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 the Claims
This action is in response to the applicant’s filing on July 27, 2025. Claims 1-16, and 18-21 are pending and are examined below.
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.
Claim 1-16, and 18-21 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.
As to claims 1, 11, and 21, the recitation “identifying from the set of waypoints a limiting waypoint at which a maximum allowed speed cannot be met…setting a target speed for the autonomous vehicle so as to attain the maximum allowed speed at the limiting waypoint” is vague and indefinite. The claim creates a paradox by identifying a location at which a maximum allowed speed cannot be met, but subsequently, setting a target speed of a vehicle to attain, (or be), the maximum allowed speed. If a location is identified where a maximum allowed speed cannot be met, it is unclear how the claimed invention subsequently controls a vehicle to operate at that maximum allowed speed. Therefore, the claims appears paradoxical, and it is unclear what is being claimed in light of Applicant’s original disclosure.
Claims 2-10 depend from claim 1, and claims 12-16, 18, and 19 depend from claim 11.
Appropriate correction is required.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ueno et al., US 12691876 B2, discloses in relevant part identifying curved sections of a roadway and corresponding target commands including maximum and minimum longitudinal velocities and lateral accelerations.
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/LAIL A KLEINMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3668
