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 .
Claims 1-13 are presented for examination.
Priority
The Applicants’ claim for priority based upon Japanese Patent Application JP2024-016263 filed on February 6, 2024 is duly noted by the examiner.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on December 31, 2024 has been considered by the examiner.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-11 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The most similar art of record, Maruki et al. [U.S. Patent Publication 2023/0382369], discloses [a registered parking space being registered prior to the parking space being occupied by a vehicle during a parking operation (paragraph 0078) prior to it being occupied by a vehicle (paragraphs 0082 and 0089)]. However, no art of record discloses determining whether or not said destination coincides with said registered parking position and letting said user select in advance either one of parking said vehicle into said registered target parking space by said automatic parking and handing over said driving state of said vehicle to said user when it is determined that said destination coincides with said registered parking position.
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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 12, and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Toledo et al. [U.S. Patent Publication 2011/0080304] in view of Maruki et al. [U.S. Patent Publication 2023/0382369]
With regard to claim 1, Toledo et al. meets the limitation of:
a vehicle control apparatus comprising a controller configured to be capable of performing an automatic parking to move and park a vehicle and performing an autonomous driving to autonomously move said vehicle to a destination [a vehicle system taking control to park a vehicle in a parking space (paragraph 0019)]
wherein said controller is configured to directly switch a driving state of said vehicle to a state where said automatic parking is executed from a state where said autonomous driving is being executed without handing over said driving state of said vehicle to a user of said vehicle, to park said vehicle into a target parking space by said automatic parking [a vehicle system taking control to park a vehicle in a parking space after asking the driver to remove their hands from the steering wheel (paragraph 0019)]
However, Toledo et al. fails to disclose of a registered target parking space corresponding to a registered parking position that has been registered in advance from a position in the vicinity of said registered target parking space and the destination coinciding with said registered parking position. In the field of automatic parking apparatuses, Maruki et al. teaches:
a registered target parking space corresponding to a registered parking position that has been registered in advance from a position in the vicinity of said registered target parking space and the destination coinciding with said registered parking position [a registered parking space being registered prior to the parking space being occupied by a vehicle during a parking operation (paragraph 0078) prior to it being occupied by a vehicle (paragraphs 0082 and 0089)]
It would be obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the elements of Toledo et al. and Maruki et al. to create an autonomous parking system where a vehicle’s system performs a parking operation to park a vehicle in a registered parking spot that has been registered prior to the vehicle being parked to eliminate the difficulty of a parking operation when performed by a user wherein the motivation to combine is to create an improved parking assistance system (Toledo et al., paragraph 0001).
With regard to claim 2, Toledo et al. meets the limitation of:
said controller is configured to, when said vehicle has moved, by said autonomous driving, to an area from which said vehicle can be moved and parked into said registered target parking space by said automatic parking, switch said driving state of said vehicle to said state where said automatic parking is executed from said state where said autonomous driving is being executed [a vehicle system taking control to park a vehicle in a parking space after asking the driver to remove their hands from the steering wheel (paragraph 0019)]
With regard to claim 3, Toledo et al. meets the limitation of:
directly switch said driving state of said vehicle to said state where said automatic parking is executed from said state where said autonomous driving is being executed
switch said driving state of said vehicle to a state where said vehicle is manually operated by said user from said state where said autonomous driving is being executed, when handing over said driving state of said vehicle to said user is selected
However, Toledo et al. fails to disclose of letting said user select either one of parking said vehicle into said registered target parking space by said automatic parking and handing over said driving state of said vehicle to said user, after said vehicle has reached a predetermined area determined based on said registered parking position by said autonomous driving in a case where said destination coincides with said registered parking position and parking said vehicle into said registered target parking space by said automatic parking is selected. In the field of automatic parking apparatuses, Maruki et al. teaches:
letting said user select either one of parking said vehicle into said registered target parking space by said automatic parking and handing over said driving state of said vehicle to said user, after said vehicle has reached a predetermined area determined based on said registered parking position by said autonomous driving in a case where said destination coincides with said registered parking position and parking said vehicle into said registered target parking space by said automatic parking is selected [a registered parking space being registered prior to the parking space being occupied by a vehicle during a parking operation (paragraph 0078) prior to it being occupied by a vehicle (paragraphs 0082 and 0089) and the vehicle operator selecting between the option of manually parking the vehicle or permitting the vehicle’s system to park the vehicle (paragraphs 0075 and 0099)]
It would be obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the elements of Toledo et al. and Maruki et al. to create an autonomous parking system where a vehicle’s system performs a parking operation to park a vehicle in a registered parking spot that has been registered prior to the vehicle being parked to eliminate the difficulty of a parking operation when performed by a user wherein the motivation to combine is to create an improved parking assistance system (Toledo et al., paragraph 0001).
With regard to claim 4, Toledo et al. fails to disclose of said controller is configured to set an area within a predetermined distance from said registered parking position, as said predetermined area determined based on said registered parking position. In the field of automatic parking apparatuses, Maruki et al. teaches:
said controller is configured to set an area within a predetermined distance from said registered parking position, as said predetermined area determined based on said registered parking position [a registered parking space being registered prior to the parking space being occupied by a vehicle during a parking operation (paragraph 0078) prior to it being occupied by a vehicle (paragraphs 0082 and 0089)]
It would be obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the elements of Toledo et al. and Maruki et al. to create an autonomous parking system where a vehicle’s system performs a parking operation to park a vehicle in a registered parking spot that has been registered prior to the vehicle being parked to eliminate the difficulty of a parking operation when performed by a user wherein the motivation to combine is to create an improved parking assistance system (Toledo et al., paragraph 0001).
With regard to claim 5, Toledo et al. fails to disclose of said controller is configured to set an area from which said vehicle can be moved and parked into said registered target parking space by said automatic parking, as said predetermined area determined based on said registered parking position. In the field of automatic parking apparatuses, Maruki et al. teaches:
said controller is configured to set an area from which said vehicle can be moved and parked into said registered target parking space by said automatic parking, as said predetermined area determined based on said registered parking position [a registered parking space being registered prior to the parking space being occupied by a vehicle during a parking operation (paragraph 0078) prior to it being occupied by a vehicle (paragraphs 0082 and 0089)]
It would be obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the elements of Toledo et al. and Maruki et al. to create an autonomous parking system where a vehicle’s system performs a parking operation to park a vehicle in a registered parking spot that has been registered prior to the vehicle being parked to eliminate the difficulty of a parking operation when performed by a user wherein the motivation to combine is to create an improved parking assistance system (Toledo et al., paragraph 0001).
With regard to claim 12, Toledo et al. meets the limitation of:
a vehicle control method comprising the steps of performing an automatic parking to move and park said vehicle and performing an automatic parking to autonomously move said vehicle to a destination [a vehicle system taking control to park a vehicle in a parking space (paragraph 0019)]
the step of directly switching a driving state of said vehicle to a state where said automatic parking is executed from a state where said autonomous driving is being executed without handing over said driving state of said vehicle to a user of said vehicle, to park said vehicle into a target parking space by said automatic parking [a vehicle system taking control to park a vehicle in a parking space after asking the driver to remove their hands from the steering wheel (paragraph 0019)]
However, Toledo et al. fails to disclose of a registered target parking space corresponding to a registered parking position that has been registered in advance from a position in the vicinity of said registered target parking space and the destination coinciding with said registered parking position. In the field of automatic parking apparatuses, Maruki et al. teaches:
a registered target parking space corresponding to a registered parking position that has been registered in advance from a position in the vicinity of said registered target parking space and the destination coinciding with said registered parking position [a registered parking space being registered prior to the parking space being occupied by a vehicle during a parking operation (paragraph 0078) prior to it being occupied by a vehicle (paragraphs 0082 and 0089)]
It would be obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the elements of Toledo et al. and Maruki et al. to create an autonomous parking system where a vehicle’s system performs a parking operation to park a vehicle in a registered parking spot that has been registered prior to the vehicle being parked to eliminate the difficulty of a parking operation when performed by a user wherein the motivation to combine is to create an improved parking assistance system (Toledo et al., paragraph 0001).
With regard to claim 13, please refer to the rejection for claim 12 as the citations meet the limitations of the present claim.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Patent Publication 2019/0039606 to Fujita et al. discloses an information processing device that enables a parking operation.
U.S. Patent Publication 2016/0075375 to Yamashita et al. discloses a parking assist system.
U.S. Patent Publication 2014/0121930 to Allexi et al. discloses a method and apparatus for controlling a parking process of a vehicle.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAMESHANAND MAHASE whose telephone number is (571) 270-7223. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday- Friday 8:00AM - 5:00PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Davetta Goins can be reached on 571-272-2957. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/PAMESHANAND MAHASE/Examiner, Art Unit 2689
/DAVETTA W GOINS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2689
Prosecution Insights