DETAILED ACTION
This office action is a response to 3/20/2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claims 15-16 and 18-20 are allowed.
Claims 1-5, 7, and 9-14, and 17 are rejected.
Claims 6 and 8 are objected to.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 3/20/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 3, 9-14, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The term “high” in claims 3, 9, and 17 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “high” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The limitation “a high change of VMC formation” has been rendered indefinite. For the purposes of examination, the limitation will be given its broadest reasonable interpretation. Dependent claims 10-14 are also rejected by the virtue of its dependency on claim 9.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-5, 7, 9-11, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Makled et al. US 20190253853 A1, hereinafter Makled.
Regarding Claim 1, Makled discloses a method comprising:
forming a vehicular micro cloud (VMC) in response to a determination that vehicle sensor data is available to upload ([0015] discloses forming an ad hoc vehicle network to upload data (i.e., data collected by a vehicle) sought to be uploaded by a given vehicle; [0022-0023] discloses broadcasting a request for information from one or more nearby vehicles; see also Fig. 1);
analyzing one or more uploading characteristics of one or more vehicles in the VMC ([0023] discloses broadcasting a request for information from one or more nearby vehicles. The requested information may then be used to determine whether or not to include a given vehicle in the ad hoc network);
selecting a subset of the one or more vehicles in the VMC to upload the vehicle sensor data based on the one or more uploading characteristics ([0023-0025] during or after receiving the information from the nearby vehicles, the processor may determine a subset of the nearby vehicles to include in the ad hoc network; [0032-0033] discloses, when determining a subset of the nearby vehicles that may be of use in uploading the sensor data, that the processor may determine a second subset of vehicles from a first subset of vehicles, where each subset was determined based on different characteristics/factors); and
collaboratively uploading the vehicle sensor data using the subset of the one or more vehicles ([0034] once the subset of vehicles has been selected … processor may then be configured to separate the data gathered by the sensor 102 into segments, such that the segments can be dispersed among the selected vehicles for upload to the server).
Regarding Claim 2, Makled discloses the method of claim 1 and further discloses wherein forming the VMC comprises moving the one or more vehicles of the VMC into position to form the VMC (see at least Fig. 1 and [0017]; [0026-0029, 0036] discloses nearby vehicles’ direction of travel, common route, expected travel).
Regarding Claim 3, Makled discloses the method of claim 2 and further discloses wherein forming the VMC comprises searching for an area with a high change of VMC formation (see at least Fig. 1 and [0017]; [0026-0029, 0036] discloses nearby vehicles’ direction of travel, common route, expected travel; in an example, nearby vehicles may be ranked based on how long their common route is, or may be selected based on if a vehicle will be traveling to a geographic area having a higher or lower connection speed and/or upload rate).
Regarding Claim 4, Makled discloses the method of claim 1 and further discloses further comprising selecting a subset of the vehicle sensor data to upload based on the subset of the one or more vehicles ([0034-0036] discloses separating the data gathered into segments where segmenting can be based on the characteristics of the selected vehicles).
Regarding Claim 5, Makled discloses the method of claim 1 and further discloses wherein the one or more uploading characteristics indicate an uploading time or speed (at least [0030] discloses selecting one or more nearby vehicles for inclusion in the ad hoc network based on the respective upload rates of each nearby vehicle).
Regarding Claim 7, Makled discloses the method of claim 1 and further discloses further comprising forming the VMC based on the one or more uploading characteristics (at least [0032-0033] discloses that the processor may determine a second subset of vehicles from a first subset of vehicles, where each subset was determined based on different characteristics/factors).
Regarding Claim 9, Makled discloses a vehicle, comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor to store instructions, which when executed by the processor (Fig. 2 and [0045]), cause the processor to:
search for an area with a high change of vehicular micro cloud (VMC) formation in response to a determination that vehicle sensor data is available to upload ([0015] discloses forming an ad hoc vehicle network to upload data (i.e., data collected by a vehicle) sought to be uploaded by a given vehicle; [0022-0023] discloses broadcasting a request for information from one or more nearby vehicles; see also Fig. 1; [0026-0029, 0036] discloses nearby vehicles’ direction of travel, common route, expected travel; in an example, nearby vehicles may be ranked based on how long their common route is, or may be selected based on if a vehicle will be traveling to a geographic area having a higher or lower connection speed and/or upload rate);
move the vehicle into the area and form a vehicular micro cloud (VMC) (see at least Fig. 1 and [0017]; [0026-0029, 0036] discloses nearby vehicles’ direction of travel, common route, expected travel);
analyze one or more uploading characteristics of one or more vehicles in the VMC ([0023] discloses broadcasting a request for information from one or more nearby vehicles. The requested information may then be used to determine whether or not to include a given vehicle in the ad hoc network);
select a subset of the one or more vehicles in the VMC to upload the vehicle sensor data based on the one or more uploading characteristics ([0023-0025] during or after receiving the information from the nearby vehicles, the processor may determine a subset of the nearby vehicles to include in the ad hoc network; [0032-0033] discloses, when determining a subset of the nearby vehicles that may be of use in uploading the sensor data, that the processor may determine a second subset of vehicles from a first subset of vehicles, where each subset was determined based on different characteristics/factors); and
collaboratively upload the vehicle sensor data using the subset of the one or more vehicles ([0034] once the subset of vehicles has been selected … processor may then be configured to separate the data gathered by the sensor 102 into segments, such that the segments can be dispersed among the selected vehicles for upload to the server).
Claims 10-11 and 13 are rejected on the same grounds set forth in the rejection of claims 4-5 and 7, respectively. Claims 10-11 and 13 recite similar features as in claims 4-5 and 7, respectively, for an apparatus (see Fig. 2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15-16 and 18-20 are allowed.
Claims 6 and 8 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 12, 14, and 17 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Oesterling US 8406683 B2
Birmingham et al. US 8418039 B2
Choi US 8885498 B2
Hampel et al. US 20160119739 A1
Pimentel US 20170142187 A1
Su et al. US 10466717 B1
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/Y.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2465
/GARY MUI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2465