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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-15 are pending in this application.
Claims 1 and 6-10 are presented as currently amended claims.
No claims are presented as original claims.
Claims 11-15 are newly presented.
No claims are cancelled.
Examiner's Note
Examiner has cited particular paragraphs / columns and line numbers or figures in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing the responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner. Applicant is reminded that the Examiner is entitled to give the broadest reasonable interpretation to the language of the claims. Furthermore, the Examiner is not limited to Applicants’ definition which is not specifically set forth in the claims.
Claims 6 and 9 contains contingent limitation modifying a method. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has previously held that “giving the claim its broadest reasonable interpretation, ‘[i]f the condition for performing a contingent step is not satisfied, the performance recited by the step need not be carried out in order for the claimed method to be performed’". (MPEP § 2111.04(II) quoting Ex parte Schulhauser, Appeal 2013-007847 (PTAB April 28, 2016) at 10 (quotation omitted)). Consequently, the contingent limitations of method claims 6 and 9 have not been given patentable weight.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1 and 5-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alam (CN 110036423 A) in view of MacNeille (US 20180082590 A1) in view of Jang (US 12307892 B2) (the combination of which is referenced as “combination Alam” hereinafter). As regards the individual claims:
Regarding claim 1, Alam teaches an information processing device for:
planning routes of a plurality of movable apparatuses, and causing the plurality of movable apparatuses to move, (Alam: ¶ 015;control unit for regulating the distance between vehicles in a vehicle in a queue) the information processing device comprising: at least one processor or circuit (Alam: ¶ 102; central processing unit) configured to function as: a route information acquisition unit configured to acquire information on a scheduled route of each of the movable apparatus a congestion degree calculation unit configured to divide a route acquired by the route information acquisition unit into a plurality of sections each having a predetermined distance and calculate a congestion degree based on a number of movable apparatuses scheduled to travel within the section at the same time; (Alam: ¶ 044; geofencing and dividing the route into zones may be applied with a roadside unit that communicates using a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), as shown in Figure 2B. Thus, the inter-vehicle distance 130, ie, an increase or decrease, can be adjusted based on local road conditions or traffic conditions.) a following route planning unit configured to determine a following route plan based on the congestion degrees calculated by the congestion degree calculation unit, wherein, in determining the following route plan, the following route planning unit is configured to (i) designate sections with a congestion degree higher than a threshold as following-travel sections in which movable apparatuses other than a leading movable apparatus switch from autonomous traveling to following traveling, approach one another and move together (Alam: ¶ 044; geofencing and dividing the route into zones may be applied with a roadside unit that communicates using a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), as shown in Figure 2B. Thus, the inter-vehicle distance 130, ie, an increase or decrease, can be adjusted based on local road conditions or traffic conditions. For example, if traffic is intensive (a traffic jam condition), a smaller inter-vehicle interval 130 may be allowed in the queue to increase road capacity)
To the extent Alam is silent about or does not teach: each of the movable apparatuses other than the leading movable apparatus following a preceding movable apparatus by controlling the following movable apparatuses so that detection values of distance sensors provided on front sides of the following movable apparatuses fall within a threshold range, while the leading movable apparatus continues the autonomous traveling,; MacNeille teaches:
each of the movable apparatuses other than the leading movable apparatus following a preceding movable apparatus by controlling the following movable apparatuses so that detection values of distance sensors provided on front sides of the following movable apparatuses fall within a threshold range, while the leading movable apparatus continues the autonomous traveling, (MacNeille: ¶ 047; the first cooperative vehicle 100a adjusts (e.g., increases or decreases) its acceleration to arrive at the specified target position for the first cooperative vehicle 100a at the specific time interval. At block 816, the second cooperative vehicle 100b adjusts (e.g., increases or decreases) its acceleration to arrive at the specified target position for the second cooperative vehicle) (MacNeille: ¶ 024; range detection sensors 104 detect ranges and speeds of vehicles 100 and 102 around the cooperative vehicle 100. The example range detection sensors 104 may include one or more cameras, ultra-sonic sensors, sonar, LiDAR, RADAR)(MacNeille: ¶ 023; cooperative vehicle 100 is semi-autonomous (e.g., some routine motive functions controlled by the cooperative vehicle 100) or autonomous)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of MacNeille with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of “better group flow rate depends on moving vehicles through the traffic cataract.” (MacNeille: ¶ 018).
To the extent Alam is silent about or does not teach: and (ii) designate sections with a congestion degree lower than the threshold as autonomous-driving sections in which the movable apparatuses estimate the self- positions of the movable apparatuses and travel; and a control instruction determination unit configured to determine a control instruction with respect to each of the movable apparatuses in accordance with the following route plan determined by the following route planning unit, wherein the control instruction determination unit outputs the control instruction to each of the movable apparatuses to cause each of the movable apparatuses to move in accordance with the following route plan.; Jang teaches:
and (ii) designate sections with a congestion degree lower than the threshold as autonomous-driving sections in which the movable apparatuses estimate the self- positions of the movable apparatuses and travel; and a control instruction determination unit configured to determine a control instruction with respect to each of the movable apparatuses in accordance with the following route plan determined by the following route planning unit, wherein the control instruction determination unit outputs the control instruction to each of the movable apparatuses to cause each of the movable apparatuses to move in accordance with the following route plan. (Jang: ¶ 092, Col. 16, Lns. 29-30; system can determine a plurality of stop-and-go waves based on a plurality of trajectories.) (Jang: ¶ 108, Col. 19, Lns. 40-44;system can operate the control vehicle in accordance with the control zone and the predicted deceleration profiles. As described above, the control vehicle can implement mitigation strategies based on the control zone and the deceleration profiles.)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Jang with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of improving vehicle behavior I stop-and-go traffic (Jang: ¶ 003, Col. 1, Lns 23-34).
Regarding claim 5, as detailed above, combination Alam teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 1. Jang further teaches:
further comprising a display unit configured to output at least one of information related to following route determined by the following route planning unit and control instruction information with respect to each of the movable apparatuses determined by the control instruction determination unit to a display device. (Jang: ¶ 092, Col. 16, Lns. 30-33; a trajectory can be established for each of a plurality of vehicles. This trajectory data can be used for map formation, where the map can display a particular vehicle's position or velocity over time.)( Jang: ¶ 111, Col. 20, Lns. 16-18; computing component 900 may represent, for example, computing or processing capabilities found within a self-adjusting display)
Regarding claim 6, Alam teaches a control method for:
for an information processing device that plans routes of a plurality of movable apparatuses, and causes the plurality of movable apparatuses to move, (Alam: ¶ 015;control unit for regulating the distance between vehicles in a vehicle in a queue) acquiring information on a scheduled route of each of the movable apparatuses; dividing a route acquired in the route information acquiring into a plurality of sections each having a predetermined distance; calculating a congestion degree based on a number of movable apparatuses scheduled to travel within the section at the same time; (Alam: ¶ 044; geofencing and dividing the route into zones may be applied with a roadside unit that communicates using a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), as shown in Figure 2B. Thus, the inter-vehicle distance 130, ie, an increase or decrease, can be adjusted based on local road conditions or traffic conditions.) determining a following route plan based on the congestion degrees, wherein (i) sections with a congestion degree higher than a threshold are designated as following-travel sections in which [[the]] movable apparatuses other than a leading movable apparatus switch from autonomous traveling to following traveling, approach one another and move together, each of the movable apparatuses other than the leading movable apparatus following a preceding movable apparatus (Alam: ¶ 044; geofencing and dividing the route into zones may be applied with a roadside unit that communicates using a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), as shown in Figure 2B. Thus, the inter-vehicle distance 130, ie, an increase or decrease, can be adjusted based on local road conditions or traffic conditions. For example, if traffic is intensive (a traffic jam condition), a smaller inter-vehicle interval 130 may be allowed in the queue to increase road capacity)
To the extent Alam is silent about or does not teach: by controlling the following movable apparatuses so that detection values of distance sensors provided on front sides of the following movable apparatuses fall within a threshold range, while the leading movable apparatus continues the autonomous traveling,; MacNeille teaches:
by controlling the following movable apparatuses so that detection values of distance sensors provided on front sides of the following movable apparatuses fall within a threshold range, while the leading movable apparatus continues the autonomous traveling, (MacNeille: ¶ 047; the first cooperative vehicle 100a adjusts (e.g., increases or decreases) its acceleration to arrive at the specified target position for the first cooperative vehicle 100a at the specific time interval. At block 816, the second cooperative vehicle 100b adjusts (e.g., increases or decreases) its acceleration to arrive at the specified target position for the second cooperative vehicle) (MacNeille: ¶ 024; range detection sensors 104 detect ranges and speeds of vehicles 100 and 102 around the cooperative vehicle 100. The example range detection sensors 104 may include one or more cameras, ultra-sonic sensors, sonar, LiDAR, RADAR) (MacNeille: ¶ 023; cooperative vehicle 100 is semi-autonomous (e.g., some routine motive functions controlled by the cooperative vehicle 100) or autonomous)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of MacNeille with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of “better group flow rate depends on moving vehicles through the traffic cataract.” (MacNeille: ¶ 018).
To the extent Alam is silent about or does not teach: and (ii) sections with a congestion degree lower than the threshold are designated as autonomous-driving sections in which the movable apparatuses estimate the self-positions of the movable apparatuses and travel; and outputting the control instruction to each of the movable apparatuses to cause each of the movable apparatuses to move in accordance with the following route plan.; Jang teaches:
and (ii) sections with a congestion degree lower than the threshold are designated as autonomous-driving sections in which the movable apparatuses estimate the self-positions of the movable apparatuses and travel; and outputting the control instruction to each of the movable apparatuses to cause each of the movable apparatuses to move in accordance with the following route plan. (Jang: ¶ 092, Col. 16, Lns. 29-30; system can determine a plurality of stop-and-go waves based on a plurality of trajectories.) (Jang: ¶ 108, Col. 19, Lns. 40-44;system can operate the control vehicle in accordance with the control zone and the predicted deceleration profiles. As described above, the control vehicle can implement mitigation strategies based on the control zone and the deceleration profiles.)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Jang with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of improving vehicle behavior I stop-and-go traffic (Jang: ¶ 003, Col. 1, Lns. 23-34).
Regarding claim 7, Alam teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured to:
store a computer program comprising instructions for executing a control method for an information processing device (Alam: ¶ 102; central processing unit) that plans routes of a plurality of movable apparatuses, and causes the plurality of movable apparatuses to move, (Alam: ¶ 015; control unit for regulating the distance between vehicles in a vehicle in a queue) and including following processes: acquiring information on a scheduled route of each of the movable apparatuses; dividing a route acquired in the route information acquiring into a plurality of sections each having a predetermined distance; calculating a congestion degree based on a number of movable apparatuses scheduled to travel within the section at the same time; (Alam: ¶ 044; geofencing and dividing the route into zones may be applied with a roadside unit that communicates using a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), as shown in Figure 2B. Thus, the inter-vehicle distance 130, ie, an increase or decrease, can be adjusted based on local road conditions or traffic conditions.) determining a following route plan based on the congestion degrees, wherein (i) sections with a congestion degree higher than a threshold are designated as following-travel sections in which other than a leading movable apparatus switch from autonomous traveling to following traveling, approach one another and move together, each of the movable apparatuses other than the leading movable apparatus following a preceding movable apparatus (Alam: ¶ 044; geofencing and dividing the route into zones may be applied with a roadside unit that communicates using a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), as shown in Figure 2B. Thus, the inter-vehicle distance 130, ie, an increase or decrease, can be adjusted based on local road conditions or traffic conditions. For example, if traffic is intensive (a traffic jam condition), a smaller inter-vehicle interval 130 may be allowed in the queue to increase road capacity)
To the extent Alam is silent about or does not teach: by controlling the following movable apparatuses so that detection values of distance sensors provided on front sides of the following movable apparatuses fall within a threshold range, while the leading movable apparatus continues the autonomous traveling, ; MacNeille teaches:
by controlling the following movable apparatuses so that detection values of distance sensors provided on front sides of the following movable apparatuses fall within a threshold range, while the leading movable apparatus continues the autonomous traveling, (MacNeille: ¶ 047; the first cooperative vehicle 100a adjusts (e.g., increases or decreases) its acceleration to arrive at the specified target position for the first cooperative vehicle 100a at the specific time interval. At block 816, the second cooperative vehicle 100b adjusts (e.g., increases or decreases) its acceleration to arrive at the specified target position for the second cooperative vehicle) (MacNeille: ¶ 024; range detection sensors 104 detect ranges and speeds of vehicles 100 and 102 around the cooperative vehicle 100. The example range detection sensors 104 may include one or more cameras, ultra-sonic sensors, sonar, LiDAR, RADAR) (MacNeille: ¶ 023; cooperative vehicle 100 is semi-autonomous (e.g., some routine motive functions controlled by the cooperative vehicle 100) or autonomous)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of MacNeille with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of “better group flow rate depends on moving vehicles through the traffic cataract.” (MacNeille: ¶ 018).
To the extent Alam is silent about or does not teach: and (ii) sections with a congestion degree lower than the threshold are designated as autonomous-driving sections in which the movable apparatuses estimate the self-positions of the movable apparatuses and travel; determining a control instruction with respect to each of the movable apparatuses in accordance with the following route plan; and outputting the control instruction to each of the movable apparatuses to cause each of the movable apparatuses to move in accordance with the following route plan.; Jang teaches:
and (ii) sections with a congestion degree lower than the threshold are designated as autonomous-driving sections in which the movable apparatuses estimate the self-positions of the movable apparatuses and travel; determining a control instruction with respect to each of the movable apparatuses in accordance with the following route plan; and outputting the control instruction to each of the movable apparatuses to cause each of the movable apparatuses to move in accordance with the following route plan. (Jang: ¶ 092, Col. 16, Lns. 29-30; system can determine a plurality of stop-and-go waves based on a plurality of trajectories.) (Jang: ¶ 108, Col. 19, Lns. 40-44;system can operate the control vehicle in accordance with the control zone and the predicted deceleration profiles. As described above, the control vehicle can implement mitigation strategies based on the control zone and the deceleration profiles.)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Jang with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of improving vehicle behavior I stop-and-go traffic (Jang: ¶ 003, Col. 1, Lns. 23-34).
Regarding claim 8, Alam teaches an information processing device for:
planning routes of a plurality of movable apparatuses, and causing the plurality of movable apparatuses to move, (Alam: ¶ 015; control unit for regulating the distance between vehicles in a vehicle in a queue) the information processing device comprising: at least one processor or circuit (Alam: ¶ 102; central processing unit) configured to function as: a route information acquisition unit configured to acquire information on a scheduled route of each movable apparatus of the plurality of movable apparatuses; a common route estimation unit configured to, on the basis of a route acquired by the route information acquisition unit, perform area dividing based on at least one of a start position and a destination position and estimate a route section through which each of the-movable apparatuses commonly passes for each divided area; (Alam: ¶ 044; geofencing and dividing the route into zones may be applied with a roadside unit that communicates using a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), as shown in Figure 2B. Thus, the inter-vehicle distance 130, ie, an increase or decrease, can be adjusted based on local road conditions or traffic conditions.) a following route planning unit configured to determine a following route plan, wherein, in determining the following route plan, the following route planning unit designates a common-route section estimated by the common-route estimation unit as a following-travel section in which [[a]] movable apparatus follow apparatuses other than a leading movable apparatus switch from autonomous traveling to following traveling, follow another movable apparatus, (Alam: ¶ 044; geofencing and dividing the route into zones may be applied with a roadside unit that communicates using a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), as shown in Figure 2B. Thus, the inter-vehicle distance 130, ie, an increase or decrease, can be adjusted based on local road conditions or traffic conditions. For example, if traffic is intensive (a traffic jam condition), a smaller inter-vehicle interval 130 may be allowed in the queue to increase road capacity)
To the extent Alam is silent about or does not teach: each of the movable apparatuses other than the leading movable apparatus following a preceding movable apparatus by controlling the following movable apparatuses so that detection values of distance sensors provided on front sides of the following movable apparatuses fall within a threshold range, while the leading movable apparatus continues the autonomous traveling, ; MacNeille teaches:
each of the movable apparatuses other than the leading movable apparatus following a preceding movable apparatus by controlling the following movable apparatuses so that detection values of distance sensors provided on front sides of the following movable apparatuses fall within a threshold range, while the leading movable apparatus continues the autonomous traveling, (MacNeille: ¶ 047; the first cooperative vehicle 100a adjusts (e.g., increases or decreases) its acceleration to arrive at the specified target position for the first cooperative vehicle 100a at the specific time interval. At block 816, the second cooperative vehicle 100b adjusts (e.g., increases or decreases) its acceleration to arrive at the specified target position for the second cooperative vehicle) (MacNeille: ¶ 024; range detection sensors 104 detect ranges and speeds of vehicles 100 and 102 around the cooperative vehicle 100. The example range detection sensors 104 may include one or more cameras, ultra-sonic sensors, sonar, LiDAR, RADAR) (MacNeille: ¶ 023; cooperative vehicle 100 is semi-autonomous (e.g., some routine motive functions controlled by the cooperative vehicle 100) or autonomous)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of MacNeille with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of “better group flow rate depends on moving vehicles through the traffic cataract.” (MacNeille: ¶ 018).
To the extent Alam is silent about or does not teach: and the following route planning unit determines whether to perform following-travel or autonomous-driving in which the movable apparatus estimates the self-position of the movable apparatus and travels; and a control instruction determination unit configured to determine a control instruction with respect to each of the movable apparatuses in accordance with the following route plan determined by the following route planning unite wherein the control instruction determination unit outputs the control instruction to each of the movable apparatuses to cause each of the movable apparatuses to move in accordance with the following route plan.; Jang teaches:
and the following route planning unit determines whether to perform following-travel or autonomous-driving in which the movable apparatus estimates the self-position of the movable apparatus and travels; and a control instruction determination unit configured to determine a control instruction with respect to each of the movable apparatuses in accordance with the following route plan determined by the following route planning unite wherein the control instruction determination unit outputs the control instruction to each of the movable apparatuses to cause each of the movable apparatuses to move in accordance with the following route plan. (Jang: ¶ 092, Col. 16, Lns. 29-30; system can determine a plurality of stop-and-go waves based on a plurality of trajectories.) (Jang: ¶ 108, Col. 19, Lns. 40-44;system can operate the control vehicle in accordance with the control zone and the predicted deceleration profiles. As described above, the control vehicle can implement mitigation strategies based on the control zone and the deceleration profiles.)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Jang with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of improving vehicle behavior I stop-and-go traffic (Jang: ¶ 003, Col. 1, Lns. 23-34).
Regarding claim 9, Jang teaches a control method for:
an information processing device that plans routes of a plurality of movable apparatuses, and causes the plurality of movable apparatuses to move, (Alam: ¶ 015; control unit for regulating the distance between vehicles in a vehicle in a queue) the control method comprising: route information acquiring of acquiring information on a scheduled route of each movable apparatus of the plurality of movable apparatuses; common route estimating, on the basis of a route acquired in the route information acquiring, of performing area dividing based on at least one of a start position and a destination position and estimating a route section through which each of the plurality of movable apparatuses commonly passes for each divided area; (Alam: ¶ 044; geofencing and dividing the route into zones may be applied with a roadside unit that communicates using a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), as shown in Figure 2B. Thus, the inter-vehicle distance 130, ie, an increase or decrease, can be adjusted based on local road conditions or traffic conditions.) following route planning of designating, as a following-travel section in which movable apparatuses other than a leading movable apparatus switch from autonomous traveling to following traveling, follow another movable apparatus, each of the movable apparatuses other than the leading movable apparatus following a preceding movable apparatus (Alam: ¶ 044; geofencing and dividing the route into zones may be applied with a roadside unit that communicates using a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), as shown in Figure 2B. Thus, the inter-vehicle distance 130, ie, an increase or decrease, can be adjusted based on local road conditions or traffic conditions. For example, if traffic is intensive (a traffic jam condition), a smaller inter-vehicle interval 130 may be allowed in the queue to increase road capacity)
To the extent Alam is silent about or does not teach: by controlling the following movable apparatuses so that detection values of distance sensors provided on front sides of the following movable apparatuses fall within a threshold range, while the leading movable apparatus continues the autonomous traveling,; MacNeille teaches:
by controlling the following movable apparatuses so that detection values of distance sensors provided on front sides of the following movable apparatuses fall within a threshold range, while the leading movable apparatus continues the autonomous traveling, (MacNeille: ¶ 047; the first cooperative vehicle 100a adjusts (e.g., increases or decreases) its acceleration to arrive at the specified target position for the first cooperative vehicle 100a at the specific time interval. At block 816, the second cooperative vehicle 100b adjusts (e.g., increases or decreases) its acceleration to arrive at the specified target position for the second cooperative vehicle) (MacNeille: ¶ 024; range detection sensors 104 detect ranges and speeds of vehicles 100 and 102 around the cooperative vehicle 100. The example range detection sensors 104 may include one or more cameras, ultra-sonic sensors, sonar, LiDAR, RADAR) (MacNeille: ¶ 023; cooperative vehicle 100 is semi-autonomous (e.g., some routine motive functions controlled by the cooperative vehicle 100) or autonomous)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of MacNeille with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of “better group flow rate depends on moving vehicles through the traffic cataract.” (MacNeille: ¶ 018).
To the extent Alam is silent about or does not teach: a common-route section estimated by the common-route estimating, and to determine whether to perform following-travel or autonomous- driving in which the movable apparatus estimates the self-position of the movable apparatus and travels; control instruction determining of determining a control instruction with respect to each of the plurality of movable apparatuses in accordance with a following route plan determined in the following route planning; and outputting the control instruction to each of the movable apparatuses to cause each of the movable apparatuses to move in accordance with the following route plan.; Jang teaches:
a common-route section estimated by the common-route estimating, and to determine whether to perform following-travel or autonomous- driving in which the movable apparatus estimates the self-position of the movable apparatus and travels; control instruction determining of determining a control instruction with respect to each of the plurality of movable apparatuses in accordance with a following route plan determined in the following route planning; and outputting the control instruction to each of the movable apparatuses to cause each of the movable apparatuses to move in accordance with the following route plan (Jang: ¶ 092, Col. 16, Lns. 29-30; system can determine a plurality of stop-and-go waves based on a plurality of trajectories.) (Jang: ¶ 108, Col. 19, Lns. 40-44;system can operate the control vehicle in accordance with the control zone and the predicted deceleration profiles. As described above, the control vehicle can implement mitigation strategies based on the control zone and the deceleration profiles.)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Jang with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of improving vehicle behavior I stop-and-go traffic (Jang: ¶ 003, Col. 1, Lns. 23-34).
Regarding claim 10, Jang teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured to:
store a computer program comprising instructions for executing a control method for an information processing device (Alam: ¶ 102; central processing unit) that plans routes of a plurality of movable apparatuses, and causes the plurality of movable apparatuses to move, and including following processes: (Alam: ¶ 015; control unit for regulating the distance between vehicles in a vehicle in a queue) route information acquiring of acquiring information on a scheduled route of each movable apparatus of the plurality of movable apparatuses; common route estimating, on the basis of a route acquired in the route information acquiring, of performing area dividing based on at least one of a start position and a destination position and estimating a route section through which each of the plurality of movable apparatuses commonly passes for each divided area; (Alam: ¶ 044; geofencing and dividing the route into zones may be applied with a roadside unit that communicates using a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), as shown in Figure 2B. Thus, the inter-vehicle distance 130, ie, an increase or decrease, can be adjusted based on local road conditions or traffic conditions.) following route planning of designating, as a following-travel section in which movable apparatuses other than a leading movable apparatus switch from autonomous traveling to following traveling, follow another movable apparatus, each of the movable apparatuses other than the leading movable apparatus following a preceding movable apparatus (Alam: ¶ 044; geofencing and dividing the route into zones may be applied with a roadside unit that communicates using a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), as shown in Figure 2B. Thus, the inter-vehicle distance 130, ie, an increase or decrease, can be adjusted based on local road conditions or traffic conditions. For example, if traffic is intensive (a traffic jam condition), a smaller inter-vehicle interval 130 may be allowed in the queue to increase road capacity)
To the extent Alam is silent about or does not teach: by controlling the following movable apparatuses so that detection values of distance sensors provided on front sides of the following movable apparatuses fall within a threshold range, while the leading movable apparatus continues the autonomous traveling, a common-route section estimated by the common-route estimating,; MacNeille teaches:
by controlling the following movable apparatuses so that detection values of distance sensors provided on front sides of the following movable apparatuses fall within a threshold range, while the leading movable apparatus continues the autonomous traveling, a common-route section estimated by the common-route estimating (MacNeille: ¶ 047; the first cooperative vehicle 100a adjusts (e.g., increases or decreases) its acceleration to arrive at the specified target position for the first cooperative vehicle 100a at the specific time interval. At block 816, the second cooperative vehicle 100b adjusts (e.g., increases or decreases) its acceleration to arrive at the specified target position for the second cooperative vehicle) (MacNeille: ¶ 024; range detection sensors 104 detect ranges and speeds of vehicles 100 and 102 around the cooperative vehicle 100. The example range detection sensors 104 may include one or more cameras, ultra-sonic sensors, sonar, LiDAR, RADAR) (MacNeille: ¶ 023; cooperative vehicle 100 is semi-autonomous (e.g., some routine motive functions controlled by the cooperative vehicle 100) or autonomous)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of MacNeille with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of “better group flow rate depends on moving vehicles through the traffic cataract.” (MacNeille: ¶ 018).
To the extent Alam is silent about or does not teach: and to determine whether to perform following-travel or autonomous- driving in which the movable apparatus estimates the self-position of the movable apparatus and travels; control instruction determining of determining a control instruction with respect to each of the plurality of movable apparatuses in accordance with a following route plan determined in the following route planning; and outputting the control instruction to each of the movable apparatuses to cause each of the movable apparatuses to move in accordance with the following route plan.; Jang teaches:
and to determine whether to perform following-travel or autonomous- driving in which the movable apparatus estimates the self-position of the movable apparatus and travels; control instruction determining of determining a control instruction with respect to each of the plurality of movable apparatuses in accordance with a following route plan determined in the following route planning; and outputting the control instruction to each of the movable apparatuses to cause each of the movable apparatuses to move in accordance with the following route plan (Jang: ¶ 092, Col. 16, Lns. 29-30; system can determine a plurality of stop-and-go waves based on a plurality of trajectories.) (Jang: ¶ 108, Col. 19, Lns. 40-44;system can operate the control vehicle in accordance with the control zone and the predicted deceleration profiles. As described above, the control vehicle can implement mitigation strategies based on the control zone and the deceleration profiles.)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Jang with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of improving vehicle behavior I stop-and-go traffic (Jang: ¶ 003, Col. 1, Lns. 23-34).
Claims 2-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination Alam as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of in Kliemann (US 20190392091 A1).
Regarding claim 2, as detailed above, combination Alam teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 1. Alam does not explicitly teach:
further comprising: an attribute classification unit configured to classify and group each of the movable apparatuses by an attribute thereof, wherein the following route planning unit determines whether or not to perform following route in convoy for each of the groups classified by the attribute classification unit and a following-travel section; however, Kliemann does teach:
further comprising: an attribute classification unit configured to classify and group each of the plurality of movable apparatuses by an attribute thereof, (Kliemann: ¶ 051; platoon organization 430 can be chosen based on parameters of the vehicle, selected parameters, the platoon simulation 425, or combinations thereof. The platoon formation module 330 can create a variety of vehicle arrangements for the platoon. Then, the vehicle arrangements are run in a platoon simulation 425 to determine which ones provide the maximum benefit based on the cumulative travel benefits and one or more selected benefits.) (Kliemann: ¶ 034; vehicle simulation can consider one or more characteristics about the vehicle) wherein the following route planning unit determines whether or not to perform following route in convoy for each of the groups classified by the attribute classification unit and a following-travel section. (Kliemann: ¶ 049; benefit determination module 320 receives the vehicle data 402 and the environmental data 404 and determines the cumulative travel benefits for the vehicles 500. At this point, the platoon apportioning system 170 or the benefit determination module 320 can determine that vehicles 500f and 500g are not possible members of the group.)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Kliemann with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of “achieve at least a portion of the one or more cumulative travel benefits . . . include determining a benefit distribution of the cumulative travel benefits for the platoon organization.” (Kliemann: ¶ 005).
Regarding claim 3, as detailed above, combination Alam in view of Kliemann teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 2. MacNeille teaches:
wherein the attribute includes at least one of a destination position in a route of each of the movable apparatuses, (MacNeille: ¶ 029; CACC modules 108 exchange information to determine target locations for each of the participating cooperative vehicles 100 and target speeds for the participating cooperative vehicles 100 to reach their corresponding target location at substantially the same time.)
And Kliemann further teaches: a traveling speed of each of the movable apparatuses, (Kliemann: ¶¶ 034-035; the vehicle simulation can determine expectations of vehicle wear, fuel usage, maximum driving speed, load capacity and other factors which may be affected or may affect the vehicle as part of the platoon [which the] platoon formation module 330 can generally include [in] instructions that function to control the processor 110 to define a platoon organization [which] can include vehicle positioning and order, inter-vehicle distance, platoon speed, lane-level positioning, and other attributes.) and a size of each of the movable apparatuses. (Kliemann: ¶ 019; Using a variety of different parameters, such as vehicle weight, EPA estimated fuel economy, vehicle wear, or others, the systems and methods can then apportion the total benefit among the vehicles)
Regarding claim 4, as detailed above, combination Alam teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 1. Alam does not explicitly teach:
wherein the control instruction determination unit determines at least one of a traveling speed, a distance interval with respect to a preceding movable apparatus, and a measurement parameter of a sensor mounted in the movable apparatus with respect to a movable apparatus performing following route within the following route section; however, Kliemann does teach:
wherein the control instruction determination unit determines at least one of a traveling speed, a distance interval with respect to a preceding movable apparatus, (Kliemann: ¶ 035; platoon organization can include vehicle positioning and order, inter-vehicle distance, platoon speed, lane-level positioning, and other attributes. The platoon organization can include changes to the platoon which are expected at one or more portions of the route, such as vehicles entering or exiting, order changes, or others.) and a measurement parameter of a sensor mounted in the movable apparatus with respect to a movable apparatus performing following route within the following route section. (Kliemann: ¶ 059; can access one or more systems of the platoon-capable vehicle in determining vehicle parameters or environment parameters, such as the sensor system 120 or the vehicle systems)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Kliemann with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of “achieve at least a portion of the one or more cumulative travel benefits . . . include determining a benefit distribution of the cumulative travel benefits for the platoon organization.” (Kliemann: ¶ 005).
Claims 11 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination Alam as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of in Tarkiainen et al. (US 20200064140 A1).
Regarding claim 11, as detailed above, combination Alam teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 1. Alam does not explicitly teach:
wherein a position where the movable apparatuses other than the leading movable apparatus switch between the autonomous traveling and the following traveling is determined based on a sum of overall lengths and distance intervals of the movable apparatuses.; however, Tarkiainen does teach:
A system in which platoons are automatically reorganized based on the length of the platoon, (Tarkiainen: ¶ 050; minimum platoon length may be calculated by adding up the length of the vehicles and further adding an inter-vehicle distances to the total minimum length.) which could two platoons join, which in turn would cause a former lead vehicle to become non-leader triggering a transfer from autonomous-traveling to following-travelling(Tarkiainen: ¶ 068; Adding the vehicle category and automation scores together calculates a total category score of 37 for this example. For this example, the platoon may be reorganized as one or multiple lanes. In an example, a platoon is driving towards the city area in a two-lane formation. The platoon length is 55 meters in a one-lane formation and 30 meters in a two-lane formation.) (Tarkiainen: ¶ 075; a platoon may indicate in a route request which vehicles may leave (or join) the platoon prior to reaching the route destination). Therefore a person of ordinary skill in the art would be taught: wherein a position where the movable apparatuses other than the leading movable apparatus switch between the autonomous traveling and the following traveling is determined based on a sum of overall lengths and distance intervals of the movable apparatuses. because the platoon reformation requires a new leader.
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Tarkiainen with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of “investments in roadside units . . . may be maximized” (Tarkiainen: ¶ 040) because the roadside units facilitate platoon reformation.
Regarding claim 15, as detailed above, combination Alam teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 1. Alam does not explicitly teach:
wherein a position where the movable apparatus other than the leading movable apparatus switches from the autonomous traveling to the following traveling is determined based on a sum of overall lengths and distance intervals of the movable apparatuses succeeding the movable apparatus.; however, Tarkiainen does teach:
A system in which platoons are automatically reorganized based on the length of the platoon, (Tarkiainen: ¶ 050; minimum platoon length may be calculated by adding up the length of the vehicles and further adding an inter-vehicle distances to the total minimum length.) which would cause new leaders designation, which would in turn, require transition from following-travelling to autonomous-traveling by the new leader(Tarkiainen: ¶ 068; Adding the vehicle category and automation scores together calculates a total category score of 37 for this example. For this example, the platoon may be reorganized as one or multiple lanes. In an example, a platoon is driving towards the city area in a two-lane formation. The platoon length is 55 meters in a one-lane formation and 30 meters in a two-lane formation.). Therefore a person of ordinary skill in the art would be taught: wherein a position where the movable apparatus other than the leading movable apparatus switches from the autonomous traveling to the following traveling is determined based on a sum of overall lengths and distance intervals of the movable apparatuses succeeding the movable apparatus because the platoon reformation requires a new leader.
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Tarkiainen with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of “investments in roadside units . . . may be maximized” (Tarkiainen: ¶ 040) because the roadside units facilitate platoon reformation.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination Alam as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of in Stephan et al. (US 20030173173 A1).
Regarding claim 12, as detailed above, combination Alam teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 1. Alam does not explicitly teach:
wherein an upper limit of the number of the movable apparatuses is reduced as overall lengths of the movable apparatuses increase.; however, Stephan does teach:
wherein an upper limit of the number of the movable apparatuses is reduced as overall lengths of the movable apparatuses increase. (Stephan: ¶ 061; If a platoon that is less than a predetermined maximum size is passing when the vehicle 14 is ready to be launched, the vehicle 14 will be launched at the proper time to join the rear of the platoon. If the passing platoon is at the maximum size, the platoon may split in two and the vehicle 14 may join the rear of the following platoon.)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Stephan with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of “aerodynamic and carrying capacity reasons” (Stephan: ¶ 061).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination Alam as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of in Rebhan et al. (US 20160304092 A1).
Regarding claim 13, as detailed above, combination Alam teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 1. Alam does not explicitly teach:
wherein, in a case of a movement control method, a traveling speed is set to be lower or a distance interval of the movable apparatus with respect to the front is set to be narrower, as the congestion degree becomes higher.; however, Rebhan does teach:
wherein, in a case of a movement control method, a traveling speed is set to be lower or a distance interval of the movable apparatus with respect to the front is set to be narrower, as the congestion degree becomes higher (Rebhan : ¶ 100; As shown in FIG. 4A, the system chooses a larger gap for the light traffic to ensure high comfort, high safety driving. In FIG. 4B the system reduces the gap in dense traffic).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Rebhan with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of “higher acceptance by other drivers, reduces cut-ins from adjacent lanes and minimizes “pushing” of the ego-vehicle's successor P.” (Rebhan: ¶ 100).
Claims 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination Alam as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of in Ferreira (US 20200284883 A1).
Regarding claim 14, as detailed above, combination Alam teaches the invention as detailed with respect to claim 1. Alam does not explicitly teach:
wherein in a case of a sensor control method, an obstacle sensor or a position/posture measurement sensor in the front is invalidated or a measurement range of the obstacle sensor is narrowed, as the congestion degree becomes higher.; however, Ferreira does teach:
wherein in a case of a sensor control method, an obstacle sensor or a position/posture measurement sensor in the front is invalidated or a measurement range of the obstacle sensor is narrowed, as the congestion degree becomes higher (Ferreira: ¶ 5627] The one or more processors 12308 may be configured to select the configuration for the one or more sensor systems 12302 in case the driving scenario and the traffic condition indicate that reduced sensing capabilities may be sufficient in the current vehicle condition (e.g., in case the vehicle is traveling at low speed, or in a dense traffic situation, or in good visibility conditions, etc.).)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Ferreira with the teachings of Alam because doing so would result in the predicable benefit of optimizing the sensors performance (Ferreira: ¶ 098).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's remarks filed Jul 7 , 2026 have been fully considered.
Applicant’s argument and amendments with respect to the previous applied rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) is persuasive and the rejection is hereby overcome.
Applicant’s argument and amendments with respect to the previous applied rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 101 is persuasive and the rejection is hereby overcome.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-15 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.
Applicant argues:
Jang does not teach or suggest the mode-switching approach recited in amended claim 1. The amended claim recites a device configuration for following-travel in which movable apparatuses "other than a leading movable apparatus switch from autonomous traveling to following traveling" by "controlling the following movable apparatuses so that detection values of distance sensors provided on front sides of the following movable apparatuses fall within a threshold range." This claimed feature involves following a preceding movable apparatus based). (Applicant’s Arguments filed July, 7, 2026, pg. 14).
Newly applied art Alam (CN 110036423 A) teaches a system in which a system teaches shifting modes based on divided zones through adjusting inter-vehicle distances based on a degree of congestion that exists. In conjunction with Jang’s teaching of a fall back mode in which following vehicles are controlled autonomously by estimating the self-position of the vehicle, Applicant’s argumenta are moot.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure Tarkiainen et al. (US 20220178705 A1) which discloses a system in which a device may communicate to the platoon a suggested platoon size, a maximum number of vehicles allowed for a platoon, or a platoon configuration restriction. A platoon may be split into two platoons, if available, before entering a city.
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.
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/C.P./ Examiner, Art Unit 3663
/ANGELA Y ORTIZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3663
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