DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office Action is sent in response to Applicants’ Communication received on January 30, 2025 for application number 19/041,037. This Office hereby acknowledges receipt of the following and placed of record in file: Specification, Drawings, Abstract, Oath/Declaration, and Claims.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicants’ claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. CN 202210911511.3 filed on July 30, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on March 13, 2025 and November 12, 2025 are noted. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
Claims 1 and 3-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tian (CN 111806441 A), hereinafter “Tian”.
Regarding claim 1, Tian discloses a method, comprising: collecting control-related information; determining, based on the control-related information, a road condition scenario; sending, based on the control-related information, a first information prompt, wherein the first information prompt indicates the road condition scenario; and configuring, based on a preset braking control parameter set corresponding to the road condition scenario, a vehicle (paragraphs 5-12: (“acquiring current state information of a vehicle, road condition information of a road where the vehicle is located and attribute information of the vehicle according to a received braking instruction; the braking instruction is used for instructing the vehicle to execute braking control; determining target braking time by analyzing the current state information of the vehicle, the road condition information of the road where the vehicle is located and the attribute information of the vehicle; and executing braking control on the vehicle according to the target braking time. In a second aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a braking device for a vehicle, the device comprising: the acquisition module is used for acquiring the current state information of a vehicle, the road condition information of the road where the vehicle is located and the attribute information of the vehicle according to the received braking instruction; the braking instruction is used for instructing the vehicle to execute braking control; the determining module is used for determining target braking time by analyzing the current state information of the vehicle, the road condition information of the road where the vehicle is located and the attribute information of the vehicle”)).
Regarding claim 3, Tian discloses the method of claim 1, wherein after configuring the vehicle, the method further comprises sending a second information prompt, wherein the second information prompt to informs a user that the configuration of the preset braking control parameter set has taken effect (paragraphs 18-32: (“The braking instruction may be an instruction triggered by a driver or other users on the central processing unit, or may be an instruction triggered by a vehicle, and the braking instruction may be triggered in various ways, for example, the driver may press a mechanical button on the central processing unit to trigger the braking instruction, or the driver may input a voice instruction on the central processing unit to trigger the braking instruction, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment. The current state information of the vehicle includes a current driving speed, a current driving acceleration, a current load capacity, a current driving direction, a current activation state of a signal lamp, etc. of the vehicle, and the current state information can represent the current driving state of the vehicle. The road condition information of the road on which the vehicle is located may include information indicating characteristics of the road on which the vehicle is located, such as a type of the road on which the vehicle is located, a type of a road surface of the road on which the vehicle is located, a gradient of the road on which the vehicle is located, an inclination of the road on which the vehicle is located, and the like. The attribute information of the vehicle may include some information indicating the characteristics of the vehicle such as the age, model, volume, weight, and the like of the vehicle”)).
Regarding claim 4, Tian discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining the road condition scenario based on the control-related information by: obtaining control-related information of a plurality of channels, wherein each of the channels comprises control-related information corresponding to the channel; and determining, based on the control-related information of the channels, the road condition scenario (paragraphs 18-32: (“Alternatively, the traffic information of the road of the vehicle may be obtained from an image acquired by an image acquisition device mounted on the vehicle. The image acquisition device can be a camera, a camera and other devices with shooting functions. The image acquisition device can be arranged on the inner side of a front windshield of a vehicle and is used for shooting pictures of a road in front of the vehicle so as to obtain road condition information of the road where the vehicle is located. The image acquisition device is arranged on the inner side of the front windshield, so that the phenomenon that a shot picture is not clear due to the fact that a lens is dirty can be avoided. Alternatively, the traffic information of the road where the vehicle is located may also be obtained by receiving the traffic information sent by the traffic information management platform”)).
Regarding claim 5, Tian discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the control-related information comprises one or more of weather information, traffic information, road surface information, vehicle body interior information, or vehicle information (paragraphs 18-32: (“Specifically, when the driver drives the vehicle to travel on the road and prepares to control the vehicle to brake, the driver can input a braking instruction on the vehicle, and when the central processing unit on the vehicle receives the braking instruction, the central processing unit on the vehicle can immediately obtain the current state information of the vehicle, the road condition information of the road where the vehicle is located and the attribute information of the vehicle from various data acquisition devices or equipment connected with the central processing unit, so that the central processing unit plans a braking strategy according to the information to control the vehicle to automatically brake”)).
Regarding claim 6, Tian discloses the method of claim 1, wherein configuring the vehicle comprises: detecting a braking operation; and performing, in response to the braking operation and based on the preset braking control parameter set, a configuration, and wherein after configuring the vehicle, the method further comprises performing braking control based on the preset braking control parameter set (paragraphs 18-32: (“Specifically, the database on the vehicle stores in advance the correspondence between the state information and the braking time, the correspondence between the road condition information and the braking time, the correspondence between the attribute information and the braking time, and the like. When the central processing unit obtains the current state information of the vehicle based on the previous steps, the braking time corresponding to the state information can be further searched according to the corresponding relation between the state information and the braking time and the current state information of the vehicle; when the central processing unit obtains the road condition information of the road where the vehicle is located based on the steps, the braking time corresponding to the road condition information can be further found according to the corresponding relation between the road condition information and the braking time and the road condition information of the road where the vehicle is located; when the central processing unit obtains the attribute information of the vehicle based on the foregoing steps, the brake time corresponding to the attribute information can be further found according to the corresponding relationship between the attribute information and the brake time and according to the attribute information of the vehicle. Then, the central processing unit may determine the target braking time according to the braking time corresponding to the searched state information, the braking time corresponding to the road condition information, the braking time corresponding to the attribute information, and the like. Optionally, the central processing unit may also determine the target braking time only according to the braking time corresponding to the searched state information and the braking time corresponding to the road condition information, or determine the target braking time only according to the braking time corresponding to the searched road condition information and the braking time corresponding to the attribute information. Optionally, the central processing unit may further determine the target braking time according to the braking time corresponding to the searched state information, the braking time corresponding to the road condition information, the braking time corresponding to the attribute information, and the braking time corresponding to other information. The other information may include information such as weather, traffic conditions on a road ahead of the vehicle, and the like, for example, if the weather is fog, the target braking time is correspondingly shortened”)).
Regarding claim 7, Tian discloses the method of claim 1, wherein after configuring based on the preset braking control parameter set, the method further comprises: detecting a braking operation; and controlling, in response to the braking operation, braking control based on the configured preset braking control parameter set (paragraphs 18-32: (“In the braking method for a vehicle according to this embodiment, the central processing unit obtains the current state information of the vehicle, the road condition information of the road on which the vehicle is located, and the attribute information of the vehicle after receiving the braking instruction, determines the target braking time by analyzing the current state information of the vehicle, the road condition information of the road on which the vehicle is located, and the attribute information of the vehicle, and finally performs braking control on the vehicle according to the target braking time. In the braking method, the target braking time is optimized by fully combining the current state information of the vehicle, the road condition information of the road where the vehicle is located and the attribute information of the vehicle, so that the vehicle braking according to the target braking time can safely brake on various types of roads, and the braking effect cannot be influenced by factors such as abnormal road surfaces (such as wet and slippery), uneven roads (such as uphill), or changed attributes of the vehicle (such as aging of braking hardware of the vehicle), and the like, thereby reducing the occurrence of traffic accidents and greatly improving the braking safety of the vehicle”)).
Regarding claim 8, Tian discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining that travel onto a second road surface from a first road surface is pending; detecting a braking operation; controlling, in response to the braking operation, braking based on a first parameter set, wherein the first parameter set is a preset braking control parameter set configured for travel on a first road surface; determining a second parameter set, wherein the second parameter set is a preset braking control parameter set configured for travel on the second road surface; switching, in response to detecting travel to a joint between the first road surface and the second road surface, from the first parameter set to the second parameter set; and controlling braking based on the second parameter set (paragraphs 22-32).
Regarding claim 9, Tian discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: performing, based on the road condition scenario and a preset drive control parameter set corresponding to the road condition scenario, drive control configuration (paragraphs 18-32).
Regarding claim 10, Tian discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting a drive operation; and performing, in response to the drive operation and based on the drive control configuration, drive control (paragraphs 20-30).
Regarding claim 11, Tian discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining that travel onto a second road surface from a first road surface is pending; detecting a drive operation; performing, in response to the drive operation, drive control based on a first parameter set, wherein the first parameter set is a preset drive control parameter set configured for travel on the first road surface; determining a second parameter set, wherein the second parameter set is a preset drive control parameter set configured for travel on the second road surface; switching, in response to detecting travel to a joint between the first road surface and the second road surface, from the first parameter set to the second parameter set; and performing drive control based on the second parameter set (paragraphs 20-32).
Regarding claim 12, Tian discloses a vehicle control apparatus, comprising: collection apparatus configured to collect control-related information; and determining apparatus configured to: determine, based on the control-related information, a road condition scenario; send, based on the control-related information, a first information prompt, wherein the first information prompt indicates the road condition scenario; and configuration apparatus configured to perform vehicle configuration based on a preset braking control parameter set corresponding to the road condition scenario (paragraphs 5-12: (“acquiring current state information of a vehicle, road condition information of a road where the vehicle is located and attribute information of the vehicle according to a received braking instruction; the braking instruction is used for instructing the vehicle to execute braking control; determining target braking time by analyzing the current state information of the vehicle, the road condition information of the road where the vehicle is located and the attribute information of the vehicle; and executing braking control on the vehicle according to the target braking time. In a second aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a braking device for a vehicle, the device comprising: the acquisition module is used for acquiring the current state information of a vehicle, the road condition information of the road where the vehicle is located and the attribute information of the vehicle according to the received braking instruction; the braking instruction is used for instructing the vehicle to execute braking control; the determining module is used for determining target braking time by analyzing the current state information of the vehicle, the road condition information of the road where the vehicle is located and the attribute information of the vehicle”)).
Regarding claim 13, Tian discloses a computer program product comprising instructions that are stored on a non-transitory medium and that, when executed by a processor, cause a vehicle to: collect control-related information; determine, based on the control-related information, a road condition scenario; send, based on the control-related information, a first information prompt, wherein the first information prompt indicates the road condition scenario; and configure, based on a preset braking control parameter set corresponding to the road condition scenario, the vehicle (paragraphs 5-12: (“acquiring current state information of a vehicle, road condition information of a road where the vehicle is located and attribute information of the vehicle according to a received braking instruction; the braking instruction is used for instructing the vehicle to execute braking control; determining target braking time by analyzing the current state information of the vehicle, the road condition information of the road where the vehicle is located and the attribute information of the vehicle; and executing braking control on the vehicle according to the target braking time. In a second aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a braking device for a vehicle, the device comprising: the acquisition module is used for acquiring the current state information of a vehicle, the road condition information of the road where the vehicle is located and the attribute information of the vehicle according to the received braking instruction; the braking instruction is used for instructing the vehicle to execute braking control; the determining module is used for determining target braking time by analyzing the current state information of the vehicle, the road condition information of the road where the vehicle is located and the attribute information of the vehicle”)).
Regarding claim 14, Tian discloses the computer program product of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the vehicle to: determine that travel onto a second road surface from a first road surface is pending; detect a braking operation; control, in response to the braking operation, braking based on a first parameter set, wherein the first parameter set is a preset braking control parameter set configured for travel on a first road surface; determine a second parameter set, wherein the second parameter set is a preset braking control parameter set configured for travel on the second road surface; switch, in response to detecting travel to a joint between the first road surface and the second road surface, from the first parameter set to the second parameter set; and control braking based on the second parameter set (paragraphs 25-30).
Regarding claim 15, Tian discloses the computer program product of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the vehicle to perform, based on the road condition scenario and a preset drive control parameter set corresponding to the road condition scenario, drive control configuration (paragraphs 18-31).
Regarding claim 16, Tian discloses the computer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the vehicle to: detect a drive operation; and perform, in response to the detected drive operation and based on the drive control configuration, drive control (paragraphs 18-25).
Regarding claim 17, Tian discloses the computer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the vehicle to: determine that travel onto a second road surface from a first road surface is pending; detect a drive operation; perform, in response to the drive operation, drive control based on a first parameter set, wherein the first parameter set is a preset drive control parameter set configured for travel on the first road surface; determine a second parameter set, wherein the second parameter set is a preset drive control parameter set configured for travel on the second road surface; switch, in response to detecting travel to a joint between the first road surface and the second road surface, from the first parameter set to the second parameter set; and perform drive control based on the second parameter set (paragraphs 18-32).
Regarding claim 18, Tian discloses the vehicle control apparatus of claim 12, wherein the apparatus is further configured to: determine that travel onto a second road surface from a first road surface is pending; detect a braking operation; control, in response to the braking operation, braking based on a first parameter set, wherein the first parameter set is a preset braking control parameter set configured for travel on a first road surface; determine a second parameter set, wherein the second parameter set is a preset braking control parameter set configured for travel on the second road surface; switch, in response to detecting travel to a joint between the first road surface and the second road surface, from the first parameter set to the second parameter set; and control braking based on the second parameter set (paragraphs 22-32).
Regarding claim 19, Tian discloses the vehicle control apparatus of claim 12, wherein the apparatus is further configured to perform, based on the road condition scenario and a preset drive control parameter set corresponding to the road condition scenario, drive control configuration (paragraphs 20-30).
Regarding claim 20, Tian discloses the vehicle control apparatus of claim 19, wherein the apparatus is further configured to: detect a drive operation; and perform, in response to the drive operation and based on the drive control configuration, drive control (paragraphs 20-32).
Regarding claim 21, Tian discloses the vehicle control apparatus of claim 19, wherein the apparatus is further configured to: determine that travel onto a second road surface from a first road surface is pending; detect a drive operation; perform, in response to the drive operation, drive control based on a first parameter set, wherein the first parameter set is a preset drive control parameter set configured for travel on the first road surface; determine a second parameter set, wherein the second parameter set is a preset drive control parameter set configured for travel on the second road surface; switch, in response to detecting travel to a joint between the first road surface and the second road surface, from the first parameter set to the second parameter set; and perform drive control based on the second parameter set (paragraphs 18-30).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMAR MORALES whose telephone number is (571)272-5923. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday thru Friday.
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/O.M/Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/LINDSAY M LOW/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747