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 .
Status of Claims
This first non-final action is in response to Applicant’s original filing of 09/10/2025.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been examined.
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.
Claims 1-9 and 11-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 20220153265 A1) in view of Liu et al. (WO 2022151839 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Kim suggests an apparatus of a vehicle (claim 1; see at least abstract disclosing an autonomous vehicle controller including a positioning module), the apparatus comprising:
a processor (see at least ¶ [0031] disclosing a processor);
and a memory storing at least one instruction that, when executed by the processor communicating with the memory, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform a method (claim 11; see at least ¶ [0031] disclosing a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing executable program instructions) comprising:
obtaining a plurality of first coordinates indicating a driving path of the vehicle in a first region where driving of the vehicle starts in an arbitrary driving section, wherein the arbitrary driving section corresponds to a section where map information for controlling driving of the vehicle is missing (see at least ¶ [0038-0048] and [0057-0063] and Equations [00001-00003] and Figs. 3-5 disclosing the positioning module is used to determine local and global coordinates while the autonomous vehicle travels a driving route through a lane lost section of road by positioning coordinates for waypoints the vehicle travels through the lane lost section, including initial position, current position, intermediary positions, and final position waypoints),
obtaining a plurality of second coordinates indicating a driving path of the vehicle in a second region where driving of the vehicle ends in the arbitrary driving section (see at least ¶ [0038-0048] and [0057-0063] and Equations [00001-00003] and Figs. 3-5 disclosing the positioning module is used to determine local and global coordinates while the autonomous vehicle travels a driving route through a lane lost section of road by positioning coordinates for waypoints the vehicle travels through the lane lost section, including initial position, current position, intermediary positions, and final position waypoints),
and controlling, based on the signal, autonomous driving of the vehicle (see at least ¶ [0049-0058] disclosing a route setting device, driving route determination module, and steering controller used to operate the autonomous vehicle through the driving route and waypoints).
Kim does not explicitly disclose obtaining a plurality of first and second coordinates via a transceiver of the vehicle,
determining, based on the plurality of first coordinates, a first direction in which the vehicle is heading at an entry point of the arbitrary driving section,
determining, based on the plurality of second coordinates, a second direction in which the vehicle is heading at an end point of the arbitrary driving section,
and outputting, based on the first direction and the second direction, a signal indicating a driving plan path of the vehicle in the arbitrary driving section.
However, Liu suggests obtaining a plurality of first and second coordinates via a transceiver of the vehicle (see at least page 8 of the machine translation, starting with “The collection apparatus…” disclosing a collection apparatus with data transceiver capability for receiving GNSS coordinates),
determining, based on the plurality of first coordinates, a first direction in which the vehicle is heading at an entry point of the arbitrary driving section (see at least pages 13-18 of the machine translation, starting with “Specifically, an embodiment of a vehicle turning route…” and ending with “The above-mentioned embodiment is described below…” and Figs. 5-14 disclosing an autonomous vehicle traveling through a road intersection area according to an entry point and an exit point with respective first and second directions),
determining, based on the plurality of second coordinates, a second direction in which the vehicle is heading at an end point of the arbitrary driving section (see at least pages 13-18 of the machine translation, starting with “Specifically, an embodiment of a vehicle turning route…” and ending with “The above-mentioned embodiment is described below…” and Figs. 5-14 disclosing an autonomous vehicle traveling through a road intersection area according to an entry point and an exit point with respective first and second directions),
and outputting, based on the first direction and the second direction, a signal indicating a driving plan path of the vehicle in the arbitrary driving section (see at least pages 13-18 of the machine translation, starting with “Specifically, an embodiment of a vehicle turning route…” and ending with “The above-mentioned embodiment is described below…” and Figs. 5-14 disclosing an autonomous vehicle traveling through a road intersection area according to an entry point and an exit point with respective first and second directions).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to incorporate the transceiver and direction-based intersection traversal of Liu into the lane lost driving route guidance of Kim with a reasonable expectation of success because both inventions are directed toward operating autonomous vehicles through a driving route across a road section using vehicle positioning in the absence of road markings for guidance. Liu’s use of managing entry and exit points and directions through an unmarked intersection would help improve the lane lost section driving of Kim by integrating the entry and exit directions to the coordinate positioning of the waypoints and help the autonomous vehicle travel the driving route. Additionally, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the GNSS transceiver of Liu demonstrates an equivalent alternative to determine position coordinates.
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Kim suggests, based on an interval of lane center line coordinates being greater than or equal to a preset reference interval, determine that the map information is missing (see at least ¶ [0036-0038], [0040-0041], and [0050-0053] disclosing using the center of a virtual line as the reference to calculate cumulative heading error).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Kim suggests outputting the signal indicating the driving plan path of the vehicle in the arbitrary driving section further based on the first coordinates and the second coordinates (see at least ¶ [0038-0048] and [0057-0063] and Equations [00001-00003] and Figs. 3-5 disclosing the positioning module is used to determine local and global coordinates while the autonomous vehicle travels a driving route through a lane lost section of road by positioning coordinates for waypoints the vehicle travels through the lane lost section, including initial position, current position, intermediary positions, and final position waypoints).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Kim suggests the plurality of first coordinates comprise a coordinate at the entry point of the arbitrary driving section and a coordinate at a point immediately before entering the arbitrary driving section (see at least ¶ [0038-0048] and [0057-0063] and Equations [00001-00003] and Figs. 3-5 disclosing the positioning module is used to determine local and global coordinates while the autonomous vehicle travels a driving route through a lane lost section of road by positioning coordinates for waypoints the vehicle travels through the lane lost section, including initial position, current position, intermediary positions, and final position waypoints),
and the plurality of second coordinates comprise a coordinate at the end point of the arbitrary driving section and a coordinate at a point immediately after the arbitrary driving section ends (see at least ¶ [0038-0048] and [0057-0063] and Equations [00001-00003] and Figs. 3-5 disclosing the positioning module is used to determine local and global coordinates while the autonomous vehicle travels a driving route through a lane lost section of road by positioning coordinates for waypoints the vehicle travels through the lane lost section, including initial position, current position, intermediary positions, and final position waypoints).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Kim does not explicitly disclose determining the first direction by comparing the coordinate at the entry point of the arbitrary driving section with the coordinate at the point immediately before entering the arbitrary driving section.
However, Liu suggests determining the first direction by comparing the coordinate at the entry point of the arbitrary driving section with the coordinate at the point immediately before entering the arbitrary driving section (see at least pages 13-18 of the machine translation, starting with “Specifically, an embodiment of a vehicle turning route…” and ending with “The above-mentioned embodiment is described below…” and Figs. 5-14 disclosing an autonomous vehicle traveling through a road intersection area according to an approaching direction leading up to an entry point and a departing direction following after an exit point with respective first and second directions).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to incorporate the transceiver and direction-based intersection traversal of Liu into the lane lost driving route guidance of Kim with a reasonable expectation of success because both inventions are directed toward operating autonomous vehicles through a driving route across a road section using vehicle positioning in the absence of road markings for guidance. Liu’s use of managing entry and exit points and directions through an unmarked intersection would help improve the lane lost section driving of Kim by integrating the entry and exit directions to the coordinate positioning of the waypoints and help the autonomous vehicle travel the driving route. Additionally, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the GNSS transceiver of Liu demonstrates an equivalent alternative to determine position coordinates.
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Kim does not explicitly disclose determining the second direction by comparing the coordinate at the end point of the arbitrary driving section with the coordinate at the point immediately after the arbitrary driving section ends
However, Liu suggests determining the second direction by comparing the coordinate at the end point of the arbitrary driving section with the coordinate at the point immediately after the arbitrary driving section ends (see at least pages 13-18 of the machine translation, starting with “Specifically, an embodiment of a vehicle turning route…” and ending with “The above-mentioned embodiment is described below…” and Figs. 5-14 disclosing an autonomous vehicle traveling through a road intersection area according to an approaching direction leading up to an entry point and a departing direction following after an exit point with respective first and second directions).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to incorporate the transceiver and direction-based intersection traversal of Liu into the lane lost driving route guidance of Kim with a reasonable expectation of success because both inventions are directed toward operating autonomous vehicles through a driving route across a road section using vehicle positioning in the absence of road markings for guidance. Liu’s use of managing entry and exit points and directions through an unmarked intersection would help improve the lane lost section driving of Kim by integrating the entry and exit directions to the coordinate positioning of the waypoints and help the autonomous vehicle travel the driving route. Additionally, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the GNSS transceiver of Liu demonstrates an equivalent alternative to determine position coordinates.
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Kim suggests determining, based on sensor information obtained via the transceiver, lane information associated with the arbitrary driving section (see at least ¶ [0037-0038] and [0049-0058] disclosing a route setting device, driving route determination module, and steering controller used to operate the autonomous vehicle through the driving route and waypoints within bounds of perceived lane information and during lane lost sections).
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Kim suggests outputting, based on the lane information, the signal indicating the driving plan path of the vehicle, and wherein the driving plan path comprises boundary information derived from the lane information (see at least ¶ [0037-0038] and [0049-0058] disclosing a route setting device, driving route determination module, and steering controller used to operate the autonomous vehicle through the driving route and waypoints within bounds of perceived lane information and during lane lost sections).
Regarding claim 9, Kim suggests determining, based on the driving plan path of the vehicle and the lane information, lane sides of the arbitrary driving section (see at least ¶ [0051] and [0053-0055] and Figs. 4A-4C disclosing a lane lost interval setting device that operates the autonomous vehicle through the lane lost section driving route according to calculated heading error values that breach left and right boundaries).
Regarding claim 19, Kim suggests a vehicle (see at least abstract) comprising:
a sensor (see at least abstract disclosing an autonomous vehicle controller including a positioning module including sensors);
a processor (see at least ¶ [0031] disclosing a processor);
and a memory storing at least one instruction (see at least ¶ [0031] disclosing a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing executable program instructions) that, when executed by the processor communicating with the memory, is configured to cause the vehicle to:
obtain,
first coordinate data representing a driving path of the vehicle in a first region where the vehicle begins to travel in a road section lacking map information (see at least ¶ [0038-0048] and [0057-0063] and Equations [00001-00003] and Figs. 3-5 disclosing the positioning module is used to determine local and global coordinates while the autonomous vehicle travels a driving route through a lane lost section of road by positioning coordinates for waypoints the vehicle travels through the lane lost section, including initial position, current position, intermediary positions, and final position waypoints),
and second coordinate data representing a driving path of the vehicle in a second region where the vehicle ends the travel in the road section (see at least ¶ [0038-0048] and [0057-0063] and Equations [00001-00003] and Figs. 3-5 disclosing the positioning module is used to determine local and global coordinates while the autonomous vehicle travels a driving route through a lane lost section of road by positioning coordinates for waypoints the vehicle travels through the lane lost section, including initial position, current position, intermediary positions, and final position waypoints),
identify, based on sensor data obtained from the sensor, a left lane boundary and a right lane boundary in the road section (see at least ¶ [0051] and [0053-0055] and Figs. 4A-4C disclosing a lane lost interval setting device that operates the autonomous vehicle through the lane lost section driving route according to calculated heading error values that breach left and right boundaries),
adjust the driving path data such that the trajectory represented by the driving path data is located between the left lane boundary and the right lane boundary (see at least ¶ [0051] and [0053-0055] and Figs. 4A-4C disclosing a lane lost interval setting device that operates the autonomous vehicle through the lane lost section driving route according to calculated heading error values that breach left and right boundaries, and correcting the route to minimize the heading error),
output a signal indicating the adjusted driving path data, and control, based on the signal, autonomous driving of the vehicle (see at least ¶ [0049-0058] disclosing a route setting device, driving route determination module, and steering controller used to operate the autonomous vehicle through the driving route and waypoints).
Kim does not explicitly disclose a transceiver;
obtaining first and second coordinate data via the transceiver,
determining, based on the first coordinate data, a first direction of the travel at an entry point of the road section,
determining, based on the second coordinate data, a second direction of the travel at an exit point of the road section,
and generating driving path data representing a trajectory from the entry point to the exit point, the trajectory satisfying the first direction and the second direction and connecting the entry point to the exit point
However, Liu suggests a transceiver (see at least page 8 of the machine translation, starting with “The collection apparatus…” disclosing a collection apparatus with data transceiver capability for receiving GNSS coordinates);
obtaining first and second coordinate data via the transceiver (see at least page 8 of the machine translation, starting with “The collection apparatus…” disclosing a collection apparatus with data transceiver capability for receiving GNSS coordinates),
determining, based on the first coordinate data, a first direction of the travel at an entry point of the road section (see at least pages 13-18 of the machine translation, starting with “Specifically, an embodiment of a vehicle turning route…” and ending with “The above-mentioned embodiment is described below…” and Figs. 5-14 disclosing an autonomous vehicle traveling through a road intersection area according to an entry point and an exit point with respective first and second directions),
determining, based on the second coordinate data, a second direction of the travel at an exit point of the road section (see at least pages 13-18 of the machine translation, starting with “Specifically, an embodiment of a vehicle turning route…” and ending with “The above-mentioned embodiment is described below…” and Figs. 5-14 disclosing an autonomous vehicle traveling through a road intersection area according to an entry point and an exit point with respective first and second directions),
and generating driving path data representing a trajectory from the entry point to the exit point, the trajectory satisfying the first direction and the second direction and connecting the entry point to the exit point (see at least pages 13-18 of the machine translation, starting with “Specifically, an embodiment of a vehicle turning route…” and ending with “The above-mentioned embodiment is described below…” and Figs. 5-14 disclosing an autonomous vehicle traveling through a road intersection area according to an entry point and an exit point with respective first and second directions).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to incorporate the transceiver and direction-based intersection traversal of Liu into the lane lost driving route guidance of Kim with a reasonable expectation of success because both inventions are directed toward operating autonomous vehicles through a driving route across a road section using vehicle positioning in the absence of road markings for guidance. Liu’s use of managing entry and exit points and directions through an unmarked intersection would help improve the lane lost section driving of Kim by integrating the entry and exit directions to the coordinate positioning of the waypoints and help the autonomous vehicle travel the driving route. Additionally, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the GNSS transceiver of Liu demonstrates an equivalent alternative to determine position coordinates.
Claims 10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Liu et al., as applied to claims 9 and 19 above, and in further view of Daimaru et al. (JP 2002278623 A).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Kim and Liu does not explicitly disclose, based on an angle formed by a virtual center point of the vehicle and the lane sides being greater than or equal to a reference angle, stop outputting the signal indicating the driving plan path of the vehicle.
However, Daimaru suggests, based on an angle formed by a virtual center point of the vehicle and the lane sides being greater than or equal to a reference angle, stop outputting the signal indicating the driving plan path of the vehicle (see at least ¶ [0013], [0015], and [0018] of the machine translation disclosing a traveling position detecting device for an unmanned carrier that monitors displacement markers placed perpendicularly to a center line and left and right sides that the carrier uses as traveling reference – if the carrier deviates from the center line by greater than a predetermined angle the carrier is stopped to prevent an accident).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to incorporate the angle-based guidance of Daimaru into the combination of Kim and Liu with a reasonable expectation of success because all inventions are directed toward operating autonomous vehicles along guided paths with an emphasis on awareness for the surroundings of the vehicle. This would help prevent the vehicle from deviating too far from the driving route and potentially cause an accident.
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Kim and Liu does not explicitly disclose determining a left lane edge and a right lane edge by, for each of a plurality of points along the trajectory represented by the driving path data, drawing a perpendicular line to the left lane boundary and to the right lane boundary, and identifying intersection points of the perpendicular line and the lane boundaries as the left lane edge and the right lane edge,
and based on an angle, formed at a virtual front-center point of the vehicle between a first line segment extending from the virtual front-center point to the left lane edge and a second line segment extending from the virtual front-center point to the right lane edge, being greater than or equal to a threshold angle, stop generation of the driving path data.
However, Daimaru suggests determining a left lane edge and a right lane edge by, for each of a plurality of points along the trajectory represented by the driving path data, drawing a perpendicular line to the left lane boundary and to the right lane boundary, and identifying intersection points of the perpendicular line and the lane boundaries as the left lane edge and the right lane edge (see at least ¶ [0013], [0015], and [0018] of the machine translation disclosing a traveling position detecting device for an unmanned carrier that monitors displacement markers placed perpendicularly to a center line and left and right sides that the carrier uses as traveling reference – if the carrier deviates from the center line by greater than a predetermined angle the carrier is stopped to prevent an accident),
and based on an angle, formed at a virtual front-center point of the vehicle between a first line segment extending from the virtual front-center point to the left lane edge and a second line segment extending from the virtual front-center point to the right lane edge, being greater than or equal to a threshold angle, stop generation of the driving path data (see at least ¶ [0013], [0015], and [0018] of the machine translation disclosing a traveling position detecting device for an unmanned carrier that monitors displacement markers placed perpendicularly to a center line and left and right sides that the carrier uses as traveling reference – if the carrier deviates from the center line by greater than a predetermined angle the carrier is stopped to prevent an accident).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to incorporate the angle-based guidance of Daimaru into the combination of Kim and Liu with a reasonable expectation of success because all inventions are directed toward operating autonomous vehicles along guided paths with an emphasis on awareness for the surroundings of the vehicle. This would help prevent the vehicle from deviating too far from the driving route and potentially cause an accident.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JARED C BEAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5255. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30AM - 5:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Navid Z Mehdizadeh can be reached at (571) 272-7691. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J.C.B./Examiner, Art Unit 3669
/NAVID Z. MEHDIZADEH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3669
