DETAILED ACTION
This is a first Office Action on the merits and is responsive to the originally filed application papers. Claims filed on 01/14/2025 are being examined. Claims 1-13 are being considered and further pending examination.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS(s)) submitted on 01/14/2025 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 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)(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.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tashiro et al (US 20210354688 A1) henceforth referred to as Tashiro.
Regarding Claim 13 Tashiro teaches A method for controlling a work machine, the method comprising (para [0027] : “Prior to the description of the embodiment, a general automatic parking will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.”):
executing an automatic steering control to control a steering angle of the work machine so that the work machine travels along a predetermined target path (para [0028] : “Next, a parking route 105 (dotted line) to a target parking position 106 is calculated based on the calculated drivable area 104. When the route search is successful, the movement control of the vehicle 101 is performed according to the parking route 105.”, para [0033] : “In the case of automatic parking, a steering control device 322 controls the steering 313 so that a predetermined wheel angle is obtained even if the driver does not operate the steering 313.”);
determining a traveling direction status indicating a forward or rearward traveling direction of the work machine (para [0044] : “The forward/backward switching determination unit 407 transmits the forward/backward switching to the transmission control device 323 based on the forward/backward switching information that the output result of the route generation unit 403.”); and
setting the steering angle to a neutral angle when the forward or rearward traveling direction of the work machine is switched during the automatic control (fig. 1, fig. 1 shows the parking route 105 where, in order for the vehicle to travel in the manner depicted it would be required that the steering angle be set to a neutral angle at some point).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-12 allowed.
The closest prior arts found are
Iwami et al (US 20190185055 A1) teaches a system for pulling out of a parking spot comprises: an assist control means for performing assist control to change the steering angle of a vehicle to a target steering angle; and a pulling out possibility determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle can pull out on the basis of the detection result of a forward obstacle detected by forward detection means. If it is determined that the vehicle can pull out, the assist control means performs assist control to change the steering angle of the vehicle from the target steering angle to a neutral angle or a neutral vicinity angle.
Iwami et al (US 20180061241 A1) teaches a system where in the case that a user's own vehicle cannot pull out from a parking space without turning back steering, a parking exit assist device carries out a parking exit assist control by setting the size of a target steering angle in an exit-from-parking trajectory setting unit to a first steering angle. On the other hand, in the case that the user's own vehicle is capable of pulling out from the parking space without turning back steering, the parking exit assist device carries out a parking exit assist control by setting the size of a target steering angle to a second steering angle which is smaller than the first steering angle.
William (AU 2011282474 A) teaches a system for an unambiguous heading direction is calculated to determine the forward/reverse state of a vehicle. A heading alignment error is determined at step 100, being the difference between a GNSS direction of motion and the unresolved IMU heading of the vehicle. The heading alignment error is adjusted by 180° to be within a predetermined range at step 200. The unresolved IMU heading of the vehicle 10 is adjusted using the heading alignment error to determine an ambiguous error corrected IMU heading at step 300. Step 400 determines whether the ambiguous error corrected IMU heading is substantially in the true direction of the nose of the vehicle. The unambiguous heading direction is calculated at step 500 by offsetting the ambiguous error corrected IMU heading by 180 degrees if the ambiguous error corrected IMU heading is substantially opposite the true direction of the nose of the vehicle. The forward/reverse state is determined by comparing the unambiguous heading direction with the GNSS direction of motion of the vehicle.
Conclusion
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/D.H./Examiner, Art Unit 3668
/JAMES J LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3668