CTNF 19/096,917 CTNF 100243 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 filed 4/1/2025 has been fully considered and there are no issues with the submission. Status of the Claims This Office Action is in response to the communications filed 4/1/2025. Claims 1-5 are currently pending. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-12-aia AIA (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. 07-15 AIA Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102( a)(1 ) as being anticipated by US 20170277181 A1 hereinafter Fairfield . Regarding claim 1, Fairfield teaches an automated driving system for a vehicle, comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform automated driving control of the vehicle; and (In addition to the instructions 115, the data storage 114 may store data such as roadway maps, path information, among other information. Such information may be used by vehicle 100 and computer system 112 during the operation of the vehicle 100 in the autonomous, semi-autonomous, and/or manual modes. Paragraph [0050]) a remote assistance device that communicates with the vehicle in response to an assistance request from the vehicle and performs remote assistance of the vehicle by a remote operator, wherein (Block 304 includes identifying a situation from a predetermined set of situations for which the autonomous vehicle will request remote assistance. An autonomous vehicle may periodically encounter a situation in which remote assistance would be useful. For illustrative purposes, examples below describe requests for remote assistance from a remote human guide, but it should be generally understood that the request could also be sent to a passenger of the vehicle or to a remote computing system as well or instead. Paragraph [0075]) the processing circuitry is configured to: transmit, in response to occurrence of a predetermined assistance-required situation during execution of the automated driving control, the assistance request for requesting the remote assistance for the assistance-required situation that has occurred; (Block 304 includes identifying a situation from a predetermined set of situations for which the autonomous vehicle will request remote assistance. An autonomous vehicle may periodically encounter a situation in which remote assistance would be useful. For illustrative purposes, examples below describe requests for remote assistance from a remote human guide, but it should be generally understood that the request could also be sent to a passenger of the vehicle or to a remote computing system as well or instead. Paragraph [0075]) receive an assistance determination of the remote assistance by the remote operator from the remote assistance device; (In some examples, the remote assistor may be a human operator presented with a user interface that may include information and data from the vehicle (e.g., a proposed course of action for a certain situation in addition to a live video feed taken from the vehicle). The interface may also indicate latency (e.g., how old the data on screen is). In other examples, the remote assistor could instead be a more powerful remote computing system, which may be capable of determining correct vehicle behavior in situations that cannot be easily processed by an autonomous vehicle's on-board computing systems. In further examples, the remote assistor may be a passenger in the vehicle, which may be useful for certain intuitive behaviors that are difficult to automate (e.g., asking a taxi to move forward a few feet before dropping off passengers). Requests for assistance may be sent to multiple remote guides simultaneously and/or to other types of remote guides in some examples as well. Paragraph [0028]) execute the automated driving control in the assistance-required situation in accordance with the received assistance determination; (A predetermined set of situations may be defined for which remote input may be requested by the vehicle. Within examples, the set of predetermined situations may include scenarios for which the autonomous vehicle can autonomously identify that it is in the scenario, ask a useful question to a human operator, and interpret a response from the human operator in order to proceed with autonomous operation. In some examples, the set may vary depending on the type or version of the vehicle, the geographical location of the vehicle, the current time or weather conditions, etc. A control system on a vehicle may identify that the vehicle is in one of the predetermined situations based on sensor data collected about the environment as described above. Paragraph [0076]) set a period for continuing communication with the remote assistance device from a time point at which the assistance determination is received; and (The request for assistance may additionally contain a timeout amount indicating an amount of time in which a response to the request is needed. Paragraph [0091]) receive a second assistance determination of the remote assistance by the remote operator during the period. (Block 310 of method 300 includes performing the autonomous operation. When the vehicle receives the response to the request for assistance, the response may indicate that the vehicle is free to proceed with a proposed operation or suggest a different operation for the vehicle to use. Based on the response, the vehicle may proceed with the autonomous operation, which may be to turn, start, stop, pass on the left or right, change speed and/or direction, pull over, back up, or any number of other possible operations. In some examples, the vehicle may do additional processing before proceeding with the autonomous operation. For example, if the latency associated with the received instruction is too high to be trusted, the vehicle may send another request for assistance before proceeding . Paragraph [0095]) Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fairfield in view of US 20210271239 A1 hereinafter Pfadler . Regarding claim 2, Fairfield teaches the automated driving system according to claim 1. Fairfield also teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to extend the period while surroundings of the vehicle are in a predetermined gaze scene in which a determination of the remote operator is likely to change. (As shown in FIG. 4B, the autonomous vehicle 402 may create a representation of its environment 400 based on any combination of possible types of sensor data as described above. In some examples, the representation may not be a perfect copy of the environment. For instance, some of the sensors may be blocked in certain directions or some of the sensor data may be distorted. Additionally, some objects may be abstracted into geometric shapes, such as the representations of the vehicles 406, 408, and 410 shown in the figure. The autonomous vehicle 402 may identify objects or other aspects of the environment with varying levels of precision. Paragraph [0072] A predetermined set of situations may be defined for which remote input may be requested by the vehicle. Within examples, the set of predetermined situations may include scenarios for which the autonomous vehicle can autonomously identify that it is in the scenario, ask a useful question to a human operator, and interpret a response from the human operator in order to proceed with autonomous operation. In some examples, the set may vary depending on the type or version of the vehicle, the geographical location of the vehicle, the current time or weather conditions, etc. A control system on a vehicle may identify that the vehicle is in one of the predetermined situations based on sensor data collected about the environment as described above. Paragraph [0076]) Fairfield does not teach wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to extend the period. However, Pfadler teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to extend the period. (Subsequently, at operation at 604, the method awaits the human operator to identify a cause for the TOD so that it may be reported 605 to the AV. In other words, the system awaits identification of a cause for the tele-operated driving session from the control center. Similarly, at operation at 606, an expected duration of the TOD session may be determined and reported to the AV. Paragraph [0114] During tele-operation, the expected duration of the TOD session may be determined again and reported to the AV as an update. Paragraph [0117]) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the communication period of Fairfield to include the extension of the communication period while surroundings of the vehicle are in a predetermined gaze scene in which a determination of the remote operator is likely to change of Pfadler . One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this combination because it would enable the automated driving system to continue communication when the circumstances dynamically change as suggested by Pfadler in paragraphs [0114-0117]) Regarding claim 3, the combination of Fairfield and Pfadler teach the automated driving system according to claim 2. Fairfield also teaches wherein the gaze scene includes at least one of a scene in which a time to collision with an object in the surroundings of the vehicle closest to the vehicle is less than a predetermined time, a scene in which a number of objects in the surroundings of the vehicle is equal to or greater than a predetermined number, and a scene in which the vehicle is in a predetermined region in surroundings with poor visibility . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fairfield in view of Pfadler and further in view of KR 20220121708 A hereinafter Hayashi . Regarding claim 4, the combination of Fairfield and Pfadler teach the automated driving system according to claim 2. Fairfield and Pfadler do not teach wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to terminate an extension of the period after the period is extended to a predetermined maximum period. However, Hayashi teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to terminate an extension of the period after the period is extended to a predetermined maximum period. (As described above, according to the remote assistance method by the remote assistance system 100 of the second embodiment, even when the situation of the vehicle 10 becomes a remote operation request situation, the remaining time RT is greater than the determination time α of the remote operator. No remote operation request is made. And in the remote support system 100, when the remaining time RT becomes smaller than the determination time alpha of the remote operator, a remote operation request is performed. According to this configuration, the determination of the remote operation request can be delayed until the time when the speed difference ?v(t) reaches the allowable limit, so that it is possible to reduce the frequency of sending the remote operation request while preventing the occupants from feeling uncomfortable. Description) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the automated driving system of Fairfiled and Pfadler to include where the processing circuitry is further configured to terminate an extension of the period after the period is extended to a predetermined maximum period of Hayashi. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make this combination because it would enable the system to reduce the burden on operators as suggested by Hayashi in the detailed description. Regarding claim 5, the combination of Fairfield and Pfadler teach the automated driving system according to claim 2. Fairfield and Pfadler do not teach wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to terminate the extension of the period when the vehicle enters a predetermined state corresponding to the assistance required situation while the period is extended. However, Hayashi teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to terminate the extension of the period when the vehicle enters a predetermined state corresponding to the assistance required situation while the period is extended (In step S212, the remote operation request determination unit 432 calculates a time ta when the speed difference Δv(t) in the time t between the plan A and the plan B exceeds the threshold value Th. In the next step S214, the remote operation request determination unit 432 calculates the remaining time RT from the current time tc to the time ta, and determines whether the calculated remaining time RT is smaller than the remote operator's judgment time α. As a result of the determination in S214, if the establishment of the determination is not recognized, it is determined that there is no need to make a remote operation request in this routine, and the flow advances to step S216. In step S216 , the remote operation request unit 420 does not transmit the remote operation request REQ to the remote operation device 2 . Then, the travel plan selection unit 434 selects the travel trajectory TR1A of the plan A and sends it to the traveling device 60 as the travel trajectory TR. The traveling device 60 automatically drives the vehicle according to the traveling track TR. On the other hand, as a result of the determination in S214, when the establishment of the determination is recognized, it is determined that it is necessary to make a remote operation request in this routine, and the flow advances to step S218. In step S218, the remote operation request unit 420 transmits a remote operation request REQ to the remote operation device 2 on which the remote operator waits. In step S218, the travel plan selection unit 434 selects the travel trajectory TR1B of the plan B and sends it to the traveling device 60 as the travel trajectory TR. The traveling device 60 automatically drives the vehicle according to the traveling track TR. As described above, according to the remote assistance method by the remote assistance system 100 of the second embodiment, even when the situation of the vehicle 10 becomes a remote operation request situation, the remaining time RT is greater than the determination time α of the remote operator. No remote operation request is made. And in the remote support system 100, when the remaining time RT becomes smaller than the determination time alpha of the remote operator, a remote operation request is performed. According to this configuration, the determination of the remote operation request can be delayed until the time when the speed difference ?v(t) reaches the allowable limit, so that it is possible to reduce the frequency of sending the remote operation request while preventing the occupants from feeling uncomfortable. Thereby, the burden on the remote operator is reduced. Detailed description) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the automated driving system of Fairfield and Pfadler to include where the processing circuitry is further configured to terminate the extension of the period when the vehicle enters a predetermined state corresponding to the assistance-required situation while the period is extended of Hayashi . One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this combination because it would prevent occupants from feeling uncomfortable and reduce the burden on the operator as suggested by Hayashi in the description . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20220357738 A1 teaches a remote assistance management system and method for an autonomous vehicle . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Joshua J Penko whose telephone number is (571)272-2604. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 8-5 ET. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hitesh Patel can be reached at 571-270-5442. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JOSHUA JEFFREY PENKO/Examiner, Art Unit 3667 /Hitesh Patel/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3667 6/11/26 Application/Control Number: 19/096,917 Page 2 Art Unit: 3667 Application/Control Number: 19/096,917 Page 3 Art Unit: 3667 Application/Control Number: 19/096,917 Page 4 Art Unit: 3667 Application/Control Number: 19/096,917 Page 5 Art Unit: 3667 Application/Control Number: 19/096,917 Page 6 Art Unit: 3667 Application/Control Number: 19/096,917 Page 7 Art Unit: 3667 Application/Control Number: 19/096,917 Page 8 Art Unit: 3667 Application/Control Number: 19/096,917 Page 9 Art Unit: 3667 Application/Control Number: 19/096,917 Page 10 Art Unit: 3667 Application/Control Number: 19/096,917 Page 11 Art Unit: 3667
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