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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/29/24, 8/30/24, 1/15/2025, 4/23/2025 are being considered by the examiner.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US20190368882A1 Wheeler ("Wheeler").
Wheeler teaches the limitations of the apparatus and method of claims 1 and 4:
A mobile apparatus (Wheeler at least [0040]: “vehicle computing system”) comprising: a communication device (Wheeler at least [0041]: “network”); and a processor, wherein the processor performs: obtaining a three-dimensional map including first information and second information, the first information indicating a location of an object, the second information indicating a process that the mobile apparatus performs at a location corresponding to the object; and performing the process at the location corresponding to the object, based on the second information. (Wheeler at least the abstract: “builds a high definition (HD) map for a geographical region based on sensor data”, [0028]: “HD maps…autonomous vehicles…navigate to their destinations”, [0056]; “vehicle sends update messages only upon reaching or docking at high bandwidth access points”)
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.
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.
Claim(s) 2, 3, 5, 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wheeler in view of US20040174298A1 Eriksson.
Regarding claims 2 and 5, Wheeler teaches the invention as described above. Wheeler additionally teaches the limitations of the apparatus and method:
the object is an access point, the second information indicates the process that the mobile apparatus performs when the mobile apparatus is within a predetermined distance from the access point (Wheeler at least [0056], [0116]: “determine information…distance of the object”, [0155]: “sending the message to the online HD map…repeat periodically…every 10 miles…message can be designed to be small and can be sent on cellular networks”) *Examiner’s note: Wheeler teaches an AV that can navigate to an AP and dock, where the predetermined distance can be at least zero or close to zero.
Wheeler does not disclose the limitations of the apparatus and method:
the process includes a process for starting transmitting in a state in which a directivity of a beam is steered in a direction of the location of the object by using the first information before the mobile apparatus reaches the access point.
However, Eriksson teaches the aforementioned limitation (Eriksson at least the abstract: "system…antenna capable of directing a beam in a given angular direction…location of the portable radio telephone…angular beam direction…controller for configuring the antenna for communication with the portable radio telephone by directing a beam in the angular direction indicated in the database").
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Wheeler with the aforementioned limitations taught by Eriksson with a reasonable expectation of success. The invention taught by Wheeler is capable of sending information before arrival at an AP over a simple cellular network which can be easily aided by the addition of the directional antenna taught by Eriksson. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to combine these references in order to provide location dependent information services (Eriksson [0012]).
Regarding claims 3 and 6, Wheeler in combination with the other reference teaches the invention as described above. Wheeler additionally teaches:
a sensor, wherein the processor further performs obtaining sensor data from the sensor, and in the transmitting, the sensor data is transmitted to a server via the access point. (Wheeler at least claim 18: “sending…server occurs when the autonomous vehicle is docked at a high bandwidth access point”, [0124]: “transmit sensor data…LIDAR…image”)
Conclusion
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/O.T./Examiner, Art Unit 3669
/NAVID Z. MEHDIZADEH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3669