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
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 5-10, 13 and 15-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sadilek et al. (WO2023196207A1) in view of Ferreira et al. (US20200284883A1)
Regarding claim 1, Sadilek discloses:
An autonomous vehicle sensor calibration system, comprising: a powered earth-moving vehicle having a chassis, a tool attachment, one or more hydraulic arms connecting the tool attachment to the chassis, at least one of tracks or wheels {abstract: excavator vehicles}, a LiDAR (light detection and ranging) component mounted on the tool attachment or on one of the hydraulic arms {[0016]: depth data from LiDAR… positioning data, for particular moveable parts of an earthmoving vehicle (e.g., the digging boom/arm/attachment of an excavator vehicle). Mounting on the tool attachment or arms is implied},
first controls for manipulating movement of the at least one of the tracks or wheels via at least one of one or more piston displacement mechanisms {[0031]: engine. [0042]: control autonomous operations… track heading}, and
second controls for manipulating movement of the one or more hydraulic arms and the tool attachment via at least one of the one or more piston displacement mechanisms {[0010]: control movement of earth-moving construction or mining vehicles (e.g., an excavator vehicle’s boom arm and stick arm and attachment tool};
a microcontroller unit on the powered earth-moving vehicle that is capable of effecting movement of the first and second controls {[0017]: using a microcontroller located on the earthmoving vehicle}; and
Sadilek does not disclose:
a control system on the powered earth-moving vehicle that is configured to communicate with the microcontroller unit and to perform automated operations including at least: gathering, while the LiDAR component is at a current LiDAR position and orientation in three-dimensional (3D) space, an initial 3D point cloud data set with a plurality of data points on surfaces of at least some of a job site on which the powered earth-moving vehicle is located.
Ferreira teaches control system to communicate in [0402]: a control device (LIDAR Data Processing System/Control and Communication System/LIDAR Sensor Management System); gathering 3D point cloud data in 3D space in [2333]: LIDAR measurements generate 3D Point Cloud Data; data points of surfaces of a job site in [0444]: information and images onto the surface of a road or an object and/or for the projection of infrared radiation for LIDAR Sensor System purposes. Examiner notes that the current LiDAR position and orientation are implied since LiDAR is a sensor for 3D space and its position and orientation are references for the sensor measurement.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the 3D point cloud data feature of Ferreira with the described invention of Sadilek in order to facilitate figuring out a work site for an earth-moving vehicle.
Sadilek further discloses: obtaining an initial approximation of a difference between the current LiDAR position and orientation and a current reference position and orientation in 3D space {[0020]: differences between the expected output data and the actual output using one or more mean squared distances between expected and actual vectors for movement of one or more of a boom of the earth-moving vehicle. Examiner notes that a vector means position and orientation on a reference}.
Ferreira further teaches: wherein the current reference position and orientation are for a position of a reference point on the chassis at a time of the gathering of the initial 3D point cloud data set and for a constant orientation that includes horizontal directions for X and Y axes and a vertical direction for a Z axis {[3955]: along the x-axis and/or the y-axis (e.g., along a first axis and/or a second axis perpendicular to one another and perpendicular to the z-axis)}.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the 3-axes feature of Ferreira with the described invention of Sadilek in order to provide a reference coordinate for movement of an earth-moving vehicle.
Ferreira further teaches: wherein the reference point has a known position within a common global coordinate system that uses the constant orientation {[0031]: Tagging… to correlate data with location information, e.g. GPS-information}.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the common global coordinate system feature of Ferreira with the described invention of Sadilek in order to describe movement of an earth-moving vehicle with reference to a common global coordinate system.
Ferreira further teaches: generating one or more transformations that represent the difference between the current LiDAR position and orientation and the current reference position and orientation, including: gathering, while using the second controls to move the LiDAR component in 3D space, a plurality of 3D point cloud data sets from the LiDAR component at a plurality of combinations of position and orientation in 3D space of the LiDAR component, and a plurality of groups of data readings from sensors on the powered earth-moving vehicle about a position and orientation in 3D space of the chassis at the reference point {[5591]: data transformation (e.g., with respect to data format, data resolution and angle of view, as an example), data encoding, basic or advanced object classification (e.g., assignment of bounding boxes or object heading), object recognition, and the like. [2333]. combinations of position and orientation in 3D space of the LiDAR component in [2312]: point clouds (three-dimensional (3D) for LIDAR… combinations of point cloud dimensionalities. groups of data readings from sensors in [1129]: a combination of a LIDAR function with a camera function is usually implemented by means of two separate sensor systems}, wherein each of the 3D point cloud data sets is associated with a respective one of the plurality of groups of data readings that is captured substantially concurrently with that 3D point cloud data set {[2333], [1129]. For combination, individual data should be associated with the group data for a given time point since the earth moving vehicle may continuously move}.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the data combination feature of Ferreira with the described invention of Sadilek in order to facilitate data processing of LiDAR data.
Ferreira further teaches: wherein each of the 3D point cloud data sets covers an area around at least some of the powered earth-moving vehicle that overlaps with an area for one or more other of the 3D point cloud data sets; converting, for each of the plurality of 3D point cloud data sets and using the initial approximation, data points of that 3D point cloud data set into the common global coordinate system; and analyzing data points of the plurality of 3D point cloud data sets in the common global coordinate system to determine parameters for the one or more transformations that maximize overlap between pairs of 3D point cloud data sets in the common global coordinate system; and using the generated one or more transformations to convert the initial 3D point cloud data set into the common global coordinate system {[3178]: the LIDAR system… to provide a segmentation of the field of view. Illustratively, the field of view may be divided into segments (or areas). The division may be overlapping. [3955], [5591], [0031], maximize overlap in [1249]: The field of view of the LIDAR systems may overlap (e.g., at least partially). The main emphasis of each of these LIDAR systems (e.g., a region having higher efficiency) may for example be shifted towards one of the edges… Since the overlapping region may be more relevant. Examiner notes that converting is part of the transformation process, and determining transformation parameters is implied in the overlap maximization process}.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the maximizing overlap transformation feature of Ferreira with the described invention of Sadilek in order to facilitate data processing of LiDAR data to figure out movement of an earth moving vehicle.
Similar reasoning applies to claim 10.
Regarding claim 5, which depends from claim 1, Sadilek discloses: wherein the gathering of each of the plurality of groups of data readings from the sensors on the powered earth-moving vehicle about the position and the orientation in 3D space of the chassis at the reference point includes gathering data from at least one GPS (global positioning system) unit and at least one IMU (inertial measurement unit) sensor {[0039]: inertial measurement units, GPS}.
Similar reasoning applies to claim 17.
Regarding claim 6, which depends from claim 1, Sadilek discloses: further comprising: one or more GPS antennas mounted at one or more positions on the chassis and capable of receiving GPS signals for use in determining GPS coordinates of at least some of the chassis; one or more INS (inertial navigation system) units that each uses data from at least one IMU (inertial measurement unit) sensor; and one or more first position sensors mounted on the one or more hydraulic arms and configured to detect one or more first angles between the chassis and the one or more hydraulic arms, and one or more second position sensors mounted on the tool attachment and configured to detect one or more second angles between the tool attachment and at least one of the one or more hydraulic arms {[0039], [0016]: GPS antennas, [0038]: ‘angles_x’, ‘angles_y’ and ‘angles_z’ represent an angular measurement of at least one of the boom relative to the main body chassis, or the arm relative to the boom, or the bucket (or other attachment) relative to the arm and/or boom, such as with the angular measurements determined}.
Similar reasoning applies to claim 18.
Regarding claim 7, which depends from claim 1, Sadilek discloses: wherein the control system is configured to implement at least some automated operations of an earth-moving vehicle autonomous operations control system by executing software instructions of the earth-moving vehicle autonomous operations control system, and wherein the automated operations are performed autonomously without receiving human input and without receiving external signals other than GPS signals and real-time kinematic (RTK) correction signals {abstract: autonomous control of earth-moving vehicles, [0016]: RTK positioning component that receives and uses GPS… receives RTK correction data}.
Regarding claim 8, which depends from claim 1, Sadilek discloses: wherein the powered earth-moving vehicle is one of a bulldozer vehicle or an excavator vehicle {[0016]: excavator vehicle}.
Regarding claim 9, which depends from claim 1, Sadilek discloses: wherein the obtaining of the initial approximation of the difference between the current LiDAR position and orientation and the current reference position and orientation in 3D space includes using a manual measurement of the difference between the current LiDAR position and orientation and the current reference position and orientation in 3D space {[0041]: obtains actual operational data from manual operation of earth-moving vehicles in multiple episodes of performing one or more tasks (e.g., including actual sensor data for the earthmoving vehicle and its environment, corresponding actual manual control data for the earth-moving vehicle}.
Similar reasoning applies to claim 20.
Regarding claim 13, which depends from 10, Sadilek discloses: further comprising using the converted initial 3D point cloud data set to control movement of the powered earth-moving vehicle on the site {[0031], [0042], [0010]}.
Regarding claim 15, which depends from claim 10, Sadilek discloses: wherein the powered earth-moving vehicle further has a tool attachment and one or more hydraulic arms connecting the tool attachment to the chassis, and wherein the LiDAR component is mounted on the tool attachment or on one of the hydraulic arms {abstract, [0016]}.
Regarding claim 16, which depends from claim 10, Sadilek discloses: wherein at least one of the one or more configured hardware processors is a low-voltage microcontroller that is located on the powered earth-moving vehicle and is configured to implement at least some automated operations of an earth-moving vehicle autonomous operations control system by executing software instructions of the earth-moving vehicle autonomous operations control system, and wherein the generating of the one or more transformations and the using of the generated one or more transformations are performed autonomously without receiving human input and without receiving external signals other than GPS signals and real-time kinematic (RTK) correction signals {abstract, [0016]: low-power microcontrollers}.
Regarding claim 19, which depends from claim 10, Sadilek discloses: wherein the powered earth-moving vehicle is one of a bulldozer vehicle or an excavator vehicle, wherein the one or more configured hardware processors are configured to implement at least some automated operations of an earth-moving vehicle autonomous operations control system by executing software instructions of the earth-moving vehicle autonomous operations control system, and wherein the gathering of the LiDAR data and the generating of the one or more transformations and the using of the generated one or more transformations are performed autonomously without receiving human input and without receiving external signals other than GPS signals and real-time kinematic (RTK) correction signals {abstract, [0016]}.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 3, 4, 11, 12 and 14 are 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
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/C.P./Examiner, Art Unit 3661
/RUSSELL FREJD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3661
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