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 filed 3/26/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. See further explanation and citation with respect to the rejection below.
Applicant's arguments fail to comply with 37 CFR 1.111(b) because they amount to a general allegation that the claims define a patentable invention without specifically pointing out how the language of the claims patentably distinguishes them from the references.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1,3-6, 8, 10-13, 15 and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Higuchi et al. EP 3681132, hereinafter, ‘Higuchi’.
Consider Claim 8, and as applied to claim 1 and claim 15, Higuchi teaches a server (e.g., this is met by the vehicle in figure 1 acting as the server forming the on-demand cloud as outlined in 0006), comprising a processor that execute instructions stored in memory to configure the processor to (e.g., see this is met by the processing system of figure 1A vehicle 110 ): receive sensor data from a first vehicle and a second vehicle in an area (e.g., “vehicle cloud client monitors sensor data” -0006 ); wherein the first vehicles and a second vehicle are members of a micro cloud and are assigned to monitor different portions of the area (i.e., this is met based on included members based on the events specific to a particular geographic area – 0010-0011, 0013, 0019-0020, 0060 , 0071 and 0096-0097 vehicles near and far from the event – parked vehicles , handing off to other vehicles based on one vehicle exiting and another vehicle entering) in response to one of the first vehicle or the second vehicle leaving its assigned portion, assign an other vehicle to monitor a portion of the area previously monitored by the one of the first vehicle or the second vehicle (i.e., this is met by the ability to “manage” on-demand micro cloud which includes handing off and inviting other vehicles to the cloud based on the event at the geographic location – 0010-0011, 0013, 0019-0020, 0060 , 0071, 0095-0098 and 0101), and receive sensor data from the other vehicle (e.g., “vehicle cloud client monitors sensor data” -0006 )
Consider Claims 3, 10 and 17, Higuchi teaches wherein the other vehicle comprises the other one of the first vehicle or the second vehicle, or a vehicle invited by the server to become a member of the micro cloud (e.g., see at least 0106 – “ … the vehicular cloud client 199 may assign the role of the cloud leader to another member of the on-demand stationary vehicular micro cloud 190 and transfers on-going tasks and relevant data to the other member of the on-demand stationary vehicular micro cloud 190 before leaving the on-demand stationary vehicular micro cloud 190”).
Consider Claim 4, 11, and 18, Higuchi teaches inviting the other vehicle to join the micro cloud; retrieving an unfulfilled assignment associated with the micro cloud from a plurality of assignments associated with an area monitoring application; and assigning the other vehicles the unfulfilled assignment (i.e., this would read on 0106 -“ … the vehicular cloud client 199 may assign the role of the cloud leader to another member of the on-demand stationary vehicular micro cloud 190 and transfers on-going tasks and relevant data to the other member of the on-demand stationary vehicular micro cloud 190 before leaving the on-demand stationary vehicular micro cloud 190”).
Consider Claims 5, 12 and 19, Higuchi teaches periodically receiving location information from one or more of the first vehicle or the second vehicle(i.e., event data includes data regarding specific geographic areas) (e.g., see geographic region as described with respect to 0006, 0102 and 0106 – this also applied to the relative location); detecting that the one of the first vehicle or the second vehicle has left its assigned portion based on the location information(i.e., leaving – see at least 0102 and 0106); removing the one of the first vehicle or second vehicle from the micro cloud in response to it having left its assigned portion (i.e., this is a result of leaving the group as described by 0102 and 0106).
Consider Claim 6, 13, and 20, Higuchi teaches detecting that an emergency event has occurred in an emergency event area based on sensor data from one or more of the first vehicle or the second vehicle (i.e., event data trigger) (e.g., this is met based on events noted in at least 0045- “traffic accident”); selecting an additional vehicle associated with the emergency event area (e.g., handover task – 0102 and 0106); and confirming that emergency event has occurred based on sensor data associated with the additional vehicle (i.e., this is met based transferring ongoing task such as recording event data – 0054, 0071 and 0092).
Claim(s) 2, 9, and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Higuchi et al. EP 3681132, hereinafter, ‘Higuchi’ in view of Clement et al., US Patent Pub. No. 2021/034091, hereinafter, ‘Clement’.
Consider claims 2, 9 and 16, Higuchi teaches the claimed invention except assigning the first vehicle to a first portion of the different portions, and to a first orientation; and assigning the second vehicle to a second portion of the different portions, and to a second orientation that is different from the first orientation.
In analogous art, Clement teaches “output from the vehicle prediction operations may instruct vehicle B to stop, turn or reverse based on a forecasted location of a person. For example, output from the vehicle path planning operations with respect to input sensor data received from vehicle C may represent actions to be performed by vehicle C with respect to a currently traveled path of vehicle C. (e.g., see at least 0034)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data to try assigning the first vehicle to a first portion of the different portions, and to a first orientation; and assigning the second vehicle to a second portion of the different portions, and to a second orientation that is different from the first orientation (i.e., controlling a vehicles orientation with respect to other vehicles or object) when considering that Clement is direct towards a method and system may receive data generated by a plurality of remotely situated vehicles. Various operations are performed with respect to portions of the received data to generate first output representing one or more vehicle actions. Various operations are performed with respect to portions of the received data to generate second output representing one or more control center actions.
Claim(s) 7 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Higuchi et al. EP 3681132, hereinafter, ‘Higuchi’ in view of Wang et al., US Patent Pub. No. 2019/0051159 A1, hereinafter, ‘Wang’.
Consider Claims 7 and 14, Higuchi teaches responsive to the emergency event being detected, transmitting a notification to (e.g., this is met based on events noted in at least 0045- “traffic accident”), wherein the one or more of the first vehicle or the second vehicle comprises an alarm response device (i.e., this would read on a police car which is also a vehicle which would be equipped with an alert device aka siren and therefore met based on the context of the written vehicle as applied to vehicles); and determining that the alarm response device was successfully activated based on sensor data from a different vehicle (i.e., confirmation/event data ).
Higuchi does not specifically teach receiving confirmations from one or more of the other vehicles.
In analogous art, Wang teaches receiving one or more confirmations from one or more of the other vehicles (e.g., see at least 0085 – “Forming the coordination group may include the current vehicle sending a coordination group request to the front autonomous vehicle. If the front autonomous vehicle does not belong to any other coordination groups (is ‘free’), it may reply with a confirmation message to the current vehicle indicating that it is joining the coordination group.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include confirmations for the purpose of cooperative autonomous driving as suggested by Wang.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US Patent No.10967833 B1 teaches grouping a plurality of vehicles in communication with a network to collectively monitor and detect evidence of theft or unauthorized intrusion using existing theft detection sensors located in the plurality of vehicles. One of the plurality of vehicles is designated as a master vehicle responsible for managing at least one control feature, and is operably coupled to the network and at least one processor. A grouping of a plurality of vehicles can be made at any time. In certain aspects, the grouping may be made and/or updated at specific times or intervals, and may be based on a predetermined schedule. The grouping may be modified if additional vehicles enter a parking area, or existing vehicles exit the parking area. The vehicles may communicate their movement, or the movement can be detected by other means, including using dedicated cameras and sensors affiliated with a parking area. In various aspects, a grouping may be made, passively waiting for any suspicious activity. In other aspects, the grouping may be made at the first detection of movement or of suspicious activity. Various systems and sensors of the systems described herein may be placed in a non-active or passive mode at certain times when there is no detected activity in the parking area.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 CHARLES TERRELL SHEDRICK whose telephone number is (571)272-8621. The examiner can normally be reached 8A-5P.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Matthew D Anderson can be reached at 571 272 4177. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHARLES T SHEDRICK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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