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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 05/11/2026 has been entered.
Status of claims
Claims 4-5 are canceled.
Claims 1 and 6 are amended.
Claims 1-3, 6-10 are pending.
Response to arguments
With respect to Applicant’s remarks filed on 05/11/2026; Applicant's “Amendments and Remarks” have been fully considered. Applicant’s remarks will be addressed in sequential order as they were presented.
Applicant remarks:
Paras[0058], [0068]-[0069], [0073] and [0088] mentioned in the argument to overcome 112(b) rejection.
Amended claim 1 is a specific technical solution based on paras[0039],[0058],[0069],[0074]-[0075].
Office Response:
Arguments overcome 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejection.
Argument relied on paras[0039],[0058],[0069],[0074]-[0075] indicates that the road data process and generating method of road data evaluation report in the claim 1 will provide a accurate road data evaluation report considering a general development verification platform rather than different verification platforms which required different mass-produced models in a targeted manner. Based on this argument, the amended claim 1 overcome 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection.
Please see new mapping above, specifically the mapping for the independent claims.
Applicant further argues that the other independent claims which recite similar features are allowable and the dependent claims are also allowable since they depend on allowable subject and the Office respectfully disagrees. It is the Office's stance that all of the claimed subject matter has been properly rejected; therefore, the Office's respectfully disagrees with applicant’s arguments.
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.
Claims 1-3,6-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatented over US 20190204091A1 to Williams et al. (herein after “Williams”) in view of US2020137099 A1 to Tomoyuki et al. (herein after “Tomoyuki”).
Regarding claim 1, Williams teaches A method for generating a road data evaluation report, applied to a device for generating a road data evaluation report, wherein: (See Williams para[0066] both positional and directional dissimilarities between trace data and a digital map using various techniques.)
the device for generating a road data evaluation report comprises a memory, a processor (See Williams process 200);
, and a program for generating the road data evaluation report stored in the memory and executable on the processor; when the program for generating the road data evaluation report is executed by the processor, the method for generating the road data evaluation report is implemented; (see Williams para[0134] The computer system 1000 can be used to execute instructions 1024 (e.g., program code or software) for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies (or processes);
and the road data to be evaluated is acquired by a system sensor to be evaluated corresponding to a combined inertial navigation unit to be evaluated; (See Williams para[0027] Generally, telematics module 122 gathers trace data from sensors on client devices 110) desensitizing the road data to be processed to obtain target road data (see William para[0062] Herein, “unfiltered” trace data refers to the trace data received from devices as they operate in the environment and “ground truth data” refers to analyzed and filtered trace data determined to accurately reflect the road network of the environment.); determining truth road data according ((see Williams para[0062] ground truth data) to the target road data (see Williams unfiltered trace data); and
generating the road data evaluation report according to the truth road data and the road data to be evaluated; (see Williams para[0066] positional and directional dissimilarities between trace data and a digital map using various techniques).
and the method comprises: obtaining road data to be processed (see Williams para [0062] “unfiltered” trace data) and road data to be evaluated (See Williams para[0062] digital maps of the area),
However, Williams does not expressly disclose or otherwise teach the road data to be processed is acquired by a truth system sensor corresponding to a truth combined inertial navigation unit, wherein the determining the truth road data according to the target road data comprises: obtaining first driving control information of a vehicle, wherein the first driving control information refers to control information acquired by a vehicle electronic control unit (ECU) through a controller area network (CAN) bus in the truth combined inertial navigation unit; and determining the truth road data according to the target road data and the first driving control information, wherein the generating the road data evaluation report according to the truth road data and the road data to be evaluated comprises: obtaining second driving control information of the vehicle and a high-precision map, wherein second driving control information refers to control information acquired by a driving assistance domain control or an autonomous driving domain control, generating the road data evaluation report according to the truth road data, the road data to be evaluated, ), the second driving control information, and the high-precision map. Nevertheless, Tomoyuki same field of endeavor teaches wherein the road data to be processed is acquired by a truth system sensor corresponding to a truth combined inertial navigation unit (see Tomoyuki para [0028] In advanced driver assistance systems or automated driving systems, it is necessary to process a huge amount of information such as data acquired via a sensor such as a camera or LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) or data used in a dynamic map, para [0067] The LIDAR 130 is a sensor for detecting an obstruction located outside the vehicle. The LIDAR 130 is a laser sensor, ),
wherein the determining the truth road data according to the target road data comprises: obtaining first driving control information of a vehicle, wherein the first driving control information refers to control information acquired by a vehicle electronic control unit (ECU) through a controller area network (CAN) bus in the truth combined inertial navigation unit; (See Tomoyuki para [0027] In a recent system in a vehicle, many apparatuses called electronic control units (ECU) are installed. A network connecting these ECUs to each other is called an in-vehicle network. There are many standards for in-vehicle networks. Among all, the CAN (Controller Area Network) standard defined in ISO 11898-1 is one of the most widely used in-vehicle networks, para [0068] The dynamic map ECU 140 is an electronic control unit for receiving data used in a dynamic map ) and determining the truth road data according to the target road data and the first driving control information; (see Tomoyuki para[0059] Each of the ECUs 210, 220, 230, and 240 receives a data frame from the second transmission line 21 forming the second network 20,para[0062] a computer having a function of providing information to an ECU of the vehicle 1.)
wherein the generating the road data evaluation report according to the truth road data and the road data to be evaluated comprises: obtaining second driving control information of the vehicle and a high-precision map, wherein second driving control information refers to control information acquired by a driving assistance domain control or an autonomous driving domain control (See Tomoyuki para[0056] an automated driving DCU (Domain Control Unit) 100, para[0112] In the automated driving DCU 100, the second communicator 101 b receives image information representing an image captured by the camera 120, para[0060] the LIDAR 130, the dynamic map ECU 140 or the like, and each of the DCUs 100 and 300 performs a process based on information acquired from the device. Each of the DCUs 100 and 300 may control the device connected thereto as required, or may transmit information to another ECU as required.) ; and
generating the road data evaluation report according to the truth road data, the road data to be evaluated (see Williams para[0066] positional and directional dissimilarities between trace data and a digital map using various techniques), the second driving control information (see Tomoyuki para[0060] Each of the DCUs 100 and 300 is connected to a device such as the IVI 310, the automated driving ECU 110, the camera 120, the LIDAR 130, the dynamic map ECU 140 or the like, and each of the DCUs 100 and 300 performs a process based on information acquired from the device.)
and the high-precision map (see Tomoyuki para [0028] In advanced driver assistance systems or automated driving systems, it is necessary to process a huge amount of information such as data acquired via a sensor such as a camera or LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) or data used in a dynamic map).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine Williams’s remediating dissimilarities between digital maps and ground truth data via map verification with Tomoyuki’s combined inertial navigation unit, determining process of the truth road data acquired by Electronic control unit (ECU) and Domain control unit (DCU) and high-precision map to detect abnormality in order to allow to determining whether a vehicle control message is invalid or not based on information flowing on a plurality of different protocols, thereby realizing a high-security automated driving system or advanced driver assistance system (see para[0030]).
Regarding claim 2, Williams and Tomoyuki as applied to claim 1. However, Williams does not expressly disclose or otherwise teach wherein the obtaining the road data to be processed and the road data to be evaluated comprises: in response to receiving a trigger and timing instruction of a sensor, determining a data acquisition time signal of a vehicle according to the trigger and timing instruction; and obtaining the road data to be processed and the road data to be evaluated according to the data acquisition time signal. Nevertheless, Tomoyuki same field of endeavor teaches wherein the obtaining the road data to be processed and the road data to be evaluated comprises: in response to receiving a trigger and timing instruction of a sensor (See Tomoyuki para[0163] TTCAN (Time-Triggered CAN),), determining a data acquisition time signal of a vehicle according to the trigger and timing instruction; and obtaining the road data to be processed and the road data to be evaluated according to the data acquisition time signal. (see Tomoyuki para[0029] data is going to be transferred between a plurality of networks using different communication protocols, for example, such as CAN and Ethernet (registered trademark) protocols, para[0055] The second network 20 is a CAN network that transmits a data frame (a CAN frame) or the like via a bus according to a CAN protocol, it could be possible the).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine Williams’s remediating dissimilarities between digital maps and ground truth data via map verification with Tomoyuki’s combined inertial navigation unit, determining process of the truth road data acquired by Electronic control unit (ECU) and Domain control unit (DCU) and high-precision map to detect abnormality in order to allow to determining whether a vehicle control message is invalid or not based on information flowing on a plurality of different protocols, thereby realizing a high-security automated driving system or advanced driver assistance system (see para[0030]).
Regarding claim 3, Williams and Tomoyuki as applied to claim 1. Williams teaches wherein the desensitizing the road data to be processed to obtain the target road data comprises: desensitizing the road data to be processed according to a preset desensitization rule to obtain road desensitized data; determining road scene information corresponding to the road desensitized data (see William para[0067] To begin, differential module 320 accesses 530 trace data. The accessed trace data can be any trace data reflecting a road network of an area in the environment.); and indexing the road desensitized data according to the road scene information to obtain the target road data. (see William para[0062] Herein, “unfiltered” trace data refers to the trace data received from devices as they operate in the environment and “ground truth data” refers to analyzed and filtered trace data determined to accurately reflect the road network of the environment para[0076]-[0077]).
Regarding claim 6, Williams and Tomoyuki as applied to claim 1. However, Williams does not expressly disclose or otherwise teach wherein the obtaining the high-precision map comprises: obtaining an information acquisition time signal of the map; acquiring map data to be processed according to the information acquisition time signal and generating the high-precision map according to the map data to be processed. Nevertheless, Tomoyuki same field of endeavor teaches wherein the obtaining the high-precision map comprises: obtaining an information acquisition time signal of the map; acquiring map data to be processed according to the information acquisition time signal (see Tomoyuki TTCAN (Time-Triggered CAN),); and generating the high-precision map according to the map data to be processed. (see Tomoyuki para[0068]The dynamic map ECU 140 is an electronic control unit for receiving data used in a dynamic map and decoding the dynamic map using the received data. The decoded dynamic map is used, for example, in controlling the automated driving by the automated driving ECU 110.)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine Williams’s remediating dissimilarities between digital maps and ground truth data via map verification with Tomoyuki’s combined inertial navigation unit, determining process of the truth road data acquired by Electronic control unit (ECU) and Domain control unit (DCU) and high-precision map to detect abnormality in order to allow to determining whether a vehicle control message is invalid or not based on information flowing on a plurality of different protocols, thereby realizing a high-security automated driving system or advanced driver assistance system (see para[0030]).
Regarding claim 7, Williams and Tomoyuki as applied to claim 1. However, Williams does not expressly disclose or otherwise teach wherein the generating the high-precision map according to the map data to be processed comprises: obtaining vehicle control information of the vehicle as, determining original map data according to the vehicle control information and the map data to be processed, and generating the high-precision map according to the original map data. Nevertheless, Tomoyuki same field of endeavor teaches wherein the generating the high-precision map according to the map data to be processed comprises: obtaining vehicle control information of the vehicle as (See Tomoyuki para [0027], abstract A first communication circuit receives state information indicating a state of the mobility entity.); determining original map data according to the vehicle control information and the map data to be processed (see Tomoyuki abstract A first communication circuit receives state information indicating a state of the mobility entity) ; and generating the high-precision map according to the original map data. (see Tomoyuki para [0068] The dynamic map ECU 140 is an electronic control unit for receiving data used in a dynamic map and decoding the dynamic map using the received data)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine Williams’s remediating dissimilarities between digital maps and ground truth data via map verification with Tomoyuki’s combined inertial navigation unit, determining process of the truth road data acquired by Electronic control unit (ECU) and Domain control unit (DCU) and high-precision map to detect abnormality in order to allow to determining whether a vehicle control message is invalid or not based on information flowing on a plurality of different protocols, thereby realizing a high-security automated driving system or advanced driver assistance system (see para[0030]).
Regarding claim 8, Williams teaches An apparatus for generating a road data evaluation report, (See Williams para[0066] both positional and directional dissimilarities between trace data and a digital map using various techniques.) comprising: an acquisition module configured to obtain road data to be processed and road data to be evaluated(see Williams para[0134] The computer system 1000 can be used to execute instructions 1024 (e.g., program code or software) for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies (or processes);
; a processing module configured to desensitize the road data to be processed to obtain target road data; (see William para[0062] Herein, “unfiltered” trace data refers to the trace data received from devices as they operate in the environment and “ground truth data” refers to analyzed and filtered trace data determined to accurately reflect the road network of the environment.);
and a generation module configured to generate the road data evaluation report according to the truth road data and the road data to be evaluated (see Williams para[0066] positional and directional dissimilarities between trace data and a digital map using various techniques).
However, Williams does not expressly disclose or otherwise teach a determination module configured to determine truth road data according to the target road data. Nevertheless, Tomoyuki same field of endeavor teaches a determination module configured to determine truth road data according to the target road data (See Tomoyuki para [0027] In a recent system in a vehicle, many apparatuses called electronic control units (ECU) are installed. A network connecting these ECUs to each other is called an in-vehicle network. There are many standards for in-vehicle networks. Among all, the CAN (Controller Area Network) standard defined in ISO 11898-1 is one of the most widely used in-vehicle networks, para [0068] The dynamic map ECU 140 is an electronic control unit for receiving data used in a dynamic map).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine Williams’s remediating dissimilarities between digital maps and ground truth data via map verification with Tomoyuki’s combined inertial navigation unit, determining process of the truth road data acquired by Electronic control unit (ECU) and Domain control unit (DCU) and high-precision map to detect abnormality in order to allow to determining whether a vehicle control message is invalid or not based on information flowing on a plurality of different protocols, thereby realizing a high-security automated driving system or advanced driver assistance system (see para[0030]).
Regarding claim 9, Williams and Tomoyuki as applied to claim 1. Williams teaches A device for generating a road data evaluation report, comprising: a memory; a processor; and a program for generating the road data evaluation report (See Williams para[0066] both positional and directional dissimilarities between trace data and a digital map using various techniques.)
stored in the memory and executable on the processor (see Williams para[0134] The computer system 1000 can be used to execute instructions 1024 (e.g., program code or software) for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies (or processes); wherein when the program for generating the road data evaluation report is executed by the processor(see Williams para[0134]), the method for generating the road data evaluation report according to claim 1 is implemented.
Regarding claim 10, Williams and Tomoyuki as applied to claim 1. Williams teaches A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (See Williams para[0143]),, wherein a program for generating a road data evaluation report is stored on the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium(See Williams para[0143] Such a computer program may be stored in a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, which may be coupled to a computer system bus)
, and when the program for generating the road data evaluation report is executed by a processor (See Williams process 200); the method for generating the road data evaluation report according to claim 1is implemented (see Williams para[0066] positional and directional dissimilarities between trace data and a digital map using various techniques).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NAZIA AFRIN whose telephone number is (703)756-1175. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:30-6.
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, Scott A Browne can be reached at 5712700151. 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.
/NAZIA AFRIN/ Examiner, Art Unit 3666
/SCOTT A BROWNE/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3666
Prosecution Insights