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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on September 30, 2026 has been entered.
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-5, 8-13, and 16-23 were previously pending and subject to a final rejection dated June 30, 2026. In the RCE, submitted on September 30, 2026, claims 1-3, 8-11, and 16-22 were amended. Therefore, claims 1-5, 8-13, and 16-23 are currently pending and subject to the following non-final rejection.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s Remarks on Page 8 of the RCE regarding the rejection of the claims under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) have been fully considered and are found persuasive in view of the amended claims.
Applicant’s Remarks on Page 8 the RCE regarding the rejection of claims 17-20 under 35 U.S.C. 101 for being directed to a non-statutory subject matter have been fully considered, and are found persuasive in view of the amended claim.
Applicant’s Remarks on Pages 8-10 the RCE regarding the rejection of claims under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are found persuasive in view of the amended claims.
Claim Objection
Claim 8 recites the status identifier “Previously Presented” but claim amendments have been presented in the claims submitted on September 30, 2026. For examination purposes, the claim’s status identifier will be interpreted as a reciting “Currently Amended.” Any subsequent claim presentations should reflect such a procedural history of the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-5, 8-13, and 16-23 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1, and similarly 9 and 17, have been amended to recite “determining a predicted trajectory of the at least one other vehicle over the horizon based on execution of an artificial intelligence (AI) model on the intent messages; determining a role adjusted for the vehicle within the platoon based on the predicted trajectory.” Examiner notes the above limitations recite new matter.
Examiner initially notes that while there is no haec verba requirement, newly added claim limitations must be supported in the specification through express, implicitly, or inherent disclosure (MPEP 2183). Further, when an explicit limitation in a claim "is not present in the written description whose benefit is sought it must be shown that a person of ordinary skilled would have understood, at the time the patent application was filed, that the description requires the limitation," Hyatt V. Boone, 146 F.3d 1348,1353, 47 USPQ2d 1128, 1131 (Fed. Cir. 1998), MPEP 2163.
Paras. [0062]–[0063] of Applicant’s PG Publication explain “Vehicle A 112 samples location, velocity and acceleration 115 on a recurring basis and predicts future location, velocity and acceleration….Vehicle A 112 and Vehicle B 111 may create intent messages based on current, past, or estimated future locations, velocity, and acceleration, vehicle sensor data, or for other reasons”. Para. [0068] further discloses “the one or more intent messages may be sent to an off-vehicle Intent and Incentive AI Model 125A for processing”. However, Examiner notes the specification fails to disclose that the “predicted trajectory” is based on execution of an AI model on the intent messages.
Furthermore, Paras. [0064], [0069], and [0071]-[0073] of the PG Publication, disclose “ Vehicle A 112 receives the intent message 113, uses the current velocity and acceleration 115A combined with past velocity and acceleration 115C to determine 115B if it is advantageous to take over as lead vehicle….an AI model 131A configured to receive intent messages 130A from vehicles in a platoon” and that “rotation after a set amount of time 132A, may include logic that process incoming communication 136A from the AI model 131A in combination with past data to determine when the policy rule has been met. For example, the ‘Fair Rotation’ 132 ‘Time’ 132A policy may include a current sample of a vehicle's location, velocity, and acceleration in a platoon with a time stamp, and one or more past sampled location, velocity, acceleration and time stamps. The current and past samples may be used to determine if the vehicle has spent sufficient time as a leader or if the vehicle should remain as a leader… AI model trained on vehicle sensor data and configured to predict fair rotation based on one or more criteria such as Time… rotating lead vehicle after a set amount of time 132A.”
However, nothing in the above cited portions of the specification, or other portions of the specification disclose the broader language of “determining a role adjusted for the vehicle within the platoon based on the predicted trajectory.” Rather, the specification only discloses determining the fair rotation, e.g. rotating lead vehicle after a set amount of time 132A, based on a current sample of a vehicle's location, velocity, and acceleration in a platoon with a time stamp, and one or more past sampled location, velocity, acceleration and time stamps, and not “the predicted trajectory”; and determining predicted future location, velocity and acceleration to determine whether its advantageous to take over as lead vehicle, and not “determining a role adjusted for” the vehicle within the platoon based on the predicted trajectory. Dependent claims 2-5, 10-13, 16, and 18-23 are rejected by virtue of dependency.
Allowable over the Prior Art
Claims 1-5, 8-13, and 16-20 are allowable over the prior art, because the prior art fails to teach or suggest all the limitations in combination, in the independent claims. However, the claims are subject to a new matter rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(a). The closest prior art for the independent claims includes:
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0201128 to Katkoori et al. (hereinafter “Katkoori”). Katkoori discloses a platoon of vehicles including at least two vehicles, one the Platoon Leader and others as Platoon Members. Connected vehicle messages sent among the platoon vehicles can be utilized for these purposes in a way that allows for dynamically-forming platoons of heterogeneous vehicle composition. If the current PL exits the platoon (or notifies of an impending exit) the PM may assume leadership responsibilities based on pre-established criteria such as proximity to the front of the platoon or sensor capabilities. Alternatively, the PM may negotiate with other platoon members to assign a new PL and reconfigure the platoon accordingly.
SemAgent: Semantic-Driven Agentic AI Empowered Trajectory Prediction in Vehicular Networks by Zhu et al. (hereinafter “Zhu”). Zhu discloses a trajectory prediction framework that integrates semantic communication with Agentic AI to enhance predictive performance in vehicular environments.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0364725 to Lonari (hereinafter “Lonari”). Lonari discloses receiving estimated velocities from vehicles in the proximity of the vehicle or predicted to be in proximity based on predicted vehicle trajectories, and provide platooning instructions in accordance with a desired implementation. Such analytics can also be performed on the edge side by the vehicles that will participate in the platoon, and such communications can be transmitted between vehicles via vehicle to vehicle (V2V) interface.
“Intelligent Agents in Vehicle Platooning for Smart Cities” by Mala et al., dated October, 2022 (hereinafter “Mala”). Mala discloses for Platooning automated driving systems, an intelligent agent with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications technology must be installed in each vehicle to take dynamic decision making and effective communication.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0056854 to Ucar et al. (hereinafter “Ucar”). Ucar discloses the AI platoon system that send instruction data describing an instruction to execute a vehicle platooning maneuver at a particular area to the vehicle.
Prior Art
The following prior art, made of record and not relied upon, is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure:
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0244743 to Ganlath et al. (hereinafter “Ganlath”). Ganlath discloses determining terms of a contract for the plurality of vehicles to form the vehicle platoon comprising a lead vehicle and one or more follower vehicles, and transmitting terms of the contract to the plurality of vehicles. The terms of the contract comprise the lead vehicle receiving a first payment, at least one of the follower vehicle making a second payment, and each of the follower vehicles receiving vehicle data from the lead vehicle according to a unique service profile associated with each follower vehicle.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0348791 to Hendrickson et al. (hereinafter “Hendrickson”). Hendrickson discloses temperatures and storage amounts of emissions control devices in vehicles of the vehicle platoon provide a basis for determining which vehicle is a leader and which vehicles are followers in a vehicle platoon.
JP2023119395A to Toyokazu (hereinafter “Toyokazu”). Toyokazu discloses transmitting, to at least one of the identified vehicles, information encouraging the vehicle to become the leading vehicle in the platoon, with the provision of benefits including reduced costs associated with running the vehicle as incentive information.
Conclusion
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/RUPANGINI SINGH/
Examiner, Art Unit 3628
