performs one of a parking operation of the vehicle into the parking space ([0042] “The exit assist control unit stores in the storage circuit, as information during parking the vehicle, a vehicle swept path during parking the vehicle”) and an unparking operation of the vehicle from the parking space, and an environmental situation of the vehicle in the travel route ([0046] “the computed surrounding information”);
when the driver performs the one of the parking operation and the unparking operation, automatically initiate or terminate storing of the route information in the storage unit based on at least a distance ([0045] “passes through the entrance/exit of the parking lot”) between a parking-lot entrance/exit, which is a boundary between the public road and the lot, and a current location of the vehicle ([0045] “the exit assist control unit of the control unit 2 stores a swept path from when the vehicle passes through the entrance/exit of the parking lot to when the vehicle arrives at the individual parking space”).
Katoh does not specifically disclose:
generate a target route to be traveled by the vehicle when the vehicle is parked or unparked based on the route information,
wherein the vehicle is automatically controlled to move along the target route towards the parking space.
However, Yamada discloses:
generate a target route to be traveled by the vehicle when the vehicle is parked or unparked based on the route information ([0044] “the route generating part 1322 generates, as the target route TR_target along which the vehicle 1 should travel, a traveling route that reaches the complete waypoint WP_end from the start waypoint WP_start via the shift change waypoint WP_shift on the basis of the read waypoint information”),
wherein the vehicle is automatically controlled to move along the target route towards the parking space ([0045] “the vehicle 1 is automatically parked in the parking space SP without requiring the user's operation of an acceleration pedal, a brake pedal, a steering wheel and a shift lever (in other words, a selector)”).
Katoh and Yamada are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of drive assist. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Katoh’s drive assist to further incorporate Yamada’s drive assist for the advantage of automatically controlling the vehicle which results in reducing driver’s unnecessary operation and allowing the vehicle to travel along a desired traveling route (Yamada’s [0007]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 9 is 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.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAYSUN WU whose telephone number is (571)272-1528. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hunter Lonsberry can be reached at (571)272-7298. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PAYSUN WU/Examiner, Art Unit 3665
/DONALD J WALLACE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3665
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