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 .
Summary
This communication is a First Office Action Non-Final Rejection on the merits.
Claims 1 – 20 are currently pending and considered below.
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.
Claims 1 – 2 and 14 – 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ma et al. (Hereinafter Ma) (US 2019/0071092 A1).
As per claim 1, Ma teaches the limitations of:
an apparatus for controlling driving of a vehicle (See at least abstract; A system and method for automated lane change control for autonomous vehicles are disclosed.), the apparatus comprising:
a sensor configured to obtain a characteristic of a lane and a driving path of the vehicle (See at least paragraph 7 and 16; the system herein may include various sensors, configured to collect perception data, a computing device, and a lane change control module for generating a lane change trajectory to enable the host vehicle to execute a safe and comfortable lane change maneuver in the presence of other vehicles and/or dynamic objects in the vicinity of (proximate to) the host autonomous vehicle. … the lane change control module 200 can process the perception data and generate a lane change trajectory for the host vehicle based on the detected objects);
a memory storing at least one instruction (See at least paragraph 41; The data processor 171 can be combined with a data storage or memory device 172 as part of a computing system 202 in the in-vehicle control system 150); and
a processor operatively coupled to the sensor and the memory (See at least paragraph 41),
wherein the at least one instruction is configured to, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:
determine, based on the characteristic and the driving path, whether to make a lane change (See at least paragraph 7; the system herein may include various sensors, configured to collect perception data, a computing device, and a lane change control module for generating a lane change trajectory to enable the host vehicle to execute a safe and comfortable lane change maneuver in the presence of other vehicles and/or dynamic objects in the vicinity of (proximate to) the host autonomous vehicle.);
identify a target space in an adjacent lane for the lane change based on a determination to make the lane change, a current position of the vehicle, a driving speed of the vehicle, and information about at least one other vehicle which is traveling in the adjacent lane (See at least paragraph 47 and 49 - 50; s shown in the example of FIGS. 3 and 4, using the determined vehicle states of the host vehicle VA and proximate vehicles (V1, V2, and V3), the lane change control module 200 can be configured to use a state prediction model to predict the locations of the vehicles at a given point in time in the future based on the current positions, headings, velocities, and accelerations of the vehicles. In one embodiment, the lane change control module 200 can predict the future locations of each of the vehicles based on a linear extrapolation from the current position using the heading, speed, and acceleration of each of the vehicles over a given time period. … Given the future positions, headings, velocities, and accelerations of the host vehicle VA and each of the detected proximate vehicles (V1, V2, and V3) at a given point in time and the safety distance SD parameters associated with each vehicle, the lane change control module 200 can be configured to determine a safety zone SZ between proximate vehicles (V1 and V2) detected in a roadway lane adjacent to a lane in which the host vehicle VA is positioned or operating. The adjacent lane can be a lane to the left or right of the lane in which the host vehicle VA is positioned or operating. The safety zone SZ can be bounded by the safety distance SD from a leading proximate vehicle V1 and the safety distance SD from a following proximate vehicle V2 in the adjacent lane. Techniques are known for automatically detecting the lane boundaries for a current or adjacent lane on a roadway. The safety zone SZ can be defined as a region between lane boundaries in an adjacent lane bounded at one end by the safety distance SD from a leading adjacent proximate vehicle V1 and bounded at the other end by the safety distance SD from a following adjacent proximate vehicle V2. Again, the determined safety zone SZ can associated with an adjacent lane to the left or right of the lane in which the host vehicle VA is positioned or operating. Once the safety zone SZ between proximate vehicles V1 and V2 detected in a roadway lane adjacent to the host vehicle VA is determined, the lane change control module 200 can be configured to determine a first target position TP1 within the safety zone SZ as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.); and
perform, based on a bounding box corresponding to the target space and at least one box corresponding to the at least one other vehicle overlapping with each other, biased driving control toward the adjacent lane for the vehicle (See at least paragraph 50 - 51; Because the first target position TP1 is within the determined safety zone SZ, the first target position TP1 will be sufficiently separated from the positions/locations of the proximate vehicles V1 and V2 detected in the adjacent lane. As described above, the first target position TP1 can be represented as an x,y coordinate, a geographical coordinate (e.g., latitude/longitude), a polar coordinate, or other conventional form of positional representation. The first target position TP1 can also be represented relative to the positions/locations of other detected vehicles V1 or V2 or the host vehicle VA. Given that the proximate vehicles V1 and V2 and the host vehicle VA are constantly moving, the first target position TP1 can be represented in a manner that accommodates the motion of the vehicles. Having determined the first target position TP1 within the safety zone SZ in an adjacent lane, the lane change control module 200 of the host vehicle VA can be configured to determine a second target position TP2 in the same lane in which the host vehicle VA is currently positioned as shown in FIG. 4. The second target position TP2 is a location in the host vehicle's VA current lane from which the host vehicle VA can begin a leftward or rightward turn maneuver to safely and comfortably merge the host vehicle VA toward the first target position TP1 in the adjacent lane. Once the first and second target positions (TP1 and TP2) are determined as described above, the lane change control module 200 of an example embodiment can generate one or more trajectories to navigate the host vehicle VA into the first target position TP1 in the adjacent lane. In an example embodiment, the lane change control module 200 can cause the host vehicle VA to perform the lane change maneuver in two phases: 1) a longitudinal positioning phase or pre-turn phase to properly position the host vehicle VA in the current lane for execution of a leftward or rightward turning maneuver, and 2) a lateral steering phase during which the host vehicle VA is controlled to perform a leftward or rightward steering operation to direct the host vehicle VA toward the first target position TP1 in the adjacent lane).
As per claim 2, Ma teaches the limitations of:
wherein the at least one instruction is configured to, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: determine to make the lane change based on at least one of:
a presence of a point at which the lane is ended within a specified distance of the lane, or
identifying a situation of having the vehicle to travel in the adjacent lane based on the driving path (See at least figure 3).
Regarding claims 14 – 15:
Claims 14 – 15 are rejected using the same rationale, mutatis mutandis, applied to claims 1 – 2 above, respectively.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 3 – 4 and 16 – 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma in view of Mudalige et al. (Hereinafter Mudalige) (US 2014/0207325 A1).
As per claim 3, Ma teaches all the limitations of claimed invention but does not explicitly teach the limitations of:
determine, based on information from the sensor and based on the target space not being determined, an average driving speed of the at least one other vehicle which is traveling in the adjacent lane;
adjust the driving speed of the vehicle to follow the average driving speed; and
perform lane keeping control for the vehicle traveling on the lane.
Mudalige teaches the limtiations of:
determine, based on information from the sensor and based on the target space not being determined, an average driving speed of the at least one other vehicle which is traveling in the adjacent lane; adjust the driving speed of the vehicle to follow the average driving speed; and perform lane keeping control for the vehicle traveling on the lane (See at least paragraph and 22).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify vehicle lane changing system of Ma, to include determine, based on information from the sensor and based on the target space not being determined, an average driving speed of the at least one other vehicle which is traveling in the adjacent lane; adjust the driving speed of the vehicle to follow the average driving speed; and perform lane keeping control for the vehicle traveling on the lane as taught by Mudalige in order to prevent the lane changing due to traffic or other reasons (See at least paragraph 22).
As per claim 4, the combination of Ma and Mudalige teaches the limitations of:
perform, based on the bounding box and the at least one box not overlapping with each other and a size of the bounding box being less than or equal to a specified size, the biased driving control for the vehicle (Mudalige, see at least paragraph 30 and figure 5).
Regarding claims 16 – 17:
Claims 16 – 17 are rejected using the same rationale, mutatis mutandis, applied to claims 3 – 4 above, respectively.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 – 13 and 18 – 20 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kobilarov et al. (US 10133275 B1) discloses trajectory generation using temporal logic and tree search.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IG T AN whose telephone number is (571)270-5110. The examiner can normally be reached M - F: 10:00AM- 4:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Aniss Chad can be reached at (571) 270-3832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/IG T AN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3662
IG T AN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3662