DETAILED ACTION
This non-final office Action is in response to the claims filed on 3/13/2025.
Claims 1-21 are currently pending.
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Regarding eligibility step 1: claim 1 is directed to “a vehicle control device” which is a machine and therefore eligible at step 1
Regarding eligibility step 2A, the following elements are considered to be abstract:
acquires forward information about a host vehicle in a case in which a preceding vehicle running ahead of the host vehicle is present when a host vehicle running route on which the host vehicle runs is obtained based on a road shape on which the host vehicle runs and an index related to movement of the host vehicle in the forward information, obtains the host vehicle running route using information related to a running position or a running history of the preceding vehicle in the forward information.
These elements appear to be directed to mental processes and/or mathematical operations because the limitations are drawn to finding information and analyzing that information, which could be done mentally or by hand with pen and paper.
The remaining elements of a controller does not amount to integrating the judicial exception into a practical application and does not amount to significantly more as the controller is merely being used to implement the abstract idea on a computer, similar to the issue present in Alice Corp.
Therefore, the limitations of claim 1, when considered individually and as an ordered combination do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea.
Regarding dependent claims 2-19, these claims do not add significantly more as a whole and thus do not change the eligibility:
Claim 2-19 merely further defines the abstract idea by indicating how the intangible data is to be determined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 9, 16-18, 20 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Masui et al. (US 10,350,999).
As to claim 1 Masui discloses a vehicle control device comprising a control unit (figure 1 #10) that outputs a result of a computation based on input information (figure 1 11-17) , wherein
the control unit (10)
acquires forward information about a host vehicle (figure 5 #S103), and
in a case in which a preceding vehicle running ahead of the host vehicle is present (S101) when a host vehicle running route on which the host vehicle runs is obtained based on a road shape on which the host vehicle runs (shown in figures 2-4) and an index (sections K1-K5) related to movement of the host vehicle in the forward information, obtains the host vehicle running route using information related to a running position or a running history of the preceding vehicle in the forward information (S105).
As to claim 2 Masui discloses the vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein
in a case in which the preceding vehicle running ahead of the host vehicle is present, the control unit (10) obtains the host vehicle running route by adding, as a computation condition, the information related to the running position or the running history of the preceding vehicle to the road shape and the index related to movement of the host vehicle. (column 2 lines 1-15)
As to claim 3 Masui discloses the vehicle control device according to claim 2, wherein the control unit (10) obtains the host vehicle running route by increasing a weighting on the information related to the running position or the running history of the preceding vehicle as a distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle decreases (column 11 lines 35-50).
It is disclosed that as the distance increases the accuracy of the detection device decreases until the program cancels the stored position. This would work opposite also, as the vehicle gets closer in distance the device would read more accurate and the procedure will continue. So the distance is weighed in the program to decide whether to cancel or proceed with the program.
As to claim 9 Masui discloses the vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit obtains the host vehicle running route by:
obtaining a first running route, which is a running route of the host vehicle, based on the road shape and the index related to movement of the host vehicle (shown in figure 2B, based on the road shaped by the white lines and the route the vehicle will take thought the white lines),
obtaining a second running route, which is a running route of the preceding vehicle, based on the information related to the running position or the running history of the preceding vehicle (figure 4 column 7 lines 40-50), and
integrating a route component of the first running route and a route component of the second running route in a predetermined ratio based on the forward information (figure 5 S105).
As to claim 16 Masui discloses the vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the index (shown in figure 3) related to movement of the host vehicle is a physical quantity related to an acceleration of the host vehicle. (The index is shown in distance over time as the vehicle moves. If the vehicle didn’t move there would be no index. In order to move you need a speed, which is related to acceleration.)
As to claim 17 Masui discloses the vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit (10) causes the host vehicle (M1) running route to transition, based on the forward information, between a first running route and a second running route, in which the first running route is a running route of the host vehicle based on the road shape on which the host vehicle runs and the index related to movement of the host vehicle (shown in figures 2 the road shape based on the road while lines and the predicted forward movement of the host vehicle (M1) shown in 2D. which is shown indexed by the dark squares on the route (RA)), and the second running route is a running route of the preceding vehicle based on the information related to the running position or the running history of the preceding vehicle (shown in figure 2C).
As to claim 18 Masui discloses the vehicle control device according to claim 17, wherein the control unit brings the host vehicle running route closer to the second running route from the first running route as a distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle decreases.
As to claim 20 Masui discloses a vehicle control method to be executed by a control unit mounted in a host vehicle, the vehicle control method comprising: acquiring, by the control unit, forward information about the host vehicle (acquired though the imaging device 11 and radar 13); and in a case in which a preceding vehicle running ahead of the host vehicle is present when a host vehicle running route on which the host vehicle runs is obtained based on a road shape on which the host vehicle runs and an index related to movement of the host vehicle in the forward information (shown in figure 3 the indexes of 10 meters and the predicted route of the host vehicle based on the route of the preceding vehicle), obtaining, by the control unit, the host vehicle running route using information related to a running position or a running history of the preceding vehicle in the forward information (shown in figure 3).
As to claim 21 Masui discloses a vehicle control system comprising: a forward information acquisition unit that acquires forward information about a host vehicle (acquired though the imaging device 11 and radar 13); a control unit (10) that outputs a result of a computation based on input information, wherein in a case in which a preceding vehicle running ahead of the host vehicle is present when a host vehicle running route on which the host vehicle runs is obtained based on a road shape on which the host vehicle runs and an index related to movement of the host vehicle in the forward information, (shown in figure 3 the indexes of 10 meters and the predicted route of the host vehicle based on the route of the preceding vehicle) the control unit obtains the host vehicle running route using information related to a running position or a running history of the preceding vehicle in the forward information (shown in figure 3); and a vehicle actuator unit (41, engine ECU) that causes the host vehicle to run in response to a control command for causing the host vehicle to run based on the host vehicle running route.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHERMAN D MANLEY whose telephone number is (571)270-5539. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 7-5:30 est.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Logan Kraft can be reached at 571-270-5065. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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SHERMAN D. MANLEY
Examiner
Art Unit 3747
/SHERMAN D MANLEY/Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/LOGAN M KRAFT/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747
