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 Number 18/701, 143 filed on 04/12/2024.
• Claims 1-2, 6-8, 10-12, 16-18, 22, 29-33 are currently pending and have been examined.
• Claims 3-5, 9, 13-15, 19-21, 23-28 have been cancelled.
• This action is made FINAL in response to the amendments and Remarks filed on 03/16/2026.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
The certified copy has been filed in Application No. 18/701, 143 filed on 04/12/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/12/2024 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
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 31 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Claim 31 is rejected because it depends from a cancelled claim 3 and is therefore incomplete. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 6-8, 10-12, 16-18, 22, 29-30, 31-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qi (US20200249048A1) in view of ASAM (OpenDRIVE® Format Specification, Rev. 1.4, November 04, 2015), further in view of Yano (US6320517B1).
Regarding claims 1, 32 and 33:
Qi teaches:
A computer system configured to run queries on a static road layout, the computer system comprising: at least one memory storing computer-readable instructions; at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and configured to execute the computer readable instructions, which upon execution cause the at least one processor to perform operations including: (Qi, para[09], “a road characterization device is provided, the device comprising: a processor; and a memory arranged to store computer-executable instructions”, para[79], “a search module”)
storing the static road layout in the at least one memory, (Qi, para[39],” a computer may first acquire the road information as shown in FIG. 1”, and para[43], “the memory stores computer-executable instructions”
the static road layout comprising a section of road having a set of multiple road attributes, (Qi, Fig.1 and para[39],” a computer may first acquire the road information as shown in FIG. 1, and identify a road therein as a target road, including a road segment R1, a road segment R2, and a road segment R3”)
the change points of a first of the road attributes exhibiting longitudinal misalignment with respect to the change points of a second of the road attributes; (Qi, as depicted on the Fig.1, there are two change points which is exhibiting longitudinal misalignment along the road from P1 to P2.”)
PNG
media_image1.png
455
487
media_image1.png
Greyscale
processing the static road layout, and thereby partition the section of road into a sequence of road parts, (Qi, Fig.4 and para[40],” the computer may segment the lanes in the respective road segments…the road segment R3 may be divided into an atomic lane A3 and an atomic lane A8”)
PNG
media_image2.png
412
453
media_image2.png
Greyscale
and implementing a scenario query engine configured to receive a part query comprising a descriptor of the road part, and in response to the query: using the descriptor to locate … one of the road parts based on the part query by matching the descriptor to the road part, evaluating the describing function of at least one of the road attributes within the road part, and generating a part query response based on the evaluation of the describing function. (Qi, para[79], “a search module”, and para [09], “acquiring a target road, wherein the target road comprises one or more road segments; determining, according to road segment attribute information of the road segments, one or more atomic lanes corresponding to the one or more road segments according to road segment attribute information of the road segments”, and para [71], “In step S22, the road information displaying device may acquire road information to be displayed”) Examiner note: Qi teaches a search module to search the road part based on the description of the road segment attributes and display the matched road parts in the display device.
Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
each road attribute described throughout the section of road by a describing function that exhibits a change in form at one or more change points along the section of road,( ASAM, page 57, “Lane Border Record… describe the outer border of each lane… The actual width at a given point is computed with a polynomial function of third order”)
PNG
media_image3.png
992
1052
media_image3.png
Greyscale
each road part defined by a longitudinal coordinate interval, in which the describing function of every one of the road attributes has a form that is fixed throughout; ( ASAM, page 51, “Road Lane Offset Record…The lane offset record defines a lateral shift of the lane reference line”)
generating a road partition index having an entry for each road part, ( ASAM, page 51, “Road Lane Offset Record…The lane offset record defines a lateral shift of the lane reference line”) Examiner note: ASAM teaches generating a road partition index number for each road segment , for example, partition index for lane section A is [-2 -1 1 2 3] as depicted below.
PNG
media_image4.png
655
1087
media_image4.png
Greyscale
the entry containing… a single set of one or more function parameters that defines the form of the describing function of that road attribute as fixed throughout that road part( ASAM, page 51, “Road Lane Offset Record…The lane offset record defines a lateral shift of the lane reference line”) Examiner note: ASAM teaches generating a road partition index number for each road segment , for example, partition index for lane section A is [-2 -1 1 2 3] as depicted above.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include each road attribute described throughout the section of road by a describing function that exhibits a change in form at one or more change points along the section of road, each road part defined by a longitudinal coordinate interval, in which the describing function of every one of the road attributes has a form that is fixed throughout, generate a road partition index having an entry for each road part, the entry containing a single set of one or more function parameters that defines the form of the describing function of that road attribute as fixed throughout that road part. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Qi does not explicitly teach, but Yano teaches:
the entry containing, for each road attribute, a reference to at least one memory location ( Yano, Col.18, lines 28-31, “The currently traveled road type is determined by reference to the contents of the map memory”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from Yano in order to include the entry containing, for each road attribute, a reference to at least one memory location. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to locate the road part quickly.
Regarding claim 6:
Qi in view of ASAM,Yano, as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 1. Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
The computer system of claim 5, wherein the descriptor in the part query comprises the longitudinal coordinate interval of the road part to which it pertains or a longitudinal coordinate within the longitudinal coordinate interval. ( ASAM, page 51, “Road Lane Offset Record…The lane offset record defines a lateral shift of the lane reference line”) Examiner note: ASAM teaches generate a road partition index number for each road segment , for example, partition index for lane section A is [-2 -1 1 2 3] has a longitudinal interval of 1.
PNG
media_image4.png
655
1087
media_image4.png
Greyscale
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include wherein the descriptor in the part query comprises the longitudinal coordinate interval of the road part to which it pertains or a longitudinal coordinate within the longitudinal coordinate interval. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Regarding claim 7:
Qi in view of ASAM, Yano, as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 1. Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
The computer system of claim 1,wherein the multiple road attributes comprise at least one road geometry attribute having a geometry described by its describing function. ( ASAM, page 42, “Road Geometry Header Record…four types of geometric elements are supported: straight lines, spirals, arcs, cubic polynomials ”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include wherein the multiple road attributes comprise at least one road geometry attribute having a geometry described by its describing function. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Regarding claim 8:
Qi in view of ASAM, Yano, as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 7. Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
The computer system of claim 7, wherein the part query provides a set of world coordinates, and the scenario query engine is configured to evaluate the describing function of the at least one road geometry attribute in order to determine a corresponding set of road coordinates provided in the part query response. ( ASAM, page 46, “x/y co-ordinates”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include wherein the part query provides a set of world coordinates, and the scenario query engine is configured to evaluate the describing function of the at least one road geometry attribute in order to determine a corresponding set of road coordinates provided in the part query response. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Regarding claim 10:
Qi in view of ASAM, Yano, as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 1. Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
The computer system of claim 1,wherein the section of road has multiple lanes, and the multiple road attributes comprise multiple lane attributes. ( ASAM, page 51, “Road Lane Offset Record…The lane offset record defines a lateral shift of the lane reference line”) Examiner note: ASAM teaches generating a road partition index number for each road segment , for example, partition index for lane section A is [-2 -1 1 2 3].
PNG
media_image4.png
655
1087
media_image4.png
Greyscale
Regarding claim 11:
Qi in view of ASAM, Yano, as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 1. Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
The computer system of claim 5, wherein the section of road has multiple lanes, and the multiple road attributes comprise multiple lane attributes; ( ASAM, page 51, “Road Lane Offset Record…The lane offset record defines a lateral shift of the lane reference line”) Examiner note: ASAM teaches generate a road partition index number for each road segment , for example, partition index for lane section A is [-2 -1 1 2 3].
and wherein the descriptor in the part query is a descriptor of a lane part that is defined by the road part and a lane identifier of one of the multiple lanes. ( ASAM, page 52, “Road Lane Section Record The lane section record defines the characteristics of a road cross-section. It specifies the numbers and types of lanes and further features of the lanes. At least one record must be defined in order to use a road. A lane section record is valid until a new lane section record is defined. If multiple lane section records are defined, they must be listed in ascending order”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include wherein the section of road has multiple lanes, and the multiple road attributes comprise multiple lane attributes; and wherein the descriptor in the part query is a descriptor of a lane part that is defined by the road part and a lane identifier of one of the multiple lanes. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Regarding claim 12:
Qi in view of ASAM, Yano as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 7. Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
The computer system of claim 7, wherein the section of road has multiple lanes, and the multiple road attributes comprise multiple lane attributes; and wherein the at least one road geometry attribute comprises at least one lane geometry attribute of the multiple lane attributes. ( ASAM, page 52, “Road Lane Section Record The lane section record defines the characteristics of a road cross-section. It specifies the numbers and types of lanes and further features of the lanes. At least one record must be defined in order to use a road. A lane section record is valid until a new lane section record is defined. If multiple lane section records are defined, they must be listed in ascending order”, page 42, “Road Geometry Header Record…four types of geometric elements are supported: straight lines, spirals, arcs, cubic polynomials ”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include wherein the section of road has multiple lanes, and the multiple road attributes comprise multiple lane attributes; and wherein the at least one road geometry attribute comprises at least one lane geometry attribute of the multiple lane attributes. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Regarding claim 16:
Qi in view of ASAM, Yano as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 1. Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
The computer system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: implement a spatial indexing component configured to compute individual geometric elements of the static road layout, and create at least one spatial index of the individual geometric elements, wherein every individual geometric element is fully contained within a single road part; wherein the scenario query engine is configured to receive a spatial query and use the spatial index to generate a spatial query response. ( ASAM, page 50, “Road Shape Record The shape of the road is defined as the road section’s surface relative to the reference plane”)
PNG
media_image5.png
889
1068
media_image5.png
Greyscale
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include wherein the at least one processor is configured to: implement a spatial indexing component configured to compute individual geometric elements of the static road layout, and create at least one spatial index of the individual geometric elements, wherein every individual geometric element is fully contained within a single road part; wherein the scenario query engine is configured to receive a spatial query and use the spatial index to generate a spatial query response. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Regarding claim 17:
Qi in view of ASAM, Yano as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 16. Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
The computer system of claim 16, wherein the spatial indexing component is configured to use the road partition index to generate the spatial index, said part query being an internal part query for computing one or more of the individual geometric elements contained within the road part. ( ASAM, page 50, “Road Shape Record The shape of the road is defined as the road section’s surface relative to the reference plane. This shape may be described as a series of 3rd order polynomials for a given "s" station. Multiple shapes may be defined along a road at consecutive "s" stations. Between the shapes at these stations, there shall be a linear interpolation along s.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include wherein the spatial indexing component is configured to use the road partition index to generate the spatial index, said part query being an internal part query for computing one or more of the individual geometric elements contained within the road part. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Regarding claim 18:
Qi in view of ASAM, Yano as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 16. Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
The computer system of claim 16, wherein the spatial index contains, for each individual geometric element, geometric data of the individual geometric element and an indication of the single road part for locating the entry for the single road part in the road partition index, and wherein the spatial query response comprises a descriptor of at least one road part satisfying the spatial query for locating the entry for that road part in the road partition index. ( ASAM, page 50, “Road Shape Record The shape of the road is defined as the road section’s surface relative to the reference plane”)
PNG
media_image5.png
889
1068
media_image5.png
Greyscale
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include wherein the spatial index contains, for each individual geometric element, geometric data of the individual geometric element and an indication of the single road part for locating the entry for the single road part in the road partition index, and wherein the spatial query response comprises a descriptor of at least one road part satisfying the spatial query for locating the entry for that road part in the road partition index. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Regarding claim 22:
Qi in view of ASAM, Yano as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 16. Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
The computer system of any of claims claim 16, wherein the road section comprises multiple lanes, and each individual geometric element is a lane part, the lane part being one of the multiple lanes contained within the single road part or a portion of one of the multiple lanes contained with the single road part, the spatial index comprising a bounding box index storing, for each lane part, a lane part bounding box, a lane identifier, and an indication of the single road part for locating the entry for the single road part in the road partition index; wherein the spatial query is a containment query providing a location, wherein the scenario query engine is configured to process the containment query by: identifying any lane part whose lane part bounding box in the bounding box index contains the location; using the indication of the single road part for any identified lane to locate the entry for that road part in the road partition index, using the describing function for at least one of the road attributes to compute a lane geometry for the lane identifier, and determining whether the provided location is contained within the lane geometry. ( ASAM, page 57, “Lane Border Record…describe the outer border of each lane”)
PNG
media_image6.png
588
714
media_image6.png
Greyscale
PNG
media_image7.png
325
694
media_image7.png
Greyscale
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include wherein the road section comprises multiple lanes, and each individual geometric element is a lane part, the lane part being one of the multiple lanes contained within the single road part or a portion of one of the multiple lanes contained with the single road part, the spatial index comprising a bounding box index storing, for each lane part, a lane part bounding box, a lane identifier, and an indication of the single road part for locating the entry for the single road part in the road partition index; wherein the spatial query is a containment query providing a location, wherein the scenario query engine is configured to process the containment query by: identifying any lane part whose lane part bounding box in the bounding box index contains the location; using the indication of the single road part for any identified lane to locate the entry for that road part in the road partition index, using the describing function for at least one of the road attributes to compute a lane geometry for the lane identifier, and determining whether the provided location is contained within the lane geometry. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Regarding claim 29:
Qi in view of ASAM, Yano as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 1. Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
The computer system of claim 1, wherein the at least one road attribute whose describing function is evaluated in response to the query comprises a road geometry attribute having a geometry described by its describing function, the describing function evaluated to compute the geometry of the road geometry attribute. ( ASAM, page 42, “Road Geometry Header Record…four types of geometric elements are supported: straight lines, spirals, arcs, cubic polynomials ”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include wherein the at least one road attribute whose describing function is evaluated in response to the query comprises a road geometry attribute having a geometry described by its describing function, the describing function evaluated to compute the geometry of the road geometry attribute. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Regarding claim 30:
Qi in view of ASAM, Yano as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 29. Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
The computer system of claim 29, wherein the describing function is evaluated to compute the geometry to a level of accuracy defined in the query. ( ASAM, page 43, “Geometry, Spiral Record…algorithms with reasonable accuracy within the applicable range (i.e. curvature, length of spiral etc.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include wherein the describing function is evaluated to compute the geometry to a level of accuracy defined in the query. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Regarding claim 31:
Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
The computer system of claim 3, wherein the at least one road attribute whose describing function is evaluated in response to the query comprises a road geometry attribute having a geometry described by its describing function, the describing function evaluated to compute the geometry of the road geometry attribute; ( ASAM, page 42, “Road Geometry Header Record…four types of geometric elements are supported: straight lines, spirals, arcs, cubic polynomials ”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include wherein the at least one road attribute whose describing function is evaluated in response to the query comprises a road geometry attribute having a geometry described by its describing function, the describing function evaluated to compute the geometry of the road geometry attribute. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Qi does not explicitly teach, but Yano teaches:
and wherein the describing function is evaluated using the function parameters accessed from the at least one memory location using the reference contained in the road partition index. ( Yano, Col.18, lines 28-31, “determined by reference to the contents of the map memory”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from Yano in order to include wherein the describing function is evaluated using the function parameters accessed from the at least one memory location using the reference contained in the road partition index. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to locate the road part quickly.
Claim(s) 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qi (US20200249048A1) in view of ASAM (OpenDRIVE® Format Specification, Rev. 1.4, November 04, 2015), further in view of Yano (US6320517B1) and Gearhart (US7065448B1).
Regarding claim 2:
Qi in view of ASAM,Yano, as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claims 1. Qi teaches:
The computer system of claim 1, wherein a first of the change points in the first road attribute causes two longitudinally adjacent road parts to be created either end of the first change point, (Qi, Fig.4 and para[40],” the computer may segment the lanes in the respective road segments…the road segment R3 may be divided into an atomic lane A3 and an atomic lane A8”)
PNG
media_image2.png
412
453
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
such that the describing function of the first road attribute has one form wherein the second road attribute has no change point that is longitudinally aligned with the first change point, causing the two longitudinally adjacent road parts to be created such that the describing function of the second road attribute has a single form throughout the two adjacent road parts; wherein the entry for said one of the two longitudinally adjacent road parts contains an indication of said one form of the describing function of the first road attribute, wherein the entry for said other of the two longitudinally adjacent road parts contains an indication of said different form of the describing function of the first road attribute, and wherein the entries for the two longitudinally adjacent road parts contain duplicate indications of said single form of the describing function of the second road attribute as fixed throughout both of the longitudinally adjacent road parts. ( ASAM, page 42, “Road Geometry Header Record…four types of geometric elements are supported: straight lines, spirals, arcs, cubic polynomials ”)
Examiner note: It is not clear what this claim limitation is referring to, particularly, what is “wherein the second road attribute has no change point that is longitudinally aligned with the first change point” is referring to. How does the second road attribute to longitudinally aligned with the first change point if it has no change point? Appropriate correction and/or clarification is required. For the purposes of examination, the Office will interpret the limitation as any road attribute disclosed by the references.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include causing the two longitudinally adjacent road parts to be created such that the describing function of the second road attribute has a single form throughout the two adjacent road parts; wherein the entry for said one of the two longitudinally adjacent road parts contains an indication of said one form of the describing function of the first road attribute, wherein the entry for said other of the two longitudinally adjacent road parts contains an indication of said different form of the describing function of the first road attribute, and wherein the entries for the two longitudinally adjacent road parts contain duplicate indications of said single form of the describing function of the second road attribute as fixed throughout both of the longitudinally adjacent road parts. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Qi does not explicitly teach, but ASAM teaches:
wherein each entry of the road partition index contains, …a single set of one or more function parameters that defines the form of the describing function of that road attribute as fixed throughout that road part. ( ASAM, page 51, “Road Lane Offset Record…The lane offset record defines a lateral shift of the lane reference line”) Examiner note: ASAM teaches generate a road partition index number for each road segment , for example, partition index for lane section A is [-2 -1 1 2 3].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM in order to include wherein each entry of the road partition index contains, a single set of one or more function parameters that defines the form of the describing function of that road attribute as fixed throughout that road part. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide a standardized format for road descriptions also enables the industry to reduce the cost of creating and converting these files for their development and testing purposes”(ASAM, https://www.asam.net/standards/detail/opendrive/).
Qi does not explicitly teach, but Yano teaches:
for each road attribute, a reference to at least one memory location storing…( Yano, Col.18, lines 28-31, “The currently traveled road type is determined by reference to the contents of the map memory”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from Yano in order to include wherein each entry of the road partition index contains, a single set of one or more function parameters that defines the form of the describing function of that road attribute as fixed throughout that road part. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to locate the road part quickly.
Qi does not explicitly teach, but Gearhart teaches:
and wherein the entries … contain duplicate references …( Gearhart, abstract, “a shared reference to a particular road”, and Col.11, lines 55-57, “the road classification 927, the road name 921 and the signed direction 940 that is shared”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from Gearhart in order to include wherein the entries contain duplicate references. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to locate the road part quickly.
RESPONSE TO ARGUMENTS
Objections to the Specification. Applicant’s amendment has overcome the objections to the specification.
Claims Rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b). Applicant’s amendment has overcome the 112(b) rejection.
Claim Rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103.
Applicant argued that the cited references do no teach "the change points of a first of the road attributes exhibiting longitudinal misalignment with respect to the change points of a second of the road attributes," as recited in claim 1. Examiner respectfully disagree. As depicted on the Fig.1, there is two change points, namely, first change point and second change point which is exhibiting longitudinal misalignment along the road from P1 to P2.
PNG
media_image1.png
455
487
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Applicant argued that the cited references do not teach " generating a road partition index having an entry for each road part, the entry containing, for each road attribute, a reference to at least one memory location storing a single set of one or more function parameters that defines the form of the describing function of that road attribute as fixed throughout that road part" as recited in amended claim 1. Examiner respectfully disagree. Qi teaches a computer of processing the static road layout, and thereby partition the section of road into a sequence of road parts as in para[40],” the computer may segment the lanes in the respective road segments…the road segment R3 may be divided into an atomic lane A3 and an atomic lane A8”). ASAM further teaches generating a road partition index as Road Lane Offset Record having an entry for each road part page 51, “Road Lane Offset Record…The lane offset record defines a lateral shift of the lane reference line”) for example, partition index of Road Lane Offset Record for lane section A is [-2 -1 1 2 3] as depicted below. ASAM also teaches the entry containing a single set of one or more function parameters such as numbers of [-2 -1 1 2 3] that defines the form of the describing function (how much the offset value is compared to the reference line) of that road attribute as fixed throughout that road part in page 51,“Road Lane Offset Record…The lane offset record defines a lateral shift of the lane reference line”. Furthermore, Yano teaches a method of reference road type attribute to at least one memory location. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Road Characterization Method from Qi to include these above teachings from ASAM and Yano in order to include generating a road partition index having an entry for each road part, the entry containing, for each road attribute, a reference to at least one memory location storing a single set of one or more function parameters that defines the form of the describing function of that road attribute as fixed throughout that road part. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to locate the road part quickly. One of ordinary skill would have recognized that an efficient implementation of Qi’s road characterization device using ASAM road layout files and Yano’s method of referencing road attributes to the map memory locations would maintain an index key to each of road attributes, i.e. lane identifiers, road parts, longitudinal intervals with one entry per reference that makes detailed road maps faster to query without recomputing the whole layout every time.
PNG
media_image4.png
655
1087
media_image4.png
Greyscale
Applicant argued that the cited references do not teach " implementing a scenario query engine configured to receive a part query comprising a descriptor of the road part, and in response to the query: using the descriptor to locate the entry in the road partition index for one of the road parts based on the part query by matching the descriptor to the road part" as recited in claim 1. Examiner respectfully disagree. Qi teaches a search module of road part query engine and using descriptor of road description to search road information to be displayed on a device, as in para[79], “a search module”, and para [09], “acquiring a target road, wherein the target road comprises one or more road segments; determining, according to road segment attribute information of the road segments, one or more atomic lanes corresponding to the one or more road segments according to road segment attribute information of the road segments”, and para [71], “In step S22, the road information displaying device may acquire road information to be displayed”)
Applicant argued that the cited references do not teach "evaluating the describing function of at least one of the road attributes within the road part, and generating a part query response based on the evaluation of the describing function," " as recited in claim 1. Examiner respectfully disagree. Qi teaches a search module of road part query engine and using descriptor of road description to search road information to be displayed on a device, as in para[79], “a search module”. Furthermore, Qi teaches a lane database in para [72], “ access the lane database, and may acquire one or more atomic lanes corresponding to the corresponding roads, and lane association information related to the atomic lanes”. Moreover, Qi teaches generating a part query response based on description information and display on the road information displaying device may acquire road information to be displayed”. Therefore, Qi teaches each and every limitation of "evaluating the describing function of at least one of the road attributes within the road part, and generating a part query response based on the evaluation of the describing function”.
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 extension fee 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 KAI NMN WANG whose telephone number is (571)270-5633. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 0800-1700.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rachid Bendidi can be reached on (571) 272-4896. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/KAI NMN WANG/ Examiner, Art Unit 3664
/REDHWAN K MAWARI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3664
Prosecution Insights