DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
The status of the claims is as follows:
(a) Claims 1-20 remain 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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement(s) (IDS) filed on 05/19/2025 comply with the provisions of 37 C.F.R. §1.97 and §1.98. The Examiner has considered all references, except for any references lined through on the attached IDS form.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Katara et al., U.S. P.G. Publication 2016/0301698 (hereinafter, Katara), in view of Kim et al., U.S. P.G. Publication 2020/0150660 (hereinafter, Kim).
Regarding Claim 1, Katara describes a method comprising:
-sending, by one or more processors of a client computing device, a request including a pickup location and a destination location for a trip that a first person is arranging for a second person (a user computing device sends a request for taxi service including passenger information, an origination location, and a destination location, wherein a parent may request the taxi service for a child, Katara, Paragraphs 0016-0017, 0047, and 0062 and Figures 1 and 6); …
-..., in order to enable an autonomous vehicle without a driver to: authenticate the second person using the identified authentication procedure (the autonomous vehicle authenticates a third-party passenger using a passenger authorization policy or an authorization token, which may include a personal identification number, passcode, password, QR code, image, or other security data, Katara, Paragraphs 0050 and 0061-0062 and Figures 6 and 8-9), and
-transport the second person to the destination location (after the passenger is authorized, the autonomous vehicle navigates to the requested destination location, Katara, Paragraph 0065 and Figure 8).
Katara does not specifically disclose in response to the request, displaying, by the one or more processors, a list of authentication procedures that can be used to authenticate the second person; and sending, by the one or more processors, information identifying an authentication procedure from the list of authentication procedures.
Kim discloses, teaches, or at least suggests the missing limitation(s). Kim describes a passenger terminal having an application and user interface through which a subscriber selects various options and sends information identifying the selected options to a server. Kim further describes multiple authentication procedures, including authentication using a profile photo, barcode, password, passcode, fingerprint, iris recognition, or NFC tag, wherein authentication information is displayed on the passenger terminal (Kim, Paragraphs 0133-0140, 0160-0161, and 0203-0208 and Figures 9 and 14).
As a result, a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have found it obvious to modify the method of Katara to include, in response to the request, displaying, by the one or more processors, a list of authentication procedures that can be used to authenticate the second person; and sending, by the one or more processors, information identifying an authentication procedure from the list of authentication procedures, as disclosed, taught, or at least suggested by Kim.
It would have been obvious to combine and modify the cited references, with a reasonable expectation of success because presenting Katara’s available passenger-authentication procedures through the selectable client-device interface of Kim would allow the first person arranging the trip to select an authentication procedure appropriate for the second person and the available authentication equipment.
Regarding Claim 2, Katara describes the method of claim 1, as modified above, further comprising:
-receiving from the autonomous vehicle an image or video (the autonomous vehicle includes a camera that generates images of passengers and communication circuitry that enables communication between the autonomous vehicle and the user computing device, such that the vehicle-generated image or video may be communicated to and received by the user computing device, Katara, Paragraphs 0024, 0034, and 0038 and Figures 1-2); …
Katara does not specifically disclose sending a signal indicating that the image or video includes the second person, causing the autonomous vehicle to unlock a door of the autonomous vehicle.
Kim discloses, teaches, or at least suggests the missing limitation(s). Kim describes capturing an image of a passenger to determine whether the passenger matches an authorized subscriber and, when authentication is completed, causing the autonomous vehicle to switch a locked door to a released state (Kim, Paragraphs 0160-0161 and 0203-0206 and Figures 9 and 14).
As a result, a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have found it obvious to modify the method of Katara to include sending a signal indicating that the image or video includes the second person, causing the autonomous vehicle to unlock a door of the autonomous vehicle, as disclosed, taught, or at least suggested by Kim.
It would have been obvious to combine and modify the cited references, with a reasonable expectation of success because permitting the first person who arranged the trip to confirm that the vehicle-generated image or video includes the second person before unlocking the driverless vehicle would reduce the likelihood that an unintended passenger obtains access to the vehicle.
Regarding Claim 3, Katara describes the method of claim 1, as modified above, further comprising:
-receiving from the autonomous vehicle an image or video (the autonomous vehicle includes a camera that generates images of passengers and communication circuitry that enables communication between the autonomous vehicle and the user computing device, such that the vehicle-generated image or video may be communicated to and received by the user computing device, Katara, Paragraphs 0024, 0034, and 0038 and Figures 1-2); and ....
Katara does not specifically disclose sending a signal indicating that the image or video includes the second person, causing the autonomous vehicle to transport the second person to the destination location.
Kim discloses, teaches, or at least suggests the missing limitation(s). Kim describes capturing an image of a passenger to determine whether the passenger matches an authorized subscriber and, when authentication is completed, causing the autonomous vehicle to start autonomous driving to the destination (Kim, Paragraphs 0160-0161 and 0203-0206 and Figures 9 and 14).
As a result, a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have found it obvious to modify the method of Katara to include sending a signal indicating that the image or video includes the second person, causing the autonomous vehicle to transport the second person to the destination location, as disclosed, taught, or at least suggested by Kim.
It would have been obvious to combine and modify the cited references, with a reasonable expectation of success because permitting the first person who arranged the trip to confirm that the vehicle-generated image or video includes the second person before transportation begins would reduce the likelihood that the autonomous vehicle transports an unintended passenger.
Regarding Claim 4, Katara, as modified, describes the method of claim 1.
Katara does not specifically disclose the identified authentication procedure is selected based on a type of the pickup location.
Kim discloses, teaches, or at least suggests the missing limitation(s). Kim describes setting and displaying pickup locations based on characteristics of the location, including whether autonomous vehicle access is permitted and whether legal or traffic restrictions prevent the vehicle from entering, parking, or stopping at the location. Kim further describes multiple alternative authentication procedures, including image, password, passcode, barcode, fingerprint, iris-recognition, and NFC authentication procedures (Kim, Paragraphs 0136-0138, 0154-0155, and 0203-0208).
As a result, a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have found it obvious to modify the method of Katara such that the identified authentication procedure is selected based on a type of the pickup location, as disclosed, taught, or at least suggested by Kim.
It would have been obvious to combine and modify the cited references, with a reasonable expectation of success because selecting an authentication procedure based on the type of pickup location would allow the system to use a procedure suited to the security conditions, communication capabilities, and authentication equipment available at the pickup location.
Regarding Claim 5, Katara describes the method of claim 1, as modified above, wherein the list of authentication procedures includes an image or video authentication procedure to authenticate the second person (the autonomous vehicle captures an image of the present passenger and compares the captured image to an image of an authorized passenger included in the passenger authorization policy to authenticate the present passenger, Katara, Paragraphs 0034 and 0061 and Figures 2, 4, and 8-9).
Regarding Claim 6, Katara, as modified, describes the method of claim 1.
Katara does not specifically disclose the list of authentication procedures includes a link authentication procedure to authenticate the second person.
Kim discloses, teaches, or at least suggests the missing limitation(s). Kim describes providing, through the passenger terminal, a digital key and other remotely provided authentication information that the passenger may access through the passenger-terminal application to authenticate the passenger and obtain access to the autonomous vehicle (Kim, Paragraphs 0133-0134 and 0159-0161 and Figure 9).
As a result, a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have found it obvious to modify the method of Katara such that the list of authentication procedures includes a link authentication procedure to authenticate the second person, as disclosed, taught, or at least suggested by Kim.
It would have been obvious to combine and modify the cited references, with a reasonable expectation of success because providing Kim’s remotely accessible digital key or authentication resource through a selectable link in Katara’s Internet-connected client interface would predictably allow the passenger to access the authentication procedure without manually entering a separate network address.
Regarding Claim 7, Katara describes the method of claim 1, as modified above, further comprising receiving a QR code in response to sending the information identifying the authentication procedure from the list of authentication procedures (the passenger authorization management server generates an authorization token based on the request for taxi service, wherein selection of QR-code authentication results in generation and receipt of an authorization token embodied as a QR code that may be displayed on the user computing device to a camera of the autonomous vehicle, Katara, Paragraph 0050 and Figure 6).
Regarding Claim 8, Katara describes the method of claim 1, as modified above, further comprising receiving an image in response to sending the information identifying the authentication procedure from the list of authentication procedures (the passenger authorization management server generates an authorization token based on the request for taxi service, wherein selection of image authentication results in generation and receipt of an authorization token embodied as an image that may be displayed on the user computing device to a camera of the autonomous vehicle, Katara, Paragraph 0050 and Figure 6).
Regarding Claim 9, Katara describes the method of claim 1, as modified above, further comprising receiving a passphrase in response to sending the information identifying the authentication procedure from the list of authentication procedures (the passenger authorization management server generates an authorization token based on the request for taxi service, wherein selection of passphrase authentication results in generation and receipt of an authorization token embodied as a password or passcode that the passenger may supply to the user interface of the autonomous vehicle, Katara, Paragraph 0050 and Figure 6).
Regarding Claim 10, Katara describes the method of claim 9, as modified above, further comprising receiving an audio recording of the passphrase from the autonomous vehicle (the autonomous vehicle includes a microphone that captures voice audio from the passenger and communication circuitry that enables communication between the autonomous vehicle and the user computing device, wherein the passenger may speak the password or passcode and the resulting captured voice audio corresponds to an audio recording of the passphrase received from the autonomous vehicle, Katara, Paragraphs 0024, 0032, 0038, 0050, and 0061 and Figures 1-2 and 8-9).
Regarding Claim 11, Katara describes a client computing device, comprising:
-a display (the user computing device may be a smartphone, cellular phone, tablet computer, etc.), Katara, Paragraph 0029 and Figure 1); and
-one or more processors configured to: send a request including a pickup location and a destination location for a trip that a first person is arranging for a second person (the user computing device sends a request for taxi service including passenger information, an origination location, and a destination location, wherein a parent may request the taxi service for a child, Katara, Paragraphs 0016-0017, 0047, and 0062 and Figures 1 and 6); …
-in order to enable an autonomous vehicle without a driver to: authenticate the second person using the identified authentication procedure (the autonomous vehicle authenticates a third-party passenger using a passenger authorization policy or an authorization token, which may include a personal identification number, passcode, password, QR code, image, or other security data, Katara, Paragraphs 0050 and 0061-0062 and Figures 6 and 8-9), and
-transport the second person to the destination location (after the passenger is authorized, the autonomous vehicle navigates to the requested destination location, Katara, Paragraph 0065 and Figure 8).
Katara does not specifically disclose that the one or more processors are configured to in response to the request, present on the display a list of authentication procedures that can be used to authenticate the second person; and send information identifying an authentication procedure from the list of authentication procedures.
Kim discloses, teaches, or at least suggests the missing limitation(s). Kim describes a passenger terminal that may be a smartphone, cellular phone, laptop computer, tablet computer, or other computing device having an application and displayed user interface through which a subscriber selects various options and sends information identifying the selected options to a server. Kim further describes multiple authentication procedures, including authentication using a profile photo, barcode, password, passcode, fingerprint, iris recognition, or NFC tag, wherein authentication information is displayed on the passenger terminal (Kim, Paragraphs 0133-0140, 0160-0161, and 0203-0208 and Figures 9 and 14).
As a result, a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have found it obvious to configure the one or more processors of Katara’s client computing device to, in response to the request, present on the display a list of authentication procedures that can be used to authenticate the second person; and send information identifying an authentication procedure from the list of authentication procedures, as disclosed, taught, or at least suggested by Kim.
It would have been obvious to combine and modify the cited references, with a reasonable expectation of success because configuring Katara’s client computing device to execute the selectable client interface of Kim would allow the first person arranging the trip to select an authentication procedure appropriate for the second person and the available authentication equipment.
Regarding Claim 12, Katara describes the client computing device of claim 11, as modified above, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
-receive from the autonomous vehicle an image or video (the autonomous vehicle includes a camera that generates images of passengers and communication circuitry that enables communication between the autonomous vehicle and the user computing device, such that the vehicle-generated image or video may be communicated to and received by the user computing device, Katara, Paragraphs 0024, 0034, and 0038 and Figures 1-2); ....
Katara does not specifically disclose that the one or more processors are further configured to send a signal indicating that the image or video includes the second person, causing the autonomous vehicle to unlock a door of the autonomous vehicle.
Kim discloses, teaches, or at least suggests the missing limitation(s). Kim describes capturing an image of a passenger to determine whether the passenger matches an authorized subscriber and, when authentication is completed, causing the autonomous vehicle to switch a locked door to a released state (Kim, Paragraphs 0160-0161 and 0203-0206 and Figures 9 and 14).
As a result, a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have found it obvious to configure the one or more processors of Katara’s client computing device to send a signal indicating that the image or video includes the second person, causing the autonomous vehicle to unlock a door of the autonomous vehicle, as disclosed, taught, or at least suggested by Kim.
It would have been obvious to combine and modify the cited references, with a reasonable expectation of success because permitting the first person who arranged the trip to confirm that the vehicle-generated image or video includes the second person before unlocking the driverless vehicle would reduce the likelihood that an unintended passenger obtains access to the vehicle.
Regarding Claim 13, Katara describes the client computing device of claim 11, as modified above, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
-receive from the autonomous vehicle an image or video (the autonomous vehicle includes a camera that generates images of passengers and communication circuitry that enables communication between the autonomous vehicle and the user computing device, such that the vehicle-generated image or video may be communicated to and received by the user computing device, Katara, Paragraphs 0024, 0034, and 0038 and Figures 1-2); ....
Katara does not specifically disclose that the one or more processors are further configured to send a signal indicating that the image or video includes the second person, causing the autonomous vehicle to transport the second person to the destination location.
Kim discloses, teaches, or at least suggests the missing limitation(s). Kim describes capturing an image of a passenger to determine whether the passenger matches an authorized subscriber and, when authentication is completed, causing the autonomous vehicle to start autonomous driving to the destination (Kim, Paragraphs 0160-0161 and 0203-0206 and Figures 9 and 14).
As a result, a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have found it obvious to configure the one or more processors of Katara’s client computing device to send a signal indicating that the image or video includes the second person, causing the autonomous vehicle to transport the second person to the destination location, as disclosed, taught, or at least suggested by Kim.
It would have been obvious to combine and modify the cited references, with a reasonable expectation of success because permitting the first person who arranged the trip to confirm that the vehicle-generated image or video includes the second person before transportation begins would reduce the likelihood that the autonomous vehicle transports an unintended passenger.
Regarding Claim 14, Katara describes the client computing device of claim 11, as modified above, wherein: ....
Katara does not specifically disclose the identified authentication procedure is selected based on a type of the pickup location.
Kim discloses, teaches, or at least suggests the missing limitation(s). Kim describes setting and displaying pickup locations based on characteristics of the location, including whether autonomous vehicle access is permitted and whether legal or traffic restrictions prevent the vehicle from entering, parking, or stopping at the location. Kim further describes multiple alternative authentication procedures, including image, password, passcode, barcode, fingerprint, iris-recognition, and NFC authentication procedures (Kim, Paragraphs 0136-0138, 0154-0155, and 0203-0208).
As a result, a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have found it obvious to configure the client computing device of Katara such that the identified authentication procedure is selected based on a type of the pickup location, as disclosed, taught, or at least suggested by Kim.
It would have been obvious to combine and modify the cited references, with a reasonable expectation of success because selecting an authentication procedure based on the type of pickup location would allow the system to use a procedure suited to the security conditions, communication capabilities, and authentication equipment available at the pickup location.
Regarding Claim 15, Katara describes the client computing device of claim 11, as modified above, wherein the list of authentication procedures includes an image or video authentication procedure to authenticate the second person (the autonomous vehicle captures an image of the present passenger and compares the captured image to an image of an authorized passenger included in the passenger authorization policy to authenticate the present passenger, Katara, Paragraphs 0034 and 0061 and Figures 2, 4, and 8-9).
Regarding Claim 16, Katara describes the client computing device of claim 11, as modified above, wherein: ....
Katara does not specifically disclose the list of authentication procedures includes a link authentication procedure to authenticate the second person.
Kim discloses, teaches, or at least suggests the missing limitation(s). Kim describes providing, through the passenger terminal, a digital key and other remotely provided authentication information that the passenger may access through the passenger-terminal application to authenticate the passenger and obtain access to the autonomous vehicle (Kim, Paragraphs 0133-0134 and 0159-0161 and Figure 9).
As a result, a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have found it obvious to configure the client computing device of Katara such that the list of authentication procedures includes a link authentication procedure to authenticate the second person, as disclosed, taught, or at least suggested by Kim.
It would have been obvious to combine and modify the cited references, with a reasonable expectation of success because providing Kim’s remotely accessible digital key or authentication resource through a selectable link in Katara’s Internet-connected client interface would predictably allow the passenger to access the authentication procedure without manually entering a separate network address.
Regarding Claim 17, Katara describes the client computing device of claim 11, as modified above, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive a QR code in response to sending the information identifying the authentication procedure from the list of authentication procedures (the passenger authorization management server generates an authorization token based on the request for taxi service, wherein selection of QR-code authentication results in generation and receipt of an authorization token embodied as a QR code that may be displayed on the user computing device to a camera of the autonomous vehicle, Katara, Paragraph 0050 and Figure 6).
Regarding Claim 18, Katara describes the client computing device of claim 11, as modified above, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive an image in response to sending the information identifying the authentication procedure from the list of authentication procedures (the passenger authorization management server generates an authorization token based on the request for taxi service, wherein selection of image authentication results in generation and receipt of an authorization token embodied as an image that may be displayed on the user computing device to a camera of the autonomous vehicle, Katara, Paragraph 0050 and Figure 6).
Regarding Claim 19, Katara describes the client computing device of claim 11, as modified above, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive a passphrase in response to sending the information identifying the authentication procedure from the list of authentication procedures (the passenger authorization management server generates an authorization token based on the request for taxi service, wherein selection of passphrase authentication results in generation and receipt of an authorization token embodied as a password or passcode that the passenger may supply to the user interface of the autonomous vehicle, Katara, Paragraph 0050 and Figure 6).
Regarding Claim 20, Katara describes a non-transitory, computer-readable medium on which instructions are stored, the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method (the disclosed embodiments may be implemented as instructions stored on one or more non-transitory machine-readable or computer-readable storage media and executed by one or more processors, Katara, Paragraph 0013), the method comprising:
-sending a request including a pickup location and a destination location for a trip that a first person is arranging for a second person (a user computing device sends a request for taxi service including passenger information, an origination location, and a destination location, wherein a parent may request the taxi service for a child, Katara, Paragraphs 0016-0017, 0047, and 0062 and Figures 1 and 6); …
-in order to enable an autonomous vehicle without a driver to: authenticate the second person using the identified authentication procedure (the autonomous vehicle authenticates a third-party passenger using a passenger authorization policy or an authorization token, which may include a personal identification number, passcode, password, QR code, image, or other security data, Katara, Paragraphs 0050 and 0061-0062 and Figures 6 and 8-9), and
-transport the second person to the destination location (after the passenger is authorized, the autonomous vehicle navigates to the requested destination location, Katara, Paragraph 0065 and Figure 8).
Katara does not specifically disclose that the method comprises in response to the request, displaying a list of authentication procedures that can be used to authenticate the second person; and sending information identifying an authentication procedure from the list of authentication procedures.
Kim discloses, teaches, or at least suggests the missing limitation(s). Kim describes a passenger terminal having an application and displayed user interface through which a subscriber selects various options and sends information identifying the selected options to a server. Kim further describes multiple authentication procedures, including authentication using a profile photo, barcode, password, passcode, fingerprint, iris recognition, or NFC tag, wherein authentication information is displayed on the passenger terminal (Kim, Paragraphs 0133-0140, 0160-0161, and 0203-0208 and Figures 9 and 14).
As a result, a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have found it obvious to modify the computer-readable instructions of Katara to cause the method to include, in response to the request, displaying a list of authentication procedures that can be used to authenticate the second person; and sending information identifying an authentication procedure from the list of authentication procedures, as disclosed, taught, or at least suggested by Kim.
It would have been obvious to combine and modify the cited references, with a reasonable expectation of success because implementing the combined client-interface functionality as processor-executable instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium would have been a conventional and predictable manner of implementing the disclosed computing-device functions.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW J CROMER whose telephone number is (313)446-6563. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: ~ 8:15 A.M. - 6:00 P.M..
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/ANDREW J CROMER/Examiner, Art Unit 3667
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