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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
It is unclear what information was determined associated with at least one of: the driving road; lines of the driving road; a feature of the vehicle; or a kingpin angle between bodies of the vehicle (claim 1, lines 10-16).
It is not known what “a feature of the vehicle” was meant (claim1, line 16),
It is unclear what the determined information was (claim 1, line 12, line 19).
It is unclear how the biased driving route was generated associated with at least one of: the driving road; lines of the driving road; a feature of the vehicle; or a kingpin angle between bodies of the vehicle (claim 1, lines 11-17). Moreover, it is unclear how to determine the biased information with the driving route (claim 1, line 18).
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 16 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by D’Orazio (2022/0073098).
D’Orazio discloses an apparatus to determine, based on a driving route, curvature of a driving road on which a vehicle is driving; (See [0003] [0005] [0054]), determine, by the sensor device and based on the curvature exceeding a threshold curvature (see [0039]), information associated with at least one of: the driving road (See [0039]), lines of the driving road; a feature of the vehicle; or a kingpin angle between bodies of the vehicle; generate a biased driving route based on at least one of the determined information or the driving route (see [0058]); and control the vehicle to drive on the driving road along the biased driving route.
Regarding claims 4 and 11, D’Orazio discloses the instructions, when executed by the controller, cause the apparatus to: determine optimization state information comprising at least one of: a location lateral error; a heading error; the kingpin angle; a curvature for a location of the driving road (See [0058]) ; a curvature change amount; or a biased distance based on the driving route, wherein the biased distance is associated with each of the bodies based on at least one of the determined information or the driving route; and generate the biased driving route based on at least part of the optimization state information. (See [0058]).
Regarding claim 6, 13, 18, the instructions, when executed by the controller, cause the apparatus to: determine the optimization state information further based on a predefined maximum value and a predefined minimum value that are based on at least one of: the location lateral error; the heading error; the kingpin angle; the curvature for the location; the curvature change amount (see [0058]); or the biased distance.
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 2, 3, 10, 17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D’Orazio (2022/0073098) in view of CN 118176140 (hereinafter CN ‘140).
D’Orazio discloses an apparatus to determine, based on a driving route, curvature of a driving road on which a vehicle is driving; (See [0003] [0005] [0054]), determine, by the sensor device and based on the curvature exceeding a threshold curvature (see [0039]), information associated with at least one of: the driving road (See [0039]), lines of the driving road; a feature of the vehicle; or a kingpin angle between bodies of the vehicle; generate a biased driving route based on at least one of the determined information or the driving route (see [0058]); and control the vehicle to drive on the driving road along the biased driving route. However, D’Orazio does not teach the use of the information regarding the location in the lane. CN ‘140 discloses the information associated with the lines comprises a left line and a right line based on a driving direction of the vehicle, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the controller, cause the apparatus to: based on the vehicle continuing to drive on the driving route and the determined information, determine expected distances: between the bodies of the vehicle and the left line; and between the bodies of the vehicle and the right line; and generate the biased driving route based on the expected distances.
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Since the prior art references art from the same field of endeavor, the purpose disclosed by CN ‘140 would have been recognized in the pertinent art of D’Orazio. Therefore, it would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to provide the device of D’Orazio with the position in the lane as taught by CN ‘140.
Regarding claim 3, CN ‘140 discloses the information associated with the position in the lane comprises a left line and a right line based on a driving direction of the vehicle; thus, it is considered the duplication of the known steps of claim 2.
Regarding claims 10 and 17, CN ‘140 discloses the information associated with the lines comprises a left line and a right line based on a driving direction of the vehicle, and wherein the generating the biased driving route comprises: based on the vehicle continuing to drive on the driving route and the determined information, determining expected distances: between the bodies of the vehicle and the left line; and between the bodies of the vehicle the right line; and generating the biased driving route based on the expected distances.
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Regarding claim 13 and 19, CN ‘140 discloses the determining the optimization state information comprises determining the optimization state information based on a predefined maximum value and a predefined minimum value that are based on at least one of: the location lateral error; the heading error; the kingpin angle; the curvature for the location; the curvature change amount; or the biased distance. (See explanation supra).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5, 7, 8, 12, 14, 15, and 20 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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/JOHN KWON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747 January 9, 2026