$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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statements (IDS) filed on 09/30/2024 has been acknowledged
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 parent Application No. JP2022-067709, filed on 04/15/2022.
Claim Objections
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities: “whether the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body” is written twice. Appropriate correction is required.
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 (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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 10, and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP-2019191892-A to Mori et. al. (“Mori”).
Regarding claim 1, Mori teaches an information processing method comprising (Mori claim 1):
obtaining travel information on travel of at least two mobile bodies that are capable of autonomous travel and operable by at least one of remote operation or remote monitoring (Mori [0057] “each of the plurality of vehicles 400 transmits request information including section information indicating a travel section in which remote driving is desired and position information indicating the position of the vehicle 400 to the remote driving management apparatus 100.”);
predicting, based on the travel information and location information on a first area in which at least one of the remote operation or the remote monitoring is required, a first mobile body that has a travel route scheduled to pass through the first area and that is scheduled to enter the first area, among the at least two mobile bodies (Mori Fig. 5 and [0057] “each of the plurality of vehicles 400 transmits request information including section information indicating a travel section in which remote driving is desired and position information indicating the position of the vehicle 400 to the remote driving management apparatus 100. Here, among the five vehicles 400, the section information included in the request information of the three vehicles 400 indicates the remote operation section 510, and the section information included in the request information of the two vehicles 400 is the remote operation section 520.” and [0058]);
identifying, based on the travel information and the location information, a second mobile body that is different from the first mobile body and that has a travel route scheduled to pass through the first area (Mori Fig. 5 and [0057] “each of the plurality of vehicles 400 transmits request information including section information indicating a travel section in which remote driving is desired and position information indicating the position of the vehicle 400 to the remote driving management apparatus 100. Here, among the five vehicles 400, the section information included in the request information of the three vehicles 400 indicates the remote operation section 510, and the section information included in the request information of the two vehicles 400 is the remote operation section 520.”);
determining whether the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area (Mori Fig. 5 and [0058] “For example, the remote operation management device 100 sets the vehicles 400 that have the same section information and the distance between the vehicles 400 is shorter than a predetermined threshold as one group”);
and outputting, to the second mobile body, instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform following control to follow the first mobile body, when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area (Mori Fig. 5 and [0059] – [0063]).
Regarding claim 2, Mori teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mori further discloses that the information processing method further comprises: outputting, to the second mobile body, instruction information for causing the second mobile body to continue performing individual control to travel independently of the first mobile body, when the determining is made that the second mobile body will not catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area (Mori Fig. 5 and [0057] “Here, among the five vehicles 400, the section information included in the request information of the three vehicles 400 indicates the remote operation section 510, and the section information included in the request information of the two vehicles 400 is the remote operation section 520.”).
Regarding claim 3, Mori teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mori further discloses that in the determining whether the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body is determined based on (i) a waiting time period that is a time period from when the first mobile body reaches the first area to when the first mobile body enters the first area and a catching-up time period that is a time period from a first time at which the first mobile body reaches the first area to a second time at which the second mobile body reaches a location of the first mobile body, or based on (ii) a distance on a route between the first mobile body and the second mobile body and a reference value for the distance (Mori Fig. 5 and [0058] “For example, the remote operation management device 100 sets the vehicles 400 that have the same section information and the distance between the vehicles 400 is shorter than a predetermined threshold as one group”).
Regarding claim 4, Mori teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 3. Mori further discloses that the second time is a time at which the second mobile body reaches the location of the first mobile body by autonomously traveling at an accelerated speed (Mori [0062] “vehicles 400 may move to the notified meeting place 512 and park in the notified arrangement order, and then transmit report information to the remote operation management device 100.”).
Regarding claim 10, Mori teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mori further discloses that the information processing method further comprises: when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area, determining whether the first mobile body is able to wait in a space in a vicinity of the travel route before entering the first area until the second mobile body catches up with the first mobile body (Mori [0083] “The meeting place determination unit 112 may determine the meeting place based on the positions of the plurality of vehicles 400 included in the group and the travel sections in which the plurality of vehicles 400 are driven by remote driving. The meeting place determination unit 112 specifies, for example, an area between the position of the vehicle 400 closest to the starting point of the traveling section and the starting point of the traveling section among the plurality of vehicles 400, and determines the meeting place from the area. The meeting place determination unit 112 may determine a place in the area where a plurality of vehicles 400 included in the group can stop or park as a meeting place.”), wherein when the determining is made that the first mobile body is unable to wait, the outputting of the instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform the following control is not performed (Mori Fig. 10 ref “S110” and [0090]).
Regarding claim 12, Mori teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mori further discloses that in the determining of the second mobile body, each of a plurality of second mobile bodies is determined as the second mobile body (Mori Fig. 5 group 452), and the information processing method further comprises: determining a total number of at least one second mobile body caused to perform the following control among the plurality of second mobile bodies when the determining is made that the plurality of second mobile bodies will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area (Mori Fig. 5 and [0057] “each of the plurality of vehicles 400 transmits request information including section information indicating a travel section in which remote driving is desired and position information indicating the position of the vehicle 400 to the remote driving management apparatus 100. Here, among the five vehicles 400, the section information included in the request information of the three vehicles 400 indicates the remote operation section 510, and the section information included in the request information of the two vehicles 400 is the remote operation section 520.” and [0059] “determines the vehicle 400 to be shifted to the remote operation mode and the vehicle 400 to be shifted to the follow-up driving mode based on the request information corresponding to the three vehicles 400 for the group 452.”), wherein the outputting of the instruction information for causing the at least one second mobile body defined by the total number determined to perform the following control is performed (Mori Fig. 5 and [0059] – [0063]).
Regarding claim 13, Mori teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mori further discloses that in the determining of the second mobile body, each of a plurality of second mobile bodies is determined as the second mobile body (Mori Fig. 5 group 452), and the information processing method further comprises: selecting a second mobile body caused to perform the following control from among the plurality of second mobile bodies when the determining is made that the plurality of second mobile bodies will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area (Mori Fig. 5 and [0057] “each of the plurality of vehicles 400 transmits request information including section information indicating a travel section in which remote driving is desired and position information indicating the position of the vehicle 400 to the remote driving management apparatus 100. Here, among the five vehicles 400, the section information included in the request information of the three vehicles 400 indicates the remote operation section 510, and the section information included in the request information of the two vehicles 400 is the remote operation section 520.” and [0059] “determines the vehicle 400 to be shifted to the remote operation mode and the vehicle 400 to be shifted to the follow-up driving mode based on the request information corresponding to the three vehicles 400 for the group 452.”), wherein in the outputting, the instruction information for causing the second mobile body selected to perform the following control is outputted to the second mobile body selected (Mori Fig. 5 and [0059] – [0063]).
Regarding claim 14, Mori teaches an information processing device comprising (Mori Fig. 1 and [0004]):
an obtainer that obtains travel information on travel of at least two mobile bodies that are capable of autonomous travel and operable by at least one of remote operation or remote monitoring (Mori [0057] “each of the plurality of vehicles 400 transmits request information including section information indicating a travel section in which remote driving is desired and position information indicating the position of the vehicle 400 to the remote driving management apparatus 100.”);
a predictor that predicts (Mori ref “remote driving management apparatus 100”), based on the travel information and location information on a first area in which at least one of the remote operation or the remote monitoring is required, a first mobile body that has a travel route scheduled to pass through the first area and that is scheduled to enter the first area, among the at least two mobile bodies (Mori Fig. 5 and [0057] “each of the plurality of vehicles 400 transmits request information including section information indicating a travel section in which remote driving is desired and position information indicating the position of the vehicle 400 to the remote driving management apparatus 100. Here, among the five vehicles 400, the section information included in the request information of the three vehicles 400 indicates the remote operation section 510, and the section information included in the request information of the two vehicles 400 is the remote operation section 520.” and [0058]);
an identifier that identifies (Mori ref “remote driving management apparatus 100”), based on the travel information and the location information, a second mobile body that is different from the first mobile body and that has a travel route scheduled to pass through the first area (Mori Fig. 5 and [0057] “each of the plurality of vehicles 400 transmits request information including section information indicating a travel section in which remote driving is desired and position information indicating the position of the vehicle 400 to the remote driving management apparatus 100. Here, among the five vehicles 400, the section information included in the request information of the three vehicles 400 indicates the remote operation section 510, and the section information included in the request information of the two vehicles 400 is the remote operation section 520.”);
a determiner (Mori ref “remote driving management apparatus 100”) that determines whether the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area (Mori Fig. 5 and [0058] “For example, the remote operation management device 100 sets the vehicles 400 that have the same section information and the distance between the vehicles 400 is shorter than a predetermined threshold as one group”);
and an outputter that outputs (Mori ref “remote driving management apparatus 100”), to the second mobile body, instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform following control to follow the first mobile body, when the determiner determines that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area (Mori Fig. 5 and [0059] – [0063]).
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.
Claim(s) 5-6 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mori in view of US-20210284157-A1 to Koike et. al. (“Koike”).
Regarding claim 5, Mori teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mori does not teach that the information processing method further comprises: when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area, calculating, based on a situation of the first area, a risk caused by the following control performed by the second mobile body in the first area, and determining whether the risk calculated exceeds a predetermined reference value, wherein when the determining is made that the risk calculated exceeds the predetermined reference value, the outputting of the instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform the following control is not performed. However, Koike teaches that the information processing method, further comprises: when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area (Koike Abstract “A vehicle following traveling system including a leading vehicle and a following vehicle is provided.”), calculating, based on a situation of the first area, a risk caused by the following control performed by the second mobile body in the first area (Koike [0036] “The following car 1 includes, as shown in FIG. 3 … a risk determination unit …”), and determining whether the risk calculated exceeds a predetermined reference value (Koike [0037] “The risk determination unit 303 determines whether or not the leading car 2 has a risk of turn-over, sudden stop, or understeer (deviation from a lane). In one example, it is determined whether or not the possibility of turn-over or sudden stop is higher than a predetermined value.”), wherein when the determining is made that the risk calculated exceeds the predetermined reference value, the outputting of the instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform the following control is not performed (Koike [0037] “If the risk determination unit 303 has determined that there is a risk of turn-over, sudden stop, or understeer, the risk aversion controller 304 performs risk aversion in order to prevent contact with the leading car 2 or deviation from the lane. The risk aversion includes deceleration or stopping by operating the braking device 29a, or evacuation to a road shoulder, as will be described later.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified the method of Mori to incorporate the teachings of Koike such that the information processing method further comprises: when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area, calculating, based on a situation of the first area, a risk caused by the following control performed by the second mobile body in the first area, and determining whether the risk calculated exceeds a predetermined reference value, wherein when the determining is made that the risk calculated exceeds the predetermined reference value, the outputting of the instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform the following control is not performed. Doing so would ensure that in a vehicle following traveling system, a following vehicle will not come into contract with a leading vehicle or an occupant of the leading vehicle (Koike [0005]).
Regarding claim 6, Mori as modified by Koike teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 5. Koike further discloses that the risk indicates a difficulty level of performing the remote operation on the first mobile body while causing the second mobile body to perform the following control in the first area (Koike [0037] “it is determined whether or not the possibility of turn-over or sudden stop is higher than a predetermined value. If the risk determination unit 303 has determined that there is a risk of turn-over, sudden stop, or understeer”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to further incorporate the teachings of Koike to Mori as modified by Koike such that the risk indicates a difficulty level of performing the remote operation on the first mobile body while causing the second mobile body to perform the following control in the first area. Doing so would ensure that in a vehicle following traveling system, a following vehicle will not come into contract with a leading vehicle or an occupant of the leading vehicle (Koike [0005]).
Regarding claim 9, Mori teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mori does not teach that the information processing method further comprises: when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area, checking a scheduled passage route that is a route scheduled to be taken by the first mobile body to pass through the first area; and determining whether or not a proportion of one or more straight roads included in the scheduled passage route is at least a threshold value, wherein when the determining is made that the proportion of the one or more straight roads included in the scheduled passage route does not exceed the threshold value, the outputting of the instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform the following control is not performed. However, Koike teaches that the information processing method further comprises: when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area (Koike Abstract “A vehicle following traveling system including a leading vehicle and a following vehicle is provided.”), checking a scheduled passage route that is a route scheduled to be taken by the first mobile body to pass through the first area; and determining whether or not a proportion of one or more straight roads included in the scheduled passage route is at least a threshold value (Koike [0048] “For example, the predetermined condition includes a condition that a path (sharp curve) whose curvature R is 50 or less is included in the scheduled traveling path, and the distance until the path is 100 m or less. When traveling along a sharp curve path in this way, the possibility that the leading car 2 turns over or understeers in a predetermined period of time may increase compared with a case where traveling is performed along a straight-line path.”), wherein when the determining is made that the proportion of the one or more straight roads included in the scheduled passage route does not exceed the threshold value, the outputting of the instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform the following control is not performed (Koike [0048] “Therefore, the vehicle control apparatus 10 determines that the scheduled traveling path satisfies the predetermined condition (Yes in step S502), advances the processing to step S503, and executes risk aversion processing so as to increase the distance from the leading car 2.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified the method of Mori to incorporate the teachings of Koike such that the information processing method further comprises: when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area, checking a scheduled passage route that is a route scheduled to be taken by the first mobile body to pass through the first area; and determining whether or not a proportion of one or more straight roads included in the scheduled passage route is at least a threshold value, wherein when the determining is made that the proportion of the one or more straight roads included in the scheduled passage route does not exceed the threshold value, the outputting of the instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform the following control is not performed. Doing so would ensure that in a vehicle following traveling system, a following vehicle will not come into contract with a leading vehicle or an occupant of the leading vehicle (Koike [0005]) and help increase safety.
Claim(s) 8 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mori in view of US-20190337513-A1 (“Kim”).
Regarding claim 8, Mori teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mori does not teach that the information processing method further comprises: when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area, determining whether a length of a scheduled passage route that is a route scheduled to be taken by the first mobile body to pass through the first area exceeds a predetermined value, wherein when the determining is made that the length of the scheduled passage route exceeds the predetermined value, the outputting of the instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform the following control is not performed. However, Kim teaches that the information processing method further comprises: when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area, determining whether a length of a scheduled passage route that is a route scheduled to be taken by the first mobile body to pass through the first area exceeds a predetermined value, wherein when the determining is made that the length of the scheduled passage route exceeds the predetermined value, the outputting of the instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform the following control is not performed (Kim [0015], [0020], and [0042]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified the method of Mori to incorporate the teachings of Kim such that the information processing method further comprises: when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area, determining whether a length of a scheduled passage route that is a route scheduled to be taken by the first mobile body to pass through the first area exceeds a predetermined value, wherein when the determining is made that the length of the scheduled passage route exceeds the predetermined value, the outputting of the instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform the following control is not performed. Doing so would provide a lane keeping assist system (LKAS) for restricting a preceding vehicle follower longitudinal control range in a preceding vehicle follower longitudinal control process caused by disappearance or loss of a forward lane when lane keeping control is performed through recognition of a lane and a preceding vehicle, resulting in improvement in vehicle safety, and a method for controlling the same (Kim [0008]).
Regarding claim 15, Mori teaches:
obtaining travel information on travel of at least two mobile bodies that are capable of autonomous travel and operable by at least one of remote operation or remote monitoring (Mori [0057] “each of the plurality of vehicles 400 transmits request information including section information indicating a travel section in which remote driving is desired and position information indicating the position of the vehicle 400 to the remote driving management apparatus 100.”);
predicting, based on the travel information and location information on a first area in which at least one of the remote operation or the remote monitoring is required, a first mobile body that has a travel route scheduled to pass through the first area and that is scheduled to enter the first area, among the at least two mobile bodies(Mori Fig. 5 and [0057] “each of the plurality of vehicles 400 transmits request information including section information indicating a travel section in which remote driving is desired and position information indicating the position of the vehicle 400 to the remote driving management apparatus 100. Here, among the five vehicles 400, the section information included in the request information of the three vehicles 400 indicates the remote operation section 510, and the section information included in the request information of the two vehicles 400 is the remote operation section 520.” and [0058]);
identifying, based on the travel information and the location information, a second mobile body that is different from the first mobile body and that has a travel route scheduled to pass through the first area (Mori Fig. 5 and [0057] “each of the plurality of vehicles 400 transmits request information including section information indicating a travel section in which remote driving is desired and position information indicating the position of the vehicle 400 to the remote driving management apparatus 100. Here, among the five vehicles 400, the section information included in the request information of the three vehicles 400 indicates the remote operation section 510, and the section information included in the request information of the two vehicles 400 is the remote operation section 520.”);
determining whether the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area (Mori Fig. 5 and [0058] “For example, the remote operation management device 100 sets the vehicles 400 that have the same section information and the distance between the vehicles 400 is shorter than a predetermined threshold as one group”);
and outputting, to the second mobile body, instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform following control to follow the first mobile body, when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area (Mori Fig. 5 and [0059] – [0063]).
Mori does not teach a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for causing a computer to execute a method. However, Kim teaches a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for causing a computer to execute a method (Kim claim 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified the method of Mori to incorporate the teachings of Kim such that a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for causing a computer to execute a method is provided. Doing so would allow the instructions to be stored (Kim [0037]).
Claim(s) 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mori in view of JP-2021068132-A to Nagura et. al. (“Nagura”).
Regarding claim 11, Mori teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mori does not teach that that the information processing method further comprises: when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area, determining whether a skill level of an operator who performs at least one of the remote operation or the remote monitoring on the first mobile body in the first area exceeds a predetermined level, wherein when the determining is made that the skill level does not exceed the predetermined level, the outputting of the instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform the following control is not performed. However, Nagura teaches that the information processing method further comprises: when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area, determining whether a skill level of an operator who performs at least one of the remote operation or the remote monitoring on the first mobile body in the first area exceeds a predetermined level, wherein when the determining is made that the skill level does not exceed the predetermined level, the outputting of the instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform the following control is not performed (Nagura Fig. 6 and [0057] – [0059]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified the method of Mori to incorporate the teachings of Nagura such that the information processing method further comprises: when the determining is made that the second mobile body will catch up with the first mobile body before the first mobile body enters the first area, determining whether a skill level of an operator who performs at least one of the remote operation or the remote monitoring on the first mobile body in the first area exceeds a predetermined level, wherein when the determining is made that the skill level does not exceed the predetermined level, the outputting of the instruction information for causing the second mobile body to perform the following control is not performed. Doing so would ensure drivers with less experience aren’t given difficult operations, increasing safety.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON TOAN NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-6163. The examiner can normally be reached M-T: 8-5:30 F1:8-12 F2: Off.
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/J.N./Examiner, Art Unit 3666
/SCOTT A BROWNE/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3666