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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 11/26/2025 is being entered. Claims 1-5, 7-11, and 13-17 are amended. Claim 6, 12, and 18 are canceled. Claims 1-5, 7-11, and 13-17 are pending, and rejected as detailed below. This action is final as necessitated by amendment.
Drawing Objections
Replacement sheets for figures 1-9 are accepted. Therefore the drawing objection for figures 1-9 have been withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Prior Art Rejections
Applicant argues that amended independent claim 1 recites that "performing the autonomous driving during the (n+1)-th section comprises switching from the autonomous driving to temporary platoon driving in response to an event situation occurring". Applicant respectfully asserts that Ucar merely discloses replacing a leader vehicle with another vehicle when the leader vehicle has no experience in handling a particular event. See, e.g., Ucar at paragraph [0004]. Applicant respectfully asserts that such disclosure in Ucar fails to disclose switching from autonomous driving to platoon driving in a particular section of a traveling path in response to a specific event. Therefore, Applicant respectfully asserts that Ucar fails to disclose the above-recited features of amended independent claim 1.
Applicant’s arguments, as amended herein, with respect to the rejections of claims 1 under 35 U.S.C. §102 have been fully considered and not persuasive as Ucar teaches about the platoon driving in response to a specific event (Ucar, 0040; “The classifier module 350 generally includes instructions that function to control the processor 110 to determine a situation class for an environment the vehicle is traveling through. In one or more embodiments the situation class can be a pre-defined event, such as entering a type of zone or area (e.g., a construction zone or school zone), a pre-defined driving condition, such as driving on a highway in inclement weather, or a pre-defined action, such as leading a platoon through a U-turn maneuver.”).
Applicant also argues that Okamura generally discloses a technology in which a following vehicle is caused to safely park in a parking frame within a range detected by an external sensor mounted on a leading vehicle. See, e.g., Okamura at Abstract. Thus, the essential technical problem of Okamura appears to be to ensure parking safety by compensating for the limited sensor capability of a partially autonomous driving vehicle. See, e.g., Okamura at paragraph [0004]. Said another way, Okamura relates to vehicle management at a parking stage (group management), and not to platoon control during traveling. Applicant respectfully asserts that Okamura merely shares with the presently claimed invention the existence of an "unmanned vehicle." Therefore, Applicant respectfully asserts that Okamura differs from the present invention in technical problem, configuration, and effect. Applicant respectfully asserts that extracting only the "unmanned vehicle" feature from Okamura, and combining it with a platoon control technology of Ucar, is technically unreasonable, and constitutes an arbitrary combination that disregards the essential elements of the invention. Moreover, Ucar discloses replacing a leader within an existing platoon, while Okamura discloses sensor-based control for ensuring parking safety in a platoon parking system. Applicant respectfully asserts that there is no technical suggestion or motivation in Ucar or Okamura that would lead a person skilled in the art to combine the two references to arrive at the present invention's platoon transition control. Therefore, Applicant respectfully asserts that the combination of Ucar and Okamura proposed by the Action is improper, and cannot support a prima facie case of obviousness.
Applicant’s arguments, as amended herein, with respect to the rejections of claims 1 under 35 U.S.C. §102 have been fully considered and not persuasive as Okamura teach about the platooning (Okamura, 0019; “In the present embodiment, the vehicle control system 100 causes the plurality of vehicles V to autonomously travel in a platoon to go around the plurality of parking lots with each of the plurality of parking lots as the destination, and causes a part of the plurality of vehicles V to autonomously park in each parking lot.”). Furthermore, MPEP 2145 (IV) One cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. Where a rejection of a claim is based on two or more references, a reply that is limited to what a subset of the applied references teaches or fails to teach, or that fails to address the combined teaching of the applied references may be considered to be an argument that attacks the reference(s) individually. Applicant’s reply fails to address the combined teaching of the applied references and instead only argues that each reference individually does not teach all of the claim limitations. All of the limitations of the claim are disclosed in the combination of Ucar or Okamura, and it is the combination of the references that renders the claimed invention obvious. Furthermore, upon further examination, examiner realized that Ucar also teaches about the unmanned vehicle (Ucar, 0091; “autonomous mode” refers to navigating and/or maneuvering the vehicle 102 along a travel route using one or more computing systems to control the vehicle 102 with minimal or no input from a human driver.”). In particular, the amendments to claims 1 regarding “unmanned vehicle” is addressed in the instant office action with respect to the teaching of Ucar.
Applicant also argues that amended independent claims 7 and 13 are allowable for at least the same reasons as those discussed above with regards to claim 1, and the corresponding dependent claims are allowable by reason of depending from an allowable claim.
Applicant’s arguments, as amended herein, with respect to the rejections of claims 7, 13, and corresponding dependent claims have been fully considered and not persuasive as Ucar anticipate the amended claim 1.
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) 1-5, 7-11, and 13-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ucar (US 20210350707 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) A method of controlling an automated platooning vehicle for driving on a traveling path including an n-th section, an (n+1)-th section, and an (n+2)-th section, where n is integer (Ucar, at least one para. 0001; “The subject matter described herein relates, in general, to a system and method for leading vehicle platoons, and, more particularly, to providing and maintaining a leadership-as-a-service system for vehicle platoons.”), the method comprising:
receiving, from a server, first information of a first leader vehicle capable of leading the automated platooning vehicle (Ucar, at least one para. 0029; “Referring to FIG. 1, the disclosed leader-as-a-service system 100 can include a regional server 101 that can communicate with a vehicle 102, which may be a leader candidate, and a platoon leader vehicle 103 of a platoon 104. For example, in or more embodiments the leader-as-a-service system 100 can communicate with an onboard unit 105 of the vehicle 102 and an onboard unit 106 of the platoon leader vehicle 103.”) during the n-th section (Ucar, FIG. 6; wherein the n-th section is the current positioning of the platoon 104 as shown below);
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performing first platoon driving in association with the first leader vehicle at the n-th section (Ucar, at least one para. 0057; “The platoon manager module 470 generally includes instructions that function to control the processor(s) 410 to assign the new leader to the platoon, coordinate a rendezvous between the new leader and the platoon when necessary, and cause the new leader to assume a lead position in the platoon.”);
performing autonomous driving of the automated platooning vehicle out of association with the first leader vehicle during the (n+1)-th section (Ucar, at least one para. 0065; “FIG. 6 shows an example scene 600 in which the disclosed embodiments may be applied. In the example scene 600, a vehicle platoon 104 is approaching a situation area 610 (e.g., a construction zone) that the current platoon leader 103 has no experience in leading a platoon through. The current platoon leader 103 sends a request for a new platoon leader to the regional server 101.”, wherein the road section between the n-th section and the area 610 becomes the n+1 section as shown below);
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receiving, from the server, second information of a second leader vehicle capable of leading the automated platooning vehicle during the (n+2)-th section (Ucar, at least one para. 0029; “Referring to FIG. 1, the disclosed leader-as-a-service system 100 can include a regional server 101 that can communicate with a vehicle 102, which may be a leader candidate, and a platoon leader vehicle 103 of a platoon 104. For example, in or more embodiments the leader-as-a-service system 100 can communicate with an onboard unit 105 of the vehicle 102 and an onboard unit 106 of the platoon leader vehicle 103.”, wherein the n+2-th section is the area after 610 of FIG. 6 as shown below); and
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performing second platoon driving in association with the second leader vehicle during the (n+2)-th section (Ucar, at least one para. 0071; “After the new leader 102 has guided the platoon 104 past the situation area 610 and arrived at the short-term destination, the new leader 102 can exit the platoon.”) and (Ucar, at least one para. 0057; “The platoon manager module 470 generally includes instructions that function to control the processor(s) 410 to assign the new leader to the platoon, coordinate a rendezvous between the new leader and the platoon when necessary, and cause the new leader to assume a lead position in the platoon.”, It is inherent that the platoon 104 will have a new leader for (n+2)-th section once the leader 102 of the (n+1)-th section exits the platoon 104),
wherein: the automated platooning vehicle is an unmanned vehicle (Ucar, at least one para. 0092; ““autonomous mode” refers to navigating and/or maneuvering the vehicle 102 along a travel route using one or more computing systems to control the vehicle 102 with minimal or no input from a human driver.”), and
performing the autonomous driving during the (n+1)-th section comprises switching from the autonomous driving to temporary platoon driving (Ucar, at least one para. 0071; “The regional server 101 can further analyze the regional map data 480 to determine a short-term destination for the platoon 104 under the leadership of the new leader 102. The short-term destination may be a location beyond the situation area 610. In some circumstances, the final destination of the platoon 104 can be set as the short-term destination. After the new leader 102 has guided the platoon 104 past the situation area 610 and arrived at the short-term destination, the new leader 102 can exit the platoon.”) in response to an event situation occurring (Ucar, at least one para. 0040; “The classifier module 350 generally includes instructions that function to control the processor 110 to determine a situation class for an environment the vehicle is traveling through. In one or more embodiments the situation class can be a pre-defined event, such as entering a type of zone or area (e.g., a construction zone or school zone), a pre-defined driving condition, such as driving on a highway in inclement weather, or a pre-defined action, such as leading a platoon through a U-turn maneuver.”).
Regarding claim 2, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) The method of claim 1, wherein performing the autonomous driving during the (n+1)-th section further comprises transmitting a request for subscriber leader vehicle information of at least one subscriber leader vehicle traveling around the traveling path to the server in response to the event situation occurring (Ucar, at least one para. 0065-0067; “FIG. 6 shows an example scene 600 in which the disclosed embodiments may be applied. In the example scene 600, a vehicle platoon 104 is approaching a situation area 610 (e.g., a construction zone) that the current platoon leader 103 has no experience in leading a platoon through. The current platoon leader 103 sends a request for a new platoon leader to the regional server 101. The request can include the current location and current destination of the platoon, and information indicating the situation class that the platoon 104 is requesting aid in traversing. In response, the regional server 101 defines a region 605 based on the location of the platoon 104 and broadcasts a search query to vehicles in the region 605. The search query can include, for example, information indicating the situation class that the platoon 104 is seeking a leader for aid in traversing. Multiple vehicles (e.g., vehicle 620, vehicle 630 and vehicle 102) may respond affirmatively to the search query. Each of the vehicles 620, 630, 102 can be equipped and/or configured to track experience in handling various situation classes.”) .
Regarding claim 3, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) The method of claim 2, wherein performing the autonomous driving during the (n+1)-th section further comprises performing the temporary platoon driving in association with a particular subscriber leader vehicle in response to receiving the subscriber leader vehicle information from the server (Ucar, at least one para. 0070; “The regional server 101 can analyze regional map data 480 to determine a pick-up location 640 for the platoon 104 and the new leader 102. The regional server 101 can coordinate a rendezvous between the platoon 104 and the new leader 102 and transmit instructions for integrating the new leader 102 into the platoon 104 as the platoon leader.”).
Regarding claim 4, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) The method of claim 3, wherein performing the autonomous driving during the (n+1)-th section further comprises autonomously driving again the automated platooning vehicle out of association with the particular subscriber leader vehicle in response to the event situation being terminated (Ucar, at least one para. 0071; “After the new leader 102 has guided the platoon 104 past the situation area 610 and arrived at the short-term destination, the new leader 102 can exit the platoon.”).
Regarding claim 5, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) The method of claim 3, wherein performing the autonomous driving during the (n+1)-th section further comprises selecting the particular subscriber leader vehicle from among the at least one subscriber leader vehicle based on the subscriber leader vehicle information received from the server (Ucar, at least one para. 0069; “Based at least in part on the determined match scores, the regional server 101 can a select a vehicle (e.g., vehicle 102) as the new leader for the platoon 104. For example, the regional server 101 can determine that vehicle 102 has the best match score (e.g., best combination of experience level, profile rating, current route, and proximity to platoon 104) compared to vehicles 620 and 630.”).
Regarding claim 7, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) A method of operating a platooning service for an automated platooning vehicle traveling on a traveling path including n-th section, an (n+1)-th section, and an (n+2)-th section, where n is integer (Ucar, at least one para. 0001; “The subject matter described herein relates, in general, to a system and method for leading vehicle platoons, and, more particularly, to providing and maintaining a leadership-as-a-service system for vehicle platoons.”), the method comprising:
calling, by a server, a first leader vehicle capable of leading the automated platooning vehicle during the n-th section (Ucar, at least one para. 0029; “Referring to FIG. 1, the disclosed leader-as-a-service system 100 can include a regional server 101 that can communicate with a vehicle 102, which may be a leader candidate, and a platoon leader vehicle 103 of a platoon 104. For example, in or more embodiments the leader-as-a-service system 100 can communicate with an onboard unit 105 of the vehicle 102 and an onboard unit 106 of the platoon leader vehicle 103.”) during the n-th section (Ucar, FIG. 6; wherein the n-th section is the current positioning of the platoon 104 as shown below);
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performing, by the automated platooning vehicle, first platoon driving in association with the first leader vehicle (Ucar, at least one para. 0057; “The platoon manager module 470 generally includes instructions that function to control the processor(s) 410 to assign the new leader to the platoon, coordinate a rendezvous between the new leader and the platoon when necessary, and cause the new leader to assume a lead position in the platoon.”);
performing, by the automated platooning vehicle, autonomous driving out of association with the first leader vehicle during the (n+1)-th section (Ucar, at least one para. 0065; “FIG. 6 shows an example scene 600 in which the disclosed embodiments may be applied. In the example scene 600, a vehicle platoon 104 is approaching a situation area 610 (e.g., a construction zone) that the current platoon leader 103 has no experience in leading a platoon through. The current platoon leader 103 sends a request for a new platoon leader to the regional server 101.”, wherein the road section between the n-th section and the area 610 becomes the n+1 section as shown below);
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calling, by the server, a second leader vehicle capable of leading the automated platooning vehicle during the (n+2)-th section (Ucar, at least one para. 0029; “Referring to FIG. 1, the disclosed leader-as-a-service system 100 can include a regional server 101 that can communicate with a vehicle 102, which may be a leader candidate, and a platoon leader vehicle 103 of a platoon 104. For example, in or more embodiments the leader-as-a-service system 100 can communicate with an onboard unit 105 of the vehicle 102 and an onboard unit 106 of the platoon leader vehicle 103.”, wherein the n+2-th section is the area after 610 of FIG. 6 as shown below); and
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performing, by the automated platooning vehicle, second platoon driving in association with the second leader vehicle during the (n+2)-th section (Ucar, at least one para. 0071; “After the new leader 102 has guided the platoon 104 past the situation area 610 and arrived at the short-term destination, the new leader 102 can exit the platoon.”) and (Ucar, at least one para. 0057; “The platoon manager module 470 generally includes instructions that function to control the processor(s) 410 to assign the new leader to the platoon, coordinate a rendezvous between the new leader and the platoon when necessary, and cause the new leader to assume a lead position in the platoon.”, It is inherent that the platoon 104 will have a new leader for (n+2)-th section once the leader 102 of the (n+1)-th section exits the platoon 104),
wherein: the automated platooning vehicle is an unmanned vehicle (Ucar, at least one para. 0092; ““autonomous mode” refers to navigating and/or maneuvering the vehicle 102 along a travel route using one or more computing systems to control the vehicle 102 with minimal or no input from a human driver.”), and
performing the autonomous driving during the (n+1)-th section comprises switching, by the automated platooning vehicle, from the autonomous driving to temporary platoon driving (Ucar, at least one para. 0071; “The regional server 101 can further analyze the regional map data 480 to determine a short-term destination for the platoon 104 under the leadership of the new leader 102. The short-term destination may be a location beyond the situation area 610. In some circumstances, the final destination of the platoon 104 can be set as the short-term destination. After the new leader 102 has guided the platoon 104 past the situation area 610 and arrived at the short-term destination, the new leader 102 can exit the platoon.”) in response to an event situation occurring (Ucar, at least one para. 0040; “The classifier module 350 generally includes instructions that function to control the processor 110 to determine a situation class for an environment the vehicle is traveling through. In one or more embodiments the situation class can be a pre-defined event, such as entering a type of zone or area (e.g., a construction zone or school zone), a pre-defined driving condition, such as driving on a highway in inclement weather, or a pre-defined action, such as leading a platoon through a U-turn maneuver.”).
Regarding claim 8, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) The method of claim 7, wherein performing the autonomous driving during the (n+1)-th section further comprises: transmitting, by the automated platooning vehicle, a request for subscriber leader vehicle information of at least one subscriber leader vehicle traveling around the traveling path to the server when the event situation occurs (Ucar, at least one para. 0065-0067; “FIG. 6 shows an example scene 600 in which the disclosed embodiments may be applied. In the example scene 600, a vehicle platoon 104 is approaching a situation area 610 (e.g., a construction zone) that the current platoon leader 103 has no experience in leading a platoon through. The current platoon leader 103 sends a request for a new platoon leader to the regional server 101. The request can include the current location and current destination of the platoon, and information indicating the situation class that the platoon 104 is requesting aid in traversing. In response, the regional server 101 defines a region 605 based on the location of the platoon 104 and broadcasts a search query to vehicles in the region 605. The search query can include, for example, information indicating the situation class that the platoon 104 is seeking a leader for aid in traversing. Multiple vehicles (e.g., vehicle 620, vehicle 630 and vehicle 102) may respond affirmatively to the search query. Each of the vehicles 620, 630, 102 can be equipped and/or configured to track experience in handling various situation classes.”) .
Regarding claim 9, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) The method of claim 8, wherein performing the autonomous driving further comprises performing, by the automated platooning vehicle, the temporary platoon driving in association with a particular subscriber leader vehicle in response to receiving the subscriber leader vehicle information from the server (Ucar, at least one para. 0070; “The regional server 101 can analyze regional map data 480 to determine a pick-up location 640 for the platoon 104 and the new leader 102. The regional server 101 can coordinate a rendezvous between the platoon 104 and the new leader 102 and transmit instructions for integrating the new leader 102 into the platoon 104 as the platoon leader.”).
Regarding claim 10, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) The method of claim 9, wherein performing the autonomous driving during the (n+1)-th section further comprises autonomously driving again by the automated platooning vehicle out of association with the particular subscriber leader vehicle when the event situation is terminated (Ucar, at least one para. 0071; “After the new leader 102 has guided the platoon 104 past the situation area 610 and arrived at the short-term destination, the new leader 102 can exit the platoon.”).
Regarding claim 11, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) The method of claim 9, wherein performing the autonomous driving during the (n+1)-th section further comprises selecting, by the automated platooning vehicle, the particular subscriber leader vehicle from among the at least one subscriber leader vehicle based on the subscriber leader vehicle information received from the server (Ucar, at least one para. 0069; “Based at least in part on the determined match scores, the regional server 101 can a select a vehicle (e.g., vehicle 102) as the new leader for the platoon 104. For example, the regional server 101 can determine that vehicle 102 has the best match score (e.g., best combination of experience level, profile rating, current route, and proximity to platoon 104) compared to vehicles 620 and 630.”).
Regarding claim 13, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) An automated platooning vehicle configured to communicatively connect to a server at a time while traveling a traveling path including an n-th section, an (n+1)- th section, and an (n+2)-th section, where n is integer (Ucar, at least one para. 0001; “The subject matter described herein relates, in general, to a system and method for leading vehicle platoons, and, more particularly, to providing and maintaining a leadership-as-a-service system for vehicle platoons.”), the automated platooning vehicle comprising:
a processor (Ucar, at least one para. 0106; “a processor 110”); and
a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium connected to the processor and storing a computer program, which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to (Ucar, at least one para. 0106; “The vehicle 102 can include one or more modules, at least some of which are described herein. The modules can be implemented as computer-readable program code that, when executed by a processor 110, implement one or more of the various processes described herein. One or more of the modules can be a component of the processor(s) 110, or one or more of the modules can be executed on and/or distributed among other processing systems to which the processor(s) 110 is operatively connected. The modules can include instructions (e.g., program logic) executable by one or more processor(s) 110. Alternatively, or in addition, one or more data store 115 may contain such instructions”):
receive, from the server, first information of a first leader vehicle capable of leading the automated platooning vehicle (Ucar, at least one para. 0029; “Referring to FIG. 1, the disclosed leader-as-a-service system 100 can include a regional server 101 that can communicate with a vehicle 102, which may be a leader candidate, and a platoon leader vehicle 103 of a platoon 104. For example, in or more embodiments the leader-as-a-service system 100 can communicate with an onboard unit 105 of the vehicle 102 and an onboard unit 106 of the platoon leader vehicle 103.”) during the n-th section (Ucar, FIG. 6; wherein the n-th section is the current positioning of the platoon 104 as shown below);
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perform first platoon driving in association with the first leader vehicle at the n-th section (Ucar, at least one para. 0057; “The platoon manager module 470 generally includes instructions that function to control the processor(s) 410 to assign the new leader to the platoon, coordinate a rendezvous between the new leader and the platoon when necessary, and cause the new leader to assume a lead position in the platoon.”);
perform autonomous driving of the automated platooning vehicle out of association with the first leader vehicle during the (n+1)-th section (Ucar, at least one para. 0065; “FIG. 6 shows an example scene 600 in which the disclosed embodiments may be applied. In the example scene 600, a vehicle platoon 104 is approaching a situation area 610 (e.g., a construction zone) that the current platoon leader 103 has no experience in leading a platoon through. The current platoon leader 103 sends a request for a new platoon leader to the regional server 101.”, wherein the road section between the n-th section and the area 610 becomes the n+1 section as shown below);
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receive, from the server, second information of a second leader vehicle capable of leading the automated platooning vehicle during the (n+2)-th section (Ucar, at least one para. 0029; “Referring to FIG. 1, the disclosed leader-as-a-service system 100 can include a regional server 101 that can communicate with a vehicle 102, which may be a leader candidate, and a platoon leader vehicle 103 of a platoon 104. For example, in or more embodiments the leader-as-a-service system 100 can communicate with an onboard unit 105 of the vehicle 102 and an onboard unit 106 of the platoon leader vehicle 103.”, wherein the n+2-th section is the area after 610 of FIG. 6 as shown below); and
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perform second platoon driving in association with the second leader vehicle during the (n+2)-th section (Ucar, at least one para. 0071; “After the new leader 102 has guided the platoon 104 past the situation area 610 and arrived at the short-term destination, the new leader 102 can exit the platoon.”) and (Ucar, at least one para. 0057; “The platoon manager module 470 generally includes instructions that function to control the processor(s) 410 to assign the new leader to the platoon, coordinate a rendezvous between the new leader and the platoon when necessary, and cause the new leader to assume a lead position in the platoon.”, It is inherent that the platoon 104 will have a new leader for (n+2)-th section once the leader 102 of the (n+1)-th section exits the platoon 104),
wherein: the automated platooning vehicle is an unmanned vehicle (Ucar, at least one para. 0092; ““autonomous mode” refers to navigating and/or maneuvering the vehicle 102 along a travel route using one or more computing systems to control the vehicle 102 with minimal or no input from a human driver.”), and
performing the autonomous driving during the (n+1)-th section comprises switching from the autonomous driving to temporary platoon driving (Ucar, at least one para. 0071; “The regional server 101 can further analyze the regional map data 480 to determine a short-term destination for the platoon 104 under the leadership of the new leader 102. The short-term destination may be a location beyond the situation area 610. In some circumstances, the final destination of the platoon 104 can be set as the short-term destination. After the new leader 102 has guided the platoon 104 past the situation area 610 and arrived at the short-term destination, the new leader 102 can exit the platoon.”) in response to an event situation occurring (Ucar, at least one para. 0040; “The classifier module 350 generally includes instructions that function to control the processor 110 to determine a situation class for an environment the vehicle is traveling through. In one or more embodiments the situation class can be a pre-defined event, such as entering a type of zone or area (e.g., a construction zone or school zone), a pre-defined driving condition, such as driving on a highway in inclement weather, or a pre-defined action, such as leading a platoon through a U-turn maneuver.”).
Regarding claim 14, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) The automated platooning vehicle of claim 13, wherein performing the autonomous driving during the (n+1)-th section further comprises transmitting a request for subscriber leader vehicle information of at least one subscriber leader vehicle traveling around the traveling path to the server in response to the event situation occurring (Ucar, at least one para. 0065-0067; “FIG. 6 shows an example scene 600 in which the disclosed embodiments may be applied. In the example scene 600, a vehicle platoon 104 is approaching a situation area 610 (e.g., a construction zone) that the current platoon leader 103 has no experience in leading a platoon through. The current platoon leader 103 sends a request for a new platoon leader to the regional server 101. The request can include the current location and current destination of the platoon, and information indicating the situation class that the platoon 104 is requesting aid in traversing. In response, the regional server 101 defines a region 605 based on the location of the platoon 104 and broadcasts a search query to vehicles in the region 605. The search query can include, for example, information indicating the situation class that the platoon 104 is seeking a leader for aid in traversing. Multiple vehicles (e.g., vehicle 620, vehicle 630 and vehicle 102) may respond affirmatively to the search query. Each of the vehicles 620, 630, 102 can be equipped and/or configured to track experience in handling various situation classes.”).
Regarding claim 15, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) The automated platooning vehicle of claim 14, wherein performing the autonomous driving during the (n+1)-th section further comprises performing the temporary platoon driving in association with a particular subscriber leader vehicle in response to receiving the subscriber leader vehicle information from the server (Ucar, at least one para. 0070; “The regional server 101 can analyze regional map data 480 to determine a pick-up location 640 for the platoon 104 and the new leader 102. The regional server 101 can coordinate a rendezvous between the platoon 104 and the new leader 102 and transmit instructions for integrating the new leader 102 into the platoon 104 as the platoon leader.”).
Regarding claim 16, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) The automated platooning vehicle of claim 15, wherein performing the autonomous driving at the (n+1)-th section further comprises autonomously driving again the automated platooning vehicle out of association with the particular subscriber leader vehicle in response to the event situation being terminated (Ucar, at least one para. 0071; “After the new leader 102 has guided the platoon 104 past the situation area 610 and arrived at the short-term destination, the new leader 102 can exit the platoon.”).
Regarding claim 17, Ucar teaches (Currently Amended) The automated platooning vehicle of claim 15, wherein performing the autonomous driving during the (n+1)-th section further comprises selecting the particular subscriber leader vehicle from among the at least one subscriber leader vehicle based on the subscriber leader vehicle information received from the server (Ucar, at least one para. 0069; “Based at least in part on the determined match scores, the regional server 101 can a select a vehicle (e.g., vehicle 102) as the new leader for the platoon 104. For example, the regional server 101 can determine that vehicle 102 has the best match score (e.g., best combination of experience level, profile rating, current route, and proximity to platoon 104) compared to vehicles 620 and 630.”).
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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/U.P.C./ Examiner, Art Unit 3665 /CHRISTIAN CHACE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3665