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 § 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.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim, US 2024/0246554 A1.
As per Claim 1, Kim teaches a vehicle controller (¶¶ 40-41; driving controller 180 of Figure 2) comprising:
a processor configured to: determine, when operation for terminating execution of emergency stop mode in which a vehicle makes an emergency stop (¶¶ 60-61) in response to sensing of abnormality of a driver of the vehicle is performed during execution of the emergency stop mode, who is an operator of the operation (¶ 66; “in the absence of driver operation”), based on an interior sensor signal generated by a vehicle interior sensor for sensing conditions in the interior of the vehicle (¶ 63; as “confirmed by the interior camera 130” in Figure 2);
continue control of the vehicle according to the emergency stop mode when the operator is an occupant of the vehicle other than the driver (¶ 62); and
terminate execution of the emergency stop mode when the operator is the driver (¶ 81; ”when the device operation by the driver or occupant occurs”).
As per Claim 2, Kim teaches that when the operator is an occupant of the vehicle other than the driver, the processor cancels a control command corresponding to the operation and given to the vehicle (¶ 62; “because there is less need to call the driver's attention, brake jerk is not applied”).
As per Claim 3, Kim teaches that the processor is further configured to determine whether the driver's state has recovered to normal during execution of the emergency stop mode, wherein when the driver's state has recovered to normal at the time of the operation (¶ 70), the processor terminates execution of the emergency stop mode even if the operator is an occupant of the vehicle other than the driver (¶ 82).
As per Claim 4, Kim teaches a method for vehicle control (¶¶ 41-43), comprising:
determining, when operation for terminating execution of emergency stop mode in which a vehicle makes an emergency stop (¶¶ 60-61) in response to sensing of abnormality of a driver of the vehicle is performed during execution of the emergency stop mode, who is an operator of the operation (¶ 66; “in the absence of driver operation”), based on an interior sensor signal generated by a vehicle interior sensor for sensing conditions in the interior of the vehicle (¶ 63; as “confirmed by the interior camera 130” in Figure 2);
continuing control of the vehicle according to the emergency stop mode when the operator is an occupant of the vehicle other than the driver (¶ 62); and
terminating execution of the emergency stop mode when the operator is the driver (¶ 81; ”when the device operation by the driver or occupant occurs”).
As per Claim 5, Kim teaches a non-transitory recording medium that stores a computer program for vehicle control (¶ 40; I/O device 150 of Figure 2), the computer program causing a processor mounted on a vehicle to execute a process comprising:
determining, when operation for terminating execution of emergency stop mode in which the vehicle makes an emergency stop (¶¶ 60-61) in response to sensing of abnormality of a driver of the vehicle is performed during execution of the emergency stop mode, who is an operator of the operation (¶ 66; “in the absence of driver operation”), based on an interior sensor signal generated by a vehicle interior sensor for sensing conditions in the interior of the vehicle (¶ 63; as “confirmed by the interior camera 130” in Figure 2);
continuing control of the vehicle according to the emergency stop mode when the operator is an occupant of the vehicle other than the driver (¶ 62); and
terminating execution of the emergency stop mode when the operator is the driver (¶ 81; ”when the device operation by the driver or occupant occurs”).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ATUL TRIVEDI whose telephone number is (313)446-4908. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri; 9:00 AM-5:00 PM EST.
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ATUL TRIVEDI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3661
/ATUL TRIVEDI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3661