DETAILED ACTION
This is the final Office action and is responsive to the papers filed 12/05/2025. The amendments filed on 12/05/2025 have been entered and considered by the examiner. Claims 1-20 are currently pending and examined below. Claims 1-2, 4, 6, 8-9, 11, 13, 15-17 and 19 have been amended.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 6, filed 12/05/2025, with respect to claims 1-20 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections under 35 U.S.C. 101 of claims 1-20 have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 7, filed 12/05/2025, with respect to claim(s) 1-20 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.
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 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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhang et al. (US 20210197858 A1; hereinafter Zhang).
Regarding claim 1, Zhang discloses:
A gap evaluation system (Fig. 1: system 100) for evaluating potential gaps for lane change operations of an autonomous vehicle ([0043] “The longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may identify one or more candidate lane change gaps in the target lane”) comprising a plurality of sensors ([0033] “one or more sensors”), the gap evaluation system comprising at least one processor ([0032] processor) and at least one memory ([0032] memory), wherein, upon receiving an indication for a lane change operation ([0032] “for performing a lane change maneuver”), the at least one processor is configured to:
receive, from the plurality of sensors, sensor data (Fig. 1: sensor data 110) corresponding to a plurality of potential gaps between objects in a lane of a roadway into which the autonomous vehicle merges ([0033] ” The sensor data 110 may be used by the object detector 112 and/or the lane identifier 114 to generate data for use..may be used by a longitudinal speed profile identifier 118”, [0043] “The longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may identify one or more candidate lane change gaps in the target lane”);
generate a profile for each potential gap using the sensor data ([0044] “The longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may evaluate each of the candidate gaps, in part, by projecting a plurality (e.g., 100, 250, 700, 5000, etc.) of longitudinal speed profile candidates to a target lane”), the profile of each potential gap including a plurality of characteristics associated with each potential gap ([0044] “the longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may perform an evaluation of each of the plurality of longitudinal speed profile candidates for each of the candidate gaps”, [0045] “The set of criteria may include classifications such as, but not limited to, a speed adaptation duration, an acceleration limit, a deceleration limit, a speed vector field, a jerk limit, a heuristic stop distance overlap, a polite distance between vehicles, a count of fallback gaps, speed loss, a transition time and/or a safety check table.”);
retrieve a plurality of gap rules from the at least one memory ([0045] “The set of criteria may include classifications such as, but not limited to, a speed adaptation duration, an acceleration limit, a deceleration limit, a speed vector field, a jerk limit, a heuristic stop distance overlap, a polite distance between vehicles, a count of fallback gaps, speed loss, a transition time and/or a safety check table.”), wherein each gap rule is directed to a characteristic of the plurality of characteristics and wherein each gap rule comprises a threshold value corresponding to the characteristic ([0048] the longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may generate a criteria score for each classification for each of the longitudinal speed profile candidates for each gap);
evaluate each potential gap against the plurality of gap rules by comparing the profile for each potential gap to the threshold value of each gap rule ([0048] “A cumulative score for each gap may then be generated based on a sum of the criteria scores for each classification for each of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”);
generate a prioritized list of gaps based on the evaluation of the plurality of potential gaps ([0048] “The cumulative score for each gap may then be used to select a target gap for performing a lane change maneuver. For example, the candidate gap with the best (e.g., highest, lowest, etc., depending on the scoring system) cumulative score may be selected as the target gap.”); and
control operation of the autonomous vehicle, based at least in part on the prioritized list of gaps ([0051] “Using this trajectory, the lane change trajectory determiner 124 may determine/generate commands (e.g., control signals for the vehicle 500 for steering, accelerating, braking, adjusting suspension, etc.), which may be executed by the vehicle controls 126, to execute a lane change maneuver.”).
Regarding claim 2, Zhang discloses:
wherein evaluating each potential gap against the plurality of gap rules further includes obtaining a binary result for each gap rule based upon the threshold value ([0049] “the longitudinal speed profile candidates evaluated for the target gap during the gap evaluation process that resulted in the ego-vehicle 500 in the target gap (e.g., not outside of the target gap, colliding with an object, etc.), that did not violate a speed vector field (e.g., that did not result in the ego-vehicle colliding with an ego-leading object), and/or that satisfied other criteria may be used as the subset of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”).
Regarding claim 3, Zhang discloses:
wherein each of the plurality of gap rules is classified as required ([0049] “the longitudinal speed profile candidates evaluated for the target gap during the gap evaluation process that resulted in the ego-vehicle 500 in the target gap (e.g., not outside of the target gap, colliding with an object, etc.), that did not violate a speed vector field (e.g., that did not result in the ego-vehicle colliding with an ego-leading object), and/or that satisfied other criteria may be used as the subset of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”, [0026] “the deceleration portion may always be the first portion and the acceleration portion may always be the second portion (e.g., because if the ego-vehicle is traveling at the speed limit, the first speed adaptation may not be accelerating without violating speed laws)”) or optional ([0026] “the acceleration portion nay come before the declaring portion, or the profile may include any number of acceleration portions and/or deceleration portions in any order”).
Regarding claim 4, Zhang discloses:
wherein upon a failure of a required gap rule for any of the plurality of potential gaps, the system automatically pauses evaluation of the potential gap ([0049] “where a subset is used, the subset may have been filtered out from the larger group during the gap evaluation process..the longitudinal speed profile candidates evaluated for the target gap during the gap evaluation process that resulted in the ego-vehicle 500 in the target gap (e.g., not outside of the target gap, colliding with an object, etc.), that did not violate a speed vector field (e.g., that did not result in the ego-vehicle colliding with an ego-leading object), and/or that satisfied other criteria may be used as the subset of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”).
Regarding claim 5, Zhang discloses:
wherein the result of each gap rule is assigned a numeric value ([0048] the longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may generate a criteria score for each classification for each of the longitudinal speed profile candidates for each gap).
Regarding claim 6, Zhang discloses:
wherein a sum of the assigned numeric values corresponding to the evaluated gap rules is used to generate a priority score for each potential gap ([0048] “A cumulative score for each gap may then be generated based on a sum of the criteria scores for each classification for each of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”).
Regarding claim 7, Zhang discloses:
wherein the priority score is used to make a final gap selection ([0048] “The cumulative score for each gap may then be used to select a target gap for performing a lane change maneuver. For example, the candidate gap with the best (e.g., highest, lowest, etc., depending on the scoring system) cumulative score may be selected as the target gap.”).
Regarding claim 8, Zhang discloses:
A method ([0009] “FIG. 1 is data flow diagram for a system for performing a lane change maneuver”)of selecting a gap for a lane change operation of an autonomous vehicle ([0043] “The longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may identify one or more candidate lane change gaps in the target lane”), the method comprising:
receiving, from a plurality of sensors ([0033] “one or more sensors”), sensor data corresponding to a plurality of potential gaps between objects in a lane of a roadway into which the autonomous vehicle merges ([0033] ” The sensor data 110 may be used by the object detector 112 and/or the lane identifier 114 to generate data for use..may be used by a longitudinal speed profile identifier 118”, [0043] “The longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may identify one or more candidate lane change gaps in the target lane”);
generating a profile for each potential gap using the sensor data ([0044] “The longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may evaluate each of the candidate gaps, in part, by projecting a plurality (e.g., 100, 250, 700, 5000, etc.) of longitudinal speed profile candidates to a target lane”), the profile of each potential gap including a plurality of characteristics associated with each potential gap ([0044] “the longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may perform an evaluation of each of the plurality of longitudinal speed profile candidates for each of the candidate gaps”, [0045] “The set of criteria may include classifications such as, but not limited to, a speed adaptation duration, an acceleration limit, a deceleration limit, a speed vector field, a jerk limit, a heuristic stop distance overlap, a polite distance between vehicles, a count of fallback gaps, speed loss, a transition time and/or a safety check table.”);
retrieving a plurality of gap rules from at least one memory ([0045] “The set of criteria may include classifications such as, but not limited to, a speed adaptation duration, an acceleration limit, a deceleration limit, a speed vector field, a jerk limit, a heuristic stop distance overlap, a polite distance between vehicles, a count of fallback gaps, speed loss, a transition time and/or a safety check table.”), wherein each gap rule is directed to a characteristic of the plurality of characteristics and wherein each gap rule comprises a threshold value corresponding to the characteristic ([0048] the longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may generate a criteria score for each classification for each of the longitudinal speed profile candidates for each gap);
evaluating each potential gap against the plurality of gap rules by comparing the profile for each potential gap to the threshold value of each gap rule ([0048] “A cumulative score for each gap may then be generated based on a sum of the criteria scores for each classification for each of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”);
generating a prioritized list of gaps based on the evaluation of the plurality of potential gaps ([0048] “The cumulative score for each gap may then be used to select a target gap for performing a lane change maneuver. For example, the candidate gap with the best (e.g., highest, lowest, etc., depending on the scoring system) cumulative score may be selected as the target gap.”); and
controlling operation of the autonomous vehicle, based at least in part on the prioritized list of gaps ([0051] “Using this trajectory, the lane change trajectory determiner 124 may determine/generate commands (e.g., control signals for the vehicle 500 for steering, accelerating, braking, adjusting suspension, etc.), which may be executed by the vehicle controls 126, to execute a lane change maneuver.”).
Regarding claim 9, Zhang discloses:
wherein evaluating each potential gap against the plurality of gap rules further includes obtaining a binary result for each gap rule based upon the threshold value ([0049] “the longitudinal speed profile candidates evaluated for the target gap during the gap evaluation process that resulted in the ego-vehicle 500 in the target gap (e.g., not outside of the target gap, colliding with an object, etc.), that did not violate a speed vector field (e.g., that did not result in the ego-vehicle colliding with an ego-leading object), and/or that satisfied other criteria may be used as the subset of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”).
Regarding claim 10, Zhang discloses:
wherein each of the plurality of gap rules is classified as required ([0049] “the longitudinal speed profile candidates evaluated for the target gap during the gap evaluation process that resulted in the ego-vehicle 500 in the target gap (e.g., not outside of the target gap, colliding with an object, etc.), that did not violate a speed vector field (e.g., that did not result in the ego-vehicle colliding with an ego-leading object), and/or that satisfied other criteria may be used as the subset of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”, [0026] “the deceleration portion may always be the first portion and the acceleration portion may always be the second portion (e.g., because if the ego-vehicle is traveling at the speed limit, the first speed adaptation may not be accelerating without violating speed laws)”) or optional ([0026] “the acceleration portion nay come before the declaring portion, or the profile may include any number of acceleration portions and/or deceleration portions in any order”).
Regarding claim 11, Zhang discloses:
wherein upon a failure of a required gap rule for any of the plurality of potential gaps, automatically pausing the evaluation of the potential gap ([0049] “where a subset is used, the subset may have been filtered out from the larger group during the gap evaluation process..the longitudinal speed profile candidates evaluated for the target gap during the gap evaluation process that resulted in the ego-vehicle 500 in the target gap (e.g., not outside of the target gap, colliding with an object, etc.), that did not violate a speed vector field (e.g., that did not result in the ego-vehicle colliding with an ego-leading object), and/or that satisfied other criteria may be used as the subset of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”).
Regarding claim 12, Zhang discloses:
wherein the result of each gap rule is assigned a numeric value ([0048] the longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may generate a criteria score for each classification for each of the longitudinal speed profile candidates for each gap).
Regarding claim 13, Zhang discloses:
wherein a sum of the assigned numeric values corresponding to the evaluated gap rules is used to generate a priority score for each potential gap ([0048] “A cumulative score for each gap may then be generated based on a sum of the criteria scores for each classification for each of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”).
Regarding claim 14, Zhang discloses:
wherein the priority score is used to make a final gap selection ([0048] “The cumulative score for each gap may then be used to select a target gap for performing a lane change maneuver. For example, the candidate gap with the best (e.g., highest, lowest, etc., depending on the scoring system) cumulative score may be selected as the target gap.”).
Regarding claim 15, Zhang discloses:
An autonomous vehicle (Fig. 5, [0043] ego-vehicle 500) comprising:
a plurality of sensors ([0033] “one or more sensors”); and
a gap evaluation system (Fig. 1: system 100) comprising at least one processor ([0032] processor) and at least one memory ([0032] memory), wherein, upon receiving an indication for a lane change operation ([0032] “for performing a lane change maneuver”), the at least one processor is configured to:
receive, from the plurality of sensors, sensor data corresponding to a plurality of potential gaps between objects in a lane of a roadway into which the autonomous vehicle merges ([0033] ” The sensor data 110 may be used by the object detector 112 and/or the lane identifier 114 to generate data for use..may be used by a longitudinal speed profile identifier 118”, [0043] “The longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may identify one or more candidate lane change gaps in the target lane”);
generate a profile for each potential gap using the sensor data ([0044] “The longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may evaluate each of the candidate gaps, in part, by projecting a plurality (e.g., 100, 250, 700, 5000, etc.) of longitudinal speed profile candidates to a target lane”), the profile of each potential gap including a plurality of characteristics associated with each potential gap ([0044] “the longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may perform an evaluation of each of the plurality of longitudinal speed profile candidates for each of the candidate gaps”, [0045] “The set of criteria may include classifications such as, but not limited to, a speed adaptation duration, an acceleration limit, a deceleration limit, a speed vector field, a jerk limit, a heuristic stop distance overlap, a polite distance between vehicles, a count of fallback gaps, speed loss, a transition time and/or a safety check table.”);
retrieve a plurality of gap rules ([0045] “The set of criteria may include classifications such as, but not limited to, a speed adaptation duration, an acceleration limit, a deceleration limit, a speed vector field, a jerk limit, a heuristic stop distance overlap, a polite distance between vehicles, a count of fallback gaps, speed loss, a transition time and/or a safety check table.”), wherein each gap rule is directed to a characteristic of the plurality of characteristics and wherein each gap rule comprises a threshold value corresponding to the characteristic ([0048] the longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may generate a criteria score for each classification for each of the longitudinal speed profile candidates for each gap);
evaluate each potential gap against the plurality of gap rules by comparing the profile for each potential gap to the threshold value of each gap rule ([0048] “A cumulative score for each gap may then be generated based on a sum of the criteria scores for each classification for each of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”);
generate a prioritized list of gaps based on the evaluation of the plurality of potential gaps ([0048] “The cumulative score for each gap may then be used to select a target gap for performing a lane change maneuver. For example, the candidate gap with the best (e.g., highest, lowest, etc., depending on the scoring system) cumulative score may be selected as the target gap.”); and
control operation of the autonomous vehicle, based at least in part on the prioritized list of gaps ([0051] “Using this trajectory, the lane change trajectory determiner 124 may determine/generate commands (e.g., control signals for the vehicle 500 for steering, accelerating, braking, adjusting suspension, etc.), which may be executed by the vehicle controls 126, to execute a lane change maneuver.”).
Regarding claim 16, Zhang discloses:
wherein evaluating each potential gap against the plurality of gap rules further includes obtaining a binary result for each gap rule based upon the threshold value ([0049] “the longitudinal speed profile candidates evaluated for the target gap during the gap evaluation process that resulted in the ego-vehicle 500 in the target gap (e.g., not outside of the target gap, colliding with an object, etc.), that did not violate a speed vector field (e.g., that did not result in the ego-vehicle colliding with an ego-leading object), and/or that satisfied other criteria may be used as the subset of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”).
Regarding claim 17, Zhang discloses:
wherein each of the plurality of gap rules is classified as required ([0049] “the longitudinal speed profile candidates evaluated for the target gap during the gap evaluation process that resulted in the ego-vehicle 500 in the target gap (e.g., not outside of the target gap, colliding with an object, etc.), that did not violate a speed vector field (e.g., that did not result in the ego-vehicle colliding with an ego-leading object), and/or that satisfied other criteria may be used as the subset of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”, [0026] “the deceleration portion may always be the first portion and the acceleration portion may always be the second portion (e.g., because if the ego-vehicle is traveling at the speed limit, the first speed adaptation may not be accelerating without violating speed laws)”) or optional ([0026] “the acceleration portion nay come before the declaring portion, or the profile may include any number of acceleration portions and/or deceleration portions in any order”), and wherein a failure of a required gap rule for any of the plurality of potential gaps, automatically pausing the evaluation of the potential gap ([0049] “where a subset is used, the subset may have been filtered out from the larger group during the gap evaluation process..the longitudinal speed profile candidates evaluated for the target gap during the gap evaluation process that resulted in the ego-vehicle 500 in the target gap (e.g., not outside of the target gap, colliding with an object, etc.), that did not violate a speed vector field (e.g., that did not result in the ego-vehicle colliding with an ego-leading object), and/or that satisfied other criteria may be used as the subset of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”).
Regarding claim 18, Zhang discloses:
wherein the result of each gap rule is assigned a numeric value ([0048] the longitudinal speed profile identifier 118 may generate a criteria score for each classification for each of the longitudinal speed profile candidates for each gap).
Regarding claim 19, Zhang discloses:
wherein a sum of the assigned numeric values corresponding to the evaluated gap rules is used to generate a priority score for each potential gap ([0048] “A cumulative score for each gap may then be generated based on a sum of the criteria scores for each classification for each of the longitudinal speed profile candidates”).
Regarding claim 20, Zhang discloses:
wherein the priority score is used to make a final gap selection ([0048] “The cumulative score for each gap may then be used to select a target gap for performing a lane change maneuver. For example, the candidate gap with the best (e.g., highest, lowest, etc., depending on the scoring system) cumulative score may be selected as the target gap.”).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAYSUN WU whose telephone number is (571)272-1528. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-5PM.
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/PAYSUN WU/Examiner, Art Unit 3665
/DONALD J WALLACE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3665