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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4 and 11-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yamaura (US 2023/0230135).
Regarding claim 1, Yamaura discloses an apparatus comprising:
a memory 53 configured to hold instructions (paragraph 41, p. 43); and
processing circuitry 51 that, when in operation, is configured by the instructions
to:
obtain a definition for a vehicle data center virtual instance (p. 43, p. 44), the
definition specifying:
a set of parking spaces for vehicles (p. 14, p. 43); and
a set of computational metrics (p. 44);
sense an arrival of a vehicle (p. 44, S103, S105);
signal an instruction to park the vehicle in one parking space of the
set of parking spaces based on a report of computational capabilities of the vehicle and the set of computational metrics (p. 43, p. 44, p. 66, figure 5); and
perform a workload on the vehicle data center virtual instance including use of the computational capabilities of the vehicle (p. 34).
Regarding claim 11, Yamaura discloses at least one non-transitory machine readable medium (p. 40, p. 41) comprising instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry 51, cause the processing circuitry to perform operations comprising:
obtaining a definition for a vehicle data center virtual instance (p. 43, p. 44), the definition specifying:
a set of parking spaces for vehicles (p. 43, p. 44); and
a set of computational metrics (p. 44);
sensing an arrival of a vehicle (p. 44, S103, S105);
signaling an instruction to park the vehicle in one parking space of the set of
parking spaces based on a report of computational capabilities of the
vehicle and the set of computational metrics (p. 43, p. 44, p. 66, figure 5); and
performing a workload on the vehicle data center virtual instance including
use of the computational capabilities of the vehicle (p. 34).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Yamaura discloses wherein the vehicle data center virtual instance is defined over a time period (p. 49).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Yamaura discloses wherein a second parking space for the definition is exclusive to a second definition for a second vehicle data center virtual
instance outside of the time period (p. 43, p. 49).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Yamaura discloses wherein, to signal the instruction to park the vehicle in the one parking space of the set of parking spaces, the processing
circuitry is configured to provide an instruction to an autonomous driving system of
the vehicle to park in the one parking space in the set of parking spaces (p. 34).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 5 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamaura in view of Koiji (US 2023/0025490).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Yamaura discloses all the claimed subject matter as set forth above in the rejection of claim 1, but does not disclose the processing
circuitry being configured to provide an instruction to a driver to park in the one parking
space in the set of parking spaces. Koiji teaches the use of a processing
circuitry being configured to provide an instruction to a driver to park in one parking
space in a set of parking spaces (p. 28). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary kill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the processing circuitry being configured to provide an instruction to a driver to park in the one parking space in the set of parking spaces to the apparatus of Yamaura as taught by Koiji for the purpose of effectively signaling the instruction to park the
vehicle in the one parking space of the set of parking spaces.
Claim(s) 6 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamaura in view of Victor (US 2014/0320318).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Yamaura discloses all the claimed subject matter as set forth above in the rejection of claim 1, but does not disclose the processing
circuitry being configured to provide an instruction to a signaling mechanism of a
parking facility to lead a driver of the vehicle or an autonomous driving system of
the vehicle to the one parking space. Victor teaches the use of a processing
circuitry being configured to provide an instruction to a signaling mechanism of a
parking facility to lead a driver of a vehicle or an autonomous driving system of
the vehicle to one parking space (figures 2.1 and 3, p. 44). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary kill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the processing circuitry being configured to provide an instruction to a signaling mechanism of a parking facility to lead a driver of the vehicle or an autonomous driving system of the vehicle to the one parking space to the apparatus of Yamaura as taught by Victor for the purpose of effectively signaling the instruction to park the
vehicle in the one parking space of the set of parking spaces.
Claim(s) 7-10 and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamaura in view of Chen (US 20250045108).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Yamaura discloses all the claimed subject matter as set forth above in the rejection of claim 1, but does not disclose the processing circuitry being further configured to decompose a task to create the workload based on the vehicle data center virtual instance. Chen teaches the use of a processing circuitry being further configured to decompose a task to create workload based on vehicle data center virtual instance (p. 23, p. 51). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary kill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the processing circuitry being further configured to decompose a task to create the workload based on the vehicle data center virtual instance to the apparatus of Yamaura as taught by Chen for the purpose of effectively performing the workload on the vehicle data center virtual instance.
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Yamaura (modified by Chen) discloses a predefined start period for the vehicle data center virtual instance (Yamaura, p. 49).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, Yamaura discloses all the claimed subject matter as set forth above in the rejection of claim 1, and further discloses the processing circuitry being further configured to obtain a signal that the vehicle will leave the one parking space (S121), but does not disclose the processing circuitry being configured to migrate a portion of the workload using a computational resource of the vehicle. Chen teaches the use of a processing circuitry being configured to migrate a portion of a workload using a computational resource of a vehicle (p. 23, p. 42, p. 43). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary kill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the processing circuitry being configured to migrate a portion of the workload using a computational resource of the vehicle to the apparatus of Yamaura as taught by Chen for the purpose of effectively performing the workload on the vehicle data center virtual instance.
Regarding claims 10 and 20, Yamaura (modified by Chen) discloses all the claimed subject matter as set forth above in the rejection of claim 9, but does not disclose the processing circuitry being configured to transfer the portion of the workload to a second vehicle parked in the set of parking spaces. Chen further teaches the use of the processing circuitry being configured to transfer a portion of the workload to a second vehicle parked in a set of parking spaces (p. 42, p. 43). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary kill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the processing circuitry being configured to transfer the portion of the workload to a second vehicle parked in the set of parking spaces to the apparatus of Yamaura as taught by Chen for the purpose of effectively migrating the portion of the
workload.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Watanabe, Barrett, and Wada disclose vehicle management systems.
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/ANH V LA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685
ANH V. LA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2685
Al
December 25, 2025