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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 01/22/2026 with respect to claim(s) bellow have been considered but are not persuasive. According to Examiner interpretation of D0 MCU is units (620+ 630+ 640),
Hibernate mode/standby mode according to BRI is 620+630+ 640 in condition when 630 does not provide power to led 640 and operation mode is when 630 provides power to 640. According to col 17 lines 4-12 when sensor detects motion being above threshold it sends wake up signal to 630 to turn on LED.
Then MCU according to the col 17 lines 4-12 wakes up and 630 switches on led.
As described above D0 explicitly teaches the claimed language.
What Applicant calls hibernate /standby mode is the system which has some elements in unpowered condition and therefore arguments are moot.
With respect to argument regarding bi-directional communication Examiner provided secondary art which explicitly teaches bi-direction communication. In 103 rejection one needs to consider obviousness rather than the anticipation. Both arts are directed to proximity detection and D1 teaches switching between the modes wherein switching between the modes can increase the accuracy for long, short distances. For example one can call short distance mode as tracking mode (when object is tracked within the area of interest and led is switched on to illuminate the area) and long distance mode as mode when motion is detected (only motion sensor is operated to detect if the motion is present).
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) 1-3, 6-8, 11-13, 16-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D0 US 10009987 B2 in view of D1 US 4740045 A.
Regarding claims 1, 11 D0 teaches
a micro processing unit (MCU)(fig. 6 620+630+640) operating in a first mode (Led light off mode col 17 lines 4-12)before receiving a first notice signal(motion is above threshold), wherein the first mode is a hibernate mode or a standby mode(off mode);
a microwave motion(col 115 lines 54-60) sensor(610) operating with a first configuration and sending the first notice signal to the MCU after detecting a first motion(col 17 lines 4-12)
with the first configuration, wherein the first notice signal is a first wake-up signal; (col 17 lines 4-12)
after receiving the first notice signal, the MCU being woken up to operate in a second mode for performing a first action(keeping light on) and
determining whether a second motion is detected within a first predetermined period after(col 17 lines 4-12 timer if motion is still present during the timer the system still is kept on, if no motion is present it switches off ) receiving the first configuration signal;
in response the second motion being detected within first predetermined period,(motion is still detected col 17 lines 4-12) the microwave motion sensor continuing to operate with the some configuration and sending a second notice signal to the MCU for instructing the MCU to be woken up to perform a second action, (claim 1 the illumination is controlled based on proximity)wherein the second notice signal is a second wake-up signal; (col 115 line 54-col 116 line 21 Constantly monitors the distance and activates the light when distance reaches 20 feet away)
the MCU determining whether the second notice signal is received within the first predetermined period;and (col 115 line 54-col 116 line 21 motion is still present or not )
in response to the second notice signal not being received within the first predetermined period,(if motion is not present or more than 20 feet away) the MCU switching to operate in the first mode, wherein the MCU consumes less power when operating in the first mode than when operating in the second mode.(does not switch the light or turns the light off and hence 620+630+640 consumes less power)
It is important to note that D0 does not explicitly teach switching sensor operational modes/configuration but teaches operating processor in different distance modes with different configurations hence D0 does not teach
sending a first configuration signal to the microwave motion sensor for instructing the microwave motion sensor to operate with a second configuration;
the microwave motion sensor operating with the second configuration
the microwave motion sensor continuing to operate with the second configuration
sending a second configuration signal to the microwave motion sensor for instructing the microwave motion sensor to operate with the first configuration
D1 teaches
sending a first configuration signal to the microwave motion sensor for instructing the microwave motion sensor to operate with a second configuration;
the microwave motion sensor operating with the second configuration
the microwave motion sensor continuing to operate with the second configuration
sending a second configuration signal to the microwave motion sensor for instructing the microwave motion sensor to operate with the first configuration;(col 3 line 52 col 4 line 29 “system which automatically switches between a long range mode and a short range mode and intermediate range modes depending on the detected range of the target vehicle to increase the accuracy of the target parameter measurement;” for example system operates in long range mode and does not detect object as object moved to short range region it automatically switches to short range mode and col 6 lines 60-col 7 line 10 , controlling the mode amplitude hence configuration of the sensors are changed with the mode change )
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of the filing to modify invention by D0 with invention by D1 in order increase the accuracy of the target parameter measurement.
D1 also teaches
2, 12. The motion detecting method of claim 1, further comprising:
the microwave motion sensor performing a long-distance motion detection and/or a wide-range motion detection when operating with the first configuration; and
the microwave motion sensor performing a short-distance motion detection and/or a narrow-range motion detection when operating with the second configuration,( col 3 line 52 col 4 line 29)
3, 13. The motion detecting method of claim 2, further comprising:
the MCU performing the first action by notifying a receiving terminal that an object is approaching a location of the microwave motion sensor; and
the MCU performing the second action by notifying the receiving terminal that a short-distance movement event caused by the object has occurred at the location of the microwave motion sensor.(D1: col 10 lines 11-45)
6, 16. The motion detecting method of claim 1, further comprising:
setting an actuator to a first state(actuator is moved to mid range mode) in response to(contingent limitation, might never happen) the microwave motion sensor(object moved from long range ) not detecting the first motion when operating with the first configuration(long range) and when the MCU operates in the first mode(long range mode); and
in response to (contingent limitation, might never happen) that a second predetermined period has elapsed after the MCU performs the second action(constantly checking the mid range ), determining whether the actuator still remains in the first state(mid range mode) and whether the microwave motion sensor detects a third motion(whether object moved to short or long range); and
in response to (contingent limitation, might never happen) that the actuator still remains in the first state and that the microwave motion sensor detects the third motion, the microwave motion sensor sending a third notice signal to the MCU for instructing the MCU to woken up to perform a third action.(switching to short range or long range depending on whether vehicle is approaching or moving away col 3 line 52 col 4 line 29)
7, 17. The motion detecting method of claim 6, further comprising:
in response to (contingent limitation, might never happen) that the second predetermined period has elapsed after the MCU performs the second action, determining whether the actuator has switched from the first state to a second state or whether the microwave motion sensor does not detect the third motion;( col 3 line 52 col 4 line 29 automatic switching between modes)
in response to (contingent limitation, might never happen) that the actuator has switched from the first state to the second state or that the microwave motion sensor does not detect the third motion, the microwave motion sensor sending the second configuration signal to the microwave motion for instructing the microwave motion sensor to operate with the first configuration and the MCU switching to operate in the first mode. ( col 3 line 52 col 4 line 29 automatic switching between modes)
8, 18. The motion detecting method of claim 6, further comprising:
the MCU performing the first action by activating a user interface;(col 18 lines 33-63)
the MCU performing the second action by activating a timer associated with the second predetermined period; and(implicit distances are calculated hence for each distance timer is activated to calculate time and then calculate distance)
the MCU performing the third action by sending an alarm signal. (col 18 lines 33-63)
Claim(s) 9-10, 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D0 and D1.
9, 19. The motion detecting method of claim 8, wherein the MCU sending the second configuration signal to the microwave motion sensor for instructing the microwave motion sensor to operate with the first configuration further comprises:
deactivating the user interface.(D1: implicit col 18 lines 33-65 when there is no alert there is not need to display violation )
10, 20. The motion detecting method of claim 9, wherein the user interface is activated(D1: col 18 lines 33-65) or deactivating by the MCU.
Although not explicit D1 teaches activating the alarm when violation is detected and hence it would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of the filing to modify invention by D0/D1 to disable alarm and displaying unnecessary information if violation is not present.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14-15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the Examiner has not found any prior art that would render obvious the claim limitations directed to “the microwave motion sensor performing a slow-speed motion detection or a low-frequency motion detection when operating with the first configuration; and the microwave motion sensor performing a fast-speed motion detection or a high-frequency motion detection when operating with the second configuration”.
Claims 21-22 are allowable.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HELENA SERAYDARYAN whose telephone number is (571)270-0706. The examiner can normally be reached on M-T, 7:30-5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Resha Desai can be reached on (571) 270-7792. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HELENA H SERAYDARYAN/ Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/RESHA DESAI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648