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 Amendments
The Amendment filled 09/23/2025 in response to Non-Final Office Action mailed 09/25/2025 has been entered.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending.
Response to Arguments/Remarks
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 09/23/2025, with respect to claims 1-20 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 35 U.S.C §102 rejection of 06/25/2025 has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection of claims 1-3, 8-10, and 16-17 is made in view of Akbarzadeh et. al., (US 20230294726 A1), and of claims 4-7, 11-14, and 18-20 in view of Akbarzadeh in view of Zhang et al., (CN 115436927 A).
Information Disclosure Statement
No Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) was filed; therefore, no applicant-submitted references were considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 8-10, and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Akbarzadeh et al., US 20230294726 A1, hereinafter “Akbarzadeh”.
Regarding claim 1, Akbarzadeh discloses a ground plane fitting method using a vehicle-mounted device, the vehicle-mounted device comprises a radar device installable in a front windshield of a vehicle:
acquiring a plurality of point clouds by the radar device of a scene front of the vehicle (¶[0049]; FIG. 1B, shown below, illustrates example coverage areas of RADAR scans around a vehicle 150; front left 152a, front right 152b, and front/center 152e;
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along a traveling direction (¶[0179] The sensor data 1002 … used to represent a physical space (e.g., a geographical area)… the RADAR point cloud 104 of FIG. 1A may be a sensor data set; ¶[0180];as a particular vehicle is traversing through the space, the sensors of the particular vehicle may capture a sensor data) and a target image (¶[0244] Cameras with a field of view that includes portions of the environment in front of the vehicle 1400 (e.g., front-facing cameras) may be used for surround view, to help identify forward-facing paths)
determining a set of ground point clouds corresponding to the target image according to the plurality of point clouds and the target image (¶[0130]; the plane estimator 630 may be configured to estimate a plane that corresponds to the ground plane using data associated with the map data points (i.e., RADAR map;¶[0128]);
obtaining a plurality of ground normal vectors by correcting a plurality of camera normal vectors of a camera that acquires the target image (¶[0130]; the plane estimate 632 may include plane parameters (e.g., a normal, an origin, points within the plane, etc.) of an estimated plane that corresponds to a ground plane that is determined from the collected map data points; ¶[0143]; a normal of the plane associated with the plane parameters may be used as the normal of the pose space 732); and
obtaining a fitted ground plane of a ground of the scene along the traveling direction of the vehicle by fitting the set of ground point clouds and the plurality of ground normal vectors (¶[0138] The alignment engine 712 may be configured to determine the alignment parameters 722 based on a first sensor data set 704 (“first data 704”) and a second sensor data set 706 (“second data 706”). ¶[0147]; the alignment engine 712 may include a cost space generator 734 configured to generate a cost space 736. The cost space 736 may include a cost that may be determined for each pose parameter set of the pose space 732. The cost may indicate a degree of alignment between the first data 704 and the second data 706 with respect to the first data 704 being oriented according to the corresponding values of the corresponding pose parameter set.).
Regarding claim 2, Akbarzadeh discloses the ground plane fitting method according to claim 1. Akbarzadeh further discloses wherein determining the set of ground point clouds corresponding to the target image according to the plurality of point clouds and the target image comprises:
determining an area of the ground of the target image (¶[0130]; in some embodiments, the ground plane may be estimated based on semantic information included in the map data 606 that indicates roads, lanes, road markers (e.g., lines) etc.)
setting a set of point clouds corresponding to the area of the ground as a set of ground point clouds by projecting the point clouds onto the target image (¶[0162]; pose parameters of the alignment parameters 722 and the relative transformations determined to align the first data 704 and the second data 706 may indicate a corresponding location and/or orientation in the map of the second data 706, which may accordingly provide for localization of the vehicle in the map; ¶[0163];Based on the alignment parameters 722, the first data 704 and the second data 706 may be aligned and combined by applying the relative transformations)
Regarding claim 3, Akbarzadeh discloses the ground plane fitting method according to claim 2. Akbarzadeh further discloses wherein the area of the ground is determined by using a semantic segmentation to the target image (¶[0130]; in some embodiments, the ground plane may be estimated based on semantic information included in the map data 606 that indicates roads, lanes, road markers (e.g., lines) etc.).
Claim 8 is similarly analyzed as analogous claim 1. Akbarzadeh further discloses a storage device (See FIG 14 data store(s) 1428);
at least one processor ¶[0125]; the plane engine 610 may be implemented using hardware including one or more processors,); and
the storage device storing one or more programs, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method of claim 1 (¶[0343]; the memory 1504 may store computer-readable instruction).
Claim 9 is similarly analyzed as analogous claim 2.
Claim 10 is similarly analyzed as analogous claim 3.
Claim 16 is similarly analyzed as analogous claim 2.
Claim 17 is similarly analyzed as analogous claim 3.
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 4-7, 11-14, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akbarzadeh in view of Zhang et al., CN 115436927 A, hereinafter “Zhang ‘927”.
Regarding claim 4, Akbarzadeh discloses the ground plane fitting method according to claim 1. Akbarzadeh further discloses wherein obtaining the plurality of ground normal vectors by correcting the plurality of camera normal vectors of the camera that acquires the target image comprises:
obtaining the plurality of camera normal vectors, which comprise timestamps {of the camera} (Akbarzadeh, ¶[0113]; the ego-motion engine 514 may be configured to determine a relative transform of one or more previous pose parameters associated with a timestamp t−1 to predict corresponding current pose parameters associated with a timestamp t in which the relative transform is determined based on relative ego-motion data between time t and time t−1); and
acquiring movement data {of the camera} (¶[0078]; a first relative transformation may be determined between the first point cloud and the second point cloud based on movement of the vehicle)
and obtaining the plurality of ground normal vectors by correcting the plurality of camera normal vectors according to the movement data (¶[0078]; the local coordinate system of the first point cloud may also be selected as the reference coordinate system such that the first point cloud may be selected as a reference point cloud. The registration of the second point cloud to the reference coordinate system may accordingly be according to the first relative transformation). Akbarzadeh teaches normal vectors and movement data of the point clouds but does not explicitly disclose obtaining normal vectors and movement data of the camera.
However, Zhang ‘927, a similar field of endeavor of camera-radar fusion for object detection, teaches obtaining the plurality of camera normal vectors, which comprise timestamps of the camera acquiring movement data of the camera (Zhang ‘927, [89]; vaq is the area change speed of the target frame in the image coordinate system; [90]; dt is the time interval between the previous frame and the current frame; it is the defined H observation matrix; F is the defined transition matrix)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include time stamps and movement data of the camera as taught by Zhang ‘927 to the invention of Akbarzadeh. The motivation to do so would be to associate the data sets with time alignment to reduce the error bounds, or the sensor region of approximation (See “Zhang 2019” (R. Zhang and S. Cao, "Extending Reliability of mmWave Radar Tracking and Detection via Fusion With Camera," in IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 137065-137079, 2019, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2942382.).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Akbarzadeh and Zhang ‘927 discloses the ground plane fitting method according to claim 4. The combination does not explicitly disclose, further comprising: setting a coordinate axis pointing to a sky of a camera coordinate system of the camera as the camera normal vector.
However, Zhang ‘927, a similar field of endeavor of processing point cloud and camera data for a moving vehicle, teaches setting a coordinate axis pointing to a sky of a camera coordinate system of the camera as the camera normal vector (Zhang ‘927, ¶[68]; Step 1, selecting a point O on the ground w In the direction of the road y w Axis, with vertical ground facing sky direction Z w The axis being perpendicular to y w And Z w Direction x w Axis, establishing a world coordinate system O w -x w y w Z w).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the sky as the normal z-axis as taught by Zhang ‘927 to the invention of Akbarzadeh. The motivation to do so would be to establish a perpendicular direction to the world/ground coordinate system.
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Akbarzadeh and Zhang ‘927 discloses the ground plane fitting method according to claim 5. Zhang ‘927 further discloses further comprising:
acquiring a plurality of images comprising the target image that are taken by the camera, each image of the plurality of images corresponding to a timestamp; and
determining a camera coordinate system corresponding to each image ([89]; vaq is the area change speed of the target frame in the image coordinate system; [90]; dt is the time interval between the previous frame and the current frame; it is the defined H observation matrix; F is the defined transition matrix).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Akbarzadeh and Zhang ‘927 discloses the ground plane fitting method according to claim 4. Akbarzadeh further discloses wherein obtaining the plurality of ground normal vectors by correcting the plurality of camera normal vectors according to the movement data comprises:
obtaining a gravitational acceleration from the movement data (Akbarzadeh, [0114]; the relative ego-motion parameters may be referenced based on relative movement of the corresponding vehicle (e.g., as indicated based on IMU data, speed data, acceleration data, steering data, GPS data, etc.) with respect to two or more different poses over a particular time period); and
Zhang ‘927 further discloses correcting the camera normal vector to the ground normal vector by correcting a rotation matrix of a camera pose of the camera according to a direction of the gravitational acceleration (Zhang ‘927, [71]; Rotate along each axis of the millimeter-wave radar coordinate system, so that yr and yw are parallel to the same direction, xr and xw are parallel to the same direction, Zr and Zw are parallel to the same direction, and the rotation angles around each coordinate axis of the millimeter-wave radar are αrx, αry, αrz, the rotation angle matrix is set as Rr=Rrz*Rry*Rrx.).
Claim 11 is similarly analyzed as analogous claim 4.
Claim 12 is similarly analyzed as analogous claim 5.
Claim 13 is similarly analyzed as analogous claim 6.
Claim 14 is similarly analyzed as analogous claim 7.
Claim 18 is similarly analyzed as analogous claim 4.
Claim 19 is similarly analyzed as analogous claim 5.
Claim 20 is similarly analyzed as analogous claim 6.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHANDHANA PEDAPATI whose telephone number is (571)272-5325. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30am-6pm (ET).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chan Park can be reached at 5712727409. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHANDHANA PEDAPATI/ Examiner, Art Unit 2669
/CHAN S PARK/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2669