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 § 103
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 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 1-10 and 12-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogawa, US 2019/0176968 A1, in view of Kudo, et al., US 2012/0146775 A1.
As per Claim 1, Ogawa teaches a moving body remote operation system (¶¶ 44-45), comprising:
a processor to execute a program (¶¶ 60-61), and a memory to store the program (¶ 103; storage unit 230 of Figure 12) which, when executed by the processor, performs processes of, acquiring an operation amount from an operation apparatus operated by an operator (¶ 105; through sensors); and
setting an operation target in a plurality of moving bodies performing motions in different movement models (¶¶ 53-54; e.g., “a target steering angle and a breaking force”).
Ogawa does not expressly teach: calculating a control amount of controlling the operation target which has been set based on the operation amount which has been acquired. Kudo teaches: calculating a control amount of controlling the operation target which has been set based on the operation amount which has been acquired (¶ 64; as “the operation input device 10 determines the specific setting information which is to be set to the moving object 20 currently communicably connected thereto (S5)” as shown in Figures 1 and 6). At the time of the invention, a person of skill in the art would have thought it obvious to combine the operating system of Ogawa with the control system of Kudo, in order to enable control for multiple different types of moving bodies.
As per Claim 2, Ogawa teaches a moving body remote operation apparatus (¶ 51; “operation control unit 117” of Figure 1), comprising:
a processor to execute a program (¶¶ 60-61), and a memory to store the program (¶ 103; storage unit 230 of Figure 12) which, when executed by the processor, performs processes of;
acquiring an operation amount from an operation apparatus operated by an operator (¶ 105; through sensors); and
setting an operation target in a plurality of moving bodies performing motions in different movement models (¶¶ 53-54; e.g., “a target steering angle and a breaking force”).
Ogawa does not expressly teach: transmitting the operation amount which has been acquired to a moving body control apparatus controlling the operation target. Kudo teaches: transmitting the operation amount which has been acquired to a moving body control apparatus controlling the operation target (¶ 64; as “the operation input device 10 determines the specific setting information which is to be set to the moving object 20 currently communicably connected thereto (S5)” as shown in Figures 1 and 6). See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 3, Ogawa teaches that set is a motion mode as a movement model of making the operation target designated by the operator perform a motion, and transmitted is the motion mode to the moving body control apparatus (¶¶ 74-75).
As per Claim 4, Ogawa teaches:
receiving image information and sensor information around the operation target from the moving body control apparatus (¶ 105); and
generating a presentation image presented to the operator based on the image information and the sensor information which has been received (¶ 103; through “a screen display unit such as a liquid crystal display”).
As per Claim 5, Ogawa corrected is the presentation image to prevent a time delay in accordance with control of the operation target (¶ 103; as hardware and program 250 of Figure 12 function together to execute the program).
As per Claim 6, Ogawa does not expressly teach that when the operator performs an operation of rotation, corrected is the presentation image so that the operation target is rotated in place by changing a viewpoint in accordance with a movement of the operation target. Kudo teaches that when the operator performs an operation of rotation, corrected is the presentation image so that the operation target is rotated in place by changing a viewpoint in accordance with a movement of the operation target (¶¶ 37-38; as the image is decoded). See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 7, Ogawa does not expressly teach: calculating a control amount of controlling the operation target based on the operation amount which has been acquired; and adjusting the control amount in accordance with a scale of the operation target. Kudo teaches:
calculating a control amount of controlling the operation target based on the operation amount which has been acquired (¶ 64; as “the operation input device 10 determines the specific setting information which is to be set to the moving object 20 currently communicably connected thereto (S5)” as shown in Figures 1 and 6); and
adjusting the control amount in accordance with a scale of the operation target (¶¶ 72-73).
See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 8, Ogawa does not expressly teach that when the operation target designated by the operator is set, the motion mode is automatically selected. Kudo teaches that when the operation target designated by the operator is set, the motion mode is automatically selected (¶ 65; “by using the rewritten communication setting information”). See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 9, Ogawa teaches that the moving body is located in a virtual space (¶ 109; within “a virtual control system 110-1” of Figures 11 and 12).
As per Claim 10, Ogawa teaches that corrected is a field angle and a size of the presentation image so that a viewpoint corresponding to a movement of each the operation target is unified (¶ 114; in correcting from initial state to search state of Figure 14).
As per Claim 12, Ogawa does not expressly teach that the receiving unit receives received is a control amount of controlling the operation target calculated based on the operation amount from the moving body control apparatus, and the image generation unit generates generated is the presentation image including the control amount. Kudo teaches that the receiving unit receives received is a control amount of controlling the operation target calculated based on the operation amount from the moving body control apparatus (¶ 66), and the image generation unit generates generated is the presentation image including the control amount (¶ 68). See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 13, Ogawa does not expressly teach that when a movement model corresponding to a motion of an operation of the operation apparatus and a movement model of the operation target are different from each other, generated is the presentation image including an image simulating another operation apparatus corresponding to a movement model of the operation target. Kudo teaches that when a movement model corresponding to a motion of an operation of the operation apparatus and a movement model of the operation target are different from each other (¶¶ 38-39; after comparing a “moving image” with a “still image”), generated is the presentation image including an image simulating another operation apparatus corresponding to a movement model of the operation target (¶ 37; with “encoded image data”). See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 14, Ogawa teaches that converted is the operation amount acquired from the operation apparatus into an operation amount in the another operation apparatus (¶ 98).
As per Claim 15, Ogawa teaches: a processor to execute a program (¶ 52), and a memory to store the program (¶ 103; as part of storage unit 230 of Figure 12) which, when executed by the processor, performs processes of, a receiving unit receiving the operation amount transmitted from the moving body remote operation apparatus according to claim 2 (¶ 105; through a “magnetic sensor” and “an ultrasonic sensor”). Ogawa does not expressly teach a control amount calculation unit calculating a control amount of controlling the operation target based on the operation amount which has been received by the receiving unit. Kudo teaches a control amount calculation unit calculating a control amount of controlling the operation target based on the operation amount which has been received by the receiving unit (¶ 64; as “the operation input device 10 determines the specific setting information which is to be set to the moving object 20 currently communicably connected thereto (S5)” as shown in Figures 1 and 6). See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 16, Ogawa teaches:
an image acquisition unit acquiring image information around the operation target from a camera provided to the operation target (¶¶ 55, 105; “a camera”);
a sensor acquisition unit acquiring sensor information regarding a movement of the operation target from a sensor provided to the operation target (¶ 105; through a “magnetic sensor” and “an ultrasonic sensor”); and
a transmission unit transmitting the image information which has been acquired by the image acquisition unit and the sensor information which has been acquired by the sensor acquisition unit to the moving body remote operation apparatus (¶ 103; “a screen display unit such as a liquid crystal display and has a function of receiving as input the data and instructions given by the operator and of transmitting the data and instructions to the arithmetic processing unit 240” as in Figure 12).
As per Claim 17, Ogawa does not expressly teach that the receiving unit receives received is a motion mode transmitted from the moving body remote operation apparatus as a movement model of making the operation target designated by the operator perform a motion, and the control amount calculation unit calculates calculated is the control amount of making the operation target simulate a motion corresponding to the motion mode. Kudo teaches that the receiving unit receives received is a motion mode transmitted from the moving body remote operation apparatus as a movement model of making the operation target designated by the operator perform a motion, and the control amount calculation unit calculates calculated is the control amount of making the operation target simulate a motion corresponding to the motion mode (¶¶ 64-65). See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 18, Ogawa does not expressly teach a control amount adjustment unit adjusting the control amount which has been calculated by the control amount calculation unit in accordance with a scale of the operation target. Kudo teaches a control amount adjustment unit adjusting the control amount which has been calculated by the control amount calculation unit in accordance with a scale of the operation target (¶¶ 50-51; “by using the conventional proportional system“).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogawa in view of Kudo as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Tao , et al., US 2017/0010611 A1.
As per Claim 11, Ogawa and Kudo do not teach that corrected is distortion of the presentation image by a rolling movement, a pitch movement, and an up-down movement of the operation target. Tao teaches that corrected is distortion of the presentation image by a rolling movement, a pitch movement (¶¶ 106-109), and an up-down movement of the operation target (¶ 58). At the time of the invention, a person of skill in the art would have thought it obvious to combine operating system of Ogawa with the control system of Kudo and the pitch control of Tao, in order to aid user training in control of simulators.
Conclusion
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ATUL TRIVEDI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3661
/ATUL TRIVEDI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3661
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