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 § 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, 2, 4, 6-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Tanaka et al [US 2023/0159035] in view of Cai et al [CN 113689735 A]
Consider claim 1. A vehicle control device (the host vehicle 1 includes a controller 17,
see Figs. 1, 3) comprising:
at least one of (i) a circuit and (ii) a processor with a memory storing computer program
code executable by the processor, the at least one of the circuit and the processor
configured to cause the vehicle control device to a to determine whether a following
vehicle, which is a different vehicle a subject vehicle and traveling in a same lane as the
subject vehicle, is about to perform a lane change in a situation where the subject
vehicle is about to perform a lane change based on a signal from a rear monitoring
sensor that outputs information regarding an object existing behind the subject vehicle (the host vehicle 1 includes a controller 17 with a processor 21 connected to an object
detection unit 32, object tracking unit 33 and a surrounding vehicle state acquisition unit
35 and intention estimation unit 36b to detecting and tracking adjacent vehicle 4 and/or
behind vehicle 3 then to determine that whether or not the adjacent/behind vehicle is
likely to change lanes into the host vehicle lane 2a and to output an audible and/or
visual message notifications by the output device 19, see Figs. 2A, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10A, 10B,
para [0031-0036, 0056, 0059, 0061, 0063, 0067, 0078, 0135]). But,
Tanaka et al fails to disclose the rear vehicle traveling in a same lane as the subject
vehicle. However,
Tanaka et al discloses that the solid line L42 indicates a relative position in the front-rear direction of the adjacent behind vehicle 4 with respect to the host vehicle 1 (i.e., a relative distance in the front-rear direction from the host vehicle 1 to the adjacent vehicle 4), and a broken line L32 indicates a relative position in the front-rear direction of the first preceding vehicle 3 with respect to the host vehicle 1 (i.e., a relative distance in the front-rear direction from the host vehicle 1 to the first preceding vehicle 3). Note that FIG. 5 illustrates a state in which the host vehicle 1 is following the first preceding vehicle 3 and traveling at the same speed as that of the first preceding vehicle 3 (see Figs. 5, 2A, 13A, para [0132]).
Cai et al suggests that the method involves detecting (S1) the collision risk between the main vehicle and the front and rear far vehicles on the same lane according to vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) information. A collision early warning is sent (S2) to a driver of the main vehicle and the lane changing instruction is canceled, if the main vehicle detects that the collision risk exists between the main vehicle and the front and rear far vehicles in the same lane. (See abstract).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to add or modify the collision risk between the main vehicle and the rear vehicles on the same lane according to V2I information of Cai et al to the front
host vehicle detects and determines of a backward or rearward vehicle behavior to
change lane on adjacent lane of Tanka et al because the approaching of following or rear vehicles traveled either on adjacent lane or same lane may cause an accident to the host/main vehicle during making a lane change, which is very well known in the vehicle driving conditions to avoid accident or collision when making a decision to change lane.
Kanata et al also fails to disclose a vehicle controller configured to execute a following
vehicle warning process that is a process of notifying a driver that the following vehicle
is about to perform the lane change based on a determination, by the at least one of the
circuit and the processor, the following vehicle is about to perform lane change, and
cancel or postpone the lane change of the subject vehicle when the at least one of the
circuit and the processor causes the vehicle control device to predict that the following
vehicle is attempting to perform the lane change in the situation based on a behavior of
the following vehicle. However,
Kanata et al teaches that the controller 17 estimates that the adjacent vehicle 4 is likely
to change lanes into the first lane 2a, and the vehicle behavior estimate method of the
first embodiment estimates the likelihood that the adjacent vehicle 4 will change lanes
into the first lane 2a, see Figs. 2A-5, para [0063, 0065, 0067, 0105, 0110]). The
controller 17 determines that whether or not the adjacent/behind vehicle 4 is likely to
change lanes into the host vehicle lane 2a and to output an audible and/or visual
message or notifications by the output device 19, see Figs. 2A, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10A, 10B,
para [0031-0036, 0056, 0059, 0061, 0063, 0067, 0078, 0135]).
Cai et al suggests that a collision early warning is sent (S2) to a driver of the main vehicle and the lane changing instruction is canceled, if the main vehicle detects that the collision risk exists between the main vehicle and the front and rear far vehicles in the same lane. A collision early warning is sent and the lane change instruction to a main vehicle driver is canceled after detecting that the collision risk exists between the main vehicle and far vehicle on the lane change (see abstract).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skill in the art before the effective filing
date of the invention to add or modify the instructed to cancel lane if the main vehicle detects that the collision risk exists between the main vehicle and the front and rear vehicles in the same lane of Cai et al to the controller estimating and of adjacent rear vehicle is likely to change lane and alerting the host vehicle of Tanaka et al for taking an early action to avoid and preventing of accident/collision with the rear vehicle when changing lane, which is a normal safety and well known to a vehicle's driver or operator when the controller estimates the behavior of rear vehicle is traveling is attempting to change lane, driving very fast, too close, and/or wobbling.
Consider claim 2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle
controller is configured to determine whether the subject vehicle is in a specific state
based on a signal from an in-vehicle sensor that detects a state of the subject vehicle or
a behavior of the driver (the vehicle behavior estimation unit 36 estimates that the
adjacent vehicle 4 will change lanes into the first lane 2a, the traveling control
unit 39 executes at least one of a vehicle control that increases or maintains the inter-
vehicle distance between the host vehicle 1 and the first preceding vehicle 3, a vehicle
control that reduces or maintains the vehicle speed of the host vehicle 1, or a vehicle
control that prohibits acceleration of the host vehicle 1 (see Figs. 2A, 3, para [0108]).
when the subject vehicle is in the specific state, the vehicle controller executes the
following vehicle warning process (when the vehicle behavior estimation unit 36 estimates that the adjacent vehicle 4 will change lanes into the first lane 2a, the output device 19 may execute driving assistance by outputting a message such as a sound and/or a display that tells the driver, see Fig. 3, para [0109, 0110]), and when the subject vehicle is not in the specific state, the vehicle controller does not execute the following vehicle warning process (reads upon when at least one of the condition A or B1 is not satisfied, the intention estimation unit 36b does not estimate that the adjacent vehicle 4 is likely to change lanes into the first lane 2a, then there is no notification message, see Fig. 7, para [0156]).
Consider claim 4. The vehicle control device according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of
state patterns are set as the specific state (the vehicle behavior estimation unit 36
includes a vehicle speed prediction unit 36a and a intention estimate unit 36b, and
position prediction unit 36c, see Figs. 3, 6, para [0081-0097, 0139-0142]), and
the vehicle controller is configured to change a manner of the following vehicle warning
process according to the plurality of state patterns (the controller 17 controls to output a
message notification, see Fig. 1, para [0030, 0056, 0110]).
Consider claim 6. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the following
vehicle warning process includes displaying, on a display, a predetermined icon image
or a computer graphics image showing that the following vehicle has turned on a turn
signal (the notification message includes displaying of images, meter and/or steering
turning angle, see para [0034, 0036, 0056]).
Consider claim 7. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the following
vehicle warning process includes at least one of outputting a predetermined sound from
a speaker, vibrating a steering wheel, vibrating a backrest, or tightening a seat belt (the
audio and/or visual notification message, para [0056]).
Consider claim 8. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle
controller is configured to control automatic lane change of the subject vehicle
according to a traffic condition or a traveling schedule set in advance (as cited in
respect to claim 1, wherein the traveling schedule set in advance read upon the host
vehicle tracking time, predetermined time and different time, see abstract, Fig. 2B, para
[0060-0065, 0073, 0077-0091]).
Consider claim 9. A vehicle control device comprising: at least one of (i) a circuit and (ii)
a processor with a memory storing computer program code executable by the processor, the at least one of the circuit and the processor configured to cause the
vehicle control device to determine whether a following vehicle, which is a different vehicle behind a subject vehicle and traveling in a same lane as the subject vehicle, is about to perform a lane change in a situation where the subject vehicle is about to perform a lane change based on a signal from a rear monitoring sensor that outputs information regarding an object existing behind the subject vehicle; and a vehicle controller configured to control automatic lane change of the subject vehicle according to a traffic condition or a traveling schedule set in advance, and wherein the vehicle controller cancels or postpones the lane change of the subject vehicle when the at least one of the circuit and the processor cause the vehicle control device to predict that the following vehicle is attempting to perform the lane change in the situation based on a behavior of the following vehicle. (As the combination between Tanaka et al and Cai et al in respect to claims 1, 5 and 8 above).
Consider claim 10. The vehicle control device according to claim 8, wherein the vehicle
controller temporarily holds the automatic lane change of the subject vehicle and
requests a driver to input an instruction indicating whether to execute the lane change
when the at least one of the circuit and the processor determines that the following
vehicle is about to perform the lane change in the situation where the subject vehicle is
about to perform the lane change (the autonomous host vehicle 1 is driven
automatically by the controller 17 to control of lane change, see Figs. 3, 6, 7, 12, 15,
para [0028, 0029, 0045-0047).
Consider claim 11. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the rear
monitoring sensor is a camera that captures an area behind the subject vehicle, and
the at least one of the circuit and the processor is further configured to determine that
the following vehicle is about to perform the lane change when detecting that a turn
signal of the following vehicle is activated by analyzing an image from the camera (as
cited in respect to claim 1 above, and including the object sensor camera 11 mounted
on the host vehicle 1, see Fig. 1, para [0034]).
Consider claim 12. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the rear
monitoring sensor is a camera that captures an area behind the subject vehicle, and the at least one of the circuit and the processor is further configured to determine that the
following vehicle is about to perform the lane change based on an amount of change
over time in a relative position between a lane marking and the following vehicle shown
in an image of the camera (as cited in respect to claims 1 and 11 above, and wherein
the vehicle behavior estimation unit 36 of the third embodiment detects a front-rear
direction position of the adjacent vehicle 4 at a time point where the adjacent vehicle 4
starts a speed adjustment for changing lanes. The time point tO when the decrease in
the absolute value vr1 of the relative speed between the adjacent vehicle 4 and the first
preceding vehicle 3 starts to be detected is used as the time point where the speed
adjustment is started (see Figs. 5, 8, 10A, para [0134-0136, 0159, 0164, 0184]).
Consider claim 13. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the rear
monitoring sensor detects a position of the following vehicle relative to the subject vehicle or a lane marking (as cited in respect to claim 1 above, see Figs. 2A, 5, 8, 10A), and the at least one of the circuit and the processor is further configured to determine that the following vehicle is about to perform the lane change based on whether time-series data of position information of the following vehicle corresponds to a predetermined pattern (as cited in respect to claims 1 and 12 above, see Figs. 5, 8, 10A).
Consider claim 14. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the rear
monitoring sensor detects a relative speed of the following vehicle with respect to the
subject vehicle, and the at least one of the circuit and the processor is further configured
to determine that the following vehicle is about to perform the lane change based on
detection that the following vehicle is approaching the subject vehicle at a relative speed
equal to or greater than a predetermined value (calculating a relative speed between
the first preceding vehicle and the adjacent vehicle; predicting whether or not an
absolute value of the relative speed will be at or below a speed threshold value within a
predetermined time from a point time when a decrease in the absolute value of the
relative speed starts to be detected; and estimating that the adjacent vehicle is likely to
change lanes into the first lane when the absolute value of the relative speed is
predicted to be at or below the speed threshold value within the predetermined time,
see para [0005, 0062-0065]).
Consider claim 15. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle
controller is configured to detect that a distant parallel traveling vehicle traveling two
lanes away from the subject vehicle is about to perform the lane change toward a lane
of the subject vehicle based on an image captured by a camera that captures a side
area with respect to the subject vehicle, determine whether the subject vehicle is about
to perform the lane change into an adjacent lane close to a lane where the distant
parallel traveling vehicle exists, based on a signal from an in-vehicle sensor that detects
a state of the subject vehicle or a behavior of the driver, and execute a process to notify
the driver of a presence of the distant parallel traveling vehicle when detecting that the
distant parallel traveling vehicle is also about to perform the lane change into the adjacent lane in a situation where the subject vehicle is about to perform the lane
change into the adjacent lane (as the combination between Tanaka et al and Cai et al in respect to claim 1 above, wherein the object detection unit 32 detects the position of the second preceding vehicle 5 traveling in front of the adjacent vehicle 4 in the second lane 2b. When the inter-vehicle distance between the adjacent vehicle 4 and the second preceding vehicle 5 is at or above the distance threshold value, the adjacent preceding vehicle comparison unit 36e and the intention estimation unit 36b may estimate that the adjacent vehicle 4 is more likely to change lanes into the first lane 2a than when the inter-vehicle distance is below the distance threshold value, wherein lanes 2a and 2b are in parallel, (see Fig. 2A, 10A, 10B, 13A, para [0240]).
Consider claim 16. A vehicle control method executed by a vehicle control device
mounted on a vehicle, the method comprising: determining whether a following vehicle,
which is a different vehicle behind a subject vehicle and traveling in a same lane as the subject vehicle, is about to perform a lane change in a situation where the subject vehicle is about to perform a lane change based on a signal from a rear monitoring
sensor that outputs information regarding an object existing behind the subject vehicle;
executing a following vehicle warning process that is a process of notifying a driver that
the following vehicle is about to perform the lane change based on determination that
the following vehicle is about to perform the lane change; and canceling or postponing
the lane change of the subject vehicle when predicting that the following vehicle is
attempting to perform the lane change in the situation based on a behavior of the following vehicle (as the combination between Kanata et al and Cai et al in respect to claim 1 above).
Claim 17. (New) The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one of the circuit and the processor is further configured to cause the vehicle control device to predict whether the following vehicle traveling behind the subject vehicle in the
same lane is attempting to perform the lane change in a same direction as a movement direction of the lane change by the subject vehicle, and the vehicle controller is configured to cancel or postpone the lane change of the subject vehicle when the at least one of the circuit and the processor causes the vehicle control device to predict that the following vehicle is attempting to perform the lane change in the same direction (as the combination between Kanata et al and Cai et al in respect to claim 1 above, and wherein a lane change and the far vehicles on the lane change is determined (S3) according to the lane change instruction and the V2I information sent by the preset roadside unit, if the main vehicle detects that no collision risk exists between the main vehicle and the far vehicles in the front and back directions of the same lane, see Cai et al, abstract, and Fig. 2A of Kanata et al).
Claims 3, 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka et al [US 2023/0159035] and Cai et al [CN 113689735 A] and further in view of Oguro et al [US 2021/0034063]
Consider claim 3. Tanaka et al fails to disclose wherein a state where a travel speed is
equal to or higher than a predetermined value or a state where the subject vehicle is
about to perform the lane change is registered as the specific state. However,
Tanaka et al teaches that the lane change estimation devices are known that estimate that an adjacent vehicle traveling in a second lane adjacent to a first lane where a host vehicle and a preceding vehicle of the host vehicle are traveling changes lanes into the first lane. For example, a lane change estimation device described in JP 2018-147040 A
below calculates a first indicator value indicating the likelihood of an adjacent vehicle to
change lanes as a larger value the smaller the relative speed between the adjacent
vehicle and a preceding vehicle is and determines the likelihood that the adjacent
vehicle will change lanes on the basis of the calculated first indicator value (see para
[0002]).
Oguro et al suggests that the lane change controller 144 controls a driving state
during lane change on the basis of the speeds of the host vehicle M and the other
vehicles m1 to m4 in addition to the aforementioned precondition. In this case, first, the
lane change controller 144 determines whether the speed Vm3 of the front reference
vehicle m3 and the speed Vm4 of the rear reference vehicle m4 recognized by the other
vehicle recognizer 132 are lower than a predetermined speed. The predetermined
speed may be, for example, a speed determined on the basis of at least one of the
speed VM of the host vehicle M, a set speed set for the host vehicle M, and a legal
speed limit in the lane L2. The set speed may be, for example, an upper limit speed in
speed control executed in the automated driving controller 100 and a speed that can be
set by an occupant or the like of the host vehicle M within a certain degree of allowable
range (see Fig. 5, para [0088]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skill in the art before the effective filed
date of the invention to add or implement automated driving controller of the host
vehicle change lane when a set speed to be upper limit speed of Oguro et al to the host
vehicle controller with that the lane change estimation devices of Tanaka et al and Cai et al for controlling and estimating of the host vehicle changing lane without accident or
collision with surrounding vehicles.
Consider claim 5. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the at least
one of the circuit and the processor is further configured to cause the vehicle control
device to specify a direction in which the following vehicle moves based on the signal
from the rear monitoring sensor, the vehicle controller is configured to determine
whether the subject vehicle is about to perform the lane change based on a signal from
an in-vehicle sensor that detects a state of the subject vehicle or a behavior of the
driver, and specify a movement direction of the subject vehicle when the subject vehicle
is about to perform the lane change, and the vehicle controller executes the following
vehicle warning process on a condition that both of the subject vehicle and the following
vehicle are about to perform the lane change and also the movement direction of the
subject vehicle is the same as a movement direction of the following vehicle (as cited and combination between Tanaka et al and Cai et al and Oguro et al in respect to claims 1 and 3 above).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka et al [US 2023/0159035] and Cai et al [CN 113689735 A] and further in view of Abe et al [US 2020/0094826]
Consider claim 18. Tanaka et al fails to disclose wherein the at least one of the circuit and the processor is further configured to cause the vehicle control device to determine that the following vehicle is attempting to perform the lane change based on a detection that the following vehicle is in a wobbling state, and the wobbling state corresponds to a state in which a lateral position of the following vehicle relative to a lane marking repeatedly increases and decreases. However,
Kanata et al teaches that the controller 17 estimates that the adjacent vehicle 4 is likely
to change lanes into the first lane 2a, and the vehicle behavior estimate method of the
first embodiment estimates the likelihood that the adjacent vehicle 4 will change lanes
into the first lane 2a, see Figs. 2A-5, para [0063, 0065, 0067, 0105, 0110]). The
controller 17 determines that whether or not the adjacent/behind vehicle 4 is likely to
change lanes into the host vehicle lane 2a and to output an audible and/or visual
message or notifications by the output device 19, see Figs. 2A, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10A, 10B,
para [0031-0036, 0056, 0059, 0061, 0063, 0067, 0078, 0135]).
Abe et al suggests that in a case where the other vehicle recognizer 131 recognizes the rearward vehicle mr moves in the direction of a vehicle width and there is no offset-side adjacent lane, the control state changer 141 determines whether the amount of offset of the rearward vehicle mr is equal to or greater than the first threshold th1 (condition 1), and a traveling state in which the (condition 1) is satisfied (that is, the continuation aspect of the (condition 1)) continues for the predetermined time T or more (condition 2) (step S106). (See Fig. 6, para [0105, 0106]).
In a case where the rearward vehicle mr is not away from the rear of the host vehicle M, the control state changer 141 advances the process to step S106, and repeats the processes of steps S106 to S108 until the rearward vehicle mr satisfies the (condition 1) and the (condition 2). In a case where it is determined that the rearward vehicle mr is away from the rear of the host vehicle M, the control state changer 141 regards the rearward vehicle mr as performing simple wobble traveling, and the process is ended. In a case where the rearward vehicle mr satisfies the (condition 1), and the (condition 2), the control state changer 141 transitions the driving state of the host vehicle M from the second driving state to the first driving state (step S110). (See Fig. 6, para [0108, 0114]).
The relative position PT can be simply defined, for example, as a lateral position of the rearward vehicle mr, and a position on the opposite side of a side on which the rearward vehicle mr is offset. (see para [0098]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify or implement the controller to perform a lane change based on the repeatedly wobbling lateral offset thresholds of Abe et al to the controller of Kanata et al and Cai et al for avoiding and preventing of an accident or collision when making a lane change based on the wobbling behavior of following vehicle in the same lane or adjacent lane.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. New references of to make the rejection smoother.
Applicant’s arguments:
(A) Tanaka fails to disclose "a following vehicle, which is a different vehicle
behind a subject vehicle and traveling in a same lane as the subject
vehicle".
(B) Tanaka is directed to an adjacent-lane cut-in scenario, not the claimed
same-lane following-vehicle scenario.
(C) Independent Claims 9 and 16. Applicant respectfully disagrees with the rejections of Claims 9 and 16 for at least the same reasons as asserted above with respect to Claim 1.
Response to the arguments:
(A) It is obvious to combine the controller of Cai et al to the controller of Tanaka et al for controlling to change lane based on the detected of a following or rear vehicle driving on a same lane and its’s behavior in order to avoid accident or collision. Since any following vehicles driving on the same lane or adjacent lane that indicating of one or more driving behaviors such as attempting change lane, high speed, too close and/or wobbling that can cause a collision when the vehicle makes a change lane.
(B) As discussed in section (A) above and in respect to claim 1 above.
(C) The other independent claims 9 and 16 are also rejected according to the combination of the following/rear vehicle is traveling on the same lane, as discussed in respect to claim 1 above.
Conclusion
Examiner is very regrettable to provide a non-final office action due to the update search and a new reference of Cai et al that instructs to cancel the lane change due to a following vehicle in the same lane.
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/VAN T TRIEU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685
06/30/2026
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