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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over D1 US 20200094677 A1.
Regarding claim 1 D1 teaches
1. An optical distance measurement device for a vehicle, the device being capable of being mounted to the vehicle in a plurality of orientations, the device comprising:
a sensor unit(24) that is capable of measuring a distance[0002] to an object present in a predetermined detection region(fig. 4), the detection region including a first area(36) for detecting a distance to an unknown object and one or more second area(32abcd) for detecting a distance to a known reference
object, which is part of the vehicle;(fig. 4)
a storage unit that stores a reference [0020]
an output unit that performs predetermined output if the distance to the reference object detected in the second area by the sensor unit differs from the reference distance[0027], wherein the second area is in an area surrounding the first area in the detection region.(fig. 4)
Although D1 does not explicitly say distance, due to the fact that we are dealing with lidar the term position in paragraph 27 includes distance and orientation and therefore if not explicit then at least obvious to compare distances as well as orientation in order to identify the misalignment or proper installation as required by D1.
2. The optical distance measurement device according to claim 1, wherein the detection region has a rectangular shape(fig. 4), the first area has a rectangular shape(fig. 4), a first side, which is one side forming an outer shape of the first area, is parallel to a second side, which is one side forming an outer shape of the detection region, and(fig. 4)
one or more of the second area is in an area between the first side and the second side. (Fig. 4)
Conclusion
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/HOVHANNES BAGHDASARYAN/Examiner, Art Unit 3645