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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Paragraph [0313] discloses which are displayed through the outside of the vehicle or displayed through the AR service provision device 800 as described with reference to FIG. D. The figure number is missing.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 10 recite the limitation "the resulting" in 2nd. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-15 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 1 and 10 recite AR; it should be amended to augmented reality (AR).
Claims 4 and 13 recite ID; it should be amended to identification (ID).
Claims 1-15 recite claim numbers in brackets. The brackets around the claim numbers should be removed.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao et al. (US 2017/0153714) in view of Arden et al. (US 9,613,386) in view of Kondapally et al. (US 2022/0315063) in view of Kim (US 2011/0310264) in view of Neumann et al. (WO 2021/115759).
Regarding claim 1, Gao et al. (hereinafter Gao) discloses a system for providing a vehicle calling service (Gao, [0016], “systems and methods for detecting an intended passenger of an autonomous vehicle. These systems and methods may increase the ability for autonomous vehicles to be utilized effectively across communities and reduce a time that it takes the autonomous vehicle to process a request for a ride and successfully pick up the intended passenger who is the subject of or initiated the ride request”), the system comprising:
an AR service provision device (Gao, [0041], “The user interface 120 is preferably a web interface or a native application interface accessible through a mobile electronic device (e.g., a smartphone, a laptop computer, etc.)”. In addition, in paragraph [0064], “provide augmented reality capabilities to a user device (e.g., a mobile computing device or the like) that allows an intended passenger to livestream their environment with a computer-generated overlay over a display of the livestreamed environment”); and
a service platform that operates in conjunction with the AR service provision device (Gao, [0043], “The vehicle coordinator 130 functions to provide passenger pickup related data and/or decision assistance to the autonomous vehicle no. The vehicle coordinator 130 may transmit data to the autonomous vehicle no using external sources (e.g., a user, through the user interface 120) and/or from internal sources (e.g., map data of an autonomous vehicle platform)”), wherein the AR service provision device renders an AR image (Gao, [0064], “provide augmented reality capabilities to a user device (e.g., a mobile computing device or the like) that allows an intended passenger to livestream their environment with a computer-generated overlay over a display of the livestreamed environment”), which is based on location information (Gao, [0047], “the phone's location at time of request (or a manually specified location entered by a user) are used to locate a ride's requestor”) displays a resulting AR image (Gao, [0064], “the overlay may show this position as green area together with an indication of optimal pick up location thereby suggesting to the intended passenger to re-position to the optimal location for pickup”), and
while Gao discloses a vehicle boarding-possible section based on location information of a passenger (Gao, [0063], “Passenger location data preferably includes data that may be used to describe the location of the potential passenger. This data is preferably transmitted to the autonomous vehicle by a platform user, but may additionally or alternatively be accessible to the autonomous vehicle by any method”. In addition, in paragraph [0064], “if in the livestream environment, an available open space at a curb is a best position for the autonomous vehicle to stop and pick up the intended passenger, the overlay may show this position as green area together with an indication of optimal pick up location thereby suggesting to the intended passenger to re-position to the optimal location for pickup”);
Gao does not expressly disclose “in response to the called vehicle entering the vehicle boarding possible section”;
Arden et al. (hereinafter Arden) discloses in response a called vehicle entering a vehicle boarding possible section (Arden, col 4. 17-21, “once a vehicle enters the physical area corresponding to the pickup zone at one edge and as the vehicle approaches or gets close to another edge of the zone, the size of the zone on the user's client device may be increased”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Gao for passenger pickup to detect when a vehicle enters a pickup zone, as taught by Arden. The motivation for doing so would have been facilitating vehicle arrival detection and passenger pickup coordination.
While Gao discloses the called vehicle to inclusively image capture passenger, using a camera in the called vehicle (Gao, [0073], “the potential passenger may identify him or herself in image data captured by the autonomous vehicle”), provides a user interface for selecting (Gao, [0017], “The system 100 may additionally include a user interface 120”. In addition, in paragraph [0073], “the potential passenger may identify him or herself in image data captured by the autonomous vehicle”); transmit information to the called vehicle and enable the called vehicle to track location of a passenger (Gao, [0063], “This data is preferably transmitted to the autonomous vehicle by a platform user”. In addition, in paragraph [0076], “an onboard computer of the autonomous vehicle or vehicle routing coordinator may use the obtain identification and location information to generate routing instructions and autonomous vehicle control instructions for the autonomous vehicle to allow the autonomous vehicle to successfully maneuver to the enhanced location of the identified intended passenger or person. The generated autonomous vehicle controls may be determined by identifying a route for the autonomous vehicle that best tracks a reverse trajectory of signal or the like from the intended passenger”), the service platform requests (Gao, [0043], “the vehicle coordinator 130 may generate pickup or ride requests that are provided to the one or more autonomous vehicles in a fleet to ensure that an optimal number of autonomous vehicles are available to satisfy ride requests in the identified geographic areas”);
Gao as modified by Arden does not expressly disclose “a plurality of candidate passengers”;
Kondapally et al. (hereinafter Kondapally) discloses image-capture a plurality of candidate passengers, provides a user interface for selecting (Kondapally, [0095], “a display screen on which a plurality of candidate users detected on a captured image can be selected on the captured image may be provided. In this case, for example, the detected person may be surrounded by a line or the like, and the user may select the inside thereof to select the user. As described above, by causing the user to select himself/herself, it is possible to specify the user more efficiently and accurately”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Gao for passenger pickup using the captured image and user selection function, as taught by Kondapally. The motivation for doing so would have been facilitating selection of the intended passenger for pickup.
Gao as modified by Arden and Kondapally does not expressly disclose “generate a plurality of thumbnails”;
Kim discloses generate a plurality of thumbnails (Kim, [0082], “For example, as shown in FIG. 4, 9 thumbnail images having the same size may be arranged in a display picture 400. In this case, the arrangement order of the thumbnail images”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the captured image of Gao as modified by Arden and Kondapally to incorporate the thumbnail image generation function, as taught by Kim. The motivation for doing so would have been facilitating user selection.
Gao as modified by Arden, Kondapally and Kim does not expressly disclose “based on location information and vehicle information of the called vehicle, onto the called vehicle and displaying the resulting AR image on a three-dimensional map”;
Neumann et al. (hereinafter Neumann) discloses based on location information and vehicle information, and displaying resulting image on a three-dimensional map (Neumann, “In Fig. 2, a three-dimensional map 100 is sketched, which is displayed for a Be user of the motor vehicle 10 on the display device 36 of the motor vehicle 10…This route display 104 is shown in FIG. 2 as a line extending from a current position of the motor vehicle 10 to a predetermined target position 106. The current position of the motor vehicle 10 is outlined in the form of an own vehicle representation 114…The own vehicle representation 114 corresponds to a motor vehicle 10, viewed from behind, schematically. The own vehicle representation 114 is positioned precisely to the lane in the map 100 generated”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the display of the AR image in Gao using the concept of the three-dimensional map display of Neumann including an indication of the current position of own vehicle. The motivation for doing so would have been allowing users to recognize of the vehicle’s current position and surrounding environment.
Regarding claim 10, Gao discloses a method of providing a vehicle calling service (Gao, [0016], “systems and methods for detecting an intended passenger of an autonomous vehicle. These systems and methods may increase the ability for autonomous vehicles to be utilized effectively across communities and reduce a time that it takes the autonomous vehicle to process a request for a ride and successfully pick up the intended passenger who is the subject of or initiated the ride request”).
The steps recite in claim 10 are similar in scope to the functions recited in claim 1 and therefore are rejected under the same rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-9 and 11-15 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYLE ZHAI whose telephone number is (571)270-3740. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ke Xiao can be reached at (571) 272 - 7776. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KYLE ZHAI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2611
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