DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Japan on 6 January 2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the Japanese application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 15 July 2025 and 8 January 2026 are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-4 and 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ikeuchi, et al. (JP 2021056764; citations below refer to attached machine translation).
For claim 1, Ikeuchi discloses a movable apparatus control device comprising: at least one processor or circuit (see paras. 0076-0077) configured to function as: a first condition data acquisition unit (see paras. 0076-0077) configured to acquire first condition data that indicates a condition when map data that indicates a map used when a movable apparatus moves autonomously through a space is generated (see para. 0088); a second condition data acquisition unit (see paras. 0076-0077) configured to acquire second condition data that indicates a condition when the movable apparatus moves autonomously through the space using the map data (see para. 0088); a non-map data acquisition unit configured to acquire non-map data that indicates a content different from the map in a case in which the condition indicated by the first condition data and the condition indicated by the second condition data do not match (see para. 0119); and a data provision unit configured to provide the non-map data to the movable apparatus (see paras. 0143-0145, 0119, 0116).
Ikeuchi does not explicitly disclose the predetermined range. However, Ikeuchi teaches that the data between the environmental maps are compared and determined to match “well”. It would have been obvious at the effective date of filing to one of ordinary skill in the art that matching data “well” is equivalent to matching based on a “predetermined” threshold or range based on a motivation to improve a technique for maintaining the accuracy of position estimation while keeping costs down, even in the event of environmental changes (see para. 0006).
Regarding claim 2, Ikuchi further teaches wherein the at least one processor or circuit is further configured to function as, a use determination unit configured to determine a use of the non-map data on the basis of the first condition data and the second condition data, wherein the data provision unit is further configured to provide use data to the movable apparatus (see paras. 0066-0069).
Pertaining to claim 3, Ikuchi further discloses wherein the first condition data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the first condition data that indicates at least one of: at least one of a type of a sensor and a performance of the sensor used to generate the map data; at least one of a type of sensor and a performance of the sensor used by the movable apparatus to detect an obstacle; a brightness around the movable apparatus when the map data was generated; and a time when the map data was generated (see para. 0088), and the second condition data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the second condition data indicating at least one of: at least one of a type of sensor and a performance of the sensor used for the movable apparatus to move autonomously through the space; at least one of a type of sensor and a performance of the sensor used for the movable apparatus to detect an obstacle; a brightness around the movable apparatus when the movable apparatus moves autonomously through the space; and the time during which the movable apparatus moves autonomously through the space (see para. 0088).
With reference to claim 4, Ikuchi further teaches wherein the first condition data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the first condition data that indicates at least one of the type and the performance of the sensor used to generate the map data (see para. 0088), the second condition data acquisition unit is configured to acquire at least one of the type and the performance of the sensor used by the movable apparatus to move autonomously through the space (see para. 0088), the non-map data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the image data that indicates an image generated by imaging at least a part of the space with a camera as the non-map data (see para. 0066), and the use determination unit is configured to determine that the use of the non-map data is to determine a route for the movable apparatus (see paras. 0021-0022).
Referring to claim 7, Ikeuchi further discloses wherein the non-map data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the non-map data that indicates at least one of: content relating to the sensor used by the movable apparatus; the result of simulating a brightness of a route along which the movable apparatus should move; and at least one of arrangements and shapes of objects, rooms, and sections included in the space (see paras. 0143-0145, 0119, 0116).
Claims 8 and 9 define elements and subject matter that is substantially similar to the elements and subject matter defined in claim 1. Accordingly, claims 8 and 9 are rejected based on the citations and reasoning outlined above for claim 1.
Claims 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ikeuchi, et al. (JP 2021056764; citations below refer to attached machine translation) as applied to claim 1, and in view of Cserna, et al. (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0298198).
With reference to claim 5, Ikeuchi does not explicitly disclose the claimed limitations. A teaching from Cserna discloses wherein the first condition data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the first condition data that indicates the brightness around the movable apparatus when the map data was generated (see paras. 0140-0143, 0075), the second condition data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the second condition data that indicates the brightness around the movable apparatus when the movable apparatus moves autonomously through the space (see paras. 0140-0143, 0077-0078), the non-map data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the non-map data that indicates the result of simulating a brightness of a route along which the movable apparatus should move (see paras. 0103, 0083, 0154), and the use determination unit is configured to determine that the use of the non-map data is to determine a route for the movable apparatus (see para. 0173-0178). It would have been obvious at the effective date of filing to modify Ikeuchi with the teachings of Cserna based on a reasonable expectation of success and the motivation to improve autonomous vehicles that have difficulty in determining, detecting and/or tracking agents which are partially or fully occluded (see para. 0001).
With respect to claim 6, Cserna further discloses wherein the first condition data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the first condition data that indicates the time when the map data was generated (see para. 0083), the second condition data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the second condition data that indicates the time for the movable apparatus to move autonomously through the space (see paras. 0077-0078, real-time), the non-map data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the non-map data that indicates at least one of arrangements and shapes of objects, rooms, and sections included in the space (see para. 0103), and the use determination unit is configured to determine that the use of the non-map data is to determine the route for the movable apparatus (see para. 0173-0178).
Conclusion
Examiner would like to point out that any reference/citation to specific figures, columns and lines should not be considered limiting in any way. The entire cited reference, as well as any secondary teaching reference(s), are to be included in considerations of relevant disclosure relating to the claimed invention. Applicant is herein considered to have implicit knowledge of all cited teachings of the prior art of record.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ADAM D TISSOT whose telephone number is (571)270-3439. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00-4:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Ortiz can be reached at (571) 272-1206. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ADAM D TISSOT/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3663
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