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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8, 10, 11, 13, 14, and 17-20 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.
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.
Claims 1 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugano (US Pub No. 2022/0388499), Shafran (US Pub No. 2017/0301149) and Kang (US Pub No. 2021/0009111).
Regarding claim 1, Sugano teaches a vehicle comprising:
a sensor configured to obtain image data associated with an environment around the vehicle (See [0092]);
a controller configured to control at least one function of the vehicle (See [0089]-[0090]);
a communication apparatus configured to communicate with a server associated with autonomous valet parking; and a processor configured to: receive, from the server, a movement request message comprising a control command for at least one of: acceleration, brake, or steering; control, based on the control command, the vehicle toward a service space (See [0009], [0038], [0096], and [0108]);
Sugano does not teach to identify, based on the image data, a code marker corresponding to service selection information; and control, based on the code marker, an autonomous parking operation of the vehicle to park the vehicle in the service space.
Shafran teaches identify, based on the image data, a service selection information; and control a parking operation of the vehicle to park the vehicle in the service space (See [0078] which teaches a parking assignment server using camera data for determining available parking spots near the store that is the user’s desired location.).
One of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed would have been motivated to modify Sugano’s to include Shafran’s teachings for greater user convenience. Therefore, the invention as a whole would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made.
Kang teaches a code marker system for automated parking (See [0086] and [0093]-[0094]).
One of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed would have been motivated to modify Sugano’s to include Kang’s teachings for greater user convenience. Therefore, the invention as a whole would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made.
Regarding claim 15, Sugano teaches method performed by an apparatus of a vehicle:
a sensor configured to obtain image data associated with an environment around the vehicle (See [0092]);
a controller configured to control at least one function of the vehicle (See [0089]-[0090]);
receiving from the server, a movement request message comprising a control command for at least one of: acceleration, brake, or steering; control, based on the control command, the vehicle toward a service space (See [0009], [0038], [0096], and [0108]);
Sugano does not teach maker image information corresponding to the service selection information, identifying, based on the image data associated with an environment around the vehicle, a code marker corresponding to the marker image information; and controlling, based on the code marker, an autonomous parking operation of the vehicle to park the vehicle in the service space.
Shafran teaches identifying, based on the image data, a service selection information; and controlling a parking operation of the vehicle to park the vehicle in the service space (See [0078] which teaches a parking assignment server using camera data for determining available parking spots near the store that is the user’s desired location.); and
receiving, from a server associated with autonomous valet parking, available service information; and transmitting, to the server, service selection information (See [0027]).
Kang teaches a code marker system corresponding to the automated parking information (See [0086] and [0093]-[0094]).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang (US Pub No. 2021/0009111) and Shafran (US Pub No. 2017/0301149).
Regarding claim 9, Kang teaches computing device comprising:
data storage configured to store code marker information (See [0093]);
a communication apparatus configured to communicate with a vehicle (See [0093] and [0096]);
a processor configured to:
transmit, to the vehicle, a movement request message comprising a control command for at least one of: acceleration, brake, or steering (See [0095]-[0096]); and
a code marker system for automated parking (See [0086] and [0093]-[0094]).
Kang does not teach to identify, based on the image data, a service selection information; and control an autonomous parking operation of the vehicle to park the vehicle in the service space.
Shafran teaches identify, based on the image data, a service selection information; and control a parking operation of the vehicle to park the vehicle in the service space (See [0078] which teaches a parking assignment server using camera data for determining available parking spots near the store that is the user’s desired location.).
One of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed would have been motivated to modify Sugano’s to include Shafran’s teachings for greater user convenience. Therefore, the invention as a whole would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made.
Claims 12 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang, Sugano and Shafran as applied to claims above, and further in view of IP et al. (US Pub No. 2022/0203964).
Regarding claim 12, Kang teaches the processor is configured to identify the code marker based on stored marker image information (See [0093]).
Kang does not teach the image data is captured via a sensor mounted on a side of the vehicle.
IP teaches that the image data is captured via a sensor mounted on a side of the vehicle (See Fig. 1 and [0031]).
One of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed would have been motivated to modify Kang’s to include IP’s teachings to properly enable safe autonomous vehicle functioning in various environments with complete monitoring of all vehicle sides. Therefore, the invention as a whole would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made.
Claim 16 is rejected with the same reasoning as claim 12.
Conclusion
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/THOMAS S MCCORMACK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2686
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