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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1 – 2, 5, 9 – 11, 14, 18 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schroeter et al. (Publication No. US 20200386555 A1; hereinafter Schroeter) in view of Van Heukelom et al. (Publication No. US 20200174481 A1; hereinafter Van).
Regarding to claim 1, Schroeter teaches
An apparatus for controlling driving of a vehicle, the apparatus comprises:
a processor; ([par. 0027], “FIG. 17 illustrates an example embodiment of a computing machine that can read instructions from a machine-readable medium and execute the instructions in a processor or controller.”)
a memory storing instructions, that when executed by the processor, ([par. 0027], “FIG. 17 illustrates an example embodiment of a computing machine that can read instructions from a machine-readable medium and execute the instructions in a processor or controller.”) are configured to cause the apparatus to:
determine, based on global positioning system (GPS) information and High Definition (HD) map information of an HD map, a first position of the vehicle; ([Par. 0110], “receiving an approximate geographic location of a vehicle. In some embodiments, the receiving of the approximate geographic location of the vehicle may include receiving a global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-based geographic location of the vehicle. In some embodiments, the receiving of the approximate geographic location of the vehicle may include receiving a location of the vehicle from an operator of the vehicle.”)
determine, based on the determined first position of the vehicle, at least one first road property value; ([Par. 0111], “accessing a map of a region within which the approximate geographic location of the vehicle is located. In some embodiments, the map may include information about roads at least partially located within the region. In some embodiments, the map may describe roads within the region, for example, the locations of the lanes of the road, metadata describing the lanes, the direction in which vehicles are allowed to travel along the lane, whether the lane is right turn only or left turn only lane, etc.”)
determine, based on the at least one first road property value, at least one first candidate spatial region of the vehicle; ([Par. 0112], “identifying a first region on the map within a first threshold distance of the approximate geographic location of the vehicle. In some embodiments, the identifying of the first region may include identifying a circular region (or region with another shape) surrounding the approximate geographic location of the vehicle. For example, the localization module 295 of the vehicle computing system 120a may identify, at action 1620, the region 1520 on the HD map that is within a first threshold radius (e.g., 100 meters based on an accuracy of a GPSS location) around the approximate geographic location 1510 of the vehicle 150a.”)
determine at least one second candidate spatial region by operating a position assessment operation for each of the at least one first candidate spatial region; ([Par. 0114], “identifying a second region on the map associated with one or more roads on the map. In some embodiments, the identifying of the second region, at action 1625, may include identifying navigable boundaries of the road on the map that is nearest to the approximate geographic location of the vehicle. For example, the localization module 295 of the vehicle computing system 120a may identify, at action 1625, the road 1530 on the HD map that represents the road on the HD map that is nearest to the approximate geographic location 1510 of the vehicle 150a, or may identify navigable boundaries of the road 1530.”; [Par. 0115], “the identifying of the second region, at action 1625, may include identifying one or more roads that are at least partially within the first region, determining one or more perpendicular distances between the approximate geographic location of the vehicle and the one or more roads, and identifying a road of the one or more roads that is nearest to the approximate geographic location of the vehicle based on the one or more perpendicular distances.”)
determine, based on the at least one second candidate spatial region, a second road property value; ([Par. 0116], “the identifying of the second region, at action 1625, may include including, in the second region, navigable boundaries of one or more lanes, having a direction of travel that matches a direction in which the vehicle is moving, of the road on the map that is nearest to the approximate geographic location of the vehicle, and excluding, from the second region, navigable boundaries of one or more lanes, having a direction of travel that is opposite of the direction in which the vehicle is moving, of the road on the map that is nearest to the approximate geographic location of the vehicle.”)
determine, based on the second road property value, a final position of the vehicle on the HD map; ([Par. 0117], “determining a search space on the map within which the vehicle is likely to be present, the search space representing an intersection of the first region and the second region. For example, the localization module 295 of the vehicle computing system 120a may determine, at action 1630, a search space on the HD map within which the vehicle 150a is likely to be present. The search space may be a region 1540, which represents an intersection of the first region 1520 and the road 1530.”; [Par. 0118], “The method 1600 may include, at action 1635, determining a more accurate geographic location of the vehicle. In some embodiments, the determining of the more accurate geographic location may be accomplished by performing a search within the search space.”)
output a signal associated with the final position of the vehicle; ([Par. 0121], “Subsequent to the action 1635, the method 1600 may employ the more accurate geographic location of the vehicle 150a in gathering data to update the HD map store 165, and/or in navigating the vehicle based on the more accurate geographic location of the vehicle 150a. Further, the method 1600 may be employed repeatedly as the vehicle 150a navigates along a road.”) and
control, based on the signal, driving of the vehicle. ([Par. 0121], “Subsequent to the action 1635, the method 1600 may employ the more accurate geographic location of the vehicle 150a in gathering data to update the HD map store 165, and/or in navigating the vehicle based on the more accurate geographic location of the vehicle 150a. Further, the method 1600 may be employed repeatedly as the vehicle 150a navigates along a road.”)
Schroeter teaches to determine the second candidate spatial region based on the first candidate spatial region as described in par. [0114 – 0115], but does not explicitly disclose to determine at least one second candidate spatial region by using a second position of the vehicle, the second position determined based on the GPS information and the HD map information;
However, Van teaches determine at least one second candidate spatial region by using a second position of the vehicle, the second position determined based on the GPS information and the HD map information; ([Par. 0139], “determining a second region associated with a second position of the vehicle along the trajectory; and determining a second region probability associated with the second region based at least in part on the second heat map, wherein evaluating the trajectory further based at least in part on the second region probability.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention to modify Schroeter to incorporate the teaching of Van. The modification would have been obvious because using multiple vehicle positions to evaluate spatial regions associated with the vehicle represents a known technique for improving estimation accuracy and robustness, by reducing uncertainty and increasing confidence in the determined final position of the vehicle.
Regarding to claim 2, the combination of Schroeter and Van teaches the apparatus of claim 1.
Schroeter further teaches set one or more points for each of the at least one first candidate spatial region based on the corresponding first road property value, and lane lines or lanes associated with the corresponding first road property value. ([Par. 0100], “The method 1100 may include, at action 1120, for each of the structures identified as obstructions, the vehicle computing system 120 identifying a set of points on the structure based on their perpendicular distance from either the first lane boundary 910 or the second lane boundary 920. The method 1100 may include, at action 1125, the vehicle computing system 120 generating a polyline representing the navigable surface boundary through the previously identified points. The method 1100 may include, at action 1130, storing the polyline within the HD map as a representation of a navigable surface boundary for a specific lane.”)
Regarding to claim 5, the combination of Schroeter and Van teaches the apparatus of claim 2.
Schroeter further teaches determine whether the vehicle is located inside or outside each of the at least one first candidate spatial region of the vehicle. ([Par. 0112], “identifying a first region on the map within a first threshold distance of the approximate geographic location of the vehicle. In some embodiments, the identifying of the first region may include identifying a circular region (or region with another shape) surrounding the approximate geographic location of the vehicle. For example, the localization module 295 of the vehicle computing system 120a may identify, at action 1620, the region 1520 on the HD map that is within a first threshold radius (e.g., 100 meters based on an accuracy of a GPSS location) around the approximate geographic location 1510 of the vehicle 150a.”; [Par. 0113], “the action 1620 may further include, in response to determining that no roads are within the first threshold distance of the approximate geographic location of the vehicle, identifying the first region on the map within a second threshold distance of the approximate geographic location of the vehicle, the second threshold distance being greater than the first threshold distance. For example, the localization module 295 of the vehicle computing system 120a may identify, at action 1620, the region 1520 on the HD map that is within a second threshold radius (e.g., 150 meters based on increasing the first threshold radius by 50% due to no roads being within the first threshold radius) around the approximate geographic location 1510 of the vehicle 150a.”)
Regarding to claim 9, the combination of Schroeter and Van teaches the apparatus of claim 1.
Schroeter further teaches wherein the HD map information comprises: road property information, lane property information, road geometry information, lane geometry information, road facility information, lane facility information, and map data processor (MDP) fail information. ([Par. 0032], “Some embodiments may provide a portion of an HD map to the autonomous vehicle that may allow the autonomous vehicle to determine its current location in the HD map, determine the features on the road relative to the autonomous vehicle's position, determine if it is safe to move the autonomous vehicle based on physical constraints and legal constraints, etc. Examples of such physical constraints may include physical obstacles, such as walls, barriers, medians, curbs, etc. and examples of legal constraints may include an allowed direction of travel for a lane, lane restrictions, speed limits, yields, stops, following distances, etc.”; [Par. 0067], “The landmark map API 255 may be configured to provide a geometric and semantic description of the world around the corresponding vehicle 150, for example, description of various portions of lanes that the corresponding vehicle 150 is currently travelling on. The landmark map APIs 255 comprise APIs that may be configured to allow queries based on landmark maps, for example, fetch lanes API and fetch-features API. The fetch-lanes API may be configured to provide lane information relative to the corresponding vehicle 150 and the fetch-features API.”)
Claims 10 – 11, 14, 18 recite the method with substantially same scope as claims 1 – 2, 5, 9 respectively, thus being rejected for the same basis as claims 1 – 2, 5, 9 respectively above.
Claims 19 – 20 recite the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with substantially similar scope as claims 1 – 2 respectively, thus being rejected for the same basis as claims 1 – 2 respectively above.
Claim(s) 3, 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Schroeter and Van in view of Fawaz et al. (English Translation of CN109795488A; hereinafter Fawaz).
Regarding to claim 3, the combination of Schroeter and Van teaches the apparatus of claim 2.
The combination of Schroeter and Van does not explicitly teach determine a polygon based on the set one or more points as the corresponding first candidate spatial region of the vehicle.
However, Fawaz teaches determine a polygon based on the set one or more points as the corresponding first candidate spatial region of the vehicle. ([Par. 0023], “obtaining geopolitical region boundary information, which includes a set of coordinates representing the geographic boundary of the first geopolitical region;(ii) using the obtained geopolitical region boundary information and the vehicle's geographic coordinates in combination with a polygon point inclusion algorithm or method to determine whether the vehicle is located within the first geopolitical region; and (iii) if it is determined that the vehicle is not within the first geopolitical region, then (i)-(ii) are performed until it is determined that the vehicle is located within the first geopolitical region.”; [Par. 0044], “geopolitical region boundary information includes information expressing the boundaries of one or more geopolitical regions, including information represented as a set of coordinate points that can be used to represent vertices in a polygon of a geopolitical region.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention to modify the combination of Schroeter and Van to incorporate the teaching of Wheeler. The modification would have been obvious because determining a polygon representing a geographical region based on a set of points enables accurate identification of the region in which the vehicle is located.
15. Claim 12 recites the method with substantially similar scope as claim 3, thus being rejected for the same basis as claim 3 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 6 – 8, 13, 15 - 17 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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/STEVEN VU NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3668