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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 11/25/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 11/25/2025, with respect to the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive in light of the amendments. The combination of Schumann, Ralston and Hull does not explicitly teach that the correlation indicates both a frequency and a time offset. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Schumann (US 20160154104 A1) and Sang-mun (KR 20120128044 A).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Where applicant acts as his or her own lexicographer to specifically define a term of a claim contrary to its ordinary meaning, the written description must clearly redefine the claim term and set forth the uncommon definition so as to put one reasonably skilled in the art on notice that the applicant intended to so redefine that claim term. Process Control Corp. v. HydReclaim Corp., 190 F.3d 1350, 1357, 52 USPQ2d 1029, 1033 (Fed. Cir. 1999). The terms “a negative relative speed” in claim 14 and “a positive relative speed” in claim 15 are used by the claim to mean “a negative relative velocity” and “a positive relative velocity” while the accepted meaning is undefined as speed is a scalar quantity, representing only the magnitude of how fast something moves. The terms are indefinite because the specification does not clearly redefine the terms.
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 1, 3-5, 7, 8, 10-13, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schumann (US 20160154104 A1) as modified by Sang-mun (KR 20120128044 A).
Regarding claim 1,
Schumann teaches,
A method for determining a speed of an object based on an ultrasonic pulse, comprising: emitting the ultrasonic pulse using a first ultrasonic transducer, the ultrasonic pulse having a defined signal profile; (Para. [0004] teaches “In this operation, the sensor emits an ultrasonic pulse and measures a reflection of the ultrasonic pulse generated by an object, which is referred to as an echo signal. The distance between the sensor and the object is computed over the measured echo transit time and the speed of sound. In addition to the distance of the object to the sensor, the speed of the object relative to the sensor system is also of interest for the surroundings-detection.” Para. [0008] teaches “In a method according to the present invention for operating a surroundings-sensor system of a vehicle including at least one transceiver unit, it is provided that the transceiver unit emits a frequency-modulated signal and the transceiver unit and/or one or multiple additional transceiver units receive(s) echo signals of the emitted frequency-modulated signal,” A transceiver includes a receiver and a transmitter. However, Para. [0048] also teaches “transmitting unit 20 emits frequency-modulated signal 26 at a point in time t2.”)
receiving an ultrasonic signal using a second ultrasonic transducer; (Para. [0008] teaches “In a method according to the present invention for operating a surroundings-sensor system of a vehicle including at least one transceiver unit, it is provided that the transceiver unit emits a frequency-modulated signal and the transceiver unit and/or one or multiple additional transceiver units receive(s) echo signals of the emitted frequency-modulated signal,” A transceiver includes a receiver and a transmitter. However, Para. [0048] also teaches “receiver unit 22”)
determining a frequency shift between the filter signal and the received ultrasonic signal; Para. [0010] teaches “The section having increasing frequencies is also referred to within the scope of the present invention as a chirp-up and the section having decreasing frequencies as a chirp-down. A chirp within the scope of the present invention refers to a signal, whose frequency changes over time. In a chirp-up, the frequency increases over time, whereas it decreases over time in the case of a chirp-down. With the steps of the present invention, a shift over time of the received echo signals for the first section takes place counter to the shift over time for the second section. On the basis of the shift over time, it is possible to determine the information about the speed of the reflection source relative to the transceiver unit.”)
and determining the speed of the object which reflected the emitted ultrasonic pulse based on the determined frequency shift. (Para. [0004] teaches “Due to the Doppler Effect, a frequency shift of the echo frequency occurs relative to the transmission frequency. The speed of the object relative to the sensor system may be ascertained by the frequency shift in systems, which are based on the pulse/echo method.”)
Schumann does not explicitly teach,
calculating a two-dimensional cross-correlation of the signal with a filter signal which at least partially correlates with the defined signal profile; the two-dimensional cross-correlation having a first correlation result indicating both frequency offset and time off set;
determining a frequency shift between the filter signal and the received ultrasonic signal by comparing a maximum of the first correlation result to a maximum of a second correlation result from a non-moving static object, the second correlation result also indicating both frequency offset and time offset.
Sang-mun teaches,
calculating a two-dimensional cross-correlation of the signal with a filter signal which at least partially correlates with the defined signal profile; (Para. [0002] teaches “A sonar system is a device that uses sound waves to estimate the bearing and distance of a target moving underwater.” Para. [0006] teaches “an active detection technique is widely used in which a signal is transmitted at regular intervals and then detected using the signal reflected back from the object.”(i.e. sonar systems can produce ultrasonic signals) Para. [0011] teaches “a step of calculating the degree of correlation for each of the correlation values of the FM Doppler correlators rearranged by time-delaying, and calculating the final degree of correlation of the received signal from the result of summing each calculated degree of correlation;” Para. [0059] teaches “The ambiguity function is a value representing the degree of correlation, expressed as the magnitude according to time variation and Doppler frequency error using the square of the absolute value of the cross-correlation result.” (i.e. correlation in frequency and time))
the two-dimensional cross-correlation having a first correlation result indicating both frequency offset and time off set; (Fig. 1 shows frequency offset on the vertical axis and time offset on the horizontal axis.)
determining a frequency shift between the filter signal and the received ultrasonic signal by comparing a maximum of the first correlation result to a maximum of a second correlation result from a non-moving static object, the second correlation result also indicating both frequency offset and time offset; (Para. [0060] teaches “However, when the target is moving, the transmitted signal must be frequency-modulated by an amount corresponding to the Doppler shift of the target's velocity to correlate with the received signal, thereby obtaining the maximum value aligned in both time and frequency.” Para. [0106] teaches “At this time, it is aligned based on the time of the correlator that has the greatest degree of correlation with respect to the stationary target.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Schumann with calculating a two-dimensional cross-correlation of the signal with a filter signal which at least partially correlates with the defined signal profile; the two-dimensional cross-correlation having a first correlation result indicating both frequency offset and time off set; determining a frequency shift between the filter signal and the received ultrasonic signal by comparing a maximum of the first correlation result to a maximum of a second correlation result from a non-moving static object, the second correlation result also indicating both frequency offset and time offset such as that of Sang-mun.
One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to modify Schumann, because as seen in Para. [0012] of Sang-Mun the system that is taught by Sang-Mun which utilizes a 2D cross correlation improves distance resolution and is robust to noise. Furthermore, Sang-Mun teaches finding velocity information of a detected object through a Doppler estimator as seen in Para(s). [0075 and 0076]. Therefore, one would combine the prior art in order to reduce noise and to achieve more accurate results.
Regarding claim 3,
Schumann further teaches,
The method according to claim 1, wherein a frequency of the defined signal profile changes over time. (Para. [0044] teaches “Surroundings-detection system 2 also includes one first FIR filter device 8 and one second FIR filter device 10, which are configured to ascertain points in time of best correlation of received echo signals with the FIR signals. The signal outgoing from pre-filter 6 is fed to the two FIR filter devices 8, 10. Such FIR filter devices (FIR, finite impulse response) may also be referred to as filters having a finite pulse response and are preferably digitized and operated with the aid of a computer program. FIR filter devices 8, 10 are preferably signal-matched filters. First FIR filter device 8 decodes a section having an increasing frequency, also referred to as a so-called up-ramp, and second FIR filter device 10 decodes a section having a decreasing frequency, also referred to as a down-ramp. If an echo is detected, the transit time is then determined by searching for the maximum of the respective filter output and offsetting the two measured times of the outputs of the two FIR filter devices 8, 10.”)
Regarding claim 4,
Schumann further teaches,
The method according to claim 2,
wherein the defined signal profile has a temporal change and/or a temporal change in the frequency which is such that, during the calculation of the two-dimensional cross-correlation of the ultrasonic signal with the filter signal, a clear maximum result with respect to the two-dimensional cross-correlation. (Para. [0060] teaches “One first FIR filter response amplitude 82 to a static object has a first maximum 86 and, as a result, defines a first point in time t.sub.1. One second FIR filter response amplitude 84 to the static object has a second maximum 88 at a second point in time t.sub.2. On the basis of points in time t.sub.1 and t.sub.2, it is possible to ascertain basic time difference 64, which, as described above, is incorporated in the computation of the relative speed”)
Regarding claim 5,
Schumann further teaches,
The method according to claim 1,
wherein the first ultrasonic transducer is the same as the second ultrasonic transducer. (Para. [0002] “which includes at least one transceiver unit, which emits signals and receives echo signals of the emitted signal”)
Regarding claim 7,
Schumann further teaches,
The method according to claim 1, further comprising: using the frequency shift of the ultrasonic signal to assign the object to the ultrasonic signal. (Para. [0004] teaches “In this operation, the sensor emits an ultrasonic pulse and measures a reflection of the ultrasonic pulse generated by an object, which is referred to as an echo signal.”)
Regarding claim 8,
Schumann further teaches,
The method according to claim 1, wherein: the first ultrasonic transducer and the second ultrasonic transducer are included in a plurality of ultrasonic transducers, and the speed of the object is determined using a relevant frequency shift of a relevant ultrasonic signal of an ultrasonic pulse received by a plurality of the ultrasonic transducers. (Para. [0008] teaches “multiple additional transceiver units receive(s) echo signals of the emitted frequency-modulated signal, that the received echo signals are associated with reflection sources and a piece of information about the speed of the reflection source relative to the transceiver unit is ascertained on the basis of the received echo signals.”)
Regarding claim 10,
Schumann further teaches,
The method according to claim 1, further comprising: providing a control signal for controlling an at least partially automated vehicle based on the determined frequency shift; and/or providing a warning signal for warning a vehicle occupant based on the determined frequency shift. (Para. [0011] teaches “The presence or a movement of an object in the detection range of the transceiver unit, for example, is ascertained on the basis of the information obtained from the echo signals, which may result in the emission of warnings to the occupants of the vehicle, in the activation of accident-avoidance systems and/or in the activation of accident damage reduction systems.”)
Regarding claim 11,
Schumann further teaches,
The method according to claim 1, wherein a device is configured to carry out the method. (Para. [0023] teaches “According to the present invention, a computer program is also provided, according to which one of the methods described herein is carried out, when the computer program is executed on a programmable computer device.”)
Regarding claim 12,
Schumann further teaches,
The method according to claim 1, wherein a computer program comprises instructions which, when the computer program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method. (Para. [0023] teaches “According to the present invention, a computer program is also provided, according to which one of the methods described herein is carried out, when the computer program is executed on a programmable computer device.”)
Regarding claim 13,
Schumann further teaches,
The method according to claim 12, wherein the computer program is stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium. (Para. [0023] teaches “The computer program may be stored on a machine-readable memory medium, for example, on a permanent or rewritable memory medium or in association with a computer device or on a removable CD-Rom or DVD or on a portable mobile memory medium, such as a memory card or a USB stick.”)
Regarding claim 16,
Schumann further teaches,
The method according to claim 1, wherein the filter signal is matched to the defined signal profile. (Para. [0047] teaches “Emitted frequency-modulated signal 26 includes one first section 30 having an increasing frequency, i.e., having a chirp up. Emitted frequency-modulated signal 26 also includes one second section 32 having a decreasing frequency, i.e., having a chirp-down. Received echo signal 28 at point in time t1 includes one first section 34, which corresponds to first section 30 of emitted frequency-modulated signal 26, and one second section 36, which corresponds to second section 32 of emitted frequency-modulated signal 26.”)
Claims 6, 14 and 15, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schumann (US 20160154104 A1 and Sang-mun (KR 20120128044 A) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ding (US 20190339386 A1).
Regarding claim 6,
The combination of Schumann and Sang-mun does not explicitly teach,
The method according to claim 1, wherein a transit time of the ultrasonic pulse is determined based on an amplitude of a temporal component of the calculated two-dimensional cross-correlation in order to locate the object that reflected the emitted ultrasonic pulse.
Ding teaches,
wherein a transit time of the ultrasonic pulse is determined based on an amplitude of a temporal component of the calculated temporal and frequency-related cross-correlation in order to locate the object that reflected the emitted ultrasonic pulse. (Para. [0004] teaches "The peak search stage detects one or more peaks by determining the respective locations and amplitudes of peaks in an envelope derived from the output of the correlator. The determination is made such that, in the case that multiple peaks are detected, the peaks are greater than a threshold minimum distance apart from one another. The peak buffer stores the peaks by their amplitudes and locations. The peak rank stage compares the peaks stored in the peak buffer and thereby designates the peaks individually as either valid or invalid. Based on the valid peaks, the receiver signal path can compute a time of flight of the ultrasonic acoustic signal and the reflected acoustic signal indicative of a distance between the transducer and a detected object." Para. [0043] teaches “which stores time-of-flight information from multiple bursts and uses the stored information to confirm the validity of a detected object. If a suspected target is detected, with multiple bursts, to be in the same location (accounting, for example, for known movement of a vehicle in which the ultrasonic detection system is incorporated), the confidence level of the valid target/obstacle in a particular location is correspondingly raised”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Schumann and Sang-mun wherein a transit time of the ultrasonic pulse is determined based on an amplitude of a temporal component of the calculated temporal and frequency-related cross-correlation in order to locate the object that reflected the emitted ultrasonic pulse such as that of Ding.
One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to modify the combination of Schumann and Sang-mun, because knowing the object location would prevent collisions with the object. Also, according to Para. [0070] of Ding “The systems and methods described herein can further advantageously permit for detection of smaller obstacles that might otherwise be obscured by larger obstacles, by reporting both dominant and secondary peaks.” Therefore, the system for detecting the location in Ding would help the system avoid smaller objects that could be obscured by larger objects.
Regarding claim 14,
The combination of Schumann and Sang-mun does not explicitly teach,
The method according to claim 1, wherein when the maximum of the first correlation result is less than the maximum of a second correlation result, then the determined frequency shift indicates a negative relative speed and the object is moving toward the first ultrasonic transducer.
Ding teaches,
wherein when the maximum of the first correlation result is less than the maximum of a second correlation result, then the determined frequency shift indicates a negative relative speed and the object is moving toward the first ultrasonic transducer. (Para. [0058] teaches “That is, the frequency of the received ultrasonic signals will be different than the frequency of the transmitted by the transducer in the first place. As the distance between the transducer and the object increases over time, the frequency of the received ultrasonic signal is lower than that of the transmitted signal, and vice versa.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Schumann and Sang-mun wherein when the maximum of the first correlation result is less than the maximum of a second correlation result, then the determined frequency shift indicates a negative relative speed and the object is moving toward the first ultrasonic transducer such as that of Ding.
One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to modify the combination of Schumann and Sang-mun, because it is a well-known result of the Doppler effect. When an object moves toward a detector the frequency will get higher and vice versa.
Regarding claim 15,
The combination of Schumann and Sang-mun does not explicitly teach,
The method according to claim 14, wherein when the maximum of the first correlation result is greater than the maximum of a second correlation result, then the determined frequency shift indicates a positive relative speed and the object is moving away from the first ultrasonic transducer.
Ding teaches,
wherein when the maximum of the first correlation result is greater than the maximum of a second correlation result, then the determined frequency shift indicates a positive relative speed and the object is moving away from the first ultrasonic transducer. (Para. [0058] teaches “That is, the frequency of the received ultrasonic signals will be different than the frequency of the transmitted by the transducer in the first place. As the distance between the transducer and the object increases over time, the frequency of the received ultrasonic signal is lower than that of the transmitted signal, and vice versa.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Schumann and Sang-mun wherein when the maximum of the first correlation result is greater than the maximum of a second correlation result, then the determined frequency shift indicates a positive relative speed and the object is moving away from the first ultrasonic transducer such as that of Ding.
One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to modify the combination of Schumann and Sang-mun, because it is a well-known result of the Doppler effect. When an object moves toward a detector the frequency will get higher and vice versa.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schumann (US 20160154104 A1) and Sang-mun (KR 20120128044 A) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Gerlach (US 20150226844 A1).
Regarding claim 9,
The combination of Schumann and Sang-mun does not explicitly teach,
The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining reflection points based on lateration from a plurality of the ultrasonic pulses and a plurality of the ultrasonic signals, wherein the plurality of the ultrasonic signals for determining reflection points are grouped based on the frequency shift of the respective ultrasonic signals.
Gerlach further teaches,
further comprising: determining reflection points based on lateration from a plurality of the ultrasonic pulses and a plurality of the ultrasonic signals, wherein the plurality of the ultrasonic signals for determining reflection points are grouped based on the frequency shift of the respective ultrasonic signals. (Para. [0036] teaches “the localization of reflection point P1 of object O may be carried out by surroundings sensor device 100 via a method based on a frequency shift or on a trilateration, the direction and the complete spatial coordinates of reflection point P1 being determined with the aid of multiple spatially separated receiving devices 20 and/or multiple spatially separated transmission devices 30.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Schumann and Sang-mun, further comprising: determining reflection points based on lateration from a plurality of the ultrasonic pulses and a plurality of the ultrasonic signals, wherein the plurality of the ultrasonic signals for determining reflection points are grouped based on the frequency shift of the respective ultrasonic signals such as that of Gerlach.
One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to modify the combination of Schumann and Sang-mun, because according to Para. [0008] of Gerlach “Using the sonic measurement, all receiving transducers may be checked and calibrated, including the amplifier and analog-digital converter channels of the transmission and/or receiving device.” Therefore, setting up determining reflection points would help calibrate the system and lead to more accurate determinations.
Conclusion
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/JOSHUA L FORRISTALL/Examiner, Art Unit 2857
/ANDREW SCHECHTER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2857
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