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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to the application filed on February 24, 2025. Claims 10-12, 14, 16, 19, 25, 27-34 and 36-38 have been cancelled. Claims 1, 2, 4-9, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20-24, 26, 35 and 39 are pending. Claims 1 and 21 are independent.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on February 24, 2025 and July 25, 2025 have been considered. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. The Forms PTO-1449 are signed and attached hereto.
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, 2, 4-7, 13, 15, 17, 21-24, 35 and 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN103177596 by Huang.
Claims 1, 2, 4-7, 13, 15, 17, 21-24, 35 and 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Huang.
With respect to independent claims 1 and 21, Huang discloses an autonomous vehicle; a communication system; and a vehicle control system, the vehicle control system comprising a processor and a memory, the memory having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that (see abstract: a traffic manager (1) and the vehicle-mounted driving auxiliary device (2) for wireless communication through a wireless communication network.), when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
receive traffic information from the communication system, wherein the traffic information comprises first information from a plurality of roadside communication devices and second information from a second vehicle (see abstract and paragraph [0014]: a traffic manager (1) and the vehicle-mounted driving auxiliary device (2) for wireless communication through a wireless communication network. Said transit planning module is further used for according to the speed information in the state information of the vehicle to calculate the vehicle occupation time of grid on the initial virtual lane and judging whether it is occupied time conflict with the grid of virtual lane of the other vehicle, if occupation time conflict exists, then calling the conflict resolution module for conflict resolution operation, otherwise the initial virtual lane as the vehicle through the intersection of the planned virtual lane);
receive a plurality of vehicle parameters associated with the autonomous vehicle (see paragraph [0020]: the vehicle-mounted driving assistance apparatus by comparing the vehicle position and the target position, the vehicle speed and the target speed, vehicle acceleration and the target acceleration,); and
determine, based on the traffic information and the vehicle parameters, a cooperative navigation solution (see abstract: planning virtual lane and a passing speed, and generating the navigation information of the vehicle according to the planned virtual lane and traffic speed is a vehicle driving assistance apparatus (2) of the vehicle, and transmits the navigation information to the vehicle driving assistance apparatus (2).).
With respect to dependent claims 2 and 39, Huang discloses controlling the autonomous vehicle using the cooperative navigation solution (see paragraph [0035]: The vehicle-mounted driving assistance apparatus 2 for transmitting state information and traffic request information of the vehicle to the traffic manager I, receiving navigation information sent by the traffic manager I, the navigation information can be used to control or auxiliary vehicle via virtual lane planning and speed of programming by passing through the intersection.).
With respect to dependent claims 4 and 22, Huang discloses wherein the cooperative navigation solution comprises a vehicle velocity instruction, wherein the vehicle velocity instruction comprises a velocity that avoids a potential collision (see paragraph [0014]: in the state information of the vehicle to calculate the vehicle occupation time of grid on the initial virtual lane and judging whether it is occupied time conflict with the grid of virtual lane of the other vehicle, if occupation time conflict exists, then calling the conflict resolution module for conflict resolution operation, otherwise the initial virtual lane as the vehicle through the intersection of the planned virtual lane. the current speed of the vehicle as by planning speed of the intersection.).
With respect to dependent claims 5 and 23, Huang discloses wherein the cooperative navigation solution comprises a cooperative cruise control instruction (see paragraph [0015]: at a constant velocity, fast through the intersection as the target, combined with speed limits of the intersection for travel trajectory curve simulation to obtain the vehicle state of each time.).
With respect to dependent claims 6 and 24, Huang discloses wherein the cooperative navigation solution comprises cooperative adaptive lane keeping information (see paragraph [0027]: Picture 3 is the planned driving task according to this invention used when fixing coordinate system and the vehicle coordinate system of vehicle motion parameters.).
With respect to dependent claim 7, Huang discloses wherein the cooperative navigation solution comprises cooperative collision avoidance information (see paragraph [0108]: step S4, when traffic planning module judges that vehicle when there is conflict occupation time of the grid on the initial virtual lane allocation, conflict resolution module according to the position information in the state information of the vehicle, speed information, traffic request in the advancing direction information and the assigned virtual lane of the other vehicle and the grid of occupation time information, executing the conflict resolution operation.).
With respect to dependent claim 13, Huang discloses wherein the vehicle parameters comprise a vehicle position (see paragraph [0102]: when equipped with a buffer region 5 vehicle (through vehicle positioning system GPS position information) vehicle-mounted of the driving assistance apparatus of the invention confirm enters an intersection.).
With respect to dependent claim 15, Huang discloses wherein the vehicle parameters comprise a lane identity of the vehicle (see paragraphs [0060] and [0062]: FIG. 1 that represents a grid. For example, intersection region is divided into 320 grids (20X 16) in the figure, are marked as S coordinate [I] [I] to S [20] [16], to form a two-dimensional grid array. The grid each virtual lane is occupied by referred to as the virtual lane associated grid. can be through is assigned to each value in the grid array S for indicating whether the grid is occupied by the virtual lane. such as initializing the value of each grid in the grid array S is 0, 0 represents an occupied state. when the virtual lane occupied by the multiple grids in the grid array S, the occupied grid assignment is I.).
With respect to dependent claims 17 and 35, Huang discloses wherein the communication system comprises an autonomous intersection management system (see paragraph [0034]: the intersection of the invention autonomous control system includes one traffic manager I and at least one vehicle driving assistance apparatus 2.).
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 8, 9 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. U.S. Patent Publication No. 20220345860 to Oh et al. (hereinafter “Oh”).
With respect to dependent claims 8 and 26, Huang discloses wherein the roadside communication devices (see paragraph [0034]: traffic manager I and located in the vehicle 3 in the vehicle-mounted driving assistance device 2 can be through a wireless communication network 7 for wireless communication.).
Huang does not explicitly teach the road side unit (RSU).
Oh teaches a Road Side Unit (RSU) device refers to a device that is disposed along or on a road and operates as a gateway between V2X devices (e.g., vehicles, etc.) and infrastructure. (See paragraph [0005]).
It would have been obvious to one skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the roadside device with V2X architecture of Oh with the roadside traffic manager that communicates via a wireless communication network to plan cooperative navigation solutions of Huang in order to provide a traffic information gathering function.
With respect to dependent claim 9, Huang discloses a smart traffic light (STL) (see paragraph [0023]: the crossing vehicle traffic principle of traditional traffic signal of each phase.).
Huang does not explicitly teach wherein the roadside communication devices comprise a smart traffic light.
Oh teaches RSUs can generally be placed on fixed objects located around the road, such as traffic lights and street lights (See paragraph [0005]).
It would have been obvious to one skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the RSU device to perform functions including transmitting and receiving messages of Oh with the traffic manager that communicates via a wireless communication network of Huang in order to provide a RSU functionality onto a traffic light infrastructure of the traffic manager at the intersection location for communication link with vehicles.
Claims 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. U.S. Patent Publication No. 20220258732 to Avedisov et al. (hereinafter “Avedisov”).
With respect to dependent claim 18, Huang does not explicitly teach a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor, and wherein the plurality of vehicle parameters comprises LIDAR data.
Avedisov discloses the sensor system 120 can include one or more LIDAR sensors 124. (See paragraph [0081]).
With respect to dependent claim 20, Huang does not explicitly teach a camera, and wherein the plurality of vehicle parameters comprises image data.
Avedisov discloses the sensor system 120 can include one or more cameras 126 can be high dynamic range (HDR) cameras or infrared (IR) cameras. The autonomous driving system 160 can be configured to receive data from the sensor system 120 and/or any other type of system capable of capturing information relating to the vehicle 100 and/or the external environment of the vehicle 100. (See paragraphs [0081] and [0091]).
With respect to dependent claims 18 and 20, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to combine the LIDAR sensor or camera of Avedisov with the vehicle mounted driving assistance device of Huang in order to provide a device that collects tatus information of the vehicle to transmit to the traffic manager /RSU required for navigation solution.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEMETRA R SMITH-STEWART whose telephone number is (571)270-3965. The examiner can normally be reached 10am - 6pm.
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/DEMETRA R SMITH-STEWART/Examiner, Art Unit 3661
/PETER D NOLAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3661
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