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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 5/14/2026 has been entered.
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 1-3, 5-6, 9, 11-15, 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (US 2020/0073405) in view of Sedlik (US 2017/0084175)
As to claim 1 Xu discloses a method comprising:
by operation of wireless circuits of a vehicle, wirelessly receiving event data, including an event location (Paragraph 24 “An infrastructure node can be equipped with sensors and computing devices to obtain data about a roadway in an area proximate to the infrastructure node. For example, the data can include data about a road surface, such as presence of potholes, bumps, debris, slippery areas, a road bank, a road grade, etc. The node can include the data on a map or the like specifying locations in the area proximate to the infrastructure node. For each specified location, the map can further specify one or more physical values, e.g., representing road surface conditions. A vehicle traveling in the area proximate to the infrastructure node can receive the map, and can include data from the map as input to a vehicle computer's determination of a planned path for the vehicle.”);
by operation of processing circuits of the vehicle, determining when the vehicle is within a predetermined proximity of the event location (Paragraph 67 “Next, in a block 410, the computer 110 locates the vehicle 105 on the received map. That is, the map typically specifies physical values describing physical features or objects 150, 155, 160 with respect to a coordinate system such as a geo-coordinate system, and the vehicle computer 110 typically receives data, e.g., GPS data or the like, to locate itself with respect to such coordinate system. Such physical values can be used, as described above and below, in determining a vehicle 105 path and/or maneuvers.”);
in response to the vehicle being within proximity of the event location, automatically adjusting at least one system of the vehicle according to at least the event data (Paragraph 71 “If the computer 110 determines to modify at least one control parameter or operational setting based on the road condition map, the process 400 proceeds to a block 425. Otherwise, the process 400 proceeds to a block 430.”); and
in response to the vehicle moving beyond the event location, returning the at least one system to a previous data or readjusting the at least one system (Paragraph 74-75 “Following the block 435, the process 400 ends”); wherein
the event data includes vehicle settings (Paragraph 59 “Equations (4) and 5) relate to vehicle heading and lateral offset, respectively, for example, a vehicle computer 110 could determine changes to vehicle heading and lateral offset to avoid a pothole 160p. These constraints could likewise be empirically developed, and stored in the computer 110. Constraints on heading and/or lateral offset could be modified based on a road condition map reporting an object 160 such as the pothole 160p. Other constraints could also be modified, e.g., if a pothole 160p was not so deep as to warrant driving around it, vehicle 105 speed constraints could be adjusted to slow the vehicle as it drove over or through the pothole 160p.”); and
automatically adjusting the at least one system of the vehicle in response to the vehicle settings (Paragraph 59 “Equations (4) and 5) relate to vehicle heading and lateral offset, respectively, for example, a vehicle computer 110 could determine changes to vehicle heading and lateral offset to avoid a pothole 160p. These constraints could likewise be empirically developed, and stored in the computer 110. Constraints on heading and/or lateral offset could be modified based on a road condition map reporting an object 160 such as the pothole 160p. Other constraints could also be modified, e.g., if a pothole 160p was not so deep as to warrant driving around it, vehicle 105 speed constraints could be adjusted to slow the vehicle as it drove over or through the pothole 160p.”).
Xu does not explicitly disclose in response to determining that the event did not occur, transmitting a non-event report by operation of the wireless circuits;
Sedlik teaches:
generating a route for the vehicle (Paragraph 23 “may be desirable to transmit a notification of the transit events 110 to the user 102 and the other drivers 106 of such vehicles 104, as such notification may alert them to the transit event 110 as a safety precaution, and/or enable the user 102 and other drivers 106 to choose an alternate route that avoids the area 108.”),
after generating the route, determining proximity of the event location (Paragraph 58 “. Moreover, such proximity data may be evaluated to detect a transit event 110. As a first such example, the proximity sensor 702 may detect one or more vehicles 104 that are stationary in an adjacent lane, in the median of the road, and/or off to the side of the road, may indicate the occurrence of a vehicular accident and position thereof in the location 204. As a second such example, the proximity sensor 702 may detect sudden changes in the proximity of the vehicles 104 indicating a transit event 110, such as a rapid deceleration of a vehicle 104 behind the vehicle 104 of the user 102 that indicates a collision. The vehicle device 708 may utilize the proximity sensor 704 to detect such transit events 110, and may send a notification 208 of the transit events 110 to the transit service 202.”);
in response to determining that the event did not occur, transmitting a non-event report by operation of the wireless circuits (Paragraph 71 “Before broadcasting the notification 210, the transit service 202 may endeavor to verify the transit event 110 by identifying a second vehicle 104 of the vehicle area group 206 that is capable of verifying the transit event 110, and transmitting to the second vehicle 104 a request to verify the transit event 110 (e.g., by asking the driver 106 of the second vehicle 104 to confirm or refute the transit event 110, and/or by utilizing sensors of the second vehicle 104). The broadcasting of the notification 210 may be contingent upon first receiving a verification of the transit event 110 from the second vehicle 104.”[verify by confirming or refuting the transient event]);
in response determining that the event indicated by the event data has not been managed, transmitting an event report by operation of the wireless circuits, the event report including data recorded by the vehicle(Paragraph 71 “Before broadcasting the notification 210, the transit service 202 may endeavor to verify the transit event 110 by identifying a second vehicle 104 of the vehicle area group 206 that is capable of verifying the transit event 110, and transmitting to the second vehicle 104 a request to verify the transit event 110 (e.g., by asking the driver 106 of the second vehicle 104 to confirm or refute the transit event 110, and/or by utilizing sensors of the second vehicle 104). The broadcasting of the notification 210 may be contingent upon first receiving a verification of the transit event 110 from the second vehicle 104.”[the second vehicle verifies and transmits the results on whether or not the transient event is there]);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to modify Xu to include the teachings of determining whether or not the event occurs for the purpose of providing accurate data to the vehicles of events along the route.
As to claim 2 Xu discloses a method wherein:
the event data includes an event type(Paragraph 45); and
determining when the vehicle is within proximity of the event location includes establishing proximity in response to any selected from the group of: the event type, map data, and vehicle state data(Paragraph 45).
As to claim 3 Sedlik teaches a method wherein the at least one system of the vehicle is selected from the group of: a wheel anti-slip system, anti-lock brake system (Paragraph 57).
As to claim 6 Xu discloses a method further including:
the event data includes an event type (Paragraph 45);
generating vehicle settings in response to at least the event type(Paragraph 71).; and
automatically adjusting the at least one system of the vehicle in response to the vehicle settings(Paragraph 72-74).
As to claim 9 Xu discloses a device comprising:
processing circuits of a vehicle configured to
receive event data from wireless circuits, including an event location for an event (Paragraph 24 “An infrastructure node can be equipped with sensors and computing devices to obtain data about a roadway in an area proximate to the infrastructure node. For example, the data can include data about a road surface, such as presence of potholes, bumps, debris, slippery areas, a road bank, a road grade, etc. The node can include the data on a map or the like specifying locations in the area proximate to the infrastructure node. For each specified location, the map can further specify one or more physical values, e.g., representing road surface conditions. A vehicle traveling in the area proximate to the infrastructure node can receive the map, and can include data from the map as input to a vehicle computer's determination of a planned path for the vehicle.”);,
determine when a vehicle is within a predetermined proximity of the event location (Paragraph 67 “Next, in a block 410, the computer 110 locates the vehicle 105 on the received map. That is, the map typically specifies physical values describing physical features or objects 150, 155, 160 with respect to a coordinate system such as a geo-coordinate system, and the vehicle computer 110 typically receives data, e.g., GPS data or the like, to locate itself with respect to such coordinate system. Such physical values can be used, as described above and below, in determining a vehicle 105 path and/or maneuvers.”);,
in response to being within the proximity, generate vehicle settings particular to the event data, the vehicle settings configured to adjust the operation of at least one vehicle system(Paragraph 71 “If the computer 110 determines to modify at least one control parameter or operational setting based on the road condition map, the process 400 proceeds to a block 425. Otherwise, the process 400 proceeds to a block 430.”);, and
transmitting the vehicle settings over a device interface (Paragraph 74 “Next, in a block 435, the computer 110 provides control commands to vehicle actuators according to the determined path polynomial. For example, the vehicle computer 110 can send commands to actuators 120 and vehicle components 125 to control steering, brakes and a powertrain of the vehicle 105 based on the vehicle control settings specified in the path polynomial such as a longitudinal velocity U, a lateral velocity V, a yaw rate ω.sub.y, a heading direction Ø.sub.y, a lateral offset e, a rate of change of lateral velocity {dot over (V)}, a rate of change of yaw rate {dot over (ω)}.sub.y, a rate of change of heading direction {dot over (Ø)}.sub.y, and a rate of change of lateral offset ė. Optimal control commands to actuators 120 and components 125 can be provided according to known techniques for solving a constrained optimization problem.”);
wherein the vehicle settings are included in the event data(Paragraph 59 “Equations (4) and 5) relate to vehicle heading and lateral offset, respectively, for example, a vehicle computer 110 could determine changes to vehicle heading and lateral offset to avoid a pothole 160p. These constraints could likewise be empirically developed, and stored in the computer 110. Constraints on heading and/or lateral offset could be modified based on a road condition map reporting an object 160 such as the pothole 160p. Other constraints could also be modified, e.g., if a pothole 160p was not so deep as to warrant driving around it, vehicle 105 speed constraints could be adjusted to slow the vehicle as it drove over or through the pothole 160p.”).
Xu does not explicitly disclose in response to determining that the event did not occur, transmitting a non-event report by operation of the wireless circuits;
Sedlik teaches:
generating a route for the vehicle (Paragraph 23 “may be desirable to transmit a notification of the transit events 110 to the user 102 and the other drivers 106 of such vehicles 104, as such notification may alert them to the transit event 110 as a safety precaution, and/or enable the user 102 and other drivers 106 to choose an alternate route that avoids the area 108.”),
after generating the route, determining proximity of the event location (Paragraph 58 “. Moreover, such proximity data may be evaluated to detect a transit event 110. As a first such example, the proximity sensor 702 may detect one or more vehicles 104 that are stationary in an adjacent lane, in the median of the road, and/or off to the side of the road, may indicate the occurrence of a vehicular accident and position thereof in the location 204. As a second such example, the proximity sensor 702 may detect sudden changes in the proximity of the vehicles 104 indicating a transit event 110, such as a rapid deceleration of a vehicle 104 behind the vehicle 104 of the user 102 that indicates a collision. The vehicle device 708 may utilize the proximity sensor 704 to detect such transit events 110, and may send a notification 208 of the transit events 110 to the transit service 202.”);
in response to determining that the event did not occur, transmitting a non-event report by operation of the wireless circuits (Paragraph 71 “Before broadcasting the notification 210, the transit service 202 may endeavor to verify the transit event 110 by identifying a second vehicle 104 of the vehicle area group 206 that is capable of verifying the transit event 110, and transmitting to the second vehicle 104 a request to verify the transit event 110 (e.g., by asking the driver 106 of the second vehicle 104 to confirm or refute the transit event 110, and/or by utilizing sensors of the second vehicle 104). The broadcasting of the notification 210 may be contingent upon first receiving a verification of the transit event 110 from the second vehicle 104.”[verify by confirming or refuting the transient event]);
in response determining that the event indicated by the event data has not been managed, transmitting an event report by operation of the wireless circuits, the event report including data recorded by the vehicle(Paragraph 71 “Before broadcasting the notification 210, the transit service 202 may endeavor to verify the transit event 110 by identifying a second vehicle 104 of the vehicle area group 206 that is capable of verifying the transit event 110, and transmitting to the second vehicle 104 a request to verify the transit event 110 (e.g., by asking the driver 106 of the second vehicle 104 to confirm or refute the transit event 110, and/or by utilizing sensors of the second vehicle 104). The broadcasting of the notification 210 may be contingent upon first receiving a verification of the transit event 110 from the second vehicle 104.”[the second vehicle verifies and transmits the results on whether or not the transient event is there]);
wireless circuits of the vehicle configured to transmit the vehicle settings the event report and non-event report over a device interface(Paragraph 71 “As a seventh variation of this third aspect, the transit service 202 may comprise a transit event verifier that endeavors to verify the transit events 110 reported by respective vehicles 104. For example, a transit event 110 involving a sudden braking incident by a vehicle 104 may indicate a transit event 110 such as an accident or ice, for which a notification 210 of the transit event 110 is to broadcast. However, the sudden braking may also indicate a transient event, such as a brief encounter with wildlife, or a vehicle or driver error, such as accidentally activating the brakes or misperceiving the presence of a vehicle in a nearby lane.. Before broadcasting the notification 210, the transit service 202 may endeavor to verify the transit event 110 by identifying a second vehicle 104 of the vehicle area group 206 that is capable of verifying the transit event 110, and transmitting to the second vehicle 104 a request to verify the transit event 110 (e.g., by asking the driver 106 of the second vehicle 104 to confirm or refute the transit event 110, and/or by utilizing sensors of the second vehicle 104). The broadcasting of the notification 210 may be contingent upon first receiving a verification of the transit event 110 from the second vehicle 104.”);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to modify Xu to include the teachings of determining whether or not the event occurs for the purpose of providing accurate data to the vehicles of events along the route.
As to claim 12 Xu discloses a device further including the device interface comprises a bus interface compatible with a vehicle bus selected from the group of: a CAN-type bus, media oriented systems transport (MOST), Flexray and Automotive Ethernet (Paragraph 52).
As to claim 13 Xu discloses a device wherein the device interface comprises wireless circuits compatible with a wireless standard selected from the group of: a Bluetooth standard, a Zigbee standard, and an IEEE 802.11 wireless standard (Paragraph 35).
As to claim 14 Xu discloses a system comprising:
a vehicle system that includes
wireless circuits configured to receive event data, including an event location(Paragraph 24 “An infrastructure node can be equipped with sensors and computing devices to obtain data about a roadway in an area proximate to the infrastructure node. For example, the data can include data about a road surface, such as presence of potholes, bumps, debris, slippery areas, a road bank, a road grade, etc. The node can include the data on a map or the like specifying locations in the area proximate to the infrastructure node. For each specified location, the map can further specify one or more physical values, e.g., representing road surface conditions. A vehicle traveling in the area proximate to the infrastructure node can receive the map, and can include data from the map as input to a vehicle computer's determination of a planned path for the vehicle.”);
processing circuits configured to
determine when a vehicle is a proximity of the event location(Paragraph 67 “Next, in a block 410, the computer 110 locates the vehicle 105 on the received map. That is, the map typically specifies physical values describing physical features or objects 150, 155, 160 with respect to a coordinate system such as a geo-coordinate system, and the vehicle computer 110 typically receives data, e.g., GPS data or the like, to locate itself with respect to such coordinate system. Such physical values can be used, as described above and below, in determining a vehicle 105 path and/or maneuvers.”); and
in response to being within proximity of the event location, generate vehicle settings particular to the event data(Paragraph 71 “If the computer 110 determines to modify at least one control parameter or operational setting based on the road condition map, the process 400 proceeds to a block 425. Otherwise, the process 400 proceeds to a block 430.”); and
at least one vehicle control system in communication with the processing circuits and configured to adjust its operation in response to the vehicle settings(Paragraph 71 “If the computer 110 determines to modify at least one control parameter or operational setting based on the road condition map, the process 400 proceeds to a block 425. Otherwise, the process 400 proceeds to a block 430.”); wherein
the vehicle setting are included in the event data (Paragraph 59 “Equations (4) and 5) relate to vehicle heading and lateral offset, respectively, for example, a vehicle computer 110 could determine changes to vehicle heading and lateral offset to avoid a pothole 160p. These constraints could likewise be empirically developed, and stored in the computer 110. Constraints on heading and/or lateral offset could be modified based on a road condition map reporting an object 160 such as the pothole 160p. Other constraints could also be modified, e.g., if a pothole 160p was not so deep as to warrant driving around it, vehicle 105 speed constraints could be adjusted to slow the vehicle as it drove over or through the pothole 160p.”)
Xu does not explicitly disclose in response to determining that the event did not occur, transmitting a non-event report by operation of the wireless circuits;
Sedlik teaches:
generating a route for the vehicle (Paragraph 23 “may be desirable to transmit a notification of the transit events 110 to the user 102 and the other drivers 106 of such vehicles 104, as such notification may alert them to the transit event 110 as a safety precaution, and/or enable the user 102 and other drivers 106 to choose an alternate route that avoids the area 108.”),
after generating the route, determining proximity of the event location (Paragraph 58 “. Moreover, such proximity data may be evaluated to detect a transit event 110. As a first such example, the proximity sensor 702 may detect one or more vehicles 104 that are stationary in an adjacent lane, in the median of the road, and/or off to the side of the road, may indicate the occurrence of a vehicular accident and position thereof in the location 204. As a second such example, the proximity sensor 702 may detect sudden changes in the proximity of the vehicles 104 indicating a transit event 110, such as a rapid deceleration of a vehicle 104 behind the vehicle 104 of the user 102 that indicates a collision. The vehicle device 708 may utilize the proximity sensor 704 to detect such transit events 110, and may send a notification 208 of the transit events 110 to the transit service 202.”);
in response to determining that the event did not occur, generate the non-event reports (Paragraph 71 “Before broadcasting the notification 210, the transit service 202 may endeavor to verify the transit event 110 by identifying a second vehicle 104 of the vehicle area group 206 that is capable of verifying the transit event 110, and transmitting to the second vehicle 104 a request to verify the transit event 110 (e.g., by asking the driver 106 of the second vehicle 104 to confirm or refute the transit event 110, and/or by utilizing sensors of the second vehicle 104). The broadcasting of the notification 210 may be contingent upon first receiving a verification of the transit event 110 from the second vehicle 104.”[verify by confirming or refuting the transient event]); and
in response determining that the event indicated by the event data has not been managed, using at least sensors of the vehicle system, generating the event report that includes data recorded by the vehicle system(Paragraph 57 “As a second variation of this second aspect, a vehicle device may evaluate telemetry of the vehicle 104 to detect a transit event 110. For example, telemetry indicating that the user 102 has engaged windshield wipers or fog lamps may indicate the presence of transit-affecting weather conditions in the location 204, and telemetry indicating an engagement of an anti-lock braking system in a particular location 204 (coupled with weather data indicating freezing weather) may indicate a transit event 110 involving the formation of ice on a road surface of in the location 204”, Paragraph 71 “Before broadcasting the notification 210, the transit service 202 may endeavor to verify the transit event 110 by identifying a second vehicle 104 of the vehicle area group 206 that is capable of verifying the transit event 110, and transmitting to the second vehicle 104 a request to verify the transit event 110 (e.g., by asking the driver 106 of the second vehicle 104 to confirm or refute the transit event 110, and/or by utilizing sensors of the second vehicle 104). The broadcasting of the notification 210 may be contingent upon first receiving a verification of the transit event 110 from the second vehicle 104.”[the second vehicle verifies and transmits the results on whether or not the transient event is there]);
wireless circuits of the vehicle configured to transmit the vehicle settings the event report and non-event report over a device interface(Paragraph 71 “s a seventh variation of this third aspect, the transit service 202 may comprise a transit event verifier that endeavors to verify the transit events 110 reported by respective vehicles 104. For example, a transit event 110 involving a sudden braking incident by a vehicle 104 may indicate a transit event 110 such as an accident or ice, for which a notification 210 of the transit event 110 is to broadcast. However, the sudden braking may also indicate a transient event, such as a brief encounter with wildlife, or a vehicle or driver error, such as accidentally activating the brakes or misperceiving the presence of a vehicle in a nearby lane.. Before broadcasting the notification 210, the transit service 202 may endeavor to verify the transit event 110 by identifying a second vehicle 104 of the vehicle area group 206 that is capable of verifying the transit event 110, and transmitting to the second vehicle 104 a request to verify the transit event 110 (e.g., by asking the driver 106 of the second vehicle 104 to confirm or refute the transit event 110, and/or by utilizing sensors of the second vehicle 104). The broadcasting of the notification 210 may be contingent upon first receiving a verification of the transit event 110 from the second vehicle 104.”);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to modify Xu to include the teachings of determining whether or not the event occurs for the purpose of providing accurate data to the vehicles of events along the route.
As to claim 15 Xu discloses a system wherein:
the event data further includes an event identification and severity value(Paragraph 70); and
the processing circuits are further configured to generate different vehicle settings for event data having a same event identification but with different severity values(Paragraph 56).
As to claim 17 Xu discloses system wherein:
the event location comprises event global position system (GPS) data (Paragraph 67); and
the vehicle system further includes
GPS circuits configured to generate vehicle location data(Paragraph 67), and
the processing circuits are configured to determine when the vehicle is within the predetermined proximity using the event GPS data and vehicle location data(Paragraph 67).
As to claim 18 Xu discloses a system further including at least one remote computing system coupled to a wireless network and configured to generate and transmit the event data(Paragraph 25).
As to claim 19 Xu discloses a system further including:
at least one remote computing system configured to receive event reports from a plurality of other vehicles, determine the occurrence of an event from the event reports (Paragraph 25), and
generate the event data for the event using the event reports(Paragraph 25).
As to claim 20 Xu discloses a system further including: the vehicle system further includes
the event data comprising adverse event data and non-adverse event data; a user interface(Paragraph 63); and
the processing circuits are further configured to indicate road conditions corresponding to the non-adverse event data on the user interface(Paragraph 63).
Claims 4, 10, 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (US 2020/0073405) in view of Sedlik (US 2017/0084175) as applied to claim 1 above, and in further view of Kong (US 2023/0024275)
As to claim 4 Kong teaches a method further including, in response to the vehicle being within proximity of the event location, generating a warning for occupants of the vehicle (Paragraph 75). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to modify Xu to include the teachings of alerting of an event location and a proximity to the event to notify the driver of an upcoming road surface condition.
As to claim 10 Kong teaches a device wherein:
the processing circuits are further configured to
in response to being within proximity of the event location, generating occupant warning data (Paragraph 75), and
transmitting the occupant warning data over the device interface(Paragraph 75).
As to claim 16 Kong teaches a system wherein:
the vehicle system further includes
a user interface(Paragraph 75),
the processing circuits are further configured to generate a warning via the user interface in response to being within proximity of the event location(Paragraph 75).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-4, 6, 9-10, 12-20have 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IMRAN K MUSTAFA whose telephone number is (571)270-1471. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, James J Lee can be reached at 571-270-5965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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IMRAN K. MUSTAFA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3668
/IMRAN K MUSTAFA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3668
9/10/2026
Prosecution Insights