DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-6, 9-10, 14-18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) / 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Price et al. (Pub. No.: US 20210405185 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Price et al. disclose an autonomous truck (par. 7) comprising, comprising:
a tractor unit configured to be coupled to a trailer that comprises multiple tires ( e.g., a tractor / truck 100 towing an attached trailer 100, wherein the trailer comprises a plurality of wheels 505 - par. 34, 66 and Figures 1 and 8), wherein the tractor unit comprises a control system (e.g., the tractor / truck comprising in-vehicle control system / vehicle control subsystem - par. 40 and Figure 6);
one or more infrared sensors (e.g., rear facing subsystem 500 comprising infrared imaging camera / radiometric camera – par. 66), wherein at least some of the one or more infrared sensors are positioned at a rear side of the tractor unit and facing towards the trailer (e.g., Figure 8 shows the infrared imaging camera / radiometric camera located at the rear of the tractor / truck 100 with angle view 510 facing toward the trailer 100 (par. 66, 68, 70 and Figure 8)),
wherein the one or more infrared sensors are configured to capture a temperature distribution of a tire (e.g., the infrared imaging camera / radiometric camera configured to detect accurate temperature measurements of the trailer tires – par. 68),
wherein the one or more infrared sensors are in communication with the control system (e.g., captured data is transferred to vehicle control subsystem via wired or wireless connection - par. 71), and
wherein the control system (in-vehicle control system / vehicle control subsystem – par. 40) is configured to:
receive the temperature distribution from the one or more infrared sensors ( vehicle control subsystem processes captured data from the infrared imaging camera / radiometric camera - par. 71 and 68),
determine one or more heatmaps based on the temperature distribution (e.g., determine heat signature of each pixel for wheel image data based on its correspondent absolute temperature value – par. 70),
determine a tire condition of the tire based on the one or more heatmaps (e.g., determine “unexpected changes in the shape of the tires 505, pieces of tire being expelled from the wheel, changes in the position or tilting of the trailer caused by deflating tires, fire or flames, smoke, or the like” (par. 71 and 72) based on determined heat signature of the wheel image data - par. 70), and
operate the tractor unit according to the tire condition (e.g., upon detection of potential problems with tire(s), the vehicle control subsystem 220 cause the truck 100 control systems to slow the speed of the truck 100, perform an emergency stop, or direct the truck 100 to pull over to the side of the road – par. 71).
Regarding claim 2, Price et al. disclose an autonomous truck, wherein the one or more infrared sensors comprises at least one more infrared sensor positioned close to one or more tires of the tractor unit (e.g., Figure 8 and 9 show the infrared imaging camera / radiometric camera positioned close to one or more tires of the tractor / truck 100 ).
Regarding claim 3, Price et al. disclose an autonomous truck, wherein at least one of the one or more infrared sensors is coupled to a motor, wherein the motor is configured to adjust an orientation of an infrared sensor upon a change of the trailer to a second, different trailer (e.g., vehicle sensor subsystem is configured to be actuated to modify a position and orientation of its sensors (par. 50) - for instance, the infrared imaging camera / radiometric camera (par. 66) for towing a variety of different types of trailers from different owners/customers - par. 5 and 6).
Regarding claim 4, Price et al. disclose an autonomous truck comprising: one or more cameras positioned at the rear side of the tractor unit and faced towards the trailer (e.g., the rear- facing sensor system 500 comprising a camera positioned at the rear side of the tractor / truck 100 - par. 70 and Figures 8-9), wherein the one or more cameras are configured to capture one or more images of at least one of the multiple tires of the trailer (e.g., camera configured to captures images of the trailer wheels 505, wherein the camera is positioned at the rear side of the tractor / truck 100 - par. 70 and Figures 8-9 ).
Regarding claim 5, Price et al. disclose an autonomous truck comprising: one or more LiDAR sensors positioned at the rear side of the tractor unit (e.g., Lidar units mounted to the rear side of the tactor / truck (par. 85 and 86)) and faced towards the trailer (e.g., facing to the trailer and its wheel (par. 86 and 89)), wherein the one or more LiDAR sensors are configured to capture one or more point cloud data sets of at least one of the multiple tires of the trailer (e.g., wherein the lidar sensor capture point cloud of the rear side of the tractor to determine condition of the trailer including its tires – par. 85-86 and 89).
Regarding claim 6, Price et al. disclose an autonomous truck, wherein each heatmap comprises one or more subregions, wherein each of the one or more subregions corresponds to a temperature distribution of one of the multiple tires (e.g., measured heat signature for each pixel of the wheel image data covers at least one or more subregions of pixels correspondent absolute temperature value - par. 70).
Regarding claim 9, Price et al. disclose an autonomous truck, wherein the control system comprises an artificial intelligence model that is trained to recognize, based on the one or more heatmaps, at least one pattern associated with the tire condition (e.g., a machine learning model is trained with normal and abnormal trailer tire images (par. 71) using determined heat signature of each pixel for wheel image data (par. 70)).
Regarding claim 10, Price et al. disclose an autonomous truck, wherein the control system is configured to operate the tractor unit by: stopping the tractor unit at a location upon determining the tire condition for a tire replacement by a crew (e.g., upon detection of potential problems with tire(s), the vehicle control subsystem 220 cause the truck 100 control systems to perform an emergency stop or direct the truck 100 to pull over to the side of the road (par. 71) – for instance, to replace a damage tire).
Regarding claim 14, Price et al. disclose a method for sensing tire condition for autonomous truck (par. 6 and 67) comprising a tractor unit (e.g., an autonomous tractor / truck 100 (abstract and par. 8)), comprising:
coupling a trailer to the tractor unit of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the trailer comprises multiple tires (e.g., the autonomous tractor / truck 100 towing an attached trailer 100, wherein the trailer comprises a plurality of wheels 505 - par. 34, 66 and Figures 1 and 8);
operating the trailer to be on a road by a control system of the trailer (e.g., in-vehicle control system / vehicle control subsystem configures to control the tractor / truck on a road - par. 38, 40, 71 and Figure 6);
monitoring, by one or more infrared sensors coupled to a rear side of the tractor unit (e.g., Figure 8 shows the infrared imaging camera / radiometric camera located at the rear of the tractor / truck 100 with angle view 510 facing toward the trailer 100 (par. 66, 68, 70 and Figure 8)), a temperature distribution of at least one of the multiple tires of the trailer (e.g., the infrared imaging camera / radiometric camera configured to detect accurate temperature measurements of the trailer tires – par. 68 - 69),
wherein the temperature distribution is represented as a heatmap (e.g., determine heat signature of each pixel for wheel image data based on its correspondent absolute temperature value – par. 70);
determining a tire condition based on the heatmap (e.g., determine “unexpected changes in the shape of the tires 505, pieces of tire being expelled from the wheel, changes in the position or tilting of the trailer caused by deflating tires, fire or flames, smoke, or the like” (par. 71 and 72) based on determined heat signature of the wheel image data - par. 70), and operating the tractor unit according to the tire condition (e.g., upon detection of potential problems with tire(s), the vehicle control subsystem 220 cause the truck 100 control systems to slow the speed of the truck 100, perform an emergency stop, or direct the truck 100 to pull over to the side of the road – par. 71).
Regarding claim 15, Price et al. disclose an autonomous truck, adjusting, by the control system of the tractor unit via one or more motors, the one or more infrared sensors such that the one or more infrared sensors are oriented towards multiple tires of the trailer (e.g., vehicle sensor subsystem is configured to be actuated to modify a position and orientation of its sensors (par. 50), which include the infrared imaging camera / radiometric camera (par. 66)).
Regarding claim 16, Price et al. disclose a method for sensing tire condition for autonomous truck comprising: capturing, by at least a camera e.g., camera configured to captures images of the trailer wheels 505, wherein the camera is positioned at the rear side of the tractor / truck 100 - par. 70 and Figures 8-9 ).
Regarding claim 17, Price et al. disclose a method for sensing tire condition for autonomous truck, comprising: generating a combined set of data by overlaying the heatmap with the captured data by the at least the camera or the LiDAR sensor (e.g., combining sensor data (for instance, image data, thermal image data, acoustic data, radar data, LIDAR data, etc.) to further determine tire condition - par. 70, 79 and 69), and determining the tire condition using the combined set of data (e.g., for detecting a particular abnormal event occurring at the trailer or trailer tires - par. 70).
Regarding claim 18, Price et al. disclose a method for sensing tire condition for autonomous truck, comprising: recognizing a pattern of the heatmap, wherein the pattern corresponds to the tire condition (e.g., measured heat signature for each pixel of the wheel image data covers heat signature pattern of the image based on pixels correspondent absolute temperature value - par. 70).
Regarding claim 20, Price et al. disclose a non-transitory computer readable medium configured to store instruction(s) and be executed by in-vehicle control system / vehicle control subsystem (par. 57) to cause an autonomous tractor / truck 100 (abstract and par. 8) to implement a method comprising:
coupling a trailer to a tractor unit of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the trailer comprises multiple tires (e.g., the autonomous tractor / truck 100 towing an attached trailer 100, wherein the trailer comprises a plurality of wheels 505 (par. 34, 66 and Figures 1 and 8));
operating the trailer to be on a road by a control system of the trailer (e.g., in-vehicle control system / vehicle control subsystem configures to control the tractor / truck on a road (par. 38, 40, 71 and Figure 6));
monitoring, by controlling one or more infrared sensors coupled to a rear side of the tractor unit (e.g., Figure 8 shows the infrared imaging camera / radiometric camera located at the rear of the tractor / truck 100 with angle view 510 facing toward the trailer 100 (par. 66, 68, 70 and Figure 8)), a temperature distribution of at least one of the multiple tires of the trailer (e.g., the infrared imaging camera / radiometric camera configured to detect accurate temperature measurements of the trailer tires – par. 68 - 69),
wherein the temperature distribution is represented as a heatmap (e.g., determine heat signature of each pixel for wheel image data based on its correspondent absolute temperature value – par. 70);
determining a tire condition based on the heatmap (e.g., determine “unexpected changes in the shape of the tires 505, pieces of tire being expelled from the wheel, changes in the position or tilting of the trailer caused by deflating tires, fire or flames, smoke, or the like” (par. 71 and 72) based on determined heat signature of the wheel image data - par. 70), and
operating the tractor unit according to the tire condition (e.g., upon detection of potential problems with tire(s), the vehicle control subsystem 220 cause the truck 100 control systems to slow the speed of the truck 100, perform an emergency stop, or direct the truck 100 to pull over to the side of the road – par. 71).
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 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 of this title, 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 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Price et al. (Pub. No.: US 20210405185 A1).
Regarding claims 7-8, Price et al. failed to specifically disclose a resolution of one of the one or more subregions at a first pixels (e.g., 20×40 pixels or 40×20 pixels) (claim 7) and wherein a resolution of at least one of the one or more heatmaps is at a second pixels (e.g., 640×480 pixels or 480×640 pixels) (claim 8).
However, as Price et al. disclose an in-vehicle control system / vehicle control subsystem to determine heat signature of each pixel for wheel image data based on its correspondent absolute temperature value (par. 70 and 73), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to reasonably provide a first specific pixel resolution to a subarea of the wheel image and a second pixel resolution to the entire heat signature of the wheel image, as a matter of engineering design choice, to accommodate comparison of tire images over time while looking for differences or anomalies on the tire condition.
Claims 11 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Price et al. (Pub. No.: US 20210405185 A1) in view of Wilson (Pub. No.: US 2004/0004549 A1).
Regarding claim 11, Price et al. failed to specifically disclose directing the tractor unit to a maintenance facility for an inspection.
However, Wilson teach a tire monitoring device configured to direct a vehicle to an appropriate maintenance facility when an overheated tire condition reaches a certain level (par. 7, 6, 25, abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify in-vehicle control system / vehicle control subsystem taught by Price et al., such that the in-vehicle control system / vehicle control subsystem is configured to direct a vehicle to an appropriate maintenance facility when an overheated tire condition reaches a certain level, in view of Wilson, with reasonable expectation of success, since doing so would have achieved the benefit of allowing to save a tire and avoiding a catastrophic tire damage while the vehicle is in operation (par. 23 and 21).
Regarding claim 19, Price et al. failed to specifically disclose wherein operating of the tractor unit according to the tire condition comprises: directing the tractor unit to a maintenance facility for an inspection or,
However, Wilson teach a tire monitoring device configured to direct a vehicle to an appropriate maintenance facility when an overheated tire condition reaches a certain level (par. 7, 6, 25, abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify in-vehicle control system / vehicle control subsystem taught by Price et al., such that the in-vehicle control system / vehicle control subsystem is configured to direct a vehicle to an appropriate maintenance facility when an overheated tire condition reaches a certain level, in view of Wilson, with reasonable expectation of success, since doing so would have achieved the benefit of allowing to save a tire and avoiding a catastrophic tire damage while the vehicle is in operation (par. 23 and 21).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Price et al. (Pub. No.: US 20210405185 A1) in view of Ledoux et al. (Pub. No.: US 2017/0350781 A1).
Regarding claim 12. Price et al. failed to specifically disclose directing the tractor unit to drive on a landing pad that comprises an inductance sensor for further determination of the tire condition.
However, Ledoux et al. teach a vehicle 11 configured to drive over a housing structure 10 comprising a ramp 15 (par. 67 -68) and electromagnetic wear sensor (par. 69 and Figures 2a and 1a and 1b) to diagnose the state of the vehicle’s tire (par. 6 and 8).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the autonomous truck taught by Price et al., such that the truck is configured to drive over a housing structure comprising a ramp and electromagnetic wear sensor to diagnose the state of the vehicle’s tire, in view of Ledoux et al., with reasonable expectation of success, since doing so would have achieved the benefit of detecting and signaling an underinflation of a vehicle tire (par. 1).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Price et al. (Pub. No.: US 20210405185 A1) in view of Patnaik et al. (Pub. No.: US 2021/ 0181737 A1)
Regarding claim 13, Price et al. failed to specifically disclose wherein the trailer comprises: a second control system, a second set of sensors positioned on the trailer , configured to capture information about a tire condition of at least one of the multiple tires of the trailer, wherein the second control system is configured to transmit an indicator to the control system indicating the tire condition.
However, Patnaik et al. teach an autonomous truck comprising sensor assemblies having multiple type of sensors and positioned at the truck’s trailer 104 (par. 39 and Figure 4C) to obtain / detect tire related information – for instance, tire health (par. 55 and 59); wherein detected tire information is transmitted to the computer device 202 (par. 39, 56 and 60). Figure 4C shows sensor assemblies oriented toward trailer’s tires (par. 55 and Figure 4C).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the autonomous truck taught by Price et al., such that the autonomous truck comprises a trailer attached sensor assemblies having multiple type of sensors to obtain / detect trailer tire related information and transmit the information to the truck’s in-vehicle control system / vehicle control subsystem, in view of Patnaik et al., with reasonable expectation of success, since doing so would have achieved the benefit of predicting a likehood that a given tire will fall due to catastrophic loss in pressure or shape and take preventive action (par. 56).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jorge O. Peche whose telephone number is (571)270-1339. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM.
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/Jorge O Peche/Examiner, Art Unit 3656