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 .
Application Status
This office action is responsive to the amendments filed on 12/17/2025.
This action has been made FINAL.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/17/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The applicant alleges the following: “However, UEDA fails to disclose that there is a virtual vehicle traveling ahead of the vehicle or that the virtual viewpoint is the position of the virtual vehicle traveling ahead of the vehicle. As such, UEDA fails to disclose at least the claimed virtual viewpoint position as arranged in above-referenced limitation (i).” The examiner is not persuaded. The examiner asserts that the combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses the claim limitation. More specifically, Figure 15 and Paragraph 0052 of NAKASHO discloses “a virtual vehicle that looks traveling ahead on the road surface in front of the vehicle 1”, in which, discloses the Applicant’s claim language of “a virtual vehicle traveling ahead of the vehicle or that the virtual viewpoint is the position of the virtual vehicle traveling ahead of the vehicle”. Accordingly, the examiner maintains the rejection.
The applicant alleges the following: “However, UEDA fail to disclose generating driving assistance information for assisting a first user who manually drives the vehicle based on the received driving operation information and generating a second control signal for controlling an output device in the vehicle to output the driving assistance information, the output device being a device for outputting image information to the first user”. The examiner is not persuaded. The examiner asserts that the combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses the claim limitation. More specifically, NAKASHO’s teachings of “In the present embodiment, a vehicle 1 equipped with a periphery monitoring apparatus (periphery monitoring system) may be, for example, an automobile having a not-illustrated internal combustion engine as a drive source, that is, an engine car, or may be an automobile having a not-illustrated electric motor as a drive source, that is, an electric vehicle or a fuel cell vehicle. The vehicle 1 may be a hybrid car having both as drive sources or may be an automobile having any other drive source. The vehicle 1 may be equipped with a variety of transmission devices and may be equipped with a variety of devices, for example, systems and parts necessary for driving an internal combustion engine or an electric motor. The vehicle 1 is, for example, a vehicle suitable for not only “on-road” (mainly paved road or equivalent road) driving but also “off-road” (mainly not-paved rough road and the like) driving. As for the driving system, the vehicle 1 may be a four-wheel drive vehicle in which driving force is conveyed to all of four wheels 3 and all of the four wheels are driving wheels. The system, number, layout, etc. of the device for driving the wheels 3 can be set in various ways. For example, the vehicle is mainly directed to “on-road” driving. The driving system is not limited to four-wheel drive and may be, for example, front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive” in paragraph 0048, is the same as a “first user who manually drives the vehicle”. UEDA goes on to disclose the Applicant’s claim language of “generating a second control signal for controlling an output device in the vehicle to output the driving assistance information, the output device being a device for outputting image information to the first user” in Paragraphs 0064-0066; 0071-0076. Accordingly, the examiner maintains the rejection.
The applicant alleges the following: “Accordingly, UEDA fails to disclose the claimed virtual vehicle image representing the virtual vehicle”. The examiner is not persuaded. the examiner asserts that the combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses the claim limitation. More specifically, NAKASHO discloses “the virtual viewpoint position being a position of a virtual vehicle traveling ahead of the vehicle in the surrounding environment” in Paragraphs 0013; 0018; 0052. Accordingly, the examiner maintains the rejection.
The applicant alleges the following: “However, UEDA is completely silent with regard to displaying images on the output device in the vehicle or image processing to superimpose a virtual vehicle image at the virtual viewpoint position on a real scenery of the surrounding environment of the vehicle”. The examiner is not persuaded. Moreover, the examiner asserts that the combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses the claim limitation. More specifically, UEDA discloses “display a virtual vehicle image representing the virtual vehicle. UEDA goes on to disclose “so as to be superimposed at the virtual viewpoint position on a real scenery of the surrounding environment of the vehicle” in Figure 33; Paragraphs 0073; 0101-0102; 0196-0197; 0222. Accordingly, the examiner maintains the rejection.
The applicant alleges the following: “UEDA does not assume the premise that a user inside the vehicle manually drives the vehicle while viewing a display of the output device in the vehicle. Therefore, UEDA cannot disclose display driving assistance information via images of a virtual vehicle or enabling a user manually driving a vehicle to drive the vehicle without delay in response to changes in driving conditions.” The examiner is not persuaded. Moreover, the examiner asserts that the combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses the claim limitation. More specifically, NAKASHO’s teachings of “In the present embodiment, a vehicle 1 equipped with a periphery monitoring apparatus (periphery monitoring system) may be, for example, an automobile having a not-illustrated internal combustion engine as a drive source, that is, an engine car, or may be an automobile having a not-illustrated electric motor as a drive source, that is, an electric vehicle or a fuel cell vehicle. The vehicle 1 may be a hybrid car having both as drive sources or may be an automobile having any other drive source. The vehicle 1 may be equipped with a variety of transmission devices and may be equipped with a variety of devices, for example, systems and parts necessary for driving an internal combustion engine or an electric motor. The vehicle 1 is, for example, a vehicle suitable for not only “on-road” (mainly paved road or equivalent road) driving but also “off-road” (mainly not-paved rough road and the like) driving. As for the driving system, the vehicle 1 may be a four-wheel drive vehicle in which driving force is conveyed to all of four wheels 3 and all of the four wheels are driving wheels. The system, number, layout, etc. of the device for driving the wheels 3 can be set in various ways. For example, the vehicle is mainly directed to “on-road” driving. The driving system is not limited to four-wheel drive and may be, for example, front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive” in paragraph 0048, is the same as a “first user who manually drives the vehicle…”. MPEP § 2106 states Office personnel are to give claims their broadest reasonable interpretation in light of the supporting disclosure. In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054-55, 44 USPQ2d 1023, 1027-28 (Fed Cir. 1997). Accordingly, the examiner maintains the rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 7-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over UEDA, US 20190361436 in view of NAKASHO, US 20200031283.
Claim 1:
UEDA discloses an information processing device (See UEDA Figure 1; Paragraphs 0057-00641). UEDA failed to explicitly disclose “the virtual viewpoint position being a position of a virtual vehicle traveling ahead of the vehicle in the surrounding environment” and “a first user who manually drives the vehicle”. However, NAKASHO discloses “the virtual viewpoint position being a position of a virtual vehicle traveling ahead of the vehicle in the surrounding environment” in Figure 15 and Paragraphs 0013; 0018; 0052 and “a first user who manually drives the vehicle” Paragraphs 0048; 0052. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified UEDA by the teachings of NAKASHO to enables users to grasp a road surface state or grasp a vehicle state more easily (intuitively) when driving (See NAKASHO SUMMARY OF INVENTION). In addition, both of the references teach features that are directed to the analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, images of the surrounding area of a vehicle. This close relation between both references highly suggests an expectation of success.
As modified:
The combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses the following:
acquire surrounding information of surrounding environment of a vehicle (“surrounding situations” See UEDA Paragraphs 0057-00592);
set a virtual viewpoint position ahead of the vehicle in a traveling direction (See UEDA Figure 33; Paragraphs 0196-0197; 0222) the virtual viewpoint position being a position of a virtual vehicle traveling ahead of the vehicle in the surrounding environment (See NAKASHO Figure 15; Paragraphs 0013; 0018; 00523);
use the acquired surrounding information and generate virtual surrounding information indicating the surrounding environment at the set virtual viewpoint position (See UEDA Figure 33; Paragraphs 0073; 0101-0102; 0196-0197; 0222);
transmit a first control signal for controlling an external device located at a location away from the vehicle to output the generated virtual surrounding information (See UEDA Paragraphs 0064-0066; 0071-0076);
receive, from the external device, driving operation information on a driving operation of the vehicle input by a second user (See UEDA Paragraphs 0073; 0076; 0082; 0102-0103);
and generate driving assistance information for assisting a first user who manually drives the vehicle (See NAKASHO Paragraphs 00484; 0052) based on the received driving operation information (See UEDA Paragraph 0190), and generate a second control signal (See UEDA Paragraphs 0064-0066; 0071-0076) for controlling an output device in the vehicle to output the driving assistance information (See UEDA Paragraph 0190), the output device (See UEDA Paragraphs 0064-0066; 0071-0076) being a device for outputting image information to the first user (See UEDA Paragraphs 0064-0066; 0071-0076);
and transmit the second control signal to the output device (See UEDA Paragraphs 0064-0066; 0071-0076),
wherein the second control signal is a control signal for controlling the output device to display a virtual vehicle image (See UEDA Paragraphs 0195-0197) representing the virtual vehicle (See UEDA Paragraphs 0195-0197) so as to be superimposed at the virtual viewpoint position on a real scenery of the surrounding environment of the vehicle (See UEDA Figure 33; Paragraphs 0073; 0101-0102; 0196-0197; 0222).
Claim 2:
The combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses acquire a surrounding image (See UEDA Paragraphs 0195-0197) of the surrounding environment of the vehicle (“surrounding situations” See UEDA Paragraphs 0057-00595; 0197), use the acquired surrounding image (See UEDA Paragraphs 0195-0197) and generate a virtual surrounding image (See UEDA Paragraphs 0195-0197) representing the surrounding environment at the set virtual viewpoint position (See UEDA Figure 33; Paragraphs 0073; 0101-0102; 0196-0197; 0222), and transmit, as the first control signal (See UEDA Paragraphs 0064-0066; 0071-0076), a control signal for controlling (See UEDA Paragraphs 0064-0066; 0071-0076) the external device to display the generated virtual surrounding image (See UEDA Paragraphs 0195-0197).
Claim 3:
The combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses acquire position information indicating a position of the vehicle (See UEDA Figure 33; Paragraphs 0073; 0101-0102; 0196-0197; 0222); calculate the virtual viewpoint position in the surrounding environment of the vehicle with the position of the vehicle as a reference (See UEDA Figure 33; Paragraphs 0073; 0101-0102; 0196-0197; 0222); and use the surrounding image (See UEDA Paragraphs 0195-0197) and generate the virtual surrounding image (See UEDA Paragraphs 0195-0197) based on the virtual viewpoint position (See UEDA Figure 33; Paragraphs 0073; 0101-0102; 0196-0197; 0222).
Claim 4:
The combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses acquire the surrounding image (See UEDA Paragraphs 0195-0197) from at least one of sensor information acquired by the vehicle (See UEDA Paragraphs 0173-0175), sensor information acquired by another vehicle (See UEDA Paragraphs 0173-0175; 0242), and sensor information (See UEDA Paragraphs 0173-0175) acquired by an infrastructure sensor installed along a traveling road (See UEDA Paragraphs 0128; 0143; 0188).
Claim 5:
The combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses acquire position information indicating a position of the vehicle (See UEDA Figure 33; Paragraphs 0073; 0101-0102; 0196-0197; 0222); and(See UEDA Paragraphs 0064-0066; 0071-0072) for controlling the external device to display the position information of the vehicle and position information of the virtual viewpoint position (See UEDA Figure 33; Paragraphs 0073; 0101-0102; 0196-0197; 0222).
Claim 7:
The combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses receive, as the driving operation information (See UEDA Paragraphs 0128-0133), device control information for controlling an in-vehicle device of the virtual vehicle (See UEDA Paragraphs 0128-0133); and generate, based on the device control information, the virtual vehicle image (See UEDA Paragraphs 0195-0197) representing the virtual vehicle in which the in-vehicle device is controlled (See UEDA Paragraphs 0128-0133).
Claim 8:
The combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses receive, as the driving operation information (See UEDA Paragraphs 0128-0133), movement instruction information for moving the virtual viewpoint position (See UEDA Paragraphs 0128-0133), and move the virtual viewpoint position according to the movement instruction information (See UEDA Paragraphs 0128-0133).
Claim 9:
The combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses determine whether or not a distance from the vehicle to the virtual viewpoint position (See UEDA Figure 33; Paragraphs 0073; 0101-0102; 0196-0197; 0222) is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance (See UEDA Paragraph 0104); and when determining that the distance is equal to or greater than the predetermined distance (See UEDA Paragraph 0104), reset the virtual viewpoint position to a position (See UEDA Figure 33; Paragraphs 0073; 0101-0102; 0196-0197; 0222) at which the distance is shorter than the predetermined distance (See UEDA Paragraph 0104).
Claim 10:
The combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses receive, as the driving operation information (See UEDA Paragraph 01026), sound information regarding driving guidance for the vehicle (See UEDA Paragraph 01757), generate a sound control signal (See UEDA Paragraph 01758) for controlling the output device to output the sound information (See UEDA Paragraph 01759); and transmit the sound control signal to the output device (See UEDA Paragraph 017510).
Claim 11:
The combination UEDA and NAKASHO discloses receive the driving operation information regarding a driving operation at a time at which the vehicle reaches the virtual viewpoint position (See UEDA Paragraph 010211).
Claim 12:
Claim 12 is rejected on the same basis as claim 1.
Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20200133259 discloses remote vehicle operation (e.g., remote park-assist) and, more specifically, to monitoring communication and mitigating issues from intermittent delay.
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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHEREE N BROWN whose telephone number is (571)272-4229. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 5:30-2:00 PM EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, SAID BROOME can be reached at (571) 272-2931. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHEREE N BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2612 January 5, 2026
1 Paragraphs 0057-0064 of UEDA discloses “autonomous vehicle control device 10” which is the same as the Applicant’s claim limitation of “information processing device”.
2 Paragraphs 0057-0059 of UEDA discloses “surrounding situations” which is the same as the Applicant’s claim limitation of “surrounding information”.
3 Paragraph 0052 of NAKASHO discloses “a virtual vehicle that looks traveling ahead on the road surface in front of the vehicle 1”.
4 The examiner interprets NAKASHO’s teachings of “In the present embodiment, a vehicle 1 equipped with a periphery monitoring apparatus (periphery monitoring system) may be, for example, an automobile having a not-illustrated internal combustion engine as a drive source, that is, an engine car, or may be an automobile having a not-illustrated electric motor as a drive source, that is, an electric vehicle or a fuel cell vehicle. The vehicle 1 may be a hybrid car having both as drive sources or may be an automobile having any other drive source. The vehicle 1 may be equipped with a variety of transmission devices and may be equipped with a variety of devices, for example, systems and parts necessary for driving an internal combustion engine or an electric motor. The vehicle 1 is, for example, a vehicle suitable for not only “on-road” (mainly paved road or equivalent road) driving but also “off-road” (mainly not-paved rough road and the like) driving. As for the driving system, the vehicle 1 may be a four-wheel drive vehicle in which driving force is conveyed to all of four wheels 3 and all of the four wheels are driving wheels. The system, number, layout, etc. of the device for driving the wheels 3 can be set in various ways. For example, the vehicle is mainly directed to “on-road” driving. The driving system is not limited to four-wheel drive and may be, for example, front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive” in paragraph 0048, as being the same as a “first user who manually drives the vehicle”.
5 Paragraphs 0057-0059 of UEDA discloses “surrounding situations” which is the same as the Applicant’s claim limitation of “surrounding information”.
6 Paragraph 0102 of UEDA recites “Autonomous driving controller 111 transmits the sensed data including the position information of the vehicle, the vehicle-speed information of the vehicle, and the information of the object around the vehicle, which have been selected, to remote control device 50 via network 2 (S103)”.
7 Paragraph 0175 of UEDA recites “noise removal”.
8 Paragraph 0175 of UEDA recites “noise removal”.
9 Paragraph 0175 of UEDA recites “noise removal”.
10 Paragraph 0175 of UEDA recites “noise removal”.
11 Paragraph 0102 of UEDA recites “Autonomous driving controller 111 transmits the sensed data including the position information of the vehicle, the vehicle-speed information of the vehicle, and the information of the object around the vehicle, which have been selected, to remote control device 50 via network 2 (S103)”.