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
This action is in reply to the application filed on 11/30/2023 and the amendments and response filed 10/22/2025.
Claims 1, 4, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, and 20 have been amended
Claims 18-20 have been previously added.
Claims 2-3, 10-11, and 17-19 have been cancelled.
Claims 1, 4-9, 12-16, and 20 are currently pending and have been examined.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 11/30/2023 fails to comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609 because the First Chinese Office Action dated June 9th, 2023 (line 2 of NPL) has been provided but has not been translated into English. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered as to the merits. All other cited sources have been considered, including the sources cited within the First Chinese Office Action. Applicant is advised that the date of any re-submission of any item of information contained in this information disclosure statement or the submission of any missing element(s) will be the date of submission for purposes of determining compliance with the requirements based on the time of filing the statement, including all certification requirements for statements under 37 CFR 1.97(e). See MPEP § 609.05(a).
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendments to the Abstract and Claims have overcome each and every objection previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed 7/23/2025.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 2-4, filed 10/22/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-20 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered but are not persuasive. Therefore, the rejection is substantially maintained in substance while being updated for clarity and as necessitated by amendment.
Regarding the argument that in the case that “the driving of the current vehicle is controlled only according to the second distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle running opposite to the current vehicle” and does not contemplate combining a distance between vehicles with the lane state,” Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 2 lines 1-6 “In some embodiments, the vehicle is a current vehicle. The step S106 may include: under the condition that the current vehicle is unmanned vehicle and the driving state is the opposite driving state, calculating the second distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle running opposite to the current vehicle; under the condition that the second distance is less than or equal to the second threshold value (also can be called the second safety distance), sending the control instruction of parking processing to the vehicle terminal device of the current vehicle;” teaches the claimed elements of “refuse the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the next lane and send a deceleration command or a stopping command to the first mining truck and the second mining truck in a case where the lane state of the next lane is the occupied state and the first distance is less than or equal to the safety threshold,” at the level of generality in which the claim is currently drafted, in combination with the lane driving road rights previously established within the rejections of claim 1 and previously within the rejection of claim 3 in Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 7-11 “traffic management service device 820 receives from the control centre device 810 of the driving road authority request message, through searching the lane exclusion table in the map database to obtain all collision lane and lane attribute of the lane of the application right, the road right application for arbitration; receiving the vehicle real-time state forwarded by the control centre device 810;” and previously cited in the rejection of Claim 1 Pg 16 ¶ 4 lines 2-3 “if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives;” together teaching the elements of refusing the travelling permission request (due to the lane driving road rights) and decelerating or stopping (sending a control instruction of parking processing) when the first distance is less than or equal to the safety threshold (the second distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle […] is less than or equal to the second threshold value).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al (CN 112258877, hereinafter “Zhou 877,” all citations and excerpts taken from the attached machine translation) in view of Zhu et al (US 20210179134, hereinafter “Zhu 134”).
Regarding Claim 1, Zhou 877 teaches:
A traffic control system for a mining truck, comprising: a map management server (Zhou 877 Pg 4 ¶ 6 “In some embodiments, the traffic control platform further comprises: a map collecting device, configured to collect original map boundary data,”)
configured to draw a mine road into a mine map, (Zhou 877 Pg 14 ¶ 10 line 2 – Pg 15 ¶ 1 line 1 “The map editor logs in the map management device 930, introduces the original map data, creates and demarcate the mine road network structure,”)
wherein the mine map comprises a plurality of lanes (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 1 lines 1-2 “according to the mine driving area geographic feature and traffic control requirement, dividing the road section of the driving area,” and Pg 7 ¶ 4 lines 1-5 “For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the driving area is divided into 3 sections according to the curve and the road width, respectively named as road section #1, road section #2 and road section #3. road section # 1 satisfies the standard road width of open mine bidirectional double-way road; two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 can allow two unmanned vehicles to run in parallel at the same time, then the two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 need not mutually exclusive association,” teaching division of the map into sections which include a plurality of lanes)
and a plurality of road nodes connected to the plurality of lanes, (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 1-2 “adding lane node in each section of driving area and generating two opposite driving path track,”)
the plurality of lanes comprising a dual lane (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 6-7 “The conventional road section is a road section capable of simultaneously performing bidirectional travel of the vehicle,”)
and a single lane, (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 5-6 “The special road section can not satisfy the vehicle at the same time bidirectional driving road section, intersection, temporary control road section and so on,” teaching a road section capable of handling only a single vehicle at once, analogous to a single lane)
and the dual lane comprising a trunk lane and an auxiliary lane on both sides of the trunk lane, (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 1 lines 2-4 “dividing the road section of the driving area. For example: the bidirectional double-track next section is changed into bidirectional single-track; then the bidirectional double-track and bidirectional single-track are divided into two adjacent sections of driving area;” teaching section comprising a single-track (trunk lane) related to a double-track (auxiliary lanes))
wherein the trunk lane is connected to the single lane; (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 4 “For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the driving area is divided into 3 sections according to the curve and the road width, respectively named as road section #1, road section #2 and road section #3. road section # 1 satisfies the standard road width of open mine bidirectional double-way road; two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 can allow two unmanned vehicles to run in parallel at the same time, then the two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 need not mutually exclusive association. road section # 2 is a curve with small turning radius, cannot satisfy the two unmanned vehicle turning at the same time, then the two lanes L1 # 2 in the road section, L1 # 3 and the two lanes L2 #2, L2 # 3 there is running conflict, need to be mutually exclusive association. road section # 3 is bidirectional double-row road section not meeting the standard width; two lanes L1 # 4 and L2 # 4 have driving conflict, need to be mutually exclusive correlation,” teaching a trunk lane (road section #1) connected to a single lane (road section #2) set as a mutually exclusive region, the 2 “lanes” of road section 2 referring to direction but directly analogous to a single lane in practice of mutually exclusive travel in those directions)
a route planning server configured to obtain the mine map from the map management server, (Zhou 877 Pg 3 ¶ 5 line 2 “receiving the collected original map boundary data,”)
plan a road node route according to the mine map, […] (Zhou 877 Pg 4 ¶ 5 lines 4-6 “generating the automatic driving path in each section of road after dividing and dividing and adding to the lane mutual exclusion table,”)
[…] and a traffic control server (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 1-2 “the traffic management service device 820 is a traffic arbitration management service platform of open mine unmanned transport system,”)
configured to store lane states of the plurality of lanes in the mine map, (Zhou 877 Pg 2 ¶ 3 lines 7-8 “obtaining the collision lane and lane type of the lane by searching the lane mutual exclusion table,”)
arbitrate a travelling permission request of the mining truck (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 1-2 “the traffic management service device 820 is a traffic arbitration management service platform of open mine unmanned transport system,”)
according to a lane state of a lane where the mining truck is about to enter, (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 7-11 “traffic management service device 820 receives from the control centre device 810 of the driving road authority request message, through searching the lane exclusion table in the map database to obtain all collision lane and lane attribute of the lane of the application right, the road right application for arbitration; receiving the vehicle real-time state forwarded by the control centre device 810;”)
approve the travelling permission request of the mining truck that meets a travelling condition, (Zhou 877 Pg 16 ¶ 4 lines 2-3 “if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives;”)
and dynamically update the lane states according to an arbitration result, wherein the lane states comprise an occupied state and an idle state; (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-7 “the lane state is default non-locking state; the lane in the locking state cannot pass. the two opposite lanes of special road have driving conflict; it is necessary to associate in the mutually exclusive table,”)
wherein the map management server is configured to, for a first road section where a width of the mine road satisfies a condition for two mining trucks to meet, (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 4 lines 1-3 “For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the driving area is divided into 3 sections according to the curve and the road width, respectively named as road section #1, road section #2 and road section #3. road section # 1 satisfies the standard road width of open mine bidirectional double-way road;)
draw a midline area of the mine road into the trunk lane (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 1 lines 2-4 “dividing the road section of the driving area. For example: the bidirectional double-track next section is changed into bidirectional single-track; then the bidirectional double-track and bidirectional single-track are divided into two adjacent sections of driving area;” teaching section comprising a single-track (trunk lane) related to a double-track (auxiliary lanes))
and draw a first auxiliary lane and a second auxiliary lane on both sides of the trunk lane (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 4 lines 3-5 “two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 can allow two unmanned vehicles to run in parallel at the same time, then the two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 need not mutually exclusive association,” teaching division of the map into sections which include a plurality of lanes)
by a map drawing tool, (Zhou 877 Pg 14 ¶ 10 line 2 – Pg 15 ¶ 1 line 1 “The map editor logs in the map management device 930, introduces the original map data, creates and demarcate the mine road network structure,”)
and set, for a second road section where the width of the mine road does not satisfy the condition for two mining trucks to meet, the second road section as the single lane; (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 4 lines 7-9 “road section # 3 is bidirectional double-row road section not meeting the standard width; two lanes L1 # 4 and L2 # 4 have driving conflict, need to be mutually exclusive correlation,” teaching a trunk lane (road section #1) connected to a single lane (road section #2) set as a mutually exclusive region)
the route planning server is configured to, (Zhou 877 Pg 6 ¶ 12 line 1 “FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating a traffic control method for a mine transport vehicle,”)
according to a current position of a first mining truck of the two mining trucks (Zhou 877 Pg 6 ¶ 13 lines 1-3 “In step S102, receiving the driving road right request message sent by the vehicle terminal device and the weight of the vehicle, type and driving data. The driving data may include: the position of the vehicle, the driving speed and the driving direction,”)
and a current position of a second mining truck of the two mining trucks traveling opposite to the first mining truck, (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 2 lines 4-6 “In some embodiments, after receiving the driving data sent by the vehicle terminal device of the two vehicles respectively, can obtain the position and the driving direction of the two vehicles according to the driving data, so as to know whether the two vehicles are in […] the opposite driving state,”)
plan a first travel trajectory for the first mining truck and plan a second travel trajectory for the second mining truck by using the mine map, and send the first travel trajectory to the first mining truck and send the second travel trajectory to the second mining truck, (Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 5 lines 5-7 “generating the automatic driving path in each section of road after dividing and dividing and adding to the lane mutual exclusion table. In this embodiment, the acquisition of the mine map and the acquisition of the lane mutual exclusion table, convenient for subsequent driving control of the vehicle,”)
to cause the first mining truck and the second mining truck to perform meeting; (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 1 lines 2-3 “the driving state comprises […] the opposite driving state (or called the meeting state);”)
and the traffic control server is configured to determine whether to approve the travelling permission request from the first mining truck (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 7-11 “traffic management service device 820 receives from the control centre device 810 of the driving road authority request message, through searching the lane exclusion table in the map database to obtain all collision lane and lane attribute of the lane of the application right, the road right application for arbitration; receiving the vehicle real-time state forwarded by the control centre device 810;”)
to enter a next lane (Zhou 877 Pg 6 ¶ 13 lines 3-4 “The driving road right request message refers to the request message for applying the normal running of the vehicle in the traffic lane to be driven in,”)
according to the lane state of the next lane where the first mining truck is about to enter (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 5 lines 1-4 “by analyzing the lane shown in FIG. 2, can form lane mutual exclusion table shown in FIG. 3. Here, the lane mutual exclusion table is the lane relation table of the selected lane and adjacent to one or several sections of lanes of the lane to be selected in the special road link. The table also maintains the driving lane of the conventional road section without conflicting relation,”)
and a first distance between the first mining truck and the second mining truck, (Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 2 lines 2-3 “calculating the second distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle running opposite to the current vehicle;”)
approve the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the next lane in a case where the lane state of the next lane is the idle state (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-6 “the lane state is default non-locking state; the lane in the locking state cannot pass,” and Pg 16 ¶ 4 “the control centre device 810 the running control strategy is encapsulated into a control instruction, and the control instruction is returned to the vehicle terminal device 1010. if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives; otherwise, the vehicle is processed by deceleration or parking,”)
or in a case where the lane state of the next lane is the occupied state and the first distance is greater than a safety threshold, (Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 2 lines 6-10 “and under the condition that the second distance is greater than the second threshold value, sending the deceleration processing control instruction to the vehicle terminal device of the current vehicle. In this embodiment, the current vehicle is in the opposite driving state and the current vehicle is the driving control of the current vehicle under the condition of the current vehicle is in the unmanned driving state,” teaching the vehicle proceeding at a decelerated pace)
and refuse the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the next lane and send a deceleration command or a stopping command to the first mining truck and the second mining truck in a case where the lane state of the next lane is the occupied state and the first distance is less than or equal to the safety threshold. (Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 2 lines 1-6 “In some embodiments, the vehicle is a current vehicle. The step S106 may include: under the condition that the current vehicle is unmanned vehicle and the driving state is the opposite driving state, calculating the second distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle running opposite to the current vehicle; under the condition that the second distance is less than or equal to the second threshold value (also can be called the second safety distance), sending the control instruction of parking processing to the vehicle terminal device of the current vehicle;” teaching stopping based on a safety distance with the previously established Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 7-11 and Pg 16 ¶ 4 lines 2-3 already teaching refusing lane access based on the mutually exclusive table to prevent driving conflict.)
Zhou 877 does not teach:
[…] and plan a transition route when the mining truck switches lanes during a meeting process; […]
Within the same field of endeavor as Zhou 877, Zhu 134 teaches:
[…]and plan a transition route when the mining truck switches lanes during a meeting process; […] (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 7-15 “determining, by the ADV, an incoming object in a self-reverse lane, wherein the ADV is following a first reference line in the self-reverse lane, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line in the center of the temporary lane, following the second reference line to nudge the incoming object, determining that the incoming object has passed and the self-reverse lane is clear, and continuing to follow the first reference line in response to determining that the self-reverse lane is clear,” teaching a move from the first reference line, analogous to the trunk lane, to a second reference line analogous to the auxiliary lane, during a meeting process with the incoming object)
Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 are considered analogous because they both relate to navigation control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the travelling permission arbitration of Zhou 877 with the simple substitution of Zhu 134’s traveling on the first reference line, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line, and continuing to follow the first reference line in response to determining that the lane is clear. This modification would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by providing an increased buffer zone to either side of the vehicle during normal travel by travelling in the first lane and moving to the second lane on an as-needed basis.
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 teaches the limitations of Claim 1 as described above. Zhou 877 further teaches:
wherein the traffic control server is further configured to determine whether to approve the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the auxiliary lane of the first road section according to the lane state of the auxiliary lane of the first road section after receiving the travelling permission request from the first mining truck to enter the auxiliary lane of the first road section, (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 7-11 “traffic management service device 820 receives from the control centre device 810 of the driving road authority request message, through searching the lane exclusion table in the map database to obtain all collision lane and lane attribute of the lane of the application right, the road right application for arbitration; receiving the vehicle real-time state forwarded by the control centre device 810;” applying to the lanes analogous to auxiliary lanes)
refuse the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the auxiliary lane of the first road section and command the first mining truck to stop and wait in a case where the lane state of the auxiliary lane of the first road section is the occupied state, and approve the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the auxiliary lane of the first road section in a case where the lane state of the auxiliary lane of the first road section is the idle state. (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-6 “the lane state is default non-locking state; the lane in the locking state cannot pass,” and Pg 16 ¶ 4 “the control centre device 810 the running control strategy is encapsulated into a control instruction, and the control instruction is returned to the vehicle terminal device 1010. if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives; otherwise, the vehicle is processed by deceleration or parking,”)
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 teaches the limitations of Claim 4 as described above. Zhou 877 further teaches:
wherein the route planning server is further configured to, in a case where the traffic control server approves the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the auxiliary lane of the first road section, […] (Zhou 877 Pg 16 ¶ 4 “the control centre device 810 the running control strategy is encapsulated into a control instruction, and the control instruction is returned to the vehicle terminal device 1010. if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives;”)
Zhou 877 does not teach:
[…] plan a first transition route from the trunk lane of the first road section to the first auxiliary lane for the first mining truck, plan a second transition route from the trunk lane of the first road section to the second auxiliary lane for the second mining truck,
and after the first mining truck and the second mining truck perform the meeting, plan a third transition route from the first auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the first mining truck and plan a fourth transition route from the second auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the second mining truck.
Within the same field of endeavor as Zhou 877, Zhu 134 teaches:
[…] plan a first transition route from the trunk lane of the first road section to the first auxiliary lane for the first mining truck, plan a second transition route from the trunk lane of the first road section to the second auxiliary lane for the second mining truck, (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 7-12 “determining, by the ADV, an incoming object in a self-reverse lane, wherein the ADV is following a first reference line in the self-reverse lane, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line in the center of the temporary lane, following the second reference line to nudge the incoming object,” and Fig 5a teaching the secondary reference line moving into the “auxiliary” lane position from the Main Reference Line)
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and after the first mining truck and the second mining truck perform the meeting, plan a third transition route from the first auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the first mining truck and plan a fourth transition route from the second auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the second mining truck. (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 12-15 “determining that the incoming object has passed and the self-reverse lane is clear, and continuing to follow the first reference line in response to determining that the self-reverse lane is clear,” and Fig 5b, teaching a drive-back reference line to return from the secondary reference line to the main reference line)
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Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 are considered analogous because they both relate to navigation control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the travelling permission arbitration of normal driving of Zhou 877 with the simple substitution of Zhu 134’s traveling from the first reference line, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line and a route to the reference line, and creating a drive-back reference line to return to the first reference line in response to determining that the lane is clear. This modification would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by providing an increased buffer zone to either side of the vehicle during normal travel by travelling in the first lane and moving to the second lane on an as-needed basis.
Regarding Claim 6, the combination of Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 teaches the limitations of Claim 5 as described above. Zhou 877 further teaches:
the traffic control server is further configured to, after the first mining truck enters the first auxiliary lane from the trunk lane according to the first transition route and the second mining truck enters the second auxiliary lane from the trunk lane according to the second transition route, (Per Claim 5)
if there is a third mining truck traveling opposite to the second mining truck (Zhou 877 Pg 3 ¶ 2 “In some embodiments, the vehicle is a current vehicle; the step of sending the control instruction to the vehicle terminal device comprises: under the condition that the current vehicle is unmanned vehicle and the driving state is the same-direction driving state, calculating the first distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle running in the same direction with the current vehicle; under the condition that the first distance is less than or equal to the first threshold and the current vehicle is behind the adjacent vehicle, sending control instruction of deceleration processing to the vehicle terminal device of the current vehicle; and under the condition that the first distance is greater than the first threshold value or the current vehicle is in front of the adjacent vehicle, sending control instruction of safety warning to the vehicle terminal device of the adjacent vehicle,” teaching a vehicle travelling in the same direction as the first vehicle, which is the opposite direction of the second vehicle)
and a second distance between the third mining truck and the second mining truck is less than or equal to the safety threshold, send a command to the second mining truck to stop and wait on the second auxiliary lane, (Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 2 lines 1-6 “In some embodiments, the vehicle is a current vehicle. The step S106 may include: under the condition that the current vehicle is unmanned vehicle and the driving state is the opposite driving state, calculating the second distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle running opposite to the current vehicle; under the condition that the second distance is less than or equal to the second threshold value (also can be called the second safety distance), sending the control instruction of parking processing to the vehicle terminal device of the current vehicle;” as applied to the second vehicle)
and approve the travelling permission request from the third mining truck to enter the first auxiliary lane; […] (Zhou 877 Pg 3 ¶ 2 “In some embodiments, the vehicle is a current vehicle; the step of sending the control instruction to the vehicle terminal device comprises: under the condition that the current vehicle is unmanned vehicle and the driving state is the same-direction driving state, calculating the first distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle running in the same direction with the current vehicle; under the condition that the first distance is less than or equal to the first threshold and the current vehicle is behind the adjacent vehicle, sending control instruction of deceleration processing to the vehicle terminal device of the current vehicle; and under the condition that the first distance is greater than the first threshold value or the current vehicle is in front of the adjacent vehicle, sending control instruction of safety warning to the vehicle terminal device of the adjacent vehicle,” teaching the vehicle travelling in the same direction as the first vehicle, proceeding, possibly at a decelerated rate based on the distance between vehicles)
Zhou 877 does not teach:
[…] and the route planning server is further configured to plan a fifth transition route from the trunk lane to the first auxiliary lane for the third mining truck,
and plan a sixth transition route from the first auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the third mining truck after the third mining truck and the second mining truck perform the meeting.
Within the same field of endeavor as Zhou 877, Zhu 134 teaches:
[…] and the route planning server is further configured to plan a fifth transition route from the trunk lane to the first auxiliary lane for the third mining truck, (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 7-12 “determining, by the ADV, an incoming object in a self-reverse lane, wherein the ADV is following a first reference line in the self-reverse lane, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line in the center of the temporary lane, following the second reference line to nudge the incoming object,” and Fig 5a teaching the secondary reference line moving into the “auxiliary” lane position from the Main Reference Line)
and plan a sixth transition route from the first auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the third mining truck after the third mining truck and the second mining truck perform the meeting. (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 12-15 “determining that the incoming object has passed and the self-reverse lane is clear, and continuing to follow the first reference line in response to determining that the self-reverse lane is clear,” and Fig 5b, teaching a drive-back reference line to return from the secondary reference line to the main reference line)
Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 are considered analogous because they both relate to navigation control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the travelling permission arbitration of normal driving of Zhou 877 with the simple substitution of Zhu 134’s traveling from the first reference line, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line and a route to the reference line, and creating a drive-back reference line to return to the first reference line in response to determining that the lane is clear. This modification would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by providing an increased buffer zone to either side of the vehicle during normal travel by travelling in the first lane and moving to the second lane on an as-needed basis.
Regarding Claim 7, the combination of Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 teaches the limitations of Claim 1 as described above. Zhou 877 further teaches:
wherein the traffic control server is further configured to approve the travelling permission request from a first mining truck of the two mining trucks to enter the single lane if there are no other mining trucks traveling on the single lane in a case where the first mining truck travels on a first trunk lane adjacent to the single lane. (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-7 “the lane state is default non-locking state; the lane in the locking state cannot pass. the two opposite lanes of special road have driving conflict; it is necessary to associate in the mutually exclusive table,” and g 16 ¶ 4 lines 2-3 “if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives;”, teaching obtaining the road right and normal driving if the lane is not locked by having a driving conflict)
Regarding Claim 8, the combination of Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 teaches the limitations of Claim 7 as described above. Zhou 877 further teaches:
the traffic control server is further configured to refuse the travelling permission request from the first mining truck to enter the single lane if the second mining truck travels on the single lane and the second mining truck travels opposite to the first mining truck, (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-7 “the lane in the locking state cannot pass. the two opposite lanes of special road have driving conflict; it is necessary to associate in the mutually exclusive table,” teaching locking a lane which is in a conflict state.)
and approve the travelling permission request from the second mining truck to enter the second auxiliary lane in a case where the second mining truck travels to the first trunk lane, and approve the travelling permission request from the first mining truck to enter the single lane after the second mining truck leaves the second auxiliary lane and travels to the trunk lane; […] (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-7 “the lane state is default non-locking state; the lane in the locking state cannot pass. the two opposite lanes of special road have driving conflict; it is necessary to associate in the mutually exclusive table,” and g 16 ¶ 4 lines 2-3 “if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives;” Both cases of which fall into obtaining the road right and normal driving if the lane is not locked by having a driving conflict)
Zhou 877 does not teach:
[…] and the route planning server is further configured to plan a seventh transition route from the first trunk lane to the first auxiliary lane for the first mining truck after the traffic control server refuses the travelling permission request from the first mining truck to enter the single lane,
and plan an eighth transition route from the first trunk lane to the second auxiliary lane for the second mining truck after the traffic control server approves the travelling permission request from the second mining truck to enter the second auxiliary lane.
Within the same field of endeavor as Zhou 877, Zhu 134 teaches:
[…] and the route planning server is further configured to plan a seventh transition route from the first trunk lane to the first auxiliary lane for the first mining truck after the traffic control server refuses the travelling permission request from the first mining truck to enter the single lane, (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 7-12 “determining, by the ADV, an incoming object in a self-reverse lane, wherein the ADV is following a first reference line in the self-reverse lane, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line in the center of the temporary lane, following the second reference line to nudge the incoming object,” and Fig 5a teaching the secondary reference line moving into the “auxiliary” lane position from the Main Reference Line)
and plan an eighth transition route from the first trunk lane to the second auxiliary lane for the second mining truck after the traffic control server approves the travelling permission request from the second mining truck to enter the second auxiliary lane. (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 7-12 “determining, by the ADV, an incoming object in a self-reverse lane, wherein the ADV is following a first reference line in the self-reverse lane, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line in the center of the temporary lane, following the second reference line to nudge the incoming object,” and Fig 5a teaching the secondary reference line moving into the “auxiliary” lane position from the Main Reference Line)
Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 are considered analogous because they both relate to navigation control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the travelling permission arbitration of normal driving of Zhou 877 with the simple substitution of Zhu 134’s traveling from the first reference line, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line and a route to the reference line. This modification would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by providing an increased buffer zone to either side of the vehicle during normal travel by travelling in the first lane and moving to the second lane on an as-needed basis.
Regarding Claim 9, Zhou 877 teaches:
A traffic control method for a mining truck, comprising: drawing a mine road into a mine map, (Zhou 877 Pg 14 ¶ 10 line 2 – Pg 15 ¶ 1 line 1 “The map editor logs in the map management device 930, introduces the original map data, creates and demarcate the mine road network structure,”)
wherein the mine map comprises a plurality of lanes (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 1 lines 1-2 “according to the mine driving area geographic feature and traffic control requirement, dividing the road section of the driving area,” and Pg 7 ¶ 4 lines 1-5 “For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the driving area is divided into 3 sections according to the curve and the road width, respectively named as road section #1, road section #2 and road section #3. road section # 1 satisfies the standard road width of open mine bidirectional double-way road; two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 can allow two unmanned vehicles to run in parallel at the same time, then the two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 need not mutually exclusive association,” teaching division of the map into sections which include a plurality of lanes)
and a plurality of road nodes connected to the plurality of lanes, (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 1-2 “adding lane node in each section of driving area and generating two opposite driving path track,”)
the plurality of lanes comprising a dual lane (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 6-7 “The conventional road section is a road section capable of simultaneously performing bidirectional travel of the vehicle,”)
and a single lane, (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 5-6 “The special road section can not satisfy the vehicle at the same time bidirectional driving road section, intersection, temporary control road section and so on,” teaching a road section capable of handling only a single vehicle at once, analogous to a single lane)
and the dual lane comprising a trunk lane and an auxiliary lane on both sides of the trunk lane, (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 1 lines 2-4 “dividing the road section of the driving area. For example: the bidirectional double-track next section is changed into bidirectional single-track; then the bidirectional double-track and bidirectional single-track are divided into two adjacent sections of driving area;” teaching section comprising a single-track (trunk lane) related to a double-track (auxiliary lanes))
wherein the trunk lane is connected to the single lane; (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 4 “For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the driving area is divided into 3 sections according to the curve and the road width, respectively named as road section #1, road section #2 and road section #3. road section # 1 satisfies the standard road width of open mine bidirectional double-way road; two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 can allow two unmanned vehicles to run in parallel at the same time, then the two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 need not mutually exclusive association. road section # 2 is a curve with small turning radius, cannot satisfy the two unmanned vehicle turning at the same time, then the two lanes L1 # 2 in the road section, L1 # 3 and the two lanes L2 #2, L2 # 3 there is running conflict, need to be mutually exclusive association. road section # 3 is bidirectional double-row road section not meeting the standard width; two lanes L1 # 4 and L2 # 4 have driving conflict, need to be mutually exclusive correlation,” teaching a trunk lane (road section #1) connected to a single lane (road section #2) set as a mutually exclusive region, the 2 “lanes” of road section 2 referring to direction but directly analogous to a single lane in practice of mutually exclusive travel in those directions)
planning a road node route according to the mine map, […] (Zhou 877 Pg 4 ¶ 5 lines 4-6 “generating the automatic driving path in each section of road after dividing and dividing and adding to the lane mutual exclusion table,”)
[…] and arbitrating a travelling permission request of the mining truck (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 1-2 “the traffic management service device 820 is a traffic arbitration management service platform of open mine unmanned transport system,”)
according to a lane state of a lane where the mining truck is about to enter, (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 7-11 “traffic management service device 820 receives from the control centre device 810 of the driving road authority request message, through searching the lane exclusion table in the map database to obtain all collision lane and lane attribute of the lane of the application right, the road right application for arbitration; receiving the vehicle real-time state forwarded by the control centre device 810;”)
approving the travelling permission request of the mining truck that meets a travelling condition, (Zhou 877 Pg 16 ¶ 4 lines 2-3 “if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives;”)
and dynamically updating the lane states according to an arbitration result, wherein the lane states comprise an occupied state and an idle states (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-7 “the lane state is default non-locking state; the lane in the locking state cannot pass. the two opposite lanes of special road have driving conflict; it is necessary to associate in the mutually exclusive table,”)
wherein the drawing of the mine road into the mine map comprises: for a first road section where a width of the mine road satisfies a condition for two mining trucks to meet, (Zhou Pg 7 ¶ 4 lines 1-3 “For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the driving area is divided into 3 sections according to the curve and the road width, respectively named as road section #1, road section #2 and road section #3. road section # 1 satisfies the standard road width of open mine bidirectional double-way road;)
drawing a midline area of the mine road into the trunk lane (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 1 lines 2-4 “dividing the road section of the driving area. For example: the bidirectional double-track next section is changed into bidirectional single-track; then the bidirectional double-track and bidirectional single-track are divided into two adjacent sections of driving area;” teaching section comprising a single-track (trunk lane) related to a double-track (auxiliary lanes))
and drawing a first auxiliary lane and a second auxiliary lane on both sides of the trunk lane (Zhou Pg 7 ¶ 4 lines 3-5 “two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 can allow two unmanned vehicles to run in parallel at the same time, then the two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 need not mutually exclusive association,” teaching division of the map into sections which include a plurality of lanes)
by a map drawing tool, (Zhou 877 Pg 14 ¶ 10 line 2 – Pg 15 ¶ 1 line 1 “The map editor logs in the map management device 930, introduces the original map data, creates and demarcate the mine road network structure,”)
and setting, for a second road section where the width of the mine road does not satisfy the condition for two mining trucks to meet, the second road section as the single lane; (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 4 lines 7-9 “road section # 3 is bidirectional double-row road section not meeting the standard width; two lanes L1 # 4 and L2 # 4 have driving conflict, need to be mutually exclusive correlation,” teaching a trunk lane (road section #1) connected to a single lane (road section #2) set as a mutually exclusive region)
and the traffic control method further comprises: determining whether to approve the travelling permission request from a first mining truck (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 7-11 “traffic management service device 820 receives from the control centre device 810 of the driving road authority request message, through searching the lane exclusion table in the map database to obtain all collision lane and lane attribute of the lane of the application right, the road right application for arbitration; receiving the vehicle real-time state forwarded by the control centre device 810;”)
to enter a next lane (Zhou 877 Pg 6 ¶ 13 lines 3-4 “The driving road right request message refers to the request message for applying the normal running of the vehicle in the traffic lane to be driven in,”)
according to the lane state of the next lane where the first mining truck is about to enter (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 5 lines 1-4 “by analyzing the lane shown in FIG. 2, can form lane mutual exclusion table shown in FIG. 3. Here, the lane mutual exclusion table is the lane relation table of the selected lane and adjacent to one or several sections of lanes of the lane to be selected in the special road link. The table also maintains the driving lane of the conventional road section without conflicting relation,”)
and a first distance between the first mining truck and a second mining truck, (Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 2 lines 2-3 “calculating the second distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle running opposite to the current vehicle;”)
wherein the second mining truck travels opposite to the first mining truck, (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 2 lines 4-6 “In some embodiments, after receiving the driving data sent by the vehicle terminal device of the two vehicles respectively, can obtain the position and the driving direction of the two vehicles according to the driving data, so as to know whether the two vehicles are in […] the opposite driving state.,”)
approving the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the next lane in a case where the lane state of the next lane is the idle state (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-6 “the lane state is default non-locking state; the lane in the locking state cannot pass,” and Pg 16 ¶ 4 “the control centre device 810 the running control strategy is encapsulated into a control instruction, and the control instruction is returned to the vehicle terminal device 1010. if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives; otherwise, the vehicle is processed by deceleration or parking,”)
or in a case where the lane state of the next lane is the occupied state and the first distance is greater than a safety threshold, (Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 2 lines 6-10 “and under the condition that the second distance is greater than the second threshold value, sending the deceleration processing control instruction to the vehicle terminal device of the current vehicle. In this embodiment, the current vehicle is in the opposite driving state and the current vehicle is the driving control of the current vehicle under the condition of the current vehicle is in the unmanned driving state,” teaching the vehicle proceeding at a decelerated pace)
and refusing the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the next lane and sending a deceleration command or a stopping command to the first mining truck and the second mining truck in a case where the lane state of the next lane is the occupied state and the first distance is less than or equal to the safety threshold; (Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 2 lines 1-6 “In some embodiments, the vehicle is a current vehicle. The step S106 may include: under the condition that the current vehicle is unmanned vehicle and the driving state is the opposite driving state, calculating the second distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle running opposite to the current vehicle; under the condition that the second distance is less than or equal to the second threshold value (also can be called the second safety distance), sending the control instruction of parking processing to the vehicle terminal device of the current vehicle;” teaching stopping based on a safety distance with the previously established Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 7-11 and Pg 16 ¶ 4 lines 2-3 already teaching refusing lane access based on the mutually exclusive table to prevent driving conflict)
and according to a current position of the first mining truck and a current position of the second mining truck, (Zhou 877 Pg 6 ¶ 13 lines 1-3 “In step S102, receiving the driving road right request message sent by the vehicle terminal device and the weight of the vehicle, type and driving data. The driving data may include: the position of the vehicle, the driving speed and the driving direction,” as applies to each of the trucks)
planning a first travel trajectory for the first mining truck and planning a second travel trajectory for the second mining truck by using the mine map, and sending the first travel trajectory to the first mining truck and sending the second travel trajectory to the second mining truck, , (Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 5 lines 5-7 “generating the automatic driving path in each section of road after dividing and dividing and adding to the lane mutual exclusion table. In this embodiment, the acquisition of the mine map and the acquisition of the lane mutual exclusion table, convenient for subsequent driving control of the vehicle,”)
to cause the first mining truck and the second mining truck to perform meeting. (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 1 lines 2-3 “the driving state comprises […] the opposite driving state (or called the meeting state);”)
Zhou 877 does not teach:
[…] and planning a transition route when the mining truck switches lanes during a meeting process; […]
Within the same field of endeavor as Zhou 877, Zhu 134 teaches:
[…] and planning a transition route when the mining truck switches lanes during a meeting process; […] (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 7-15 “determining, by the ADV, an incoming object in a self-reverse lane, wherein the ADV is following a first reference line in the self-reverse lane, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line in the center of the temporary lane, following the second reference line to nudge the incoming object, determining that the incoming object has passed and the self-reverse lane is clear, and continuing to follow the first reference line in response to determining that the self-reverse lane is clear,” teaching a move from the first reference line, analogous to the trunk lane, to a second reference line analogous to the auxiliary lane, during a meeting process with the incoming object)
Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 are considered analogous because they both relate to navigation control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the travelling permission arbitration of Zhou 877 with the simple substitution of Zhu 134’s traveling on the first reference line, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line, and continuing to follow the first reference line in response to determining that the lane is clear. This modification would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by providing an increased buffer zone to either side of the vehicle during normal travel by travelling in the first lane and moving to the second lane on an as-needed basis.
Regarding Claim 12, the combination of Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 teaches the limitations of Claim 9 as described above. Zhou 877 further teaches:
determining whether to approve the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the auxiliary lane of the first road section according to the lane state of the auxiliary lane of the first road section after receiving the travelling permission request from the first mining truck to enter the auxiliary lane of the first road section; (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 7-11 “traffic management service device 820 receives from the control centre device 810 of the driving road authority request message, through searching the lane exclusion table in the map database to obtain all collision lane and lane attribute of the lane of the application right, the road right application for arbitration; receiving the vehicle real-time state forwarded by the control centre device 810;” applying to the lanes analogous to auxiliary lanes)
refusing the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the auxiliary lane of the first road section and commanding the first mining truck to stop and wait in a case where the lane state of the auxiliary lane of the first road section is the occupied state; and approving the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the auxiliary lane of the first road section in a case where the lane state of the auxiliary lane of the first road section is the idle state, […] (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-6 “the lane state is default non-locking state; the lane in the locking state cannot pass,” and Pg 16 ¶ 4 “the control centre device 810 the running control strategy is encapsulated into a control instruction, and the control instruction is returned to the vehicle terminal device 1010. if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives; otherwise, the vehicle is processed by deceleration or parking,”)
Zhou 877 does not teach:
[…] planning a first transition route from the trunk lane of the first road section to the first auxiliary lane for the first mining truck, planning a second transition route from the trunk lane of the first road section to the second auxiliary lane for the second mining truck,
and after the first mining truck and the second mining truck perform the meeting, planning a third transition route from the first auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the first mining truck and planning a fourth transition route from the second auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the second mining truck.
Within the same field of endeavor as Zhou 877, Zhu 134 teaches:
[…] planning a first transition route from the trunk lane of the first road section to the first auxiliary lane for the first mining truck, planning a second transition route from the trunk lane of the first road section to the second auxiliary lane for the second mining truck, (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 7-12 “determining, by the ADV, an incoming object in a self-reverse lane, wherein the ADV is following a first reference line in the self-reverse lane, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line in the center of the temporary lane, following the second reference line to nudge the incoming object,” and Fig 5a teaching the secondary reference line moving into the “auxiliary” lane position from the Main Reference Line)
and after the first mining truck and the second mining truck perform the meeting, planning a third transition route from the first auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the first mining truck and planning a fourth transition route from the second auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the second mining truck. (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 12-15 “determining that the incoming object has passed and the self-reverse lane is clear, and continuing to follow the first reference line in response to determining that the self-reverse lane is clear,” and Fig 5b, teaching a drive-back reference line to return from the secondary reference line to the main reference line)
Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 are considered analogous because they both relate to navigation control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the travelling permission arbitration of normal driving of Zhou 877 with the simple substitution of Zhu 134’s traveling from the first reference line, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line and a route to the reference line, and creating a drive-back reference line to return to the first reference line in response to determining that the lane is clear. This modification would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by providing an increased buffer zone to either side of the vehicle during normal travel by travelling in the first lane and moving to the second lane on an as-needed basis.
Regarding Claim 13, the combination of Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 teaches the limitations of Claim 12 as described above. Zhou 877 further teaches:
after the first mining truck enters the first auxiliary lane from the trunk lane according to the first transition route and the second mining truck enters the second auxiliary lane from the trunk lane according to the second transition route, (Per Claim 12)
if there is a third mining truck traveling opposite to the second mining truck (Zhou 877 Pg 3 ¶ 2 “In some embodiments, the vehicle is a current vehicle; the step of sending the control instruction to the vehicle terminal device comprises: under the condition that the current vehicle is unmanned vehicle and the driving state is the same-direction driving state, calculating the first distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle running in the same direction with the current vehicle; under the condition that the first distance is less than or equal to the first threshold and the current vehicle is behind the adjacent vehicle, sending control instruction of deceleration processing to the vehicle terminal device of the current vehicle; and under the condition that the first distance is greater than the first threshold value or the current vehicle is in front of the adjacent vehicle, sending control instruction of safety warning to the vehicle terminal device of the adjacent vehicle,” teaching a vehicle travelling in the same direction as the first vehicle, which is the opposite direction of the second vehicle)
and a second distance between the third mining truck and the second mining truck is less than or equal to the safety threshold, sending a command to the second mining truck to stop and wait on the second auxiliary lane, (Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 2 lines 1-6 “In some embodiments, the vehicle is a current vehicle. The step S106 may include: under the condition that the current vehicle is unmanned vehicle and the driving state is the opposite driving state, calculating the second distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle running opposite to the current vehicle; under the condition that the second distance is less than or equal to the second threshold value (also can be called the second safety distance), sending the control instruction of parking processing to the vehicle terminal device of the current vehicle;” as applied to the second vehicle)
and approving the travelling permission request from the third mining truck to enter the first auxiliary lane, […] (Zhou 877 Pg 3 ¶ 2 “In some embodiments, the vehicle is a current vehicle; the step of sending the control instruction to the vehicle terminal device comprises: under the condition that the current vehicle is unmanned vehicle and the driving state is the same-direction driving state, calculating the first distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle running in the same direction with the current vehicle; under the condition that the first distance is less than or equal to the first threshold and the current vehicle is behind the adjacent vehicle, sending control instruction of deceleration processing to the vehicle terminal device of the current vehicle; and under the condition that the first distance is greater than the first threshold value or the current vehicle is in front of the adjacent vehicle, sending control instruction of safety warning to the vehicle terminal device of the adjacent vehicle,” teaching the vehicle travelling in the same direction as the first vehicle, proceeding, possibly at a decelerated rate based on the distance between vehicles)
Zhou 877 does not teach:
[…] planning a fifth transition route from the trunk lane to the first auxiliary lane for the third mining truck,
and planning a sixth transition route from the first auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the third mining truck after the third mining truck and the second mining truck perform the meeting.
Within the same field of endeavor as Zhou 877, Zhu 134 teaches:
[…] planning a fifth transition route from the trunk lane to the first auxiliary lane for the third mining truck, (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 7-12 “determining, by the ADV, an incoming object in a self-reverse lane, wherein the ADV is following a first reference line in the self-reverse lane, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line in the center of the temporary lane, following the second reference line to nudge the incoming object,” and Fig 5a teaching the secondary reference line moving into the “auxiliary” lane position from the Main Reference Line)
and planning a sixth transition route from the first auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the third mining truck after the third mining truck and the second mining truck perform the meeting. (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 12-15 “determining that the incoming object has passed and the self-reverse lane is clear, and continuing to follow the first reference line in response to determining that the self-reverse lane is clear,” and Fig 5b, teaching a drive-back reference line to return from the secondary reference line to the main reference line)
Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 are considered analogous because they both relate to navigation control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the travelling permission arbitration of normal driving of Zhou 877 with the simple substitution of Zhu 134’s traveling from the first reference line, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line and a route to the reference line, and creating a drive-back reference line to return to the first reference line in response to determining that the lane is clear. This modification would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by providing an increased buffer zone to either side of the vehicle during normal travel by travelling in the first lane and moving to the second lane on an as-needed basis.
Regarding Claim 14, the combination of Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 teaches the limitations of Claim 9 as described above. Zhou 877 further teaches:
approving the travelling permission request from a first mining truck to enter the single lane if there are no other mining trucks traveling on the single lane in a case where the first mining truck travels on a first trunk lane adjacent to the single lane. (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-7 “the lane state is default non-locking state; the lane in the locking state cannot pass. the two opposite lanes of special road have driving conflict; it is necessary to associate in the mutually exclusive table,” and g 16 ¶ 4 lines 2-3 “if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives;”, teaching obtaining the road right and normal driving if the lane is not locked by having a driving conflict)
Regarding Claim 15, the combination of Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 teaches the limitations of Claim 14 as described above. Zhou 877 further teaches:
if a second mining truck travels on the single lane and the second mining truck travels opposite to the first mining truck, refusing the travelling permission request from the first mining truck to enter the single lane, […] (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-7 “the lane in the locking state cannot pass. the two opposite lanes of special road have driving conflict; it is necessary to associate in the mutually exclusive table,” teaching locking a lane which is in a conflict state.)
[…] in a case where the second mining truck travels to the first trunk lane, approving the travelling permission request from the second mining truck to enter a second auxiliary lane, […] and approving the travelling permission request from the first mining truck to enter the single lane after the second mining truck leaves the second auxiliary lane and travels to the trunk lane. (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-7 “the lane state is default non-locking state; the lane in the locking state cannot pass. the two opposite lanes of special road have driving conflict; it is necessary to associate in the mutually exclusive table,” and g 16 ¶ 4 lines 2-3 “if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives;” Both cases of which fall into obtaining the road right and normal driving if the lane is not locked by having a driving conflict)
Zhou 877 does not teach:
[…] and planning a seventh transition route from the first trunk lane to a first auxiliary lane for the first mining truck; […] and planning an eighth transition route from the first trunk lane to the second auxiliary lane for the second mining truck; […]
Within the same field of endeavor as Zhou 877, Zhu 134 teaches:
[…] and planning a seventh transition route from the first trunk lane to a first auxiliary lane for the first mining truck; […] and planning an eighth transition route from the first trunk lane to the second auxiliary lane for the second mining truck; […]
(Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 7-12 “determining, by the ADV, an incoming object in a self-reverse lane, wherein the ADV is following a first reference line in the self-reverse lane, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line in the center of the temporary lane, following the second reference line to nudge the incoming object,” and Fig 5a teaching the secondary reference line moving into the “auxiliary” lane position from the Main Reference Line)
Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 are considered analogous because they both relate to navigation control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the travelling permission arbitration of normal driving of Zhou 877 with the simple substitution of Zhu 134’s traveling from the first reference line, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line and a route to the reference line. This modification would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by providing an increased buffer zone to either side of the vehicle during normal travel by travelling in the first lane and moving to the second lane on an as-needed basis.
Regarding Claim 16, Zhou 877 teaches:
A traffic control system for a mining truck, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to, based on instructions stored in the memory; (Zhou 877 Pg 4 ¶ 2 “According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a traffic control platform for mine transport vehicle, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor is configured to perform the method according to the instruction of the memory stored in the memory.,”)
draw a mine road into a mine map, (Zhou 877 Pg 14 ¶ 10 line 2 – Pg 15 ¶ 1 line 1 “The map editor logs in the map management device 930, introduces the original map data, creates and demarcate the mine road network structure,”)
wherein the mine map comprises a plurality of lanes (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 1 lines 1-2 “according to the mine driving area geographic feature and traffic control requirement, dividing the road section of the driving area,” and Pg 7 ¶ 4 lines 1-5 “For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the driving area is divided into 3 sections according to the curve and the road width, respectively named as road section #1, road section #2 and road section #3. road section # 1 satisfies the standard road width of open mine bidirectional double-way road; two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 can allow two unmanned vehicles to run in parallel at the same time, then the two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 need not mutually exclusive association,” teaching division of the map into sections which include a plurality of lanes)
and a plurality of road nodes connected to the plurality of lanes, (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 1-2 “adding lane node in each section of driving area and generating two opposite driving path track,”)
the plurality of lanes comprising a dual lane (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 6-7 “The conventional road section is a road section capable of simultaneously performing bidirectional travel of the vehicle,”)
and a single lane, (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 5-6 “The special road section can not satisfy the vehicle at the same time bidirectional driving road section, intersection, temporary control road section and so on,” teaching a road section capable of handling only a single vehicle at once, analogous to a single lane)
and the dual lane comprising a trunk lane and an auxiliary lane on both sides of the trunk lane, (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 1 lines 2-4 “dividing the road section of the driving area. For example: the bidirectional double-track next section is changed into bidirectional single-track; then the bidirectional double-track and bidirectional single-track are divided into two adjacent sections of driving area;” teaching section comprising a single-track (trunk lane) related to a double-track (auxiliary lanes))
wherein the trunk lane is connected to the single lane; (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 4 “For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the driving area is divided into 3 sections according to the curve and the road width, respectively named as road section #1, road section #2 and road section #3. road section # 1 satisfies the standard road width of open mine bidirectional double-way road; two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 can allow two unmanned vehicles to run in parallel at the same time, then the two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 need not mutually exclusive association. road section # 2 is a curve with small turning radius, cannot satisfy the two unmanned vehicle turning at the same time, then the two lanes L1 # 2 in the road section, L1 # 3 and the two lanes L2 #2, L2 # 3 there is running conflict, need to be mutually exclusive association. road section # 3 is bidirectional double-row road section not meeting the standard width; two lanes L1 # 4 and L2 # 4 have driving conflict, need to be mutually exclusive correlation,” teaching a trunk lane (road section #1) connected to a single lane (road section #2) set as a mutually exclusive region, the 2 “lanes” of road section 2 referring to direction but directly analogous to a single lane in practice of mutually exclusive travel in those directions)
plan a road node route according to the mine map, […] (Zhou 877 Pg 4 ¶ 5 lines 4-6 “generating the automatic driving path in each section of road after dividing and dividing and adding to the lane mutual exclusion table,”)
[…] and arbitrate a travelling permission request of the mining truck (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 1-2 “the traffic management service device 820 is a traffic arbitration management service platform of open mine unmanned transport system,”)
according to a lane state of a lane where the mining truck is about to enter, (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 7-11 “traffic management service device 820 receives from the control centre device 810 of the driving road authority request message, through searching the lane exclusion table in the map database to obtain all collision lane and lane attribute of the lane of the application right, the road right application for arbitration; receiving the vehicle real-time state forwarded by the control centre device 810;”)
approve the travelling permission request of the mining truck that meets a travelling condition, (Zhou 877 Pg 16 ¶ 4 lines 2-3 “if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives;”)
and dynamically update the lane states according to an arbitration result, wherein the lane states comprise an occupied state and an idle state, (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-7 “the lane state is default non-locking state; the lane in the locking state cannot pass. the two opposite lanes of special road have driving conflict; it is necessary to associate in the mutually exclusive table,”)
wherein the processor is configured to: for a first road section where a width of the mine road satisfies a condition for two mining trucks to meet, (Zhou Pg 7 ¶ 4 lines 1-3 “For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the driving area is divided into 3 sections according to the curve and the road width, respectively named as road section #1, road section #2 and road section #3. road section # 1 satisfies the standard road width of open mine bidirectional double-way road;)
draw a midline area of the mine road into the trunk lane (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 1 lines 2-4 “dividing the road section of the driving area. For example: the bidirectional double-track next section is changed into bidirectional single-track; then the bidirectional double-track and bidirectional single-track are divided into two adjacent sections of driving area;” teaching section comprising a single-track (trunk lane) related to a double-track (auxiliary lanes))
and draw a first auxiliary lane and a second auxiliary lane on both sides of the trunk lane (Zhou Pg 7 ¶ 4 lines 3-5 “two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 can allow two unmanned vehicles to run in parallel at the same time, then the two lanes L1 # 1 and L2 # 1 need not mutually exclusive association,” teaching division of the map into sections which include a plurality of lanes)
by a map drawing tool, (Zhou 877 Pg 14 ¶ 10 line 2 – Pg 15 ¶ 1 line 1 “The map editor logs in the map management device 930, introduces the original map data, creates and demarcate the mine road network structure,”)
and set, for a second road section where the width of the mine road does not satisfy the condition for two mining trucks to meet, the second road section as the single lane; (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 4 lines 7-9 “road section # 3 is bidirectional double-row road section not meeting the standard width; two lanes L1 # 4 and L2 # 4 have driving conflict, need to be mutually exclusive correlation,” teaching a trunk lane (road section #1) connected to a single lane (road section #2) set as a mutually exclusive region)
and the processor is further configured to: determine whether to approve the travelling permission request from a first mining truck (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 7-11 “traffic management service device 820 receives from the control centre device 810 of the driving road authority request message, through searching the lane exclusion table in the map database to obtain all collision lane and lane attribute of the lane of the application right, the road right application for arbitration; receiving the vehicle real-time state forwarded by the control centre device 810;”)
to enter a next lane (Zhou 877 Pg 6 ¶ 13 lines 3-4 “The driving road right request message refers to the request message for applying the normal running of the vehicle in the traffic lane to be driven in,”)
according to the lane state of the next lane where the first mining truck is about to enter (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 5 lines 1-4 “by analyzing the lane shown in FIG. 2, can form lane mutual exclusion table shown in FIG. 3. Here, the lane mutual exclusion table is the lane relation table of the selected lane and adjacent to one or several sections of lanes of the lane to be selected in the special road link. The table also maintains the driving lane of the conventional road section without conflicting relation,”)
and a first distance between the first mining truck and a second mining truck, (Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 2 lines 2-3 “calculating the second distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle running opposite to the current vehicle;”)
wherein the second mining truck travels opposite to the first mining truck, (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 2 lines 4-6 “In some embodiments, after receiving the driving data sent by the vehicle terminal device of the two vehicles respectively, can obtain the position and the driving direction of the two vehicles according to the driving data, so as to know whether the two vehicles are in […] the opposite driving state.,”)
approve the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the next lane in a case where the lane state of the next lane is the idle state (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-6 “the lane state is default non-locking state; the lane in the locking state cannot pass,” and Pg 16 ¶ 4 “the control centre device 810 the running control strategy is encapsulated into a control instruction, and the control instruction is returned to the vehicle terminal device 1010. if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives; otherwise, the vehicle is processed by deceleration or parking,”)
or in a case where the lane state of the next lane is the occupied state and the first distance is greater than a safety threshold, (Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 2 lines 6-10 “and under the condition that the second distance is greater than the second threshold value, sending the deceleration processing control instruction to the vehicle terminal device of the current vehicle. In this embodiment, the current vehicle is in the opposite driving state and the current vehicle is the driving control of the current vehicle under the condition of the current vehicle is in the unmanned driving state,” teaching the vehicle proceeding at a decelerated pace)
and refuse the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the next lane and send a deceleration command or a stopping command to the first mining truck and the second mining truck in a case where the lane state of the next lane is the occupied state and the first distance is less than or equal to the safety threshold; (Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 2 lines 1-6 “In some embodiments, the vehicle is a current vehicle. The step S106 may include: under the condition that the current vehicle is unmanned vehicle and the driving state is the opposite driving state, calculating the second distance between the current vehicle and the adjacent vehicle running opposite to the current vehicle; under the condition that the second distance is less than or equal to the second threshold value (also can be called the second safety distance), sending the control instruction of parking processing to the vehicle terminal device of the current vehicle;” teaching stopping based on a safety distance with the previously established Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 7-11 and Pg 16 ¶ 4 lines 2-3 already teaching refusing lane access based on the mutually exclusive table to prevent driving conflict.)
and according to a current position of the first mining truck and a current position of the second mining truck, (Zhou 877 Pg 6 ¶ 13 lines 1-3 “In step S102, receiving the driving road right request message sent by the vehicle terminal device and the weight of the vehicle, type and driving data. The driving data may include: the position of the vehicle, the driving speed and the driving direction,” as applies to each of the trucks)
plan a first travel trajectory for the first mining truck and plan a second travel trajectory for the second mining truck by using the mine map, and send the first travel trajectory to the first mining truck and send the second travel trajectory to the second mining truck, (Zhou 877 Pg 9 ¶ 5 lines 5-7 “generating the automatic driving path in each section of road after dividing and dividing and adding to the lane mutual exclusion table. In this embodiment, the acquisition of the mine map and the acquisition of the lane mutual exclusion table, convenient for subsequent driving control of the vehicle,”)
to cause the first mining truck and the second mining truck to perform meeting. (Zhou 877 Pg 7 ¶ 1 lines 2-3 “the driving state comprises […] the opposite driving state (or called the meeting state);”)
Zhou 877 does not teach:
[…] and plan a transition route when the mining truck switches lanes during a meeting process; […]
Within the same field of endeavor as Zhou 877, Zhu 134 teaches:
[…] and plan a transition route when the mining truck switches lanes during a meeting process; […] (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 7-15 “determining, by the ADV, an incoming object in a self-reverse lane, wherein the ADV is following a first reference line in the self-reverse lane, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line in the center of the temporary lane, following the second reference line to nudge the incoming object, determining that the incoming object has passed and the self-reverse lane is clear, and continuing to follow the first reference line in response to determining that the self-reverse lane is clear,” teaching a move from the first reference line, analogous to the trunk lane, to a second reference line analogous to the auxiliary lane, during a meeting process with the incoming object)
Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 are considered analogous because they both relate to navigation control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the travelling permission arbitration of Zhou 877 with the simple substitution of Zhu 134’s traveling on the first reference line, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line, and continuing to follow the first reference line in response to determining that the lane is clear. This modification would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by providing an increased buffer zone to either side of the vehicle during normal travel by travelling in the first lane and moving to the second lane on an as-needed basis.
Regarding Claim 20, the combination of Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 teaches the limitations of Claim 16 as described above. Zhou 877 further teaches:
determine whether to approve the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the auxiliary lane of the first road section according to the lane state of the auxiliary lane of the first road section after receiving the travelling permission request from the first mining truck to enter the auxiliary lane of the first road section; (Zhou 877 Pg 13 ¶ 6 lines 7-11 “traffic management service device 820 receives from the control centre device 810 of the driving road authority request message, through searching the lane exclusion table in the map database to obtain all collision lane and lane attribute of the lane of the application right, the road right application for arbitration; receiving the vehicle real-time state forwarded by the control centre device 810;” applying to the lanes analogous to auxiliary lanes)
refuse the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the auxiliary lane of the first road section and command the first mining truck to stop and wait in a case where the lane state of the auxiliary lane of the first road section is the occupied state; and approve the travelling permission request of the first mining truck to enter the auxiliary lane of the first road section in a case where the lane state of the auxiliary lane of the first road section is the idle state, […] (Zhou 877 Pg 15 ¶ 2 lines 5-6 “the lane state is default non-locking state; the lane in the locking state cannot pass,” and Pg 16 ¶ 4 “the control centre device 810 the running control strategy is encapsulated into a control instruction, and the control instruction is returned to the vehicle terminal device 1010. if the control instruction indicates that the vehicle obtains the driving road right, the vehicle normally drives; otherwise, the vehicle is processed by deceleration or parking,”)
Zhou 877 does not teach:
[…] plan a first transition route from the trunk lane of the first road section to the first auxiliary lane for the first mining truck, plan a second transition route from the trunk lane of the first road section to the second auxiliary lane for the second mining truck,
and after the first mining truck and the second mining truck perform the meeting, plan a third transition route from the first auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the first mining truck and plan a fourth transition route from the second auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the second mining truck.
Within the same field of endeavor as Zhou 877, Zhu 134 teaches:
[…] plan a first transition route from the trunk lane of the first road section to the first auxiliary lane for the first mining truck, plan a second transition route from the trunk lane of the first road section to the second auxiliary lane for the second mining truck, (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 7-12 “determining, by the ADV, an incoming object in a self-reverse lane, wherein the ADV is following a first reference line in the self-reverse lane, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line in the center of the temporary lane, following the second reference line to nudge the incoming object,” and Fig 5a teaching the secondary reference line moving into the “auxiliary” lane position from the Main Reference Line)
and after the first mining truck and the second mining truck perform the meeting, plan a third transition route from the first auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the first mining truck and plan a fourth transition route from the second auxiliary lane to the trunk lane for the second mining truck. (Zhu 134 ¶ 0006 lines 12-15 “determining that the incoming object has passed and the self-reverse lane is clear, and continuing to follow the first reference line in response to determining that the self-reverse lane is clear,” and Fig 5b, teaching a drive-back reference line to return from the secondary reference line to the main reference line)
Zhou 877 and Zhu 134 are considered analogous because they both relate to navigation control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the travelling permission arbitration of normal driving of Zhou 877 with the simple substitution of Zhu 134’s traveling from the first reference line, creating a temporary lane with a second reference line and a route to the reference line, and creating a drive-back reference line to return to the first reference line in response to determining that the lane is clear. This modification would be made with a reasonable expectation of success as motivated by providing an increased buffer zone to either side of the vehicle during normal travel by travelling in the first lane and moving to the second lane on an as-needed basis.
Conclusion
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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/ZACHARY E. F. GLADE/Examiner, Art Unit 3664
/KITO R ROBINSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3664
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