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
Election/Restrictions
1. During a telephone conversation with Thomas Isenbarger on 17 June 2026 a provisional election was made without traverse to prosecute the invention of Group I, claims 6-17. Affirmation of this election must be made by applicant in replying to this Office action. Claims 12-20 are withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner under 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
2. Restriction to one of the following inventions was required under 35 U.S.C. 121:
I. Claims 1-11, drawn to a systematic intelligent system (SIS), comprising a system intelligent unit (SIU) configured to serve roadside intelligent units (RIUs) and vehicle intelligent units (VIUs), wherein said SIU comprises:
(a) a storage unit comprising a storage device with a historical database that records historical data generated during trips and/or records historical data describing historical traffic conditions, historical road conditions, and/or historical information describing the route of other similar trips; and
(b) a computing unit comprising a distribution manager and computing devices, wherein the distribution manager supplements computing resources of VIUs and RIUs allocates tasks to VIUs and RIUs and optimizes computing resources of RIUs and VIUs by allocating tasks and computing resources to RIUs and VIUs,
wherein the SIS is configured to: (1) perform trip profiling and calibration methods; and (2) perform trip optimization methods.
II. Claims 12-20, drawn to a vehicle intelligent unit (VIU), wherein said VIU is configured as a component of an automated driving system (ADS), wherein said ADS is configured to execute tasks allocated by a system intelligent unit (SIU),wherein said VIU is configured to:
(a) receive computing resource allocations, a calibrated and optimized specific profile model, an optimized trip plan, a trip profile plan, and an execution plan from the SIU;
(b) host the received calibrated and optimized specific profile model for execution at the VIU;
(c) provide sensing data, user profile, and origin and destination information to the SIU,
wherein a systematic intelligent system (SIS) is configured to manage control of a connected and automated vehicle (CAV) comprising said VIU by a plurality of different ADSes;
wherein the SIS provides a pre-trip service, wherein said pre-trip service is configured to perform a calibration and optimization function that calibrates and/or optimizes parameters of a profile model for a trip.
The inventions are distinct, each from the other because of the following reasons:
3. Inventions I and II are related as subcombinations disclosed as usable together in a single combination. The subcombinations are distinct if they do not overlap in scope and are not obvious variants, and if it is shown that at least one subcombination is separately usable. In the instant case, subcombination I has separate utility such as optimizing computing resources of RIUs and VIUs by allocating tasks and computing resources to RIUs and VIUs. See MPEP § 806.05(d).
The examiner has required restriction between subcombinations usable together. Where applicant elects a subcombination and claims thereto are subsequently found allowable, any claim(s) depending from or otherwise requiring all the limitations of the allowable subcombination will be examined for patentability in accordance with 37 CFR 1.104. See MPEP § 821.04(a). Applicant is advised that if any claim presented in a continuation or divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application.
4. Restriction for examination purposes as indicated is proper because all these inventions listed in this action are independent or distinct for the reasons given above and there would be a serious search and examination burden if restriction were not required because the following reasons apply:
(a) the inventions have acquired a separate status in the art in view of their different classification;
(b) the inventions have acquired a separate status in the art due to their recognized divergent subject matter;
(c) the inventions require a different field of search (for example, searching different classes/subclasses or electronic resources, or employing different search queries);
(d) the prior art applicable to one invention would not likely be applicable to another invention;
(e) the inventions are likely to raise different non-prior art issues under 35 U.S.C. 101 and/or 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
6. Claims 1-11 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Magalhaes de Matos (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2019/0171208) in view of Zhou et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2020/0322763).
Regarding claim 1, Matos discloses a systematic intelligent system (SIS), comprising a system intelligent unit (SIU) ("a communication network" [0040]) configured to serve roadside intelligent units (RIU) ("Fixed Access Points (or Fixed Aps) also referred to as Road Side Units (RSUs)" [0029]) and vehicle intelligent units (VIU) ("Mobile Ap (Mobile AP or MAP) may also be referred to as on-board unit (OBU) the mobile AP may be readily installed in or on private and/or public vehicles” [0028]) wherein said SIU comprises:
A storage unit comprising a storage device with a historical database (" example network comprises a Cloud" [0041]"the Cloud may manage data storage" [0042]"the cloud may store and/or process the data to have history of an area and/or time" [0190]) that records historical data generated during trips and/or records historical data describing historical traffic conditions, historical road conditions, and/or historical information describing the route on other similar trips (“traffic data may be kept to have a history of traffic conditions for certain days of the week also at certain times during those days. Additionally, infrastructure data history may include operation of traffic lights, street lights, development of large potholes, maintenance and repair, etc.” [0190]), and
A computing unit comprising a distribution manager and computing devices ("a system in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure manages the collaborative actions and decisions taken by the vehicles of a FAVES" [0071] FAVES is Fleets of Autonomous Vehicles that are Electric and Shared), wherein the distribution manager supplements computing resources of VIUs and RIUS ("thus enabling AVs to immediately share knowledge with one another and with the Cloud"[0094]. See also 0138, AVs are managed such at amount of data offloaded by AV is maximized while minimizing amount of data offloaded through the same access point. This enables additional bandwidth, hence providing supplemental computing resources); allocates tasks to VIUs {and RIUs} (“managing deployment of autonomous vehicles” [0074] the examiner views that deploying a vehicle is allocating a task to it); and optimizes computing resources of RIUs and VIUs by allocating tasks and computing resources to RIUs and VIUs (“able to optimize network capacity… and improve fleet operations. Additional details of the functionality of a system supporting the use of a FAVES in proving MaaS are discussed below” [0077], the optimization and improvement happens due to the limitations that are cited above);
wherein the SIS is configured to: (1) perform trip profiling ("The service manager block of FIG. 5 may, for example react to the registration of a new service profile"[0149], [0039], [0120], [0126], [0127], the applicant has indicated in their specification that the profiling process comprises a user profile [0097]) and calibration methods (“A system in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure may use information about unexpected events in a particular geographic region (e.g., a city) such as, for example, road obstructions, vehicle and/or pedestrian accidents, and/or the closing of roads/highways to allow the system to feed such details to AV trip planning algorithms” [0111], [0125], [0127], [0199], “calibration” is interpreted broadly to include any definition for calibration in any common dictionary that does not contradict the specification) and (2) perform trip optimization methods ("AVs are equipped to make optimized decisions in-advance of encountering situation such as, for example, congested travel routes, etc."[0062], [0063], [0039], [0110], [0112], [0126]-[0128]).
Matos does not explicitly disclose allocating tasks to RIUs.
In the same field of endeavor, Zhou discloses allocating tasks to RIUs (“The CCCF 240 plans the resource use based on the aggregated information from vehicles 210 and/or the RSU 230 and sends the task assignment to these vehicles 210 and/or the RSU 230” [0059]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Matos in view of Zhou to allocate tasks to RIUs, with predictable results. Doing so would allow for data to be processed in places other than the vehicle and tasks to be assigned to the system with the best capacity to perform that task according to Zhou in paragraphs 59 and 60. See also paragraph 8.
Regarding claim 2, Matos in view of Zhou further discloses that said trip optimization methods are for an entire trip ("A system according to the present disclosure may support the creation and management of AV trips, which may for example be done through multiple modes" [0075], "AVs are equipped to make optimized decisions in-advance of encountering situations"[0062], [0063], [0039], [0110], [0112], [0126]-[0128]).
Regarding claim 3, Matos in view of Zhou further discloses that said SIS is configured to provide a pre-trip service (“system plans trips in advance by comparing different modes of transportation between point A to B” [0127]), an en route service (“may be evaluated by a system of the present disclosure, to aid in the selection the best parking place at the current time” [0115] "the AV may communicate real-time traffic data to the AV” [0193]), and/or a post-trip service (“a system in accordance with the present disclosure may also provide functionality to collect and use the feedback ... to enable the operators of AVs to improve their operations and functionality” [0125], the applicants speciation clearly states that a post-trip service can include feedback methods).
Regarding claim 4, Matos in view of Zhou further discloses that said trip profiling and calibration methods are based on systematic intelligent databases ("the current context information available inside and outside an AV (for example, Cloud availability, historical data availability, etc.), the AV may be able to select an appropriate data learning mechanism… to meet the goals of the services performed within the AV" [0186])..
Regarding claim 5, Matos in view of Zhou further discloses that said pre-trip service is configured to perform a trip profile planning function that generates a trip profile plan using user input and a calibrated and optimized model for the trip profiling ([0149], [0039], [0120], [0126], [0127]; (“A system in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure may use information about unexpected events in a particular geographic region (e.g., a city) such as, for example, road obstructions, vehicle and/or pedestrian accidents, and/or the closing of roads/highways to allow the system to feed such details to AV trip planning algorithms” [0111], [0125], [0127], [0199], “calibrated” is interpreted broadly to include any definition for calibrated in any common dictionary that does not contradict the specification).
Regarding claim 6, Matos in view of Zhou further discloses that the SIU is configured to broadcast real-time information to the VIU, wherein said real-time information comprises deployment information and/or instructions; switching information and/or instructions; and/or emergency information and/or instructions (“providing for real-time communication with vehicle drivers”[0032], “provide real-time notifications to drivers (e.g., to turn on/off the engine, follow the right route inside the harbor, take a break, etc.)”[0039], [0062], “allow real-time, data-driven dispatching of emergency vehicles/first responders; … and to permit others (e.g., a system operator, law enforcement, vehicle manufacturer) to remotely control AVs in case of emergency”[0096], [0100], [0121], [0136]).
Regarding claim 7, Matos in view of Zhou further discloses that said post-trip service is configured to provide feedback methods, storage methods, and/or backup methods (“The data may be communicated to the Cloud for storage and/or processing. For example, the AV may transfer data to the Cloud when the AV is running out of storage space. The dada sent to the Cloud may be, for example, older data or data that may no longer be relevant to the AV” [0189]).
Regarding claim 8, Matos in view of Zhou further discloses that the SIS manages control of the vehicle (“remotely manage and control the operations and software of AVs”[0086], “to permit others (e.g., a system operator, law enforcement, vehicle manufacturer) to remotely control AVs in case of emergency”[0096], [0062], [0063], [0039], [0110], [0112], [0126]-[0128], interpreted to include providing instructions that are used to control the vehicle) during pre-trip ("system make take the type of road into account when planning AV routes, scheduling trips, etc." [0112], the examiner interprets planning as an action that is done pre-trip), en route ("may be evaluated by a system of the present disclosure, to aid in the selection the best parking place at the current time"[0115], the examiner interprets current time as indicating en route), and/or post-trip phases of a trip ("a system in accordance with the present disclosure may also provide functionality to collect and use the feedback ... to enable the operators of AVs to improve their operations and functionality" [0125], the examiner interprets that feedback means the trip has ended).
Regarding claim 9, Matos in view of Zhou further discloses that the SIS provides feedback information to the pre-trip service describing the computing resource usage of the VIU, to indicate if the allocation of computing resources to the VIU by the SIS was appropriate and/or sufficient for the VIU to meet a target automated driving level for each segment of the trip ([0098], [0102], [0182], [0139]; also well known in the art as described by at least Ran [0054], [0059-0060], [0091]).
Regarding claim 10, Matos in view of Zhou further discloses that the VIUs are in communication with a plurality of automated driving systems (ADSes) ("A mobility manager (or controller MC) may, for example ensure that communication sessions persist over one or more handoff(s) (also referred to herein as a handover" or "handovers" (e.g. between different Mobile APs, Fixed APs, etc.)" [0033]) and each automated driving system (ADS) of the plurality of ADSes has a different format and/or specification for primitive data and/or interfaces ("among different technologies (e.g. 802.11p, cellular, WIFI, satellite, etc.), among different MCs, across different interfaces, etc." [0033])..
Regarding claim 11, Matos in view of Zhou further discloses that said SIS is configured to perform system data storage and/or backup methods and said system data storage and/or backup methods comprise storing and backing up information for the SIS (“The data may be communicated to the Cloud for storage and/or processing. For example, the AV may transfer data to the Cloud when the AV is running out of storage space. The dada sent to the Cloud may be, for example, older data or data that may no longer be relevant to the AV” [0189]).
7. Claim 8 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Magalhaes de Matos (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2019/0171208) in view of Zhou et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2020/0322763), and further in view of Ran et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2019/0244521).
Regarding Claim 8, the combination Matos, Ran, and Zhou discloses the SIS of claim 169. Matos further discloses wherein the during pre-trip ("system make take the type of road into account when planning AV routes, scheduling trips, etc." [0112], the examiner interprets planning as an action that is done pre-trip), en route ("may be evaluated by a system of the present disclosure, to aid in the selection the best parking place at the current time"[0115], the examiner interprets current time as indicating en route), and/or post-trip phases of a trip ("a system in accordance with the present disclosure may also provide functionality to collect and use the feedback ... to enable the operators of AVs to improve their operations and functionality" [0125], the examiner interprets that feedback means the trip has ended).
Matos does not explicitly disclose manages control of the vehicle.
In the same field of endeavor, Ran discloses that the SIS is manages control of a vehicle (“provide vehicles with individually customized information and real-time control instructions for vehicle to fulfill the driving tasks” [0005]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Matos in view of Ran to control the vehicle and facilitate its driving. Doing do so would apply the systems to a useable situation as well as manage transportation operations, as recognized by Ran in the background section, specifically paragraph 5.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHELLEY CHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-1330. The examiner can normally be reached Mondays through Fridays.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Erin Bishop can be reached at (571) 270-3713. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Shelley Chen/
Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3665
June 20, 2026
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