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 .
Claim Objections
Applicant is advised that should claim 9 be found allowable, claim 10 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Although the phrasing of Claims 9 and 10 are different, the phrases “switching from a non per-frame control signal to a per-frame control signal” (Claim 9) and “switching to a per-frame control signal from a non per-frame control signal” (Claim 10) have the same meaning.
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.
Claims 1, 3-12, and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yuan (CN 112485806 A).
Claims 1 and 12: Yuan discloses a method, performed by a computing device of an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV), comprising:
determining a first control signal for a light detection and ranging (Lidar) sensor of the ADV and a second control signal for a camera of the ADV (pg 5);
providing the first control signal to the Lidar sensor and the second control signal to the camera (pg 5 - implementation of LiDAR and camera);
processing Lidar output of the Lidar sensor and camera output of the camera to detect one or more features of the Lidar output or camera output (pg. 5 - calculating laser timestamp);
and in response to detecting the one or more features, adjusting the first control signal or the second control signal (pg 5 - outputting camera trigger based on laser timestamp).
Claim 17: Yuan discloses an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV), comprising:
A light detection and ranging (Lidar) sensor (pg 5);
A camera (pg 5);
a processing device configured to - determine a first control signal for a light detection and ranging (Lidar) sensor of the ADV and a second control signal for a camera of the ADV (pg 5);
provide the first control signal to the Lidar sensor and the second control signal to the camera (pg 5 - implementation of LiDAR and camera);
process Lidar output of the Lidar sensor and camera output of the camera to detect one or more features of the Lidar output or camera output (pg. 5 - calculating laser timestamp);
and in response to detecting the one or more features, adjusting the first control signal or the second control signal (pg 5 - outputting camera trigger based on laser timestamp).
Claims 3 and 14: Yuan also discloses the method of claim 1 and 12, wherein adjusting the first control signal or the second control signal includes adjusting the first control signal or the second control signal to synchronize the Lidar sensor and the camera (pg 5 - outputting camera trigger based on laser timestamp).
Claims 4 and 15: Yuan also discloses the method of claim 1 and 12, wherein the one or more features includes a drift in the Lidar output or the camera output (pg. 5 - trigger signal generated when time delay is greater than a threshold).
Claims 5 and 16: Yuan also discloses the method of claim 1 and 12, wherein the one or more features includes a temporal misalignment between the Lidar output and the camera output (pg. 5 - trigger signal generated when time delay is greater than a threshold).
Claim 6: Yuan also discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising in response to the one or more features satisfying a fault threshold, logging the one or more features and triggering a fault response (pg. 5 - trigger signal generated when time delay is greater than a threshold).
Claim 7: Yuan also discloses the method of claim 6, wherein the fault threshold is satisfied by a timing of the Lidar output or of the camera output being different from an expected timing by a threshold amount (pg. 5 - trigger signal generated when time delay is greater than a threshold).
Claim 8: Yuan also discloses the method of claim 6, wherein the fault threshold is satisfied by missing data of the Lidar output or the camera output (pg 5 - delay greater than a threshold would lead to missing data as there would be less frames than expected).
Claims 9 and 18: Yuan also discloses the method of claim 1 and 17, wherein adjusting the first control signal or the second control signal includes switching from a non per-frame control signal to a per-frame control signal (pg 4, step S5, switching from standard time interference signal to triggering based on sampling time sequence).
Claims 10 and 19: Yuan also discloses the method of claim 1 and 17, wherein adjusting the first control signal or the second control signal includes switching to a per-frame control signal from a non per-frame control signal (pg 4, step S5, switching from standard time interference signal to triggering based on sampling time sequence).
Claims 11 and 20: Yuan also discloses the method of claim 1 and 17, wherein adjusting the first control signal or the second control signal includes increasing or decreasing a frequency of the first control signal or the second control signal (pg. 2 - synchronizing data sampling frequency).
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 2 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yuan (CN 112485806 A), as applied to Claims 1 and 12 above, further in view of Cortjens (US 5515099 A) and Zhang (US 20240045027 A1).
Claims 2 and 13: Yuan teaches the method of claim 1 and 12, but not wherein determining the first control signal and determining the second control signal includes selecting the first control signal based at least on a Lidar type of the Lidar sensor, and selecting the second control signal based at least on a camera type of the camera.
Cortjens teaches converting standard network signals into control signals for a particular camera (Col 3).
Zhang teaches providing different control signals to different types of LiDAR ([0055]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the signals, as taught by both Cortjens and Zhang, in the method as taught by Yang, because customizing the signals based on camera/LiDAR types would improve functioning of the device, as customized signals based on the type of system allow for more precise control and fine-tuning.
Conclusion
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/CLARA G CHILTON/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/JAMES R HULKA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645