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 .
Response to Amendment and Arguments
The amendment filed 9/8/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-4 remain pending in the application. Applicant’s amendments to the claims have overcome the §112(b) rejection previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action. The claims are no longer interpreted under 35 USC 112(f).
Applicant's arguments filed 9/8/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Takebayashi does not describe a target route "created by connecting a plurality of types of lines" such as, for example, straight lines, arcs, and clothoid curves and that Takebayashi never identifies any point as "a joint of different types of lines" on the target route. Examiner respectfully disagrees. Takebayashi FIGs 3-4 illustrate different types of arcs/curves connected by points. Describing FIGs 3-4 in [0058] Takebayashi further teaches that the path is calculated using an evaluation function. The evaluation function is described in [0060] recognizes that “a difference in curvature between the obtained arcs A1 to A3 can increase, causing the steering speed to change abruptly”. To smooth the path to account for the difference in curvatures between arcs before an after a point, the arcs are calculated to have overlapping curvatures within a deviation/range to help achieve a smooth traveling path ([0092-0093]) using weighted minimum distances ([0081] and [0095]). Thus Takebayashi does accomplish a smoothing of different curvatures before and after a point (of many points along a path). The Examiner agrees with the Applicant that the smoothing taught by Takebayashi is different than that of the present application. However, the claims are not specific as to the granularity or degree of smoothness accomplished by the invention(s). The Examiner recognizes that the present application can possibly provide a smoother path than even taught by Takebayashi by using the inter-point interval and inter-point time calculations based on speed ([0053]). Amendments to the independent claim reflecting the use of inter-point interval and inter-point time would be sufficient to overcome the Takabayashi reference rejection(s), advance prosecution, and point the present invention towards the teachings of US20210300470A1 (“Kitano”).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 9/8/2026 is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)&(a)(2) as being anticipated by US20220089219A1 (“Takebayashi”).
Claim 1:
A vehicle control device that causes a vehicle to travel along a target route created by connecting a plurality of types of lines, the vehicle control device comprising: a processor and a memory storing instructions (Takebayashi at least [0099]) configured to implement:
a target curvature calculation unit that calculates a smoothed value of target curvatures of a plurality of points on the target route including a calculation target point and a predetermined number of points before and after the calculation target point, any one of the points being a joint of different types of lines, in order to calculate a smoothed target curvature for the calculation target point; a target steering angle calculation unit that calculates a target steering angle based on the smoothed target curvature; and a control unit that controls steering based on the target steering angle when the vehicle travels. (Takebayashi at least the abstract, FIGs. 3-8, [0017], [0046], [0065], [0058], [0060], [0092-0095], [0081])
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 2-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takebayashi in view of US20190382014A1 (“Wang”).
As per claim 2, Takebayashi teaches the limitation of the invention as described above. Takebayashi does not disclose:
the target curvature calculation unit calculates, as the smoothed target curvature, an average value of target curvatures at the plurality of points or a weighted average value of the target curvatures acquired by weighting the target curvatures at the plurality of points and calculating a weighted average value of the target curvatures.
Wang teaches the aforementioned limitations (Wang at least [0093-0094]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Takebayashi with the aforementioned limitations taught by Wang with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to combine these references in order to improve the efficiency of obtaining curvatures and thus efficiency of driving control (Wang [0058]). The motivation to combine these reference is the same as above in claim 2.
As per claim 3, Takebayashi in combination with the other reference teaches the limitation of the invention as described above. Takebayashi does not disclose:
when determining positions of the plurality of points, the target curvature calculation unit determines, as a position of an adjacent point, a position advanced by a distance obtained by multiplying a vehicle speed by a preset predetermined time based on the calculation target point, and repeats this calculation in order to determine the positions of the plurality of points.
Wang teaches the aforementioned limitations (Wang at least [0026-0027]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Takebayashi with the aforementioned limitations taught by Wang with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to combine these reference is the same as above in claim 2.
As per claim 4, Takebayashi in combination with the other reference teaches the limitation of the invention as described above. Takebayashi additionally teaches:
the target curvature calculation unit uses a target vehicle speed as the vehicle speed. (Takebayashi at least [0054-0055], [0079])
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US20210300470A1(“Kitano”) teaches an approximate equivalent of inter-point interval and inter-point time, referred to as control reference point pref.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLIVER TAN whose telephone number is (703)756-4728. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-7.
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/O.T./Examiner, Art Unit 3669
/NAVID Z. MEHDIZADEH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3669
