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 .
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 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.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on June 25, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1-10 and 13-22 are now pending in the application. Applicant's amendments have addressed all informalities as previously set forth in the non-final action mailed on April 1, 2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 10-12, filed June 25, 2026, with respect to the rejections of previous claims 1, 2, 15-18, 20, and 22 under 35 USC § 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new grounds of rejection is made in view of Huang (US 2010/0025144 A1).
In regards to independent claim 1, the Shahid reference was previously cited as it discloses a method intended to improve the human error related accidental controls via a simple and smart ADAS that could assist the driver based on continued monitoring of facial and eye gaze information (see abstract). The Fung reference was previously cited as it disclosed methods of assessing driver behavior including monitoring vehicle systems and driver monitoring systems to accommodate for a slow reaction time, attention lapse and/or alertness of a driver (see abstract).
In regards to the applicants arguments on pages 10-12 regarding the Shahid and Fung references not teaching the amended language regarding the “change to an operation of…a movement control component of a machine configured to move, the change comprising a change to a steering ratio with time”, the Examiner agrees however, the Huang reference has now been cited as it discloses an adaptive control VGR steering system that varies the steering gear ratio between a vehicle hand-wheel angle and the road wheel angle based on vehicle speed and one or more of hand-wheel angle, driver attentiveness and a driver's driving style and skill (see abstract).
In regards to the amended limitation Huang discloses additionally, the VGR steering system 20 may control the VGR based on the vehicle speed v, the hand-wheel angle δ and/or driver attentiveness. Particularly, a driver attentiveness system 26 receives signals from a suitable detection device, such as a camera 28, that determines whether the driver of the vehicle 10 is drowsy, inattentive, etc. Next, the reference details that the driver attentiveness system 26 can provide adjustments to the VGR through the VGR steering system 20 in response to a drowsy or inattentive driver, thus interpreted as functions for controlling a movement control component of a vehicle by changing steering ratio with time in relation to the adaptive control of the variable gear ratio steering (see para [0024] and [0035]) as further detailed in the rejections of the office action below.
In regards to independent claims 17 and 20, these claims recite limitations similar in scope to that of claim 1, and thus remain rejected under the same rationale as provided above and further detailed in the rejections of the office action below.
In regards to dependent claims 2 and 15, 16, 18 and 19, these claims depend from the rejected base claims 1 and 17, and therefore remain rejected under the same rationale as provided above and further detailed in the rejections of the office action below.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-10, 13, 14, and 19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if the claims are 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:
In regards to dependent claim 3, none of the cited prior art alone or in combination provides motivation to teach “wherein: the measure of the cognitive state is a measure of at least one of a degree of timidity or a degree of apprehension, the environment is a location for which a degree of familiarity, of the individual, is less than a threshold degree of familiarity, the instructions to obtain the information include at least one of: instructions to receive, from a communications device, the information, or instructions to determine, from an analysis of data received from a sensor, the information; and the instructions to cause the response include instructions to cause a communication to be sent to a projector, disposed on the vehicle, to cause the projector to produce a presentation of an image to produce an augmented reality for the environment” as the references only teach concepts for determining various parameters of cognitive state for producing AR display alerts to a driver, however the references fail to explicitly disclose the specific process of measuring timidity or apprehension in conjunction with determining a user’s level of familiarity with their surroundings to subsequently prompt an augmented reality image to be presented based on that series of analysis, in conjunction with the features of claim 2 with which it depends regarding a vehicle operator.
In addition, there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation found in the current references and none that can be inferred from the examiner’s own knowledge with respect to the current limitation.
In regards to dependent claim 4, none of the cited prior art alone or in combination provides motivation to teach “wherein: the measure of the cognitive state is a measure of at least one of a degree of inattentiveness or a degree of fatigue, the environment is a location for which a degree of familiarity, of the individual, is greater than a threshold degree of familiarity, the instructions to obtain the information include at least one of: instructions to receive, from a communications device, the information, instructions to determine, from an analysis of data received from a sensor, the information, instructions to determine, based on a result of a performance of a test, the information, or instructions to determine that a continuous duration of time that the individual has been operating the vehicle at the location is greater than a threshold continuous duration of time, the continuous duration of time ending with a current time; and the instructions to cause the response include instructions to cause at least one of: a communication to be sent to a projector, disposed on the vehicle, to cause the projector to produce the presentation of the image to produce the augmented reality for the environment, or the change to the operation of the movement control component of the vehicle” as the references only teach concepts for determining various parameters of cognitive state for producing AR display alerts to a driver, however the references fail to explicitly disclose consideration of a threshold for assessing an operators familiarity with their surroundings and further testing this data to then subsequently provide AR image or change functions of the vehicle in response to the series of analysis, in conjunction with the features of claim 2 with which it depends regarding a vehicle operator.
In addition, there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation found in the current references and none that can be inferred from the examiner’s own knowledge with respect to the current limitation.
In regards to dependent claim 19, none of the cited prior art alone or in combination provides motivation to teach “wherein: the individual is being a worker operating the stationary machine, the environment is a site of the stationary machine in a manufacturing environment, the measure of the cognitive state is a measure of at least one of a degree of inattentiveness or a degree of fatigue, the obtaining the information comprises at least one of: receiving, from a communications device, the information, determining, from an analysis of data received from a sensor, the information, or determining that a continuous duration of time that the individual has been operating the stationary machine is greater than a threshold continuous duration of time, the continuous duration of time ending at a current time, and the causing the response comprises causing at least one of: a communication to be sent to a projector, in a vicinity of the individual, to cause the projector to produce the presentation of the image to produce the augmented reality for the environment, or the change to the operation of the component of the stationary machine” as the references only teach concepts for determining various parameters of cognitive state for producing AR display alerts to a driver, however the references fail to explicitly disclose consideration of workers within a manufacturing environment, assessing a degree of the parameters relating to distraction, and then subsequently providing an AR image or change functions of the machine in response to the series of analysis, in conjunction with the features of claim 17 with which it depends for the response of presenting AR images or controlling machine movement.
In addition, there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation found in the current references and none that can be inferred from the examiner’s own knowledge with respect to the current limitation.
In regards to dependent claims 5-10, 13, and 14, these claims depend from objected to base claims, and thus are objected to based on the same rationale as provided above.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Claims 21 and 22 are allowed. The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
In regards to independent claim 21, none of the cited prior art alone or in combination provides motivation to teach “a controller module including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to cause a response intended to reduce the measure to be less than the cause- for-concern threshold, the response including a presentation of an image to produce an augmented reality for the environment, wherein the system is configured to be disposed on a roadside unit” as the references only teach wearable and mobile systems for determining triggers within the environment that indicate emergency or unsafe conditions for alerting a pedestrian based on various parameters for determining attention level, however the references fail to explicitly disclose a system that’s stationary and associated within the road of a traffic environment for providing augmented reality display warnings or corrective measures to pedestrians who’s cognitive state is determined above a predetermined threshold of concern, in conjunction with the remaining limitations of claim 21, for the purpose of reducing the likelihood that an individual will be involved in a harmful incident.
In addition, there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation found in the current references and none that can be inferred from the examiner’s own knowledge with respect to the current limitation.
In regards to independent claim 22, none of the cited prior art alone or in combination provides motivation to teach “a controller module including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to cause a response intended to reduce the measure to be less than the cause- for-concern threshold, the response including a communication to be sent to a projector to cause a presentation of an image to produce, on a display region of the stationary machine, an augmented reality for the environment” as the references only teach wearable and mobile systems for using various parameters for determining attention level for an operator working with a stationary machine, however the references fail to explicitly disclose providing a separate projection device within the environment for rendering augmented reality on a display area of the stationary machine in response to determining an unsafe condition based on the user cognitive state in order to reduce the unsafe condition, for the purpose of reducing the likelihood that an individual will be involved in a harmful incident.
In addition, there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation found in the current references and none that can be inferred from the examiner’s own knowledge with respect to the current limitation.
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 2, 17, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shahid (2013 “Eye-Gaze and Augmented Reality Framework for Driver Assistance”, hereinafter referenced “Shahid”) in view of Fung (US 2018/0105180 A1, hereinafter referenced “Fung”) in further view of Huang (US 2010/0025144 A1, hereinafter referenced “Huang”)
In regards to claim 1 (Currently Amended). Shahid discloses a system (Shahid, Abstract), comprising:
-a processor (Shahid, Abstract; Reference discloses with the intent to improve the human error related accidental controls in mind, a simple and smart ADAS is proposed that could assist the driver based on continues monitoring of facial and eye gaze information (i.e. advanced driver assistance system interpreted as implicitly possessing processor));
-and a memory storing: an analysis module including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to obtain information indicative that a measure of a cognitive state of an individual in an environment is greater than a cause-for-concern threshold (Shahid, “1. Introduction” section page 1571; Reference discloses an advanced driver information and assistance system (i.e. interpreted as a memory storing: an analysis module including instructions) that augments driver ability to maintain effective longitudinal control. In addition, the system also supervises driver level of attentiveness to mitigate the prospect of accidents by timely warning during moments of inattention or drowsiness….The system alerts the driver in situations where the driver is observed inattentive beyond some threshold period (i.e. scenario when obtain information indicative that a measure of a cognitive state of an individual in an environment is greater than a cause-for-concern threshold));
Shahid does not explicitly disclose but Fung teaches
-and a controller module including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to cause a response intended to reduce the measure to be less than the cause-for-concern threshold, the response including if the individual is operating a machine, a change to an operation of: a component of a stationary machine, or a movement control component of a machine configured to move (Fung, Fig. 4 & 5 and para [0150], [0151], and [0181]; Reference at para [0150] discloses in step 404, the response system 199 may determine the driver state. In some cases, the driver state may be normal or drowsy. In other cases, the driver state may range over three or more states ranging between normal and very drowsy (or even asleep). Para [0151] discloses in step 406, the response system 199 may determine whether or not the driver is drowsy…In step 408, the response system 199 may automatically modify the control of one or more vehicle systems, including any of the vehicle systems discussed above. By automatically modifying the control of one or more vehicle systems, the response system 199 may help to avoid various hazardous situations that can be caused by a drowsy driver. Para [0181] discloses specific functions for detecting drowsiness in which it details in order to distinguish drooping eyelids due to drowsiness from blinking, the response system 199 may use a threshold time that the eyelids are closed or partially closed. If the eyes of the driver are closed or partially closed for periods longer than the threshold time, the response system 199 may determine that this is due to drowsiness. Fig. 5 illustrates the various functions for controlling vehicle systems based on the driver’s lack of attention and slower reaction time. Thus controlling of these various systems listed like electronic power steering, brake assist, and climate control in reaction to the determination of levels of drowsiness exceeding a certain level or threshold, and trying to reduce that lack of driver attention within the vehicle is interpreted as cause the processor to cause a response intended to reduce the measure to be less than the cause- for-concern threshold, the response including if the individual is operating a machine, then a change to an operation of: a component of a stationary machine, or a movement control component of a machine configured to move as a motor vehicle has the capabilities to be in motion or stationary),
Shahid and Fung does not explicitly disclose but Huang teaches
-the change comprising a change to a steering ratio with time (Huang, para [0024], [0035]; Reference at [0024] discloses additionally, the VGR steering system 20 may control the VGR based on the vehicle speed v, the hand-wheel angle δ and/or driver attentiveness. Particularly, a driver attentiveness system 26 receives signals from a suitable detection device, such as a camera 28, that determines whether the driver of the vehicle 10 is drowsy, inattentive, etc. Para [0035] discloses the driver attentiveness system 26 can provide adjustments to the VGR through the VGR steering system 20 in response to a drowsy or inattentive driver The computation for deriving the adjustments based on steering activity or computed in relation to time as the driver drives along a road further detailed in para [0041]-[0042]).
Shahid and Fung are combinable because they are in the same field of endeavor regarding driver assistance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the AR eye-gaze driver assistance system of Shahid to include the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung in order to provide the user with a system that allows for measuring driver eye gaze within near frontal facial positions and project future position of vehicle on windscreen based on the vehicle parameters and driver’s active eye gaze estimates and warn the driver when there is constant shift in head or eye gaze from normal forward facing positions beyond some threshold period as taught by Shahid while incorporating the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung to allow for assessing driver behavior by monitoring vehicle systems and driver monitoring systems to accommodate for slow reaction times, attention lapses and/or alertness of a driver by modifying control of two or more vehicle systems simultaneously for increased safety, applicable to the driving assistance systems as taught in Shahid.
Shahid and Huang are also combinable because they are in the same field of endeavor regarding driver assistance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the AR eye-gaze driver assistance system of Shahid, in view of the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung, to include the variable gear ratio steering control features of Huang in order to provide the user with a system that allows for measuring driver eye gaze within near frontal facial positions and project future position of vehicle on windscreen based on the vehicle parameters and driver’s active eye gaze estimates and warn the driver when there is constant shift in head or eye gaze from normal forward facing positions beyond some threshold period as taught by Shahid while incorporating the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung to allow for assessing driver behavior by monitoring vehicle systems and driver monitoring systems to accommodate for slow reaction times, attention lapses and/or alertness of a driver by modifying control of two or more vehicle systems simultaneously. Further incorporating the variable gear ratio steering control features of Huang allows for implementing adaptive control VGR steering functions that varies the steering gear ratio between a vehicle hand-wheel angle and the road wheel angle based on vehicle speed and one or more of hand-wheel angle and driver attentiveness enhancing roadway safety in response to driver conditions, applicable to the driving assistance systems as taught in Shahid and Fung.
In regards to claim 2 (Currently Amended). Shahid in view of Fung in further view of Huang teach the system of claim 1.
Shahid further discloses
-wherein: the machine configured to move is a vehicle, and the individual is being an operator of the vehicle (Shahid, para [0038]; Reference discloses facial and eye gaze
information are used as cues to determine driver’s level of attentiveness (i.e. operator of vehicle). The system alerts the driver in situations where the driver is observed inattentive beyond some threshold period. The system also projects future position of the vehicle over windscreen based on the driver active eye gaze state and vehicle parameters (i.e. machine configured to move is a vehicle)).
In regards to claim 17 (Currently Amended). Shahid discloses a method (Shahid, Abstract), comprising:
-obtaining, by a processor (Shahid, Abstract; Reference discloses with the intent to improve the human error related accidental controls in mind, a simple and smart ADAS is proposed that could assist the driver based on continues monitoring of facial and eye gaze information (i.e. advanced driver assistance system interpreted as implicitly possessing processor)),
-information indicative that a measure of a cognitive state of an individual in an environment is greater than a cause-for-concern threshold (Shahid, “1. Introduction” section page 1572; Reference discloses an advanced driver information and assistance system that augments driver ability to maintain effective longitudinal control. In addition, the system also supervises driver level of attentiveness to mitigate the prospect of accidents by timely warning during moments of inattention or drowsiness….The system alerts the driver in situations where the driver is observed inattentive beyond some threshold period (i.e. scenario where obtaining information indicative that a measure of a cognitive state of an individual in an environment is greater than a cause-for-concern threshold));
Shahid does not explicitly disclose but Fung teaches
-and causing, by the processor, a response intended to reduce the measure to be less than the cause-for-concern threshold, the response including if the individual is operating a machine, a change to an operation of: a component of a stationary machine, or a movement control component of a machine configured to move (Fung, Fig. 4 & 5 and para [0150], [0151], and [0181]; Reference at para [0150] discloses in step 404, the response system 199 may determine the driver state. In some cases, the driver state may be normal or drowsy. In other cases, the driver state may range over three or more states ranging between normal and very drowsy (or even asleep). Para [0151] discloses in step 406, the response system 199 may determine whether or not the driver is drowsy…In step 408, the response system 199 may automatically modify the control of one or more vehicle systems, including any of the vehicle systems discussed above. By automatically modifying the control of one or more vehicle systems, the response system 199 may help to avoid various hazardous situations that can be caused by a drowsy driver. Para [0181] discloses specific functions for detecting drowsiness in which it details in order to distinguish drooping eyelids due to drowsiness from blinking, the response system 199 may use a threshold time that the eyelids are closed or partially closed. If the eyes of the driver are closed or partially closed for periods longer than the threshold time, the response system 199 may determine that this is due to drowsiness. Fig. 5 illustrates the various functions for controlling vehicle systems based on the driver’s lack of attention and slower reaction time. Thus controlling of these various systems listed like electronic power steering, brake assist, and climate control in reaction to the determination of levels of drowsiness exceeding a certain level or threshold, and trying to reduce that lack of driver attention within the vehicle is interpreted as cause the processor to cause a response intended to reduce the measure to be less than the cause- for-concern threshold, the response including if the individual is operating a machine, then a change to an operation of: a component of a stationary machine, or a movement control component of a machine configured to move as a motor vehicle has the capabilities to be in motion or stationary),
Shahid and Fung does not explicitly disclose but Huang teaches
-the change comprising a change to a steering ratio with time (Huang, para [0024], [0035]; Reference at [0024] discloses additionally, the VGR steering system 20 may control the VGR based on the vehicle speed v, the hand-wheel angle δ and/or driver attentiveness. Particularly, a driver attentiveness system 26 receives signals from a suitable detection device, such as a camera 28, that determines whether the driver of the vehicle 10 is drowsy, inattentive, etc. Para [0035] discloses the driver attentiveness system 26 can provide adjustments to the VGR through the VGR steering system 20 in response to a drowsy or inattentive driver. The computation for deriving the adjustments based on steering activity or computed in relation to time as the driver drives along a road further detailed in para [0041]-[0042]).
Shahid and Fung are combinable because they are in the same field of endeavor regarding driver assistance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the AR eye-gaze driver assistance system of Shahid to include the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung in order to provide the user with a system that allows for measuring driver eye gaze within near frontal facial positions and project future position of vehicle on windscreen based on the vehicle parameters and driver’s active eye gaze estimates and warn the driver when there is constant shift in head or eye gaze from normal forward facing positions beyond some threshold period as taught by Shahid while incorporating the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung to allow for assessing driver behavior by monitoring vehicle systems and driver monitoring systems to accommodate for slow reaction times, attention lapses and/or alertness of a driver by modifying control of two or more vehicle systems simultaneously for increased safety, applicable to the driving assistance systems as taught in Shahid.
Shahid and Huang are also combinable because they are in the same field of endeavor regarding driver assistance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the AR eye-gaze driver assistance system of Shahid, in view of the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung, to include the variable gear ratio steering control features of Huang in order to provide the user with a system that allows for measuring driver eye gaze within near frontal facial positions and project future position of vehicle on windscreen based on the vehicle parameters and driver’s active eye gaze estimates and warn the driver when there is constant shift in head or eye gaze from normal forward facing positions beyond some threshold period as taught by Shahid while incorporating the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung to allow for assessing driver behavior by monitoring vehicle systems and driver monitoring systems to accommodate for slow reaction times, attention lapses and/or alertness of a driver by modifying control of two or more vehicle systems simultaneously. Further incorporating the variable gear ratio steering control features of Huang allows for implementing adaptive control VGR steering functions that varies the steering gear ratio between a vehicle hand-wheel angle and the road wheel angle based on vehicle speed and one or more of hand-wheel angle and driver attentiveness enhancing roadway safety in response to driver conditions, applicable to the driving assistance systems as taught in Shahid and Fung.
In regards to claim 18 (Original). Shahid in view of Fung in further view of Huang teach the method of claim 17.
Shahid further discloses
-the measure of the cognitive state is a measure of at least one of a degree of inattentiveness or a degree of fatigue (Shahid “3.2. Face Detection” section, page 1574; Reference discloses the objective of face detection is to determine whether or not driver is in neutral forward looking position. In events driver face is not detected within the camera field of view, means significant shift from normal driving position. The system initiates counter C1 and non-detection of face for successive frame until threshold T1 will invoke warning signal to the driver of possible vulnerability due to continues inattention (i.e. degree of attentiveness)),
-the obtaining the information comprises at least one of: receiving, from a communications device, the information, or determining that a continuous duration of time that the individual has been traversing the environment as the pedestrian is greater than a threshold continuous duration of time, the continuous duration of time ending at a current time, and the causing the response comprises causing a communication to be sent to a roadside unit, in a vicinity of the individual, to cause the roadside unit to produce the presentation of the image to produce the augmented reality for the environment (Shahid, Fig. 3 and “3.1 System overview” section, page 1574; Reference discloses the vehicle is equipment with a personnel computer, an infrared illumination source and camera connected via USB port. 2. The camera is mounted on the dashboard pointing straight to the driver under neutral forward facing posture… The infrared illumination source is turned on during nighttime or instances of low ambient lighting conditions to effectively detect facial features while ambient source is used during the broad day light driving (i.e. the obtaining the information comprises at least one of: receiving, from a communications device, the information)).
Shahid does not explicitly disclose but Fung teaches
-wherein: the individual is being a pedestrian, the environment is an environment that includes traffic (Fung, Fig. 48 and para [0368]; Reference discloses in step 6502, the ECU 5000 may receive object information. The object could be a vehicle or any other object that can be tracked. In some cases, for example, the object could be pedestrian or biker. In step 6504, ECU 5000 may detect a potential hazard. Fig. 48 illustrates an environment with traffic and providing a collision warning system (see para [0256])),
Shahid and Huang are also combinable because they are in the same field of endeavor regarding driver assistance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the AR eye-gaze driver assistance system of Shahid, in view of the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung, to include the variable gear ratio steering control features of Huang in order to provide the user with a system that allows for measuring driver eye gaze within near frontal facial positions and project future position of vehicle on windscreen based on the vehicle parameters and driver’s active eye gaze estimates and warn the driver when there is constant shift in head or eye gaze from normal forward facing positions beyond some threshold period as taught by Shahid while incorporating the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung to allow for assessing driver behavior by monitoring vehicle systems and driver monitoring systems to accommodate for slow reaction times, attention lapses and/or alertness of a driver by modifying control of two or more vehicle systems simultaneously. Further incorporating the variable gear ratio steering control features of Huang allows for implementing adaptive control VGR steering functions that varies the steering gear ratio between a vehicle hand-wheel angle and the road wheel angle based on vehicle speed and one or more of hand-wheel angle and driver attentiveness enhancing roadway safety in response to driver conditions, applicable to the driving assistance systems as taught in Shahid and Fung.
In regards to claim 20 (Currently Amended). Shahid discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium for reducing a measure of a cognitive state of an individual in an environment to be less than a cause-for-concern threshold, the non- transitory computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors (Shahid, Abstract; Reference discloses with the intent to improve the human error related accidental controls in mind, a simple and smart ADAS is proposed that could assist the driver based on continues monitoring of facial and eye gaze information (i.e. advanced driver assistance system interpreted as implicitly possessing program being executed by a processor)), cause the one or more processors to:
-obtain information indicative that a measure of a cognitive state of an individual in an environment is greater than a cause-for-concern threshold (Shahid, “1. Introduction” section page 1572; Reference discloses an advanced driver information and assistance system (i.e. interpreted as a memory storing: an analysis module including instructions) that augments driver ability to maintain effective longitudinal control. In addition, the system also supervises driver level of attentiveness to mitigate the prospect of accidents by timely warning during moments of inattention or drowsiness….The system alerts the driver in situations where the driver is observed inattentive beyond some threshold period (i.e. scenario when obtain information indicative that a measure of a cognitive state of an individual in an environment is greater than a cause-for-concern threshold));
Shahid does not explicitly disclose but Fung teaches
-and cause a response intended to reduce the measure to be less than the cause-for-concern threshold, the response including if the individual is operating a machine, a change to an operation of: a component of a stationary machine, or a movement control component of a machine configured to move (Fung, Fig. 4 & 5 and para [0150], [0151], and [0181]; Reference at para [0150] discloses in step 404, the response system 199 may determine the driver state. In some cases, the driver state may be normal or drowsy. In other cases, the driver state may range over three or more states ranging between normal and very drowsy (or even asleep). Para [0151] discloses in step 406, the response system 199 may determine whether or not the driver is drowsy…In step 408, the response system 199 may automatically modify the control of one or more vehicle systems, including any of the vehicle systems discussed above. By automatically modifying the control of one or more vehicle systems, the response system 199 may help to avoid various hazardous situations that can be caused by a drowsy driver. Para [0181] discloses specific functions for detecting drowsiness in which it details in order to distinguish drooping eyelids due to drowsiness from blinking, the response system 199 may use a threshold time that the eyelids are closed or partially closed. If the eyes of the driver are closed or partially closed for periods longer than the threshold time, the response system 199 may determine that this is due to drowsiness. Fig. 5 illustrates the various functions for controlling vehicle systems based on the driver’s lack of attention and slower reaction time. Thus controlling of these various systems listed like electronic power steering, brake assist, and climate control in reaction to the determination of levels of drowsiness exceeding a certain level or threshold, and trying to reduce that lack of driver attention within the vehicle is interpreted as cause the processor to cause a response intended to reduce the measure to be less than the cause- for-concern threshold, the response including if the individual is operating a machine, then a change to an operation of: a component of a stationary machine, or a movement control component of a machine configured to move as a motor vehicle has the capabilities to be in motion or stationary),
Shahid and Fung does not explicitly disclose but Huang teaches
-the change comprising a change to a steering ratio with time (Huang, para [0024], [0035]; Reference at [0024] discloses additionally, the VGR steering system 20 may control the VGR based on the vehicle speed v, the hand-wheel angle δ and/or driver attentiveness. Particularly, a driver attentiveness system 26 receives signals from a suitable detection device, such as a camera 28, that determines whether the driver of the vehicle 10 is drowsy, inattentive, etc. Para [0035] discloses the driver attentiveness system 26 can provide adjustments to the VGR through the VGR steering system 20 in response to a drowsy or inattentive driver The computation for deriving the adjustments based on steering activity or computed in relation to time as the driver drives along a road further detailed in para [0041]-[0042]).
Shahid and Fung are combinable because they are in the same field of endeavor regarding driver assistance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the AR eye-gaze driver assistance system of Shahid to include the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung in order to provide the user with a system that allows for measuring driver eye gaze within near frontal facial positions and project future position of vehicle on windscreen based on the vehicle parameters and driver’s active eye gaze estimates and warn the driver when there is constant shift in head or eye gaze from normal forward facing positions beyond some threshold period as taught by Shahid while incorporating the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung to allow for assessing driver behavior by monitoring vehicle systems and driver monitoring systems to accommodate for slow reaction times, attention lapses and/or alertness of a driver by modifying control of two or more vehicle systems simultaneously for increased safety, applicable to the driving assistance systems as taught in Shahid.
Shahid and Huang are also combinable because they are in the same field of endeavor regarding driver assistance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the AR eye-gaze driver assistance system of Shahid, in view of the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung, to include the variable gear ratio steering control features of Huang in order to provide the user with a system that allows for measuring driver eye gaze within near frontal facial positions and project future position of vehicle on windscreen based on the vehicle parameters and driver’s active eye gaze estimates and warn the driver when there is constant shift in head or eye gaze from normal forward facing positions beyond some threshold period as taught by Shahid while incorporating the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung to allow for assessing driver behavior by monitoring vehicle systems and driver monitoring systems to accommodate for slow reaction times, attention lapses and/or alertness of a driver by modifying control of two or more vehicle systems simultaneously. Further incorporating the variable gear ratio steering control features of Huang allows for implementing adaptive control VGR steering functions that varies the steering gear ratio between a vehicle hand-wheel angle and the road wheel angle based on vehicle speed and one or more of hand-wheel angle and driver attentiveness enhancing roadway safety in response to driver conditions, applicable to the driving assistance systems as taught in Shahid and Fung.
Claims 15 and 16 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Shahid (2013 “Eye-Gaze and Augmented Reality Framework for Driver Assistance”) in view of Fung (US 2018/0105180 A1) in view of Huang (US 2010/0025144 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Iranmanesh (2018 “An Adaptive Forward Collision Warning Framework Design Based on Driver Distraction”, hereinafter referenced “Iran”).
In regards to claim 15 (Original). Shahid in view of Fung in further view of Huang teach the system of claim 1.
Shahid and Fung does not explicitly disclose but Iran teaches
-wherein: a first time is a time at which the measure of the cognitive state of the individual in the environment becomes greater than the cause-for-concern threshold, a second time is a time at which the response is initiated, an interval is a duration of time between the first time and the second time, and the memory further stores an interval information module including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to obtain information indicative of a measure of the interval, the measure of the interval being personalized for the individual (Iran, “II. Related Work” section page 3927 and A solution to individualize the warning generation process could be achieved by the virtue of instantaneous driver’s risk tolerance identification and comparing it with the drivers normal risk tolerance level. This normal level, which is the main parameter of the suggested adaptive FCW algorithm in this work, which is represented as Algorithm 1, and determines the necessity of warning generation based on the probable danger severity, is referred to as the Warning Triggering Threshold, (Thwt ). Our application generates a warning whenever instantaneous T HW falls below Thwt which indicates that risk severity at this moment is higher than the drivers normal risk tolerance level (i.e. the warning time in response to the time head way and updating this solution in an individualized way interpreted as a first time is a time at which the measure of the cognitive state of the individual in the environment becomes greater than the cause-for-concern threshold, a second time is a time at which the response is initiated, an interval is a duration of time between the first time and the second time, and the memory further stores an interval information module including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to obtain information indicative of a measure of the interval, the measure of the interval being personalized for the individual)).
Shahid and Fung are combinable because they are in the same field of endeavor regarding driver assistance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the AR eye-gaze driver assistance system of Shahid to include the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung in order to provide the user with a system that allows for measuring driver eye gaze within near frontal facial positions and project future position of vehicle on windscreen based on the vehicle parameters and driver’s active eye gaze estimates and warn the driver when there is constant shift in head or eye gaze from normal forward facing positions beyond some threshold period as taught by Shahid while incorporating the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung to allow for assessing driver behavior by monitoring vehicle systems and driver monitoring systems to accommodate for slow reaction times, attention lapses and/or alertness of a driver by modifying control of two or more vehicle systems simultaneously for increased safety, applicable to the driving assistance systems as taught in Shahid.
Shahid and Huang are also combinable because they are in the same field of endeavor regarding driver assistance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the AR eye-gaze driver assistance system of Shahid, in view of the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung, to include the variable gear ratio steering control features of Huang in order to provide the user with a system that allows for measuring driver eye gaze within near frontal facial positions and project future position of vehicle on windscreen based on the vehicle parameters and driver’s active eye gaze estimates and warn the driver when there is constant shift in head or eye gaze from normal forward facing positions beyond some threshold period as taught by Shahid while incorporating the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung to allow for assessing driver behavior by monitoring vehicle systems and driver monitoring systems to accommodate for slow reaction times, attention lapses and/or alertness of a driver by modifying control of two or more vehicle systems simultaneously. Further incorporating the variable gear ratio steering control features of Huang allows for implementing adaptive control VGR steering functions that varies the steering gear ratio between a vehicle hand-wheel angle and the road wheel angle based on vehicle speed and one or more of hand-wheel angle and driver attentiveness enhancing roadway safety in response to driver conditions, applicable to the driving assistance systems as taught in Shahid and Fung.
Shahid and Iran are also combinable because they are in the same field of endeavor regarding driver assistance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the AR eye-gaze driver assistance system of Shahid, in view of the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung in further view of the variable gear ratio steering control features of Huang, to include the adaptive forward collision warning features of Iran in order to provide the user with a system that allows for measuring driver eye gaze within near frontal facial positions and project future position of vehicle on windscreen based on the vehicle parameters and driver’s active eye gaze estimates and warn the driver when there is constant shift in head or eye gaze from normal forward facing positions beyond some threshold period as taught by Shahid while incorporating the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung to allow for assessing driver behavior by monitoring vehicle systems and driver monitoring systems to accommodate for slow reaction times, attention lapses and/or alertness of a driver by modifying control of two or more vehicle systems simultaneously. Further incorporating the variable gear ratio steering control features of Huang allows for implementing adaptive control VGR steering functions that varies the steering gear ratio between a vehicle hand-wheel angle and the road wheel angle based on vehicle speed and one or more of hand-wheel angle and driver attentiveness. Adding the adaptive forward collision warning features of Iran allows for generating warnings by continuously comparing Time Headway with a flexible threshold based on real-time monitoring of the driver reactions against previously generated warnings using available indicators such as braking history to reduce false alarm warnings without missing critical ones, applicable to improving safety in driving assistance systems such as those taught in Shahid, Fung, and Huang.
In regards to claim 16 (Original). Shahid in view of Fung in view of Huang in further view of Iran teach the system of claim 15.
Shahid, Fung, and Huang does not explicitly disclose but Iran teaches
-wherein the instructions to obtain the information indicative of the measure of the interval include instructions to determine, using a machine learning technique, the information indicative of the measure of the interval (Iran, “B. Driver Distraction Detection”, section page 3929; Reference discloses drivers distraction affects the time sequence pattern of several parameters such as gas pedal position, minimum range with neighboring vehicles, heading, brake flags, etc. Therefore, these parameters could be regarded as the elements of the feature set for the machine learning based classification methods such as SVM and Neural Networks (NN). These methods enable us to reveal distraction or cautious label for the driver status at each point of time (i.e. determining distraction at each point in time for the response algorithm 1 via machine learning based classification methods interpreted as obtain the information indicative of the measure of the interval include instructions to determine, using a machine learning technique, the information indicative of the measure of the interval).
Shahid and Iran are also combinable because they are in the same field of endeavor regarding driver assistance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the AR eye-gaze driver assistance system of Shahid, in view of the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung in further view of the variable gear ratio steering control features of Huang, to include the adaptive forward collision warning features of Iran in order to provide the user with a system that allows for measuring driver eye gaze within near frontal facial positions and project future position of vehicle on windscreen based on the vehicle parameters and driver’s active eye gaze estimates and warn the driver when there is constant shift in head or eye gaze from normal forward facing positions beyond some threshold period as taught by Shahid while incorporating the coordinated vehicle response features of Fung to allow for assessing driver behavior by monitoring vehicle systems and driver monitoring systems to accommodate for slow reaction times, attention lapses and/or alertness of a driver by modifying control of two or more vehicle systems simultaneously. Further incorporating the variable gear ratio steering control features of Huang allows for implementing adaptive control VGR steering functions that varies the steering gear ratio between a vehicle hand-wheel angle and the road wheel angle based on vehicle speed and one or more of hand-wheel angle and driver attentiveness. Adding the adaptive forward collision warning features of Iran allows for generating warnings by continuously comparing Time Headway with a flexible threshold based on real-time monitoring of the driver reactions against previously generated warnings using available indicators such as braking history to reduce false alarm warnings without missing critical ones, applicable to improving safety in driving assistance systems such as those taught in Shahid, Fung, and Huang.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: See the Notice of References Cited (PTO-892)
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/TERRELL M ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2614
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