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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment to the abstract has overcome the objection. The objection to the abstract has been withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see the section titled “III. CLAIM REJECTIONS – 35 U.S.C. 112” starting on page 11 of the reply filed 01/22/2026, with respect to the rejection of claim 8 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) have been fully considered and are persuasive. In light of the amended claim, the rejection of claim 8 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see the section titled “IV. CLAIM REJECTIONS – 35 U.S.C. 101” on page 12 of the reply filed 01/22/2026, with respect to the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 101 have been fully considered and are persuasive. In light of the amended claims, the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 101 has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments, see the section titled “V. CLAIM REJECTIONS – 35 U.S.C. 102 & 103” starting on page 13 of the reply filed 01/22/2026, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the applied prior art, namely Mansor and Schmid, does not anticipate nor render obvious the content of the independent claims in their entirety; however, the Examiner disagrees.
For example, in the second paragraph of page 15 of the reply filed 01/22/2026, Applicant argues that Mansor does not disclose a “trajectory uncertainty” as claimed; however, the Examiner disagrees. Applicant argues that “the word ‘uncertain’ and any variation thereof are not present anywhere in Mansor’s disclosure.” Although the Examiner agrees that the word “uncertain” is not specifically used, the Examiner indicates that the claim language may be broader than is intended by Applicant. It is the Examiner’s opinion that Mansor discloses at least “generating feasible trajectory data including a trajectory uncertainty for the marine vessel based on the prediction” under its broadest reasonable interpretation. In paragraph [0046], Mansor discloses that the output 104 from the collision avoidance system 100 will typically include one or more recommended or mandated actions which are advised or required to reduce the collision risk, ultimately with a view to avoiding a collision, and such outputs may include a change in trajectory implemented by a change in heading or speed, or both. For example, the trajectory of Mansor is understood to include at least “trajectory uncertainty” under its broadest reasonable interpretation in that the recommended or mandated actions are determined by assessing the risk of collision, which is at least an uncertainty of the vehicle’s trajectory in that the possibility of collision of the trajectory is uncertain, for example, and its assessment is included in generation of the trajectory.
In the fourth paragraph beginning on page 15 of the reply filed 01/22/2026, Applicant argues that Mansor also fails to disclose “estimating environmental disturbance parameters and respective uncertainties from the environmental data… [and] calculating control commands based on the predicted state variables and predicted uncertainties to control the maneuvering of the marine vessel from the initial position to the subsequent position.” Applicant further argues that Mansor’s “collision risk” is not an environmental disturbance uncertainty, and is not a quantification of the reliability or variance of the environmental data itself.
In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., that the uncertainties from the environmental data are a quantification of the reliability or variance of the environmental data itself) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
It is the Examiner’s opinion that Mansor discloses at least estimating environmental disturbance parameters and respective uncertainties from the environmental data (In paragraph [0072], Mansor discloses that the sea-state [environmental disturbance parameters] may be provided to a regression model which could provide a prediction of specific manoeuvrability in a given sea-state, where the specific manoeuvrability may include a predicted possible speed, acceleration, deceleration, and rate of turn for example, and in another example, the vessel manoeuvrability may include a clustering of historical data in which data types are automatically categorized; in paragraphs [0079-0081], Mansor disclose that the collision risk [uncertainty] assessment may advantageously be adapted to include vessel data and environmental data in order to be adapted to account for real-time factors which may affect the collision risk in a given scenario, when where historical data is used to determine the collision risk calculation, it may be desirable to include historical sea-state data in the calculation, as the sea-state may affect the manoeuvrability of a vessel and the collision risk calculation) where the collision risk [uncertainty] is assessed in light of the environmental data.
Therefore, the grounds of rejection are maintained in view of Mansor and Schmid. See the rejections below.
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.
Claims 1 and 4-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mansor (US 2021/0125502 A1), in view of Schmid (US 2021/0094661 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Mansor discloses a computer-implemented method for determining a feasible trajectory from an initial position to a subsequent position for a marine vessel traveling on water, the method comprising:
determining initial state variables for the marine vessel at the initial position including a present position of the marine vessel and a present heading direction of the marine vessel in relation to the surrounding environment (In paragraphs [0048-0049], Mansor discloses that the inputs 102 to the system 100 may include real-time vessel data from the two or more vessels, generally including a current (or relevant recent) position, speed and heading, where such information may be provided by radar, AIS, GPS or a similar system or other means of communication (e.g. transmitted via a vessel communications platform); in paragraph [0093], Mansor discloses that the real-time vessel data 318 may include data for two or more vessels including the own vessel and target vessel or vessels);
acquiring position data indicating positions of obstacles near the marine vessel (In paragraphs [0048-0049], Mansor discloses that the inputs 102 to the system 100 may include real-time vessel data from the two or more vessels, generally including a current (or relevant recent) position, speed and heading, where such information may be provided by radar, AIS, GPS or a similar system or other means of communication (e.g. transmitted via a vessel communications platform); in paragraph [0093], Mansor discloses that the real-time vessel data 318 may include data for two or more vessels including the own vessel and target vessel or vessels);
acquiring environmental data including at least one of present wind conditions, wave characteristics, and local sea current speed and direction (In paragraph [0050], Mansor discloses that the environmental information may include sea-state and local weather conditions; in paragraph [0057], Mansor discloses that the current sea-state may be obtained via local observation or monitoring systems, or via a centralised system weather provider such as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, ECMWF, where the vessel state may be used to determine one or more of: a true wind speed and direction from apparent wind speed and direction vessel speed over ground; wave height and period from vessel pitch, roll and yaw; and, current from the vessel speed through the water/heading and speed over ground/course over ground);
estimating environmental disturbance parameters and respective uncertainties from the environmental data (In paragraph [0072], Mansor discloses that the sea-state [environmental disturbance parameters] may be provided to a regression model which could provide a prediction of specific manoeuvrability in a given sea-state, where the specific manoeuvrability may include a predicted possible speed, acceleration, deceleration, and rate of turn for example, and in another example, the vessel manoeuvrability may include a clustering of historical data in which data types are automatically categorized; in paragraphs [0079-0081], Mansor disclose that the collision risk [uncertainty] assessment may advantageously be adapted to include vessel data and environmental data in order to be adapted to account for real-time factors which may affect the collision risk in a given scenario, when where historical data is used to determine the collision risk calculation, it may be desirable to include historical sea-state data in the calculation, as the sea-state may affect the manoeuvrability of a vessel and the collision risk calculation);
predicting subsequent state variables for the marine vessel and respective uncertainties at future time steps for a prediction horizon based on a maneuver model of a marine vessel describing a motion of a marine vessel, the initial state variables, the position data, and the environmental disturbance parameters and respective uncertainties (In paragraph [0072], Mansor discloses that the sea-state may be provided to a regression model which could provide a prediction of specific manoeuvrability in a given sea-state, where the specific manoeuvrability may include a predicted possible speed, acceleration, deceleration, and rate of turn for example, and in another example, the vessel manoeuvrability may include a clustering of historical data in which data types are automatically categorized; in paragraphs [0079-0081], Mansor disclose that the collision risk assessment may advantageously be adapted to include vessel data and environmental data in order to be adapted to account for real-time factors which may affect the collision risk in a given scenario, when where historical data is used to determine the collision risk calculation, it may be desirable to include historical sea-state data in the calculation, as the sea-state may affect the manoeuvrability of a vessel and the collision risk calculation);
generating feasible trajectory data including a trajectory uncertainty for the marine vessel based on the prediction (In paragraph [0046], Mansor discloses that the output 104 from the collision avoidance system 100 will typically include one or more recommended or mandated actions which are advised or required to reduce the collision risk, ultimately with a view to avoiding a collision, and such outputs may include a change in trajectory implemented by a change in heading or speed, or both);
calculating control commands based on the predicted state variables and predicted uncertainties to control the maneuvering of the marine vessel from the initial position to the subsequent position (In paragraph [0075], Mansor discloses that the evasive action required in light of a particular level of collision risk will vary depending on the circumstances, where in some cases, a minor evasive manoeuvre may have minimal impact on a voyage overall, however, a more severe evasive manoeuvre may be required such as a change in trajectory of the own vessel by altering one or more of a change of direction or a change in speed, perhaps to a dead stop, or by hailing the target vessel if they are required to undertake a corresponding manoeuvre; in paragraph [0128], Mansor discloses that in the case of an autonomous vessel, the recommended manoeuvre may be provided as an instruction that is executable by the vessel's control system); and
maneuvering the marine vessel from the initial position to the subsequent position using the control commands to control the marine vessel (In paragraph [0075], Mansor discloses that the evasive action required in light of a particular level of collision risk will vary depending on the circumstances, where in some cases, a minor evasive manoeuvre may have minimal impact on a voyage overall, however, a more severe evasive manoeuvre may be required such as a change in trajectory of the own vessel by altering one or more of a change of direction or a change in speed, perhaps to a dead stop, or by hailing the target vessel if they are required to undertake a corresponding manoeuvre; in paragraph [0128], Mansor discloses that in the case of an autonomous vessel, the recommended manoeuvre may be provided as an instruction that is executable by the vessel's control system).
Mansor does not explicitly disclose using the control commands to control thrusters of the marine vessel.
However, Schmid teaches using the control commands to control thrusters of the marine vessel (In paragraph [0073], Schmid teaches that boat controller 302 performs certain operations to control one or more subsystems of other boat components, such as one or more of sensor systems 306, an outboard prime mover system 308, thruster system 200, a steering system 312, a network system 314, and other systems; see also paragraph [0100], where Schmid teaches controlling one or both of steering system 312 and thruster system 200 to change a heading of pontoon boat 100 to avoid the possibility of pontoon boat 100 colliding with the underwater environmental object).
Schmid is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention in that they both pertain to maneuvering a marine vessel by controlling thrusters of the marine vessel. It would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Schmid with the method as disclosed by Mansor, where the Examiner understands the use of controlled thrusters is well understood in the art, and may be implemented without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success and predictable results. Doing so may be advantageous in that the use of the method may be achieved with common components that may be already present and capable of interacting with the computer elements of the vessel, for example.
Regarding claim 4, Mansor further discloses wherein the method steps are repeated for each subsequent time step to continuously update the feasible trajectory data (In paragraph [0136], Mansor discloses that the collision risk index may be at an acceptable level in the first instance so the collision risk system maintains a monitoring function in which the routines are continuously or regularly carried out at specified time intervals).
Regarding claim 5, Mansor further discloses wherein the initial state variables further include at least one of yaw rate (In paragraph [0057], Mansor discloses that the current sea-state may be obtained via local observation or monitoring systems, or via a centralised system weather provider such as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, ECMWF, where the vessel state may be used to determine one or more of: a true wind speed and direction from apparent wind speed and direction vessel speed over ground; wave height and period from vessel pitch, roll and yaw; and, current from the vessel speed through the water/heading and speed over ground/course over ground).
Regarding claim 6, Mansor further discloses determining respective uncertainties in present position of the marine vessel in the present heading direction of the marine vessel in the coordinate system, and using the uncertainties in predicting the subsequent state variables for the marine vessel and respective uncertainties at future time steps (In paragraphs [0048-0049], Mansor discloses that the inputs 102 to the system 100 may include real-time vessel data from the two or more vessels, generally including a current (or relevant recent) position, speed and heading; in paragraphs [0079-0081], Mansor discloses that the collision risk assessment may advantageously be adapted to include vessel data and environmental data in order to be adapted to account for real-time factors which may affect the collision risk in a given scenario; see also paragraphs [0115-0116] where Mansor discloses that the collision avoidance calculation 600 may also include a target vessel model 604 to model the navigation behaviour of target vessel or vessels wherein there is a significant change in collision risks, as found in the historical data and to determine the target vessel navigation when the risk of collision decreases or increases because of an own vessel manoeuvre).
Regarding claim 7, Mansor further discloses retrieving a digital nautical chart (In paragraph [0130], Mansor discloses that the recommended manoeuvre may be presented on a chart plot showing the recommended trajectory and required manoeuvres at the different time intervals, and the expected response from the target vessel(s), and additionally, the recommended manoeuvres may be displayed as a change in trajectory and an associated reduction in collision risk for each manoeuvre), and
overlaying a virtual representation of the feasible trajectory with uncertainty on the digital nautical chart (In paragraph [0130], Mansor discloses that the recommended manoeuvre may be presented on a chart plot showing the recommended trajectory and required manoeuvres at the different time intervals, and the expected response from the target vessel(s), and additionally, the recommended manoeuvres may be displayed as a change in trajectory and an associated reduction in collision risk for each manoeuvre), and
calculating control commands based on the predicted state variables and the predicted uncertainties, the control commands being configured to control the maneuvering of the marine vessel from the initial position to the subsequent position (In paragraph [0075], Mansor discloses that the evasive action required in light of a particular level of collision risk will vary depending on the circumstances, where in some cases, a minor evasive manoeuvre may have minimal impact on a voyage overall, however, a more severe evasive manoeuvre may be required such as a change in trajectory of the own vessel by altering one or more of a change of direction or a change in speed, perhaps to a dead stop, or by hailing the target vessel if they are required to undertake a corresponding manoeuvre; in paragraph [0128], Mansor discloses that in the case of an autonomous vessel, the recommended manoeuvre may be provided as an instruction that is executable by the vessel's control system).
Schmid further teaches performing a confirmation check of the feasible trajectory based on the overlay (In paragraph [0118], Schmid teaches that operation of boat controller 302 presents a target location 80 to the operator and receives confirmation of acceptance of the target location 80 from the valet operator through operator interface 360 of pontoon boat 100 or operator interface 374 of remote operator device 300), and
calculating control commands based the confirmation check (In paragraph [0118], Schmid teaches that operation of boat controller 302 presents a target location 80 to the operator and receives confirmation of acceptance of the target location 80 from the valet operator through operator interface 360 of pontoon boat 100 or operator interface 374 of remote operator device 300).
It would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further implement the teachings of Schmid with the method as disclosed by Mansor, where requiring confirmation by an operator is well understood in the art, and may be implemented without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success and predictable results. Doing so may be advantageous in that more control can be afforded to an operator, making operation of the marine vessel more contextually sensitive to the desire of the operator, for example.
Regarding claim 8, Mansor further discloses determining an uncertainty in an outline of the marine vessel over the prediction horizon, wherein the uncertainty in the outline is included when generating feasible trajectory data (In paragraph [0130], Mansor discloses that the recommended manoeuvre may be presented on a chart plot showing the recommended trajectory and required manoeuvres at the different time intervals, and the expected response from the target vessel(s), and additionally, the recommended manoeuvres may be displayed as a change in trajectory and an associated reduction in collision risk for each manoeuvre).
Regarding claim 9, Mansor further discloses wherein an environmental disturbance parameter and respective uncertainty is estimated at least for the present wind speed and direction (In paragraph [0057], Mansor discloses that the current sea-state may be obtained via local observation or monitoring systems, or via a centralised system weather provider such as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, ECMWF, where the vessel state may be used to determine one or more of: a true wind speed and direction from apparent wind speed and direction vessel speed over ground; wave height and period from vessel pitch, roll and yaw; and, current from the vessel speed through the water/heading and speed over ground/course over ground; in paragraphs [0079-0081], Mansor discloses that the collision risk assessment may advantageously be adapted to include vessel data and environmental data in order to be adapted to account for real-time factors which may affect the collision risk in a given scenario).
Regarding claim 10, Mansor further discloses wherein environmental disturbance parameters and respective uncertainties are estimated for each of present wind conditions and local sea current speed and direction (In paragraph [0057], Mansor discloses that the current sea-state may be obtained via local observation or monitoring systems, or via a centralised system weather provider such as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, ECMWF, where the vessel state may be used to determine one or more of: a true wind speed and direction from apparent wind speed and direction vessel speed over ground; wave height and period from vessel pitch, roll and yaw; and, current from the vessel speed through the water/heading and speed over ground/course over ground; in paragraphs [0079-0081], Mansor discloses that the collision risk assessment may advantageously be adapted to include vessel data and environmental data in order to be adapted to account for real-time factors which may affect the collision risk in a given scenario).
Regarding claim 11, Mansor further discloses wherein the obstacles are at least above sea level (In paragraphs [0041-0042], Mansor discloses that the vessels may be on the open-water, and that the vessels may be any size and type and may include, for example, ocean going cargo vessels, passenger vessels, fishing trawlers or tug boats amongst others).
Although the Examiner understands that the vessels as disclosed by Mansor must at least be partially submerged when floating on the water, or may be capable of including any type such as submarines or other submersibles, Mansor does not explicitly disclose wherein the obstacles are below sea level.
Schmid further teaches wherein the obstacles are below sea level (In paragraphs [0096-0100], Schmid teaches an underwater obstacle avoidance operation executed by boat controller 302, for example, executing running aground logic 404 which receives information regarding the depth of water 10, such as sensor information from sensor systems 306, such as a depth sensor, or a contour map 346 of water 10 and a location of pontoon boat 100 from locator 342, and, based on these inputs, boat controller 302 compares an expected depth of the water 10 at an expected location of pontoon boat 100 to depth setting 402, where if the depth of the water falls below depth setting 402, boat controller 302 performs one or more actions, such as controlling one or both of steering system 312 and thruster system 200 to change a heading of pontoon boat 100 to avoid the possibility of pontoon boat 100 colliding with the underwater environmental object, such as the ground).
It would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further implement the teachings of Schmid with the method as disclosed by Mansor, where doing so may decrease the likelihood of collision with a greater amount of obstacles, thereby increasing the safety of navigation by the marine vessel, for example.
Regarding claim 12, Mansor further discloses wherein the environmental data is measured on-board the marine vessel (In paragraph [0057], Mansor discloses that the current sea-state may be obtained via local observation or monitoring systems).
Regarding claim 13, Mansor discloses a control unit configured to perform the steps of a computer-implemented method for determining a feasible trajectory from an initial position to a subsequent position for a marine vessel traveling on water, the method including the steps of:
determining initial state variables for the marine vessel at the initial position including a present position of the marine vessel and a present heading direction of the marine vessel in relation to the surrounding environment (In paragraphs [0048-0049], Mansor discloses that the inputs 102 to the system 100 may include real-time vessel data from the two or more vessels, generally including a current (or relevant recent) position, speed and heading, where such information may be provided by radar, AIS, GPS or a similar system or other means of communication (e.g. transmitted via a vessel communications platform); in paragraph [0093], Mansor discloses that the real-time vessel data 318 may include data for two or more vessels including the own vessel and target vessel or vessels);
acquiring position data indicating positions of obstacles near the marine vessel (In paragraphs [0048-0049], Mansor discloses that the inputs 102 to the system 100 may include real-time vessel data from the two or more vessels, generally including a current (or relevant recent) position, speed and heading, where such information may be provided by radar, AIS, GPS or a similar system or other means of communication (e.g. transmitted via a vessel communications platform); in paragraph [0093], Mansor discloses that the real-time vessel data 318 may include data for two or more vessels including the own vessel and target vessel or vessels);
acquiring environmental data including at least one of present wind conditions, wave characteristics, and local sea current speed and direction (In paragraph [0050], Mansor discloses that the environmental information may include sea-state and local weather conditions; in paragraph [0057], Mansor discloses that the current sea-state may be obtained via local observation or monitoring systems, or via a centralised system weather provider such as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, ECMWF, where the vessel state may be used to determine one or more of: a true wind speed and direction from apparent wind speed and direction vessel speed over ground; wave height and period from vessel pitch, roll and yaw; and, current from the vessel speed through the water/heading and speed over ground/course over ground);
estimating environmental disturbance parameters and respective uncertainties from the environmental data (In paragraph [0072], Mansor discloses that the sea-state [environmental disturbance parameters] may be provided to a regression model which could provide a prediction of specific manoeuvrability in a given sea-state, where the specific manoeuvrability may include a predicted possible speed, acceleration, deceleration, and rate of turn for example, and in another example, the vessel manoeuvrability may include a clustering of historical data in which data types are automatically categorized; in paragraphs [0079-0081], Mansor disclose that the collision risk [uncertainty] assessment may advantageously be adapted to include vessel data and environmental data in order to be adapted to account for real-time factors which may affect the collision risk in a given scenario, when where historical data is used to determine the collision risk calculation, it may be desirable to include historical sea-state data in the calculation, as the sea-state may affect the manoeuvrability of a vessel and the collision risk calculation);
predicting subsequent state variables for the marine vessel and respective uncertainties at future time steps for a prediction horizon based on a maneuver model of a marine vessel describing a motion of a marine vessel, the initial state variables, the position data, and the environmental disturbance parameters and respective uncertainties (In paragraph [0072], Mansor discloses that the sea-state may be provided to a regression model which could provide a prediction of specific manoeuvrability in a given sea-state, where the specific manoeuvrability may include a predicted possible speed, acceleration, deceleration, and rate of turn for example, and in another example, the vessel manoeuvrability may include a clustering of historical data in which data types are automatically categorized; in paragraphs [0079-0081], Mansor disclose that the collision risk assessment may advantageously be adapted to include vessel data and environmental data in order to be adapted to account for real-time factors which may affect the collision risk in a given scenario, when where historical data is used to determine the collision risk calculation, it may be desirable to include historical sea-state data in the calculation, as the sea-state may affect the manoeuvrability of a vessel and the collision risk calculation);
generating feasible trajectory data including a trajectory uncertainty for the marine vessel based on the prediction (In paragraph [0046], Mansor discloses that the output 104 from the collision avoidance system 100 will typically include one or more recommended or mandated actions which are advised or required to reduce the collision risk, ultimately with a view to avoiding a collision, and such outputs may include a change in trajectory implemented by a change in heading or speed, or both);
calculating control commands based on the predicted state variables and predicted uncertainties to control the maneuvering of the marine vessel from the initial position to the subsequent position (In paragraph [0075], Mansor discloses that the evasive action required in light of a particular level of collision risk will vary depending on the circumstances, where in some cases, a minor evasive manoeuvre may have minimal impact on a voyage overall, however, a more severe evasive manoeuvre may be required such as a change in trajectory of the own vessel by altering one or more of a change of direction or a change in speed, perhaps to a dead stop, or by hailing the target vessel if they are required to undertake a corresponding manoeuvre; in paragraph [0128], Mansor discloses that in the case of an autonomous vessel, the recommended manoeuvre may be provided as an instruction that is executable by the vessel's control system); and
maneuvering the marine vessel from the initial position to the subsequent position using the control commands to control the marine vessel (In paragraph [0075], Mansor discloses that the evasive action required in light of a particular level of collision risk will vary depending on the circumstances, where in some cases, a minor evasive manoeuvre may have minimal impact on a voyage overall, however, a more severe evasive manoeuvre may be required such as a change in trajectory of the own vessel by altering one or more of a change of direction or a change in speed, perhaps to a dead stop, or by hailing the target vessel if they are required to undertake a corresponding manoeuvre; in paragraph [0128], Mansor discloses that in the case of an autonomous vessel, the recommended manoeuvre may be provided as an instruction that is executable by the vessel's control system).
Mansor does not explicitly disclose using the control commands to control thrusters of the marine vessel.
However, Schmid teaches using the control commands to control thrusters of the marine vessel (In paragraph [0073], Schmid teaches that boat controller 302 performs certain operations to control one or more subsystems of other boat components, such as one or more of sensor systems 306, an outboard prime mover system 308, thruster system 200, a steering system 312, a network system 314, and other systems; see also paragraph [0100], where Schmid teaches controlling one or both of steering system 312 and thruster system 200 to change a heading of pontoon boat 100 to avoid the possibility of pontoon boat 100 colliding with the underwater environmental object).
Schmid is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention in that they both pertain to maneuvering a marine vessel by controlling thrusters of the marine vessel. It would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Schmid with the control unit as disclosed by Mansor, where the Examiner understands the use of controlled thrusters is well understood in the art, and may be implemented without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success and predictable results. Doing so may be advantageous in that the use of the method may be achieved with common components that may be already present and capable of interacting with the computer elements of the vessel, for example.
Regarding claim 14, Mansor discloses a marine vessel comprising a control unit configured to perform the steps of a computer-implemented method for determining a feasible trajectory from an initial position to a subsequent position for a marine vessel traveling on water, the method including the steps of:
determining initial state variables for the marine vessel at the initial position including a present position of the marine vessel and a present heading direction of the marine vessel in relation to the surrounding environment (In paragraphs [0048-0049], Mansor discloses that the inputs 102 to the system 100 may include real-time vessel data from the two or more vessels, generally including a current (or relevant recent) position, speed and heading, where such information may be provided by radar, AIS, GPS or a similar system or other means of communication (e.g. transmitted via a vessel communications platform); in paragraph [0093], Mansor discloses that the real-time vessel data 318 may include data for two or more vessels including the own vessel and target vessel or vessels);
acquiring position data indicating positions of obstacles near the marine vessel (In paragraphs [0048-0049], Mansor discloses that the inputs 102 to the system 100 may include real-time vessel data from the two or more vessels, generally including a current (or relevant recent) position, speed and heading, where such information may be provided by radar, AIS, GPS or a similar system or other means of communication (e.g. transmitted via a vessel communications platform); in paragraph [0093], Mansor discloses that the real-time vessel data 318 may include data for two or more vessels including the own vessel and target vessel or vessels);
acquiring environmental data including at least one of present wind conditions, wave characteristics, and local sea current speed and direction (In paragraph [0050], Mansor discloses that the environmental information may include sea-state and local weather conditions; in paragraph [0057], Mansor discloses that the current sea-state may be obtained via local observation or monitoring systems, or via a centralised system weather provider such as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, ECMWF, where the vessel state may be used to determine one or more of: a true wind speed and direction from apparent wind speed and direction vessel speed over ground; wave height and period from vessel pitch, roll and yaw; and, current from the vessel speed through the water/heading and speed over ground/course over ground);
estimating environmental disturbance parameters and respective uncertainties from the environmental data (In paragraph [0072], Mansor discloses that the sea-state [environmental disturbance parameters] may be provided to a regression model which could provide a prediction of specific manoeuvrability in a given sea-state, where the specific manoeuvrability may include a predicted possible speed, acceleration, deceleration, and rate of turn for example, and in another example, the vessel manoeuvrability may include a clustering of historical data in which data types are automatically categorized; in paragraphs [0079-0081], Mansor disclose that the collision risk [uncertainty] assessment may advantageously be adapted to include vessel data and environmental data in order to be adapted to account for real-time factors which may affect the collision risk in a given scenario, when where historical data is used to determine the collision risk calculation, it may be desirable to include historical sea-state data in the calculation, as the sea-state may affect the manoeuvrability of a vessel and the collision risk calculation);
predicting subsequent state variables for the marine vessel and respective uncertainties at future time steps for a prediction horizon based on a maneuver model of a marine vessel describing a motion of a marine vessel, the initial state variables, the position data, and the environmental disturbance parameters and respective uncertainties (In paragraph [0072], Mansor discloses that the sea-state may be provided to a regression model which could provide a prediction of specific manoeuvrability in a given sea-state, where the specific manoeuvrability may include a predicted possible speed, acceleration, deceleration, and rate of turn for example, and in another example, the vessel manoeuvrability may include a clustering of historical data in which data types are automatically categorized; in paragraphs [0079-0081], Mansor disclose that the collision risk assessment may advantageously be adapted to include vessel data and environmental data in order to be adapted to account for real-time factors which may affect the collision risk in a given scenario, when where historical data is used to determine the collision risk calculation, it may be desirable to include historical sea-state data in the calculation, as the sea-state may affect the manoeuvrability of a vessel and the collision risk calculation);
generating feasible trajectory data including a trajectory uncertainty for the marine vessel based on the prediction (In paragraph [0046], Mansor discloses that the output 104 from the collision avoidance system 100 will typically include one or more recommended or mandated actions which are advised or required to reduce the collision risk, ultimately with a view to avoiding a collision, and such outputs may include a change in trajectory implemented by a change in heading or speed, or both);
calculating control commands based on the predicted state variables and predicted uncertainties to control the maneuvering of the marine vessel from the initial position to the subsequent position (In paragraph [0075], Mansor discloses that the evasive action required in light of a particular level of collision risk will vary depending on the circumstances, where in some cases, a minor evasive manoeuvre may have minimal impact on a voyage overall, however, a more severe evasive manoeuvre may be required such as a change in trajectory of the own vessel by altering one or more of a change of direction or a change in speed, perhaps to a dead stop, or by hailing the target vessel if they are required to undertake a corresponding manoeuvre; in paragraph [0128], Mansor discloses that in the case of an autonomous vessel, the recommended manoeuvre may be provided as an instruction that is executable by the vessel's control system); and
maneuvering the marine vessel from the initial position to the subsequent position using the control commands to control the marine vessel (In paragraph [0075], Mansor discloses that the evasive action required in light of a particular level of collision risk will vary depending on the circumstances, where in some cases, a minor evasive manoeuvre may have minimal impact on a voyage overall, however, a more severe evasive manoeuvre may be required such as a change in trajectory of the own vessel by altering one or more of a change of direction or a change in speed, perhaps to a dead stop, or by hailing the target vessel if they are required to undertake a corresponding manoeuvre; in paragraph [0128], Mansor discloses that in the case of an autonomous vessel, the recommended manoeuvre may be provided as an instruction that is executable by the vessel's control system).
Mansor does not explicitly disclose using the control commands to control thrusters of the marine vessel.
However, Schmid teaches using the control commands to control thrusters of the marine vessel (In paragraph [0073], Schmid teaches that boat controller 302 performs certain operations to control one or more subsystems of other boat components, such as one or more of sensor systems 306, an outboard prime mover system 308, thruster system 200, a steering system 312, a network system 314, and other systems; see also paragraph [0100], where Schmid teaches controlling one or both of steering system 312 and thruster system 200 to change a heading of pontoon boat 100 to avoid the possibility of pontoon boat 100 colliding with the underwater environmental object).
Schmid is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention in that they both pertain to maneuvering a marine vessel by controlling thrusters of the marine vessel. It would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Schmid with the marine vessel as disclosed by Mansor, where the Examiner understands the use of controlled thrusters is well understood in the art, and may be implemented without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success and predictable results. Doing so may be advantageous in that the use of the method may be achieved with common components that may be already present and capable of interacting with the computer elements of the vessel, for example.
Regarding claim 15, Mansor discloses a computer program product comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable medium (In paragraph [0147], Mansor discloses that the controller may comprise at least one processor and at least one memory, where the memory stores a computer program comprising computer readable instructions that, when read by the processor, causes performance of the methods described herein), and
program code stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program code being configured to determine a feasible trajectory from an initial position to a subsequent position for a marine vessel traveling on water (In paragraph [0147], Mansor discloses that the controller may comprise at least one processor and at least one memory, where the memory stores a computer program comprising computer readable instructions that, when read by the processor, causes performance of the methods described herein), wherein the program code, which when executed by a processor of a control system, causes the control system to perform:
determining initial state variables for the marine vessel at the initial position including present position of the marine vessel and present heading direction of the marine vessel in relation to the surrounding environment (In paragraphs [0048-0049], Mansor discloses that the inputs 102 to the system 100 may include real-time vessel data from the two or more vessels, generally including a current (or relevant recent) position, speed and heading, where such information may be provided by radar, AIS, GPS or a similar system or other means of communication (e.g. transmitted via a vessel communications platform); in paragraph [0093], Mansor discloses that the real-time vessel data 318 may include data for two or more vessels including the own vessel and target vessel or vessels);
acquiring position data indicating positions of obstacles near the marine vessel (In paragraphs [0048-0049], Mansor discloses that the inputs 102 to the system 100 may include real-time vessel data from the two or more vessels, generally including a current (or relevant recent) position, speed and heading, where such information may be provided by radar, AIS, GPS or a similar system or other means of communication (e.g. transmitted via a vessel communications platform); in paragraph [0093], Mansor discloses that the real-time vessel data 318 may include data for two or more vessels including the own vessel and target vessel or vessels);
acquiring environmental data including at least one of present wind conditions, wave characteristics, and local sea current speed and direction (In paragraph [0050], Mansor discloses that the environmental information may include sea-state and local weather conditions; in paragraph [0057], Mansor discloses that the current sea-state may be obtained via local observation or monitoring systems, or via a centralised system weather provider such as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, ECMWF, where the vessel state may be used to determine one or more of: a true wind speed and direction from apparent wind speed and direction vessel speed over ground; wave height and period from vessel pitch, roll and yaw; and, current from the vessel speed through the water/heading and speed over ground/course over ground);
estimating environmental disturbance parameters and respective uncertainties from the environmental data (In paragraph [0072], Mansor discloses that the sea-state [environmental disturbance parameters] may be provided to a regression model which could provide a prediction of specific manoeuvrability in a given sea-state, where the specific manoeuvrability may include a predicted possible speed, acceleration, deceleration, and rate of turn for example, and in another example, the vessel manoeuvrability may include a clustering of historical data in which data types are automatically categorized; in paragraphs [0079-0081], Mansor disclose that the collision risk [uncertainty] assessment may advantageously be adapted to include vessel data and environmental data in order to be adapted to account for real-time factors which may affect the collision risk in a given scenario, when where historical data is used to determine the collision risk calculation, it may be desirable to include historical sea-state data in the calculation, as the sea-state may affect the manoeuvrability of a vessel and the collision risk calculation);
predicting subsequent state variables for the marine vessel and respective uncertainties at future time steps for a prediction horizon based on a maneuver model of a marine vessel describing a motion of a marine vessel, the initial state variables, the position data, and the environmental disturbance parameters and respective uncertainties (In paragraph [0072], Mansor discloses that the sea-state may be provided to a regression model which could provide a prediction of specific manoeuvrability in a given sea-state, where the specific manoeuvrability may include a predicted possible speed, acceleration, deceleration, and rate of turn for example, and in another example, the vessel manoeuvrability may include a clustering of historical data in which data types are automatically categorized; in paragraphs [0079-0081], Mansor disclose that the collision risk assessment may advantageously be adapted to include vessel data and environmental data in order to be adapted to account for real-time factors which may affect the collision risk in a given scenario, when where historical data is used to determine the collision risk calculation, it may be desirable to include historical sea-state data in the calculation, as the sea-state may affect the manoeuvrability of a vessel and the collision risk calculation);
generating feasible trajectory data including a trajectory uncertainty for the marine vessel based on the prediction (In paragraph [0046], Mansor discloses that the output 104 from the collision avoidance system 100 will typically include one or more recommended or mandated actions which are advised or required to reduce the collision risk, ultimately with a view to avoiding a collision, and such outputs may include a change in trajectory implemented by a change in heading or speed, or both);
calculating control commands based on the predicted state variables and predicted uncertainties to control the maneuvering of the marine vessel from the initial position to the subsequent position (In paragraph [0075], Mansor discloses that the evasive action required in light of a particular level of collision risk will vary depending on the circumstances, where in some cases, a minor evasive manoeuvre may have minimal impact on a voyage overall, however, a more severe evasive manoeuvre may be required such as a change in trajectory of the own vessel by altering one or more of a change of direction or a change in speed, perhaps to a dead stop, or by hailing the target vessel if they are required to undertake a corresponding manoeuvre; in paragraph [0128], Mansor discloses that in the case of an autonomous vessel, the recommended manoeuvre may be provided as an instruction that is executable by the vessel's control system); and
maneuvering the marine vessel from the initial position to the subsequent position using the control commands to control the marine vessel (In paragraph [0075], Mansor discloses that the evasive action required in light of a particular level of collision risk will vary depending on the circumstances, where in some cases, a minor evasive manoeuvre may have minimal impact on a voyage overall, however, a more severe evasive manoeuvre may be required such as a change in trajectory of the own vessel by altering one or more of a change of direction or a change in speed, perhaps to a dead stop, or by hailing the target vessel if they are required to undertake a corresponding manoeuvre; in paragraph [0128], Mansor discloses that in the case of an autonomous vessel, the recommended manoeuvre may be provided as an instruction that is executable by the vessel's control system).
Mansor does not explicitly disclose using the control commands to control thrusters of the marine vessel.
However, Schmid teaches using the control commands to control thrusters of the marine vessel (In paragraph [0073], Schmid teaches that boat controller 302 performs certain operations to control one or more subsystems of other boat components, such as one or more of sensor systems 306, an outboard prime mover system 308, thruster system 200, a steering system 312, a network system 314, and other systems; see also paragraph [0100], where Schmid teaches controlling one or both of steering system 312 and thruster system 200 to change a heading of pontoon boat 100 to avoid the possibility of pontoon boat 100 colliding with the underwater environmental object).
Schmid is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention in that they both pertain to maneuvering a marine vessel by controlling thrusters of the marine vessel. It would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Schmid with the computer program product as disclosed by Mansor, where the Examiner understands the use of controlled thrusters is well understood in the art, and may be implemented without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success and predictable results. Doing so may be advantageous in that the use of the method may be achieved with common components that may be already present and capable of interacting with the computer elements of the vessel, for example.
Regarding claim 16, Mansor further discloses wherein the method steps are repeated for each subsequent time step to continuously update the feasible trajectory data (In paragraph [0136], Mansor discloses that the collision risk index may be at an acceptable level in the first instance so the collision risk system maintains a monitoring function in which the routines are continuously or regularly carried out at specified time intervals).
Regarding claim 17, Mansor further discloses wherein the initial state variables further include at least one of yaw rate (In paragraph [0057], Mansor discloses that the current sea-state may be obtained via local observation or monitoring systems, or via a centralised system weather provider such as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, ECMWF, where the vessel state may be used to determine one or more of: a true wind speed and direction from apparent wind speed and direction vessel speed over ground; wave height and period from vessel pitch, roll and yaw; and, current from the vessel speed through the water/heading and speed over ground/course over ground).
Regarding claim 18, Mansor further discloses determining respective uncertainties in present position of the marine vessel in the present heading direction of the marine vessel in the coordinate system, and using the uncertainties in predicting the subsequent state variables for the marine vessel and respective uncertainties at future time steps (In paragraphs [0048-0049], Mansor discloses that the inputs 102 to the system 100 may include real-time vessel data from the two or more vessels, generally including a current (or relevant recent) position, speed and heading; in paragraphs [0079-0081], Mansor discloses that the collision risk assessment may advantageously be adapted to include vessel data and environmental data in order to be adapted to account for real-time factors which may affect the collision risk in a given scenario; see also paragraphs [0115-0116] where Mansor discloses that the collision avoidance calculation 600 may also include a target vessel model 604 to model the navigation behaviour of target vessel or vessels wherein there is a significant change in collision risks, as found in the historical data and to determine the target vessel navigation when the risk of collision decreases or increases because of an own vessel manoeuvre).
Regarding claim 19, Mansor further discloses retrieving a digital nautical chart (In paragraph [0130], Mansor discloses that the recommended manoeuvre may be presented on a chart plot showing the recommended trajectory and required manoeuvres at the different time intervals, and the expected response from the target vessel(s), and additionally, the recommended manoeuvres may be displayed as a change in trajectory and an associated reduction in collision risk for each manoeuvre), and
overlaying a virtual representation of the feasible trajectory with uncertainty on the digital nautical chart (In paragraph [0130], Mansor discloses that the recommended manoeuvre may be presented on a chart plot showing the recommended trajectory and required manoeuvres at the different time intervals, and the expected response from the target vessel(s), and additionally, the recommended manoeuvres may be displayed as a change in trajectory and an associated reduction in collision risk for each manoeuvre), and
calculating control commands based on the predicted state variables and the predicted uncertainties, the control commands being configured to control the maneuvering of the marine vessel from the initial position to the subsequent position (In paragraph [0075], Mansor discloses that the evasive action required in light of a particular level of collision risk will vary depending on the circumstances, where in some cases, a minor evasive manoeuvre may have minimal impact on a voyage overall, however, a more severe evasive manoeuvre may be required such as a change in trajectory of the own vessel by altering one or more of a change of direction or a change in speed, perhaps to a dead stop, or by hailing the target vessel if they are required to undertake a corresponding manoeuvre; in paragraph [0128], Mansor discloses that in the case of an autonomous vessel, the recommended manoeuvre may be provided as an instruction that is executable by the vessel's control system).
Mansor does not explicitly disclose performing a confirmation check of the feasible trajectory based on the overlay, and
calculating control commands based the confirmation check.
However, Schmid teaches performing a confirmation check of the feasible trajectory based on the overlay (In paragraph [0118], Schmid teaches that operation of boat controller 302 presents a target location 80 to the operator and receives confirmation of acceptance of the target location 80 from the valet operator through operator interface 360 of pontoon boat 100 or operator interface 374 of remote operator device 300), and
calculating control commands based the confirmation check (In paragraph [0118], Schmid teaches that operation of boat controller 302 presents a target location 80 to the operator and receives confirmation of acceptance of the target location 80 from the valet operator through operator interface 360 of pontoon boat 100 or operator interface 374 of remote operator device 300).
Schmid is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention in that they both pertain to controlling the marine vessel based on a confirmation check. It would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Schmid with the method as disclosed by Mansor, where requiring confirmation by an operator is well understood in the art, and may be implemented without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success and predictable results. Doing so may be advantageous in that more control can be afforded to an operator, making operation of the marine vessel more contextually sensitive to the desire of the operator, for example.
Regarding claim 20, Mansor further discloses determining an uncertainty in the outline of the marine vessel over the prediction horizon, wherein the uncertainty in the outline is included when generating feasible trajectory data (In paragraph [0130], Mansor discloses that the recommended manoeuvre may be presented on a chart plot showing the recommended trajectory and required manoeuvres at the different time intervals, and the expected response from the target vessel(s), and additionally, the recommended manoeuvres may be displayed as a change in trajectory and an associated reduction in collision risk for each manoeuvre).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Noffsinger (US 2010/0168942 A1) teaches a system and method for optimizing a path for a marine vessel through a waterway.
Zellers (US 6,876,906 B1) teaches graphical symbology for depicting traffic position, navigation uncertainty, and data quality on aircraft displays.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Harrison Heflin whose telephone number is (571)272-5629. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 1:00PM - 10:00PM EST.
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/HARRISON HEFLIN/ Examiner, Art Unit 3665
/HUNTER B LONSBERRY/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3665