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 . Claims 1-10 are pending and examined below. This action is in response to the claims filed 8/14/24.
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 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.
(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.
(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.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being clearly anticipated by Magzimof et al. (US 2020/0062267).
Regarding claims 1, 7, and 9, Magzimof discloses a vehicle teleoperator ranking and selection system including a remote assistance system/method/non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for remotely assisting automated driving of a mobile object, the system comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor and storing program instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to at least (Abstract and ¶8):
acquire an assistance request that is a request from the mobile object (¶70 and Fig. 6 – element 601);
generate instruction information according to an instruction from an operator in response to the assistance request (¶70 and Fig. 6 – element 606 and 607 operator confirmation to enable teleoperation session and subsequent operator controls corresponding to the recited instruction from an operator in response to the assistance request);
transmit the instruction information to the mobile object (¶23 - real-time control data to the vehicle 102 received via the remote support terminal 110 to enable the teleoperator remotely drive the vehicle);
collect determination information representing determination of the mobile object on the instruction information (¶70 and Fig. 6 – element 605 confirmation timer corresponding to the recited collecting determination information of the mobile object on the instruction information); and
output, as a transition timing of a dynamic driving task by the mobile object, evaluation information that has evaluated the operator based on a time gap between an instruction timing represented by the instruction information and a determination timing represented by the determination information (¶70 and Fig. 6 – enabling teleoperation session corresponding to the recited outputting, as a transition timing, evaluation information based on the operator confirming assignment before the confirmation timer expires corresponding to the recited time gap instruction timing represented by the instruction information and a determination timing represented by the determination information).
Regarding claims 2, 3, 8, and 10, Magzimof further discloses a remote assistance system/method/non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for remotely assisting automated driving of a mobile object, the system comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor and storing program instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to at least (Abstract and ¶8):
acquire an assistance request that is a request from the mobile object (¶70 and Fig. 6 – element 601);
generate instruction information according to an instruction from an operator in response to the assistance request (¶70 and Fig. 6 – element 606 and 607 operator confirmation to enable teleoperation session and subsequent operator controls corresponding to the recited instruction from an operator in response to the assistance request);
transmit the instruction information to the mobile object (¶23 - real-time control data to the vehicle 102 received via the remote support terminal 110 to enable the teleoperator remotely drive the vehicle);
collect plan information representing a plan provided by the mobile object according to the instruction information (¶65-71 – planned route data/maneuver/navigation task data is gathered from the vehicle corresponding to the recited collect plan information);
collect behavior information that appears in the mobile object after the plan according to the instruction information (¶65-71 and Fig. 4 – record telemetry batch corresponding to the recited behavior information of the vehicle after the plan); and
output evaluation information that has evaluated the operator based on a trajectory gap between a plan trajectory represented by the plan information and an actual trajectory represented by the behavior information, wherein the plan trajectory and the actual trajectory are a traveling trajectory of the mobile object (¶65-71 – operator score utilizing confidence score by comparing predefined maneuvers and tasks to the results of operator control corresponding to the recited trajectory gap between a plan trajectory and an actual trajectory from the telemetry data corresponding to the recited behavior information).
Regarding claim 4, Magzimof further discloses wherein collecting the behavior information includes collecting the behavior information representing the actual trajectory on which the mobile object imposes a constraint for the plan information (¶44-46 – predetermined conditions regarding temporal safety margins corresponding to the recited constraints applied to the actual trajectories including potential operator reaction time corresponding to the recited constraint for the plan information).
Regarding claim 5, Magzimof further discloses wherein outputting the evaluation information includes outputting the evaluation information based on an actual behavior of the mobile object and a statistical behavior represented by statistical information accumulated regarding the actual behavior, the actual behavior being represented by the behavior information (¶40-44 and ¶66 – operator scoring corresponding to the recited evaluation information includes telemetry data corresponding to the recited actual behavior of the mobile object which is scored over time and computed utilizing averages and normalized to a desired range for comparison corresponding to the recited statistical information accumulated regarding the actual behavior of the vehicle via the telemetry data).
Regarding claim 6, Magzimof further discloses wherein generating the instruction information includes generating the instruction information that is an instruction from the operator via remote operation of the mobile object (¶70 - element 606 and 607 operator confirmation to enable teleoperation session and subsequent operator controls corresponding to the recited instruction from an operator in response to the assistance request for remote operation of the mobile object).
Additional References Cited
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Liu et al. (US 2018/0365908) discloses a system for teleoperation requests of autonomous driving capable vehicles including monitoring vehicle operations and analyzing utilizing statistical assessments (¶85-89).
Kaneko et al. (US 2019/0265710) discloses a vehicle control device including switching to and from remote operation (¶96-98).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Matthew J Reda whose telephone number is (408)918-7573. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 7-4 ET.
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/MATTHEW J. REDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3665