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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/15/2026 has been entered.
DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the RCE filed 01/15/2026.
Claims 1-14 are examined.
Claims 1 and 13 have been amended.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01/15/2026 have been fully considered but they are not fully persuasive and/or moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Claim Objections
The objections are withdrawn.
103 Rejection
The rejections are withdrawn however the claims are reevaluated in light of the amendments.
Examiner's Note
Examiner has cited particular paragraphs / columns and line numbers or figures in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing the responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner. Applicant is reminded that the Examiner is entitled to give the broadest reasonable interpretation to the language of the claims. Furthermore, the Examiner is not limited to Applicants' definition which is not specifically set forth in the claims.
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.
Claim(s) 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by machine translation of JP2015121959 (“Kageyama”) in further view of US Pat. No. 10031214 (“Rosen”).
As per claim 1 Kageyama discloses a sensor arrangement for use for a driving assistance system of a vehicle comprising [Fig. 2]
a plurality of ultrasonic sensors which are arranged along at least a front and/or a rear of the vehicle [Fig. 2]
wherein the ultrasonic sensors are divided into a first group of right-hand ultrasonic sensors and a second group of left-hand ultrasonic sensors [¶ 21 ultrasonic sensor 101-112, 108-112 for detecting sides of vehicle, Fig. 2],
wherein a third group including all of the ultrasonic sensors arranged at the front of the vehicle have an adjustable sensitivity and a fourth group including all the ultrasonic sensors arranged at the rear of the vehicle have adjustable sensitivity [Fig. 6B and G], and
wherein the sensor arrangement has asymmetric operation in which the ultrasonic sensors in either the first group of right-hand ultrasonic sensors or the second group of left-hand ultrasonic sensors at least partially have a lower receiving sensitivity than corresponding ultrasonic sensors in the other of the first group of right-hand ultrasonic sensors or the second group of left-hand ultrasonic sensors [¶ 21 The detection range of each of the ultrasonic sensors 101 to 112 is indicated by an elliptic solid line, Fig. 6 (shows asymmetrical ranges of sensors for different side)].
Kageyama is silent to a front(third) vehicle sensor group having higher sensitivity than a rear(fourth) vehicle sensor group during asymmetric operation of the front(third) group and the rear(fourth) group.
Rosen discloses a front(third) vehicle sensor group having higher sensitivity than a rear(fourth) vehicle sensor group during asymmetric operation of the front(third) group and the rear(fourth) group [col:150;17-24 the LIDAR FOY may be an aggregate of multiple non-overlapping or partially overlapping solid angle ranges each being bisected by an axis extending in a different direction ( e.g., as shown in FIG. 45). In this manner, LIDAR system 100 may be better able to detect oncoming vehicles and to generate higher resolution depth maps associated with the lanes to be crossed, Fig. 45, Fig. 46b].
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date the invention was made to modify Kageyama with the teachings of Rosen to adapt sensors for desired environmental detection in a vehicle by increasing sensor input in directions required for travel for vehicle operations to improve navigation validity.
As per claim 13 Kageyama discloses a method for operating a sensor arrangement for a driving assistance system of a vehicle, having a plurality of ultrasonic sensors which are arranged along at least a front and/or a rear of the vehicle, wherein the ultrasonic sensors are divided into a first group of right-hand ultrasonic sensors and a second group of left-hand ultrasonic sensors, the method comprising [Fig. 2]:
capturing switch actuation or at least one parameter from a travel speed [Fig. 9.7 traveling speed recognition unit], a change in the direction of travel [Fig. 9.3 Travelling direction recognition unit], a lane being used by the vehicle from a plurality of available directional lanes [Fig. 9.2 Driving lane recognition unit], a traffic mode with right-hand traffic or left-hand traffic and at least one environmental condition [Fig. 9.8 Driving environment recognition unit/traffic jam information], and
changing over a receiving sensitivity of at least one of the groups of ultrasonic sensors between normal operation, in which corresponding ultrasonic sensors in both groups have a substantially identical receiving sensitivity, and asymmetric operation, in which the ultrasonic sensors either the first group of right-hand ultrasonic sensors or the second group of left-hand ultrasonic sensors at least partially have a lower receiving sensitivity than corresponding ultrasonic sensors in the other of first group of right-hand ultrasonic sensors or the second group of left-hand ultrasonic sensors, on the basis of the switch actuation and/or the at least one parameter [Fig. 6 D (shows greater sensitivity on one side, I (show equal sensitivity on both sides), E (shows greater sensitivity on the other side)],
wherein a third group including all of the ultrasonic sensors arranged at the front of the vehicle have an adjustable sensitivity and a fourth group including all the ultrasonic sensors arranged at the rear of the vehicle have adjustable sensitivity [Fig. 6B and G].
Kageyama is silent to a front(third) vehicle sensor group having higher sensitivity than a rear(fourth) vehicle sensor group during asymmetric operation of the front(third) group and the rear(fourth) group.
Rosen discloses a front(third) vehicle sensor group having higher sensitivity than a rear(fourth) vehicle sensor group during asymmetric operation of the front(third) group and the rear(fourth) group [col:150;17-24 the LIDAR FOY may be an aggregate of multiple non-overlapping or partially overlapping solid angle ranges each being bisected by an axis extending in a different direction ( e.g., as shown in FIG. 45). In this manner, LIDAR system 100 may be better able to detect oncoming vehicles and to generate higher resolution depth maps associated with the lanes to be crossed, Fig. 45, Fig. 46b].
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date the invention was made to modify Kageyama with the teachings of Rosen to adapt sensors for desired environmental detection in a vehicle by increasing sensor input in directions required for travel for vehicle operations to improve navigation validity.
As per claim 2 Kageyama discloses further wherein in that asymmetric operation has operation with a reduced sensitivity on the right-hand side and/or operation with a reduced sensitivity on the left-hand side [Fig. 6], wherein,
during operation with a reduced sensitivity on the right-hand side, the ultrasonic sensors in the group of right-hand ultrasonic sensors at least partially have a lower receiving sensitivity than corresponding ultrasonic sensors in the group of left-hand ultrasonic sensors, and, during operation with a reduced sensitivity on the left-hand side, the ultrasonic sensors in the group of left-hand ultrasonic sensors at least partially have a lower receiving sensitivity than corresponding ultrasonic sensors in the group of righthand ultrasonic sensors [Fig. 6 B (shows greater sensitivity on right over left), Fig. 6 E (shows greater sensitivity of left over right side)].
As per claim 3 Kageyama discloses further wherein the group of ultrasonic sensors which, during asymmetric operation, at least partially have a lower receiving sensitivity than corresponding ultrasonic sensors in the other group of ultrasonic sensors has at least one subgroup of front ultrasonic sensors and one subgroup of rear ultrasonic sensors [Fig. 6], wherein,
during asymmetric operation, at least the subgroup of rear ultrasonic sensors at least partially has a lower receiving sensitivity than corresponding ultrasonic sensors in the other group of ultrasonic sensors [Fig. 6 B and G].
As per claim 4 Kageyama discloses further the ultrasonic sensors in the group of ultrasonic sensors which, during asymmetric operation, at least partially have a lower receiving sensitivity than corresponding ultrasonic sensors in the other group of ultrasonic sensors at least partially have a different degree of lower receiving sensitivity than corresponding ultrasonic sensors in the other group of ultrasonic sensors, depending on their position on the vehicle [Fig. 6 B and G (shows the degrees of sensitivity increasing/decreasing depending from one location of the vehicle to the other)].
As per claim 5 Kageyama discloses further wherein the sensor arrangement has a control device which is connected to the plurality of ultrasonic sensors via a data connection, wherein the sensor arrangement is configured to change over the receiving sensitivity of at least one of the group of ultrasonic sensors between normal operation, in which corresponding ultrasonic sensors in both groups have a substantially identical receiving sensitivity, and asymmetric operation, or to adapt asymmetric operation [Fig. 6 D (shows greater sensitivity on one side, I (show equal sensitivity on both sides), E (shows greater sensitivity on the other side)].
As per claim 6 Kageyama discloses further wherein the control device is configured to change over between normal operation and asymmetric operation or to adapt asymmetric operation, also taking into account a travel speed of the vehicle [¶ 18 Engine C/U 30 /ECU… vehicle speed information indicating a traveling speed of the host vehicle…, Fig. 1.30 (C/U ECU in communication with sensors 101-112 for operation purposes), Fig. 1.1 (sensors 101-112)].
As per claim 7 Kageyama discloses further wherein the control device is configured to change over between normal operation and asymmetric operation or to adapt asymmetric operation, also taking into account a change in the direction of travel of the vehicle [¶ 19 ESC C/U40 … manages steering angle information, ¶ 20 changing traveling lane, and transmits direction… information, Fig. 1.40 (ESC C/U in communication with sensors 101-112 for operation purposes), Fig. 1.1 (sensors 101-112)].
As per claim 8 Kageyama discloses further wherein the control device is configured to change over between normal operation and asymmetric operation or to adapt asymmetric operation, also taking into account a lane being used by the vehicle from a plurality of available directional lanes [¶ 20 changing traveling lane, and transmits direction… information, Fig. 1.40 (ESC C/U in communication with sensors 101-112 for operation purposes), Fig. 1.1 (sensors 101-112)].
As per claim 9 Kageyama discloses further wherein the control device is configured to change over asymmetric operation between operation with a reduced sensitivity on the right-hand side and operation with a reduced sensitivity on the left-hand side, depending on a lane being used by the vehicle from a plurality of available directional lanes [¶ 22 internal structure of sensor C/UI (from Fig. 1.1 and shown with control scheme in Fig. 3) functions by ECU and takes into account traveling lane recognition unit 2, traveling direction recognition unit 3, a sensor sensitivity determination unit 4,… execution unit 5, obstacle detection unit 6, Fig. 3].
As per claim 10 Kageyama discloses further wherein that the control device is configured to change over asymmetric operation between operation with a reduced sensitivity on the right-hand side and operation with a reduced sensitivity on the left-hand side, depending on a traffic mode with right-hand traffic or left-hand traffic [¶ 25 turn signal information at the time of turning right or left may be acquired from the direction indicator… , ¶ 26 sensor sensitivity corresponding to the position of the vehicle is acquired… and the sensitivity of each of the ultrasonic sensors 101 to 112 is determined (step ST5), Fig. 4].
As per claim 11 Kageyama wherein of the that the control device is configured to change over between normal operation and asymmetric operation or to adapt asymmetric operation, also taking into account at least one environmental condition [Fig. 4.ST1 receive external information].
As per claim 12 Kageyama discloses further wherein the control device is configured to adjust the receiving sensitivity of the ultrasonic sensors in the group of ultrasonic sensors which, during asymmetric operation, at least partially have a lower receiving sensitivity than corresponding ultrasonic sensors in the other group of ultrasonic sensors between different receiving sensitivities [Fig. 6 (at least A, B, and C)].
As per claim 14 Kageyama discloses further the method further comprising adapting asymmetric operation on the basis of the switch actuation or the at least one parameter [¶ 20 turns on direction indicating operation… , Fig. 4, Fig. 9].
Additional Art to Consider
Application DE 102015122413 titled, For Operating An Ultrasonic Sensor Of A Motor Vehicle, Ultrasonic Sensor Device, Driver Assistance System And Motor Vehicle, also discloses a vehicle system for monitoring surroundings via ultrasonic sensors that are adjustable based on determined thresholds. This is similar to the Applicant’s invention in that the use of ultrasonic detectors sensitivity are adjusted for purposes of improving performance in changing environments.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL A CASTRO whose telephone number is (571)272-4836. The examiner can normally be reached 10-6pm on campus.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ramon Mercado can be reached at 5712705744. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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PAUL A. CASTRO
Examiner
Art Unit 3662
/P.A.C/Examiner, Art Unit 3658
/JELANI A SMITH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3662