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 .
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 6, and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Iwase et al. (JP2019-174348, see translation listed in PTO-892, attached).
As to claim 1, Iwase discloses an attitude/position detection system for a detector mounted to a vehicle (FIGS. 1, 2, 11, 13; paragraphs [0020]-[0022], [0113]), comprising:
an attitude/position detection device configured to use a position change between an open and a closed position or between a home and an actuation position of a movable component of the vehicle to perform attitude/position detection for the detector (paragraph [0113], FIG 13(b)); and
the detector is mounted to the vehicle such that at least a part of the movable component of the vehicle is included in a detection region (paragraph [0113], FIG 13(b)).
The same reasoning applies, mutatis mutandis, to the subject-matter of the corresponding independent claim 7, which therefore is also considered as being anticipated by Iwase.
As to claim 2, Iwase further discloses that the attitude/position detection device is configured to detect an attitude/position of the detector using pre-populated reference position information of an open or closed position or a home or actuation position of the movable component and detected position information of the open or closed position or the home or actuation position of the movable component detected by the detector (paragraph [0113], FIG 13(b)).
As to claim 3, Iwase further discloses that the movable component is at least one of a hood, a door mirror, a door, a trunk, a seat, and a wiper (paragraphs [0020]-[0022], [0113], FIG 13(b)).
As to claim 6, Iwase further discloses that the attitude/position detection device is further configured to calibrate the detector using a detected attitude/position of the detector (paragraphs [0020]-[0022], [0113], FIG 13(b)).
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.
Claims 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwase.
As to claim 4, Iwase teaches the attitude/position detection system of claim 3 as discussed above. However, Iwase does not teach that the movable component is a door that is actuated in an open or closed position by the vehicle. Nonetheless, such further feature is obvious in view of the general state automotive and detection technology.
As to claim 5, Iwase teaches the attitude/position detection system of claim 1 as discussed above. However, Iwase does not teach that the attitude/position detection device is configured to perform the attitude/position detection while the vehicle is stopped. Nonetheless, such further feature is obvious in view of the general state automotive and detection technology.
Claims 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Nitanda et al. (JP 2015-075382).
As to claim 8, Nitanda teaches an object detection system 100 mounted on vehicle 5 and comprising a laser radar 1 (paragraph [0017], fig. 1), wherein the laser radar 1 is installed on the upper surface of a vehicle roof to have a prescribed mounting orientation, the initial mounting orientation is set so that the pitch angle 8p, the roll angle 8r, and the yaw angle 8y do not deviate when there are no occupants and the air pressure of each tire is a specified value (paragraphs [0022], [0038], fig. 2, 3), in the actual usage environment of a vehicle 5, changes in the number of occupants and the load are large, and a road surface coordinate system and a sensor coordinate system do not match (paragraph [0048]), a road surface candidate point being a distance measurement point estimated to have detected a road surface 6 is extracted by the laser radar 1 scanning 360 degrees (paragraphs [0057], [0058]), the estimated road surface plane S is used to estimate the pitch angle 8p, the roll angle 8r, and the mounting height h, and the mounting orientation used by a position calculation unit 22 is updated (paragraphs [0061]-[0067], [0074]), and a well-known tracking method is used to track an arbitrary distance measurement point Py, and the yaw angle 8y is calculated and updated from the angle formed by the locus y of the distance measurement point Py and the y-axis direction (paragraphs [0082], [0083]), and therefore suggests an attitude/position detection system for a detector mounted to a vehicle, comprising: a vehicle attitude detection device configured to detect a change in attitude of the vehicle using a result of detection of a stationary object around the vehicle by the detector when entering or exiting the vehicle; and an attitude/position detection device configured to calibrate the detector using the detected change in attitude of the vehicle when entering or exiting the vehicle.
The same reasoning applies, mutatis mutandis, to the subject-matter of the corresponding independent claim 9, which therefore is also considered as being anticipated by Nitanda.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The references made herein are done so for the convenience of the applicant. They are in no way intended to be limiting. The prior art should be considered in its entirety.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL L MURPHY whose telephone number is (571)270-3194. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Isam Alsomiri can be reached at 571-272-6970. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL L MURPHY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645