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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the communications filed 05/30/2025 (claimed foreign priority date 06/05/2024):
Claims 1-5 have been examined.
Legend: “Under BRI” = “under broadest reasonable interpretation;”
“[Prior Art/Analogous/Non-Analogous Art Reference] discloses through the invention” means “See/read entire document;” Paragraph [No..] = e.g., Para [0005] = paragraph 5; P = page, e.g., p4 = page 4; C = column, e.g. c3 = column 3;
Ln = line, e.g., ln25 = line 25; ln25-36 = lines 25 through 36.
Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 101
1.1 35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
1.1.1 Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
101 Analysis – Step 1
Claim 1 is directed to a hitch angle calculation device (i.e., machine, manufacture). Claim 4 is directed to a hitch angle calculation method (i.e., a process). Claim 5 is directed to non-transitory recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program (i.e., machine, manufacture). Therefore, claims 1 and 4-5 are within the four statutory categories.
101 Analysis – Step 2A, Prong I
Regarding Prong I of the Step 2A analysis in the 2019 PEG, the claims are to be analyzed to determine whether they recite subject matter that falls within one of the follow groups of abstract ideas: a) mathematical concepts, b) certain methods of organizing human activity, and/or c) mental processes.
Independent claim 4 includes limitations that recite an abstract idea (emphasized below) and will be used as a representative claim for the remainder of the 101 rejection. Claim 4 recites:
4. A hitch angle calculation method comprising:
acquiring images shot by a camera mounted on a vehicle towing a trailer via a tow bar at a plurality of time points during a calibration travel of the vehicle;
calculating coordinates of left lower end of the trailer, right lower end of the trailer, and hitch ball on the images, the left lower end of the trailer, the right lower end of the trailer, and the hitch ball being included in each of the images;
transforming the coordinates of the left lower end on the images to the coordinates of the left lower end in a world coordinate system, transforming the coordinates of the right lower end on the images to the coordinates of the right lower end in the world coordinate system, and transforming the coordinates of the hitch ball on the images to the coordinates of the hitch ball in the world coordinate system;
calculating a first average value which is an average value of a distance between the left lower end and the hitch ball in the world coordinate system during the calibration travel of the vehicle based on the coordinates of the left lower end and the hitch ball in the world coordinate system at time points during the calibration travel of the vehicle, and calculating a second average value which is the average value of the distance between the right lower end and the hitch ball in the world coordinate system during the calibration travel of the vehicle based on the coordinates of the right lower end and the hitch ball in the world coordinate system at time points during the calibration travel of the vehicle;
removing the coordinates of the left lower end in the world coordinate system satisfying a first coordinate removal condition when the coordinates of the left lower end in the world coordinate system satisfying the first coordinate removal condition are included in the coordinates of the left lower end in the world coordinate system at time points during the calibration travel of the vehicle, removing the coordinates of the right lower end in the world coordinate system satisfying a second coordinate removal condition when the coordinates of the right lower end in the world coordinate system satisfying the second coordinate removal condition are included in the coordinates of the right lower end in the world coordinate system at time points during the calibration travel of the vehicle, and removing the coordinates of the hitch ball in the world coordinate system satisfying a third coordinate removal condition when the coordinates of the hitch ball in the world coordinate system satisfying the third coordinate removal condition are included in the coordinates of the hitch ball in the world coordinate system at time points during the calibration travel of the vehicle;
calculating third average value or fourth average value and average value of the coordinates of the hitch ball in the world coordinate system by using the coordinates of the left lower end, the right lower end, and the hitch ball in the world coordinate system at the plurality of time points during the calibration travel of the vehicle which are not removed, the third average value being an average value of a distance between the left lower end and the hitch ball in the world coordinate system, the fourth average value being an average value of a distance between the right lower end and the hitch ball in the world coordinate system; and
calculating a hitch angle of the trailer at a predetermined time point based on a hitch angle calculation target image, which is an image shot by the camera at the predetermined time point after the calibration travel of the vehicle, wherein
coordinates of the left lower end, the right lower end, and the hitch ball on the image included in the hitch angle calculation target image are calculated,
the coordinates of the left lower end, the right lower end, and the hitch ball on the image included in the hitch angle calculation target image are transformed to coordinates in the world coordinate system,
distance in the world coordinate system between the left lower end and the hitch ball included in the hitch angle calculation image and distance in the world coordinate system between the right lower end and the hitch ball included in the hitch angle calculation target image are calculated based on the coordinates in the world coordinate system of the left lower end, the right lower end, and the hitch ball included in the hitch angle calculation target image,
the coordinate in the world coordinate system of the left lower end included in the hitch angle calculation target image is corrected so that the distance in the world coordinate system between the left lower end and the hitch ball included in the hitch angle calculation target image is equal to the third average value or the fourth average value,
the coordinate in the world coordinate system of the right lower end included in the hitch angle calculation target image is corrected so that the distance in the world coordinate system between the right lower end and the hitch ball included in the hitch angle calculation target image is equal to the third average value or the fourth average value, and
the hitch angle of the trailer at the predetermined time point is calculated based on the corrected coordinate in the world coordinate system of the left lower end included in the hitch angle calculation target image and the corrected coordinate in the world coordinate system of the right lower end included in the hitch angle calculation target image.
The examiner submits that the foregoing bolded limitation(s) constitute “mathematical concepts” along with “mental process” because under its broadest reasonable interpretation, the claim covers performance of the limitations via mathematical calculations along with performance of the limitations in the human mind. For example, “calculating data;” “correcting calculated data” in the context of this claim encompass performance via mathematical calculations along with a person (driver/operator/user/human, etc.) looking at data collected (from cameras/sensors) and forming a simple judgement. Accordingly, the claim recites at least one abstract idea.
101 Analysis – Step 2A, Prong II
Regarding Prong II of the Step 2A analysis in the 2019 PEG, the claims are to be analyzed to determine whether the claim, as a whole, integrates the abstract into a practical application. As noted in the 2019 PEG, it must be determined whether any additional elements in the claim beyond the abstract idea integrate the exception into a practical application in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception. The courts have indicated that additional elements merely using a computer to implement an abstract idea, adding insignificant extra solution activity, or generally linking use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use do not integrate a judicial exception into a “practical application.”
In the present case, the additional limitations beyond the above-noted abstract idea are as follows (where the underlined portions are the “additional limitations” while the bolded portions continue to represent the “abstract idea”):
4. A hitch angle calculation method comprising:
acquiring images shot by a camera mounted on a vehicle towing a trailer via a tow bar at a plurality of time points during a calibration travel of the vehicle;
calculating coordinates of left lower end of the trailer, right lower end of the trailer, and hitch ball on the images, the left lower end of the trailer, the right lower end of the trailer, and the hitch ball being included in each of the images;
transforming the coordinates of the left lower end on the images to the coordinates of the left lower end in a world coordinate system, transforming the coordinates of the right lower end on the images to the coordinates of the right lower end in the world coordinate system, and transforming the coordinates of the hitch ball on the images to the coordinates of the hitch ball in the world coordinate system;
calculating a first average value which is an average value of a distance between the left lower end and the hitch ball in the world coordinate system during the calibration travel of the vehicle based on the coordinates of the left lower end and the hitch ball in the world coordinate system at time points during the calibration travel of the vehicle, and calculating a second average value which is the average value of the distance between the right lower end and the hitch ball in the world coordinate system during the calibration travel of the vehicle based on the coordinates of the right lower end and the hitch ball in the world coordinate system at time points during the calibration travel of the vehicle;
removing the coordinates of the left lower end in the world coordinate system satisfying a first coordinate removal condition when the coordinates of the left lower end in the world coordinate system satisfying the first coordinate removal condition are included in the coordinates of the left lower end in the world coordinate system at time points during the calibration travel of the vehicle, removing the coordinates of the right lower end in the world coordinate system satisfying a second coordinate removal condition when the coordinates of the right lower end in the world coordinate system satisfying the second coordinate removal condition are included in the coordinates of the right lower end in the world coordinate system at time points during the calibration travel of the vehicle, and removing the coordinates of the hitch ball in the world coordinate system satisfying a third coordinate removal condition when the coordinates of the hitch ball in the world coordinate system satisfying the third coordinate removal condition are included in the coordinates of the hitch ball in the world coordinate system at time points during the calibration travel of the vehicle;
calculating third average value or fourth average value and average value of the coordinates of the hitch ball in the world coordinate system by using the coordinates of the left lower end, the right lower end, and the hitch ball in the world coordinate system at the plurality of time points during the calibration travel of the vehicle which are not removed, the third average value being an average value of a distance between the left lower end and the hitch ball in the world coordinate system, the fourth average value being an average value of a distance between the right lower end and the hitch ball in the world coordinate system; and
calculating a hitch angle of the trailer at a predetermined time point based on a hitch angle calculation target image, which is an image shot by the camera at the predetermined time point after the calibration travel of the vehicle, wherein
coordinates of the left lower end, the right lower end, and the hitch ball on the image included in the hitch angle calculation target image are calculated,
the coordinates of the left lower end, the right lower end, and the hitch ball on the image included in the hitch angle calculation target image are transformed to coordinates in the world coordinate system,
distance in the world coordinate system between the left lower end and the hitch ball included in the hitch angle calculation image and distance in the world coordinate system between the right lower end and the hitch ball included in the hitch angle calculation target image are calculated based on the coordinates in the world coordinate system of the left lower end, the right lower end, and the hitch ball included in the hitch angle calculation target image,
the coordinate in the world coordinate system of the left lower end included in the hitch angle calculation target image is corrected so that the distance in the world coordinate system between the left lower end and the hitch ball included in the hitch angle calculation target image is equal to the third average value or the fourth average value,
the coordinate in the world coordinate system of the right lower end included in the hitch angle calculation target image is corrected so that the distance in the world coordinate system between the right lower end and the hitch ball included in the hitch angle calculation target image is equal to the third average value or the fourth average value, and
the hitch angle of the trailer at the predetermined time point is calculated based on the corrected coordinate in the world coordinate system of the left lower end included in the hitch angle calculation target image and the corrected coordinate in the world coordinate system of the right lower end included in the hitch angle calculation target image.
For the following reason(s), the Examiner submits that the above identified additional limitations do not integrate the above-noted abstract idea into a practical application.
Regarding the additional limitations of “acquiring images;” “transforming coordinates of images;” “removing coordinates of images,” the Examiner submits that these limitations are insignificant extra-solution activities that merely use a computer (vehicle control device; hitch angle calculation device) to perform the process. In particular, the acquiring images, transforming coordinates of images to another coordinate system, removing coordinates of images at plural/predetermined time points steps are recited at a high level of generality (i.e. as a general means of gathering, grouping, filtering, selecting data for and from calculating steps), and amount to mere pre-solution gathering/selecting/collecting and post-solution gathering/selecting/collecting, which are forms of insignificant extra-solution activities. Lastly, the “vehicle control device;” “hitch angle calculation device” merely describe how to generally “apply” the otherwise mathematical concepts along with mental process in a generic or general purpose vehicle control environment. The vehicle control system is recited at a high level of generality and merely automates the calculating steps.
Thus, taken alone, the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Further, looking at the additional limitation(s) as an ordered combination or as a whole, the limitation(s) add nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. For instance, there is no indication that the additional elements, when considered as a whole, reflect an improvement in the functioning of a computer or an improvement to another technology or technical field, apply or use the above-noted judicial exception to effect a particular treatment or prophylaxis for a disease or medical condition, implement/use the above-noted judicial exception with a particular machine or manufacture that is integral to the claim, effect a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing, or apply or use the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is not more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception (MPEP § 2106.05). Accordingly, the additional limitation(s) do/does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
101 Analysis – Step 2B
Regarding Step 2B of the 2019 PEG, representative independent claim 4 does not include additional elements (considered both individually and as an ordered combination) that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception for the same reasons to those discussed above with respect to determining that the claim does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements of vehicle control device, hitch angle calculation device to perform the calculating amount to nothing more than applying the exception using a generic computer component. Generally applying an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. And as discussed above, the additional limitations of the acquiring images, transforming coordinates of images to another coordinate system, removing coordinates of images at plural/predetermined time points, the Examiner submits that these limitations are insignificant extra-solution activities.
Further, a conclusion that an additional element is insignificant extra-solution activity in Step 2A should be re-evaluated in Step 2B to determine if they are more than what is well-understood, routine, conventional activity in the field. The additional limitations of “acquiring images, transforming coordinates of images to another coordinate system, removing coordinates of images at plural/predetermined time points” are well-understood, routine, and conventional activities because the background recites that the cameras/sensors are all conventional cameras/sensors mounted on the vehicle, and the specification does not provide any indication that the vehicle control device, hitch angle calculation device are anything other than a conventional computer within a vehicle. MPEP 2106.05(d)(II), and the cases cited therein, including Intellectual Ventures I, LLC v. Symantec Corp., 838 F.3d 1307, 1321 (Fed. Cir. 2016), TLI Communications LLC v. AV Auto. LLC, 823 F.3d 607, 610 (Fed. Cir. 2016), and OIP Techs., Inc., v. Amazon.com, Inc., 788 F.3d 1359, 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2015), indicate that mere collection or receipt of data over a network is a well‐understood, routine, and conventional function when it is claimed in a merely generic manner. Hence, the claim is not patent eligible.
Dependent claims 2-3 do not recite any further limitations that cause the claims to be patent eligible. Rather, the limitations of dependent claims are directed toward additional aspects of the judicial exception and/or well-understood, routine and conventional additional elements that do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. Therefore, dependent claims 2-3 are not patent eligible under the same rationale as provided for in the rejection of independent claims 1 and 4-5. It is unclear what the claimed limitations/features, in both independent and dependent claims, are directed to in order to, or what or how they contribute/improve/influence/affect/innovate vehicle control, or operation, or use, or handling, or navigation, etc. Therefore, claims 1-5 are ineligible under 35 USC §101.
ALLOWABLE SUBJECT MATTER
1. Claims 1 and 4-5 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 101 set forth in this Office action.
2. Claims 2-3 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 101 set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
3. The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
In performing initial search, the Examiner was able to find the closest prior art of record, which is Ramirez Llanos (US20230294767) taken either individually or in combination with other prior art of NISHIMURA (US20250329039), Ma (US11752943) and Plowman (US20230134205), who describe a method for determining a trailer angle between a tow vehicle and a trailer attached to the tow vehicle includes receiving images from a camera positioned on a rear portion of the tow vehicle with a data processing hardware device, determining visual features from the images, tracking the visual features while the tow vehicle and trailer are moving and calculating, at the data processing hardware, the trailer angle based on the visual features; the trailer angle then transmitted from the data processing hardware to one or more vehicle systems.
In regards to claims 1-5, Ramirez Llanos (US20230294767) taken either individually or in combination with other prior art of record fail to teach or render obvious the following feature(s) / limitation(s):
calculating the hitch angle of the trailer at the predetermined time point based on the corrected coordinate in the world coordinate system of the left lower end included in the hitch angle calculation target image and the corrected coordinate in the world coordinate system of the right lower end included in the hitch angle calculation target image.
RELEVANT PRIOR ART THAT WAS CITED BUT NOT APPLIED
The following relevant prior art references that were found, by the Examiner while performing initial and/or additional search, cited but not applied:
Yu (US20190339704) – (see entire Yu document, particularly abstract – teaching a method for autonomously maneuvering a tow vehicle towards a trailer positioned behind the tow vehicle; the method that includes receiving one or more images from one or more cameras positioned on a back portion of the tow vehicle; identifying a trailer representation within the one or more images; the trailer representation being indicative of the trailer positioned behind the tow vehicle; the method that also includes setting a vertical center of the trailer representation as a target; determining a first steering wheel angle to tum the tow vehicle such that the vehicle autonomously maneuvers in a direction towards the target; transmitting instructions to a drive system causing the tow vehicle to maneuver based on the first steering wheel angle).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Primary Examiner YURI KAN, P.E., whose phone number is 571- 270-3978. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by phone are unsuccessful, you may contact the examiner's supervisor, Mr. Jelani Smith, who can be reached on 571-270-3969. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YURI KAN, P.E./ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3662
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