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 Objections
The below claims are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 7, 14, and 20 recite “illustrated” instead of “illuminated.”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 2, 7, 9, 14, 16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 2, 9, and 16 recite “determining, by the vehicle to everything server, that the monitoring area is a union set of a plurality of ranges of image capturing of the plurality of surround-view cameras of all the plurality of preset vehicles.” This is an example of unlimited functional claiming and claiming a result rather than the steps to accomplish this result. MPEP 2173.05(g).
Claims 7, 14, and 20 recite “control[ling], by the vehicle to everything server, the plurality of surround-view cameras of all the plurality of preset vehicles in the monitoring area to track the one or more suspicious targets until the one or more suspicious targets exit from the monitoring area.” This is an example of unlimited functional claiming and claiming a result rather than the steps to accomplish this result. MPEP 2173.05(g).
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite “vehicle to everything.” As per the attached Wikipedia page on “vehicle-to everything,” this term can be understood in one of a few ways. First, it can generically refer to communication between a vehicle and another entity. Second, it can refer to DSRC (i.e., the WLAN based technology). Third, it can refer to C-V2X (i.e., the cellular based technology). Additionally, it may refer to both DSRC and C-V2X.
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite a “vehicle to everything server.” It is unclear if a vehicle to everything server is a server that operates a vehicle to everything network, or if it is merely a server that communicates via vehicle to everything.
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite “preset,” but this is subjective because the claim has not defined the pre-setting. MPEP 2173.05(b)(IV).
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite “all the plurality of preset vehicles,” but this lacks sufficient antecedent basis. MPEP 2173.05(e).
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite “in a monitoring area,” but this is subjective. MPEP 2173.05(b)(IV). In other words, because the monitoring area is not specified, one cannot objectively determine whether a given vehicle is in the area or not. Additionally, the claim does not specify what “monitoring” refers to.
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite “each of the plurality of preset vehicles,” but this lacks sufficient antecedent basis because the claims have recited two pluralities of present vehicles. MPEP 2173.05(e). Note that this phrase repeats in these claims, each of these raises the same issue.
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite “sentinel mode,” but this is new terminology. MPEP 2173.05(a).
Claims 1, 5, 8, 12, 15, and 19 recite “corresponding,” but this is subjective. MPEP 2173.05(b)(IV).
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite “ambient environment surrounding,” but it is unclear how to interpret the word “ambient” given that the claim recites “surrounding.”
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite “suspicious,” but this relative terminology, and the specification provides insufficient guidance. MPEP 2173.05(b).
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite “targets of a first preset vehicle,” but it is unclear how to determine if a vehicle has targeted someone or something.
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite “appear in the one or more second images,” but the claims do not define which of the images are the second images.
Claims 5, 12, and 19 recite corresponding language regarding third image and are likewise rejected.
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite “a definition of each of the one or more suspicious targets,” but it is unclear what is meant by a definition of a target, and specifically, how that is a value that can be compared to a present value. MPEP 2173.05(a).
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite both “illuminating area illuminated by one or more preset exterior lamps” and “to turn on the one or more preset exterior lamps.” As shown in Fig. 3, the lamps are turned on in response to the suspicious targets, but the claims state that the target is already illuminated by these same lamps.
Claims 2, 9, and 16 recite “ranges of image capturing,” but it is not clear how to determine this range. For example, if a building blocks the view of the camera, is the range limited to where the camera can see? Is there a minimal amount of focus that is required to be in range?
Claims 3, 10, and 17 recite “the illuminating area comprises the position information,” but it is unclear how an area can comprise information. It may be that the intent is that the position information identifies a location within the illuminating area.
Claims 4, 11, and 18 recite a group of orientations, but the recited options are placements, not orientations. MPEP 2173.05(a).
Claims 7, 14, and 20 reciting “predicting,” but the usage of this word appears to be determining, rather than predicting. For example, these claims recite predicting position information in an image. Here, the position of the target in the image is information that already exists, so it might be determined, but it does not make sense to refer to this as predicting. For the purposes of examination, “predicting” is interpreted as MPEP 2173.05(a) based on the usage in the claims.
Dependent claims are likewise rejected.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US20180037193A1 (“Penilla”) in view of US20190283709A1 (“Lu”).
1. A method for monitoring comprising:
obtaining, by a vehicle to everything server, a plurality of first images captured by a plurality of surround-view cameras of a plurality of preset vehicles from all the plurality of preset vehicles in a monitoring area, (Penilla, [0006] “One example method includes receiving at a server, over time, safety alerts from a plurality of vehicles.” [0149] “For example, if a burglary or crime occurred within the location, the sensor data of the location as well as the sensor data of the vehicles can be coordinated to identify when and who traversed specific locations within the area.” Fig. 3, “image capture area.”)
where each of the plurality of preset vehicles starts a sentinel mode, (Penilla, [0146] “The owners of the vehicles can also access cloud processing to get recommendations of safer locations the part based on historical data of other vehicles that have experienced security events.” Penilla’s reporting by the other vehicles teaches the claimed sentinel mode.)
each of the plurality of preset vehicles is provided with a corresponding surround-view camera, (Penilla, Fig. 3. Note that the image capture area is a complete circle.)
each of the plurality of surround-view cameras is configured to capture one or more of the plurality of first images of an ambient environment surrounding a corresponding preset vehicle, and (Penilla, Fig. 3.)
each of the plurality of preset vehicles is provided with a preset exterior lamp; (Penilla, [0120] “These electronics can serve to turn on existing lighting of the vehicle”)
determining, by the vehicle to everything server, one or more second preset vehicles according to one or more second images if one or more suspicious targets of a first preset vehicle appear in the one or more second images, which are captured by the corresponding surround-view camera of the first preset vehicle and are from the plurality of first images, and (Penilla, [0149] “For example, if a burglary or crime occurred within the location, the sensor data of the location as well as the sensor data of the vehicles can be coordinated to identify when and who traversed specific locations within the area.” Fig. 3, “image capture area.” Additionally, this limitation can be mapped as not being invoked because Penilla discloses targets not appearing in images. The examiner has mapped this limitation in the interest of compact prosecution.)
a definition of each of the one or more suspicious targets in each of the one or more second images is less than a preset value, (Penilla, [0140] “In one embodiment, lower levels of security may be activated when a user is approaching a vehicle and feels relatively safe”)
where the first preset vehicle is one of the plurality of preset vehicles in the monitoring area, the one or more second preset vehicles are one or more of the plurality of preset vehicles in the monitoring area, each of the one or more second preset vehicles is different from the first preset vehicle, and (Penilla, [0149] “For example, if a burglary or crime occurred within the location, the sensor data of the location as well as the sensor data of the vehicles can be coordinated to identify when and who traversed specific locations within the area.” Fig. 3, “image capture area.”)
the one or more suspicious targets appear in an illuminating area illuminated by one or more preset exterior lamps of the one or more second preset vehicles; and (Penilla, [0112] “In other embodiments, additional illumination lights can be provided in the vehicle that is activated based on motion capture.”)
prompting, by the vehicle to everything server, the one or more second preset vehicles to turn on the one or more preset exterior lamps. (Penilla, claim 1 “receiving a first remote request at the vehicle to activate a first level of security … illuminating said area proximate to the vehicle using one of said second type of sensors in response to activating the first level of security.”)
Penilla is not relied on for the below claim language.
However, Lu teaches that the server communicates with V2X (Lu, abstract “The disclosure includes embodiments for theft deterrent for a connected vehicle using Basic Safety Message (BSM)-based Vehicle-to-Anything (V2X) communication.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Lu to the teachings of Penilla such that Lu’s coordinated response is used in Penilla’s system for the purpose of implementation details. For example, Penilla’s disclosure primarily discusses vehicles in the singular, but also teaches coordinating across multiple vehicles (e.g., [0149]). Lu’s discussion of V2X and inter-vehicle communication (e.g., Fig. 1B) provide implementation details as to how these vehicles coordinate.
Based on the above, this is an example of “combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.” MPEP 2143.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein before obtaining, by the vehicle to everything server, the plurality of first images captured by the plurality of surround-view cameras of the plurality of preset vehicles from all the plurality of preset vehicles in the monitoring area, the method further comprises:
determining, by the vehicle to everything server, that the monitoring area is a union set of a plurality of ranges of image capturing of the plurality of surround-view cameras of all the plurality of preset vehicles. (Penilla, [0149] “For example, if a burglary or crime occurred within the location, the sensor data of the location as well as the sensor data of the vehicles can be coordinated to identify when and who traversed specific locations within the area.” Fig. 3, “image capture area.” Penilla’s coordinating teaches the claimed determining a union set.)
3. The method according to claim 1, determining, by the vehicle to everything server, the one or more second preset vehicles according to the one or more second images further comprising:
determining, by the vehicle to everything server, position information of the one or more suspicious targets according to the one or more second images; (Penilla, [0149] “For example, if a burglary or crime occurred within the location, the sensor data of the location as well as the sensor data of the vehicles can be coordinated to identify when and who traversed specific locations within the area.” Fig. 3, “image capture area.”)
determining, by the vehicle to everything server, that the one or more second preset vehicles are the one or more of the plurality of preset vehicles of which the illuminating area comprises the position information of the one or more suspicious targets, where the illuminating area is illuminated by the one or more preset exterior lamps of the one or more of the plurality of preset vehicles, and the one or more of the plurality of preset vehicles are from all the plurality of preset vehicles in the monitoring area. (Penilla, [0149] “For example, if a burglary or crime occurred within the location, the sensor data of the location as well as the sensor data of the vehicles can be coordinated to identify when and who traversed specific locations within the area.” Fig. 3, “image capture area.” Claim 1 “receiving a first remote request at the vehicle to activate a first level of security … illuminating said area proximate to the vehicle using one of said second type of sensors in response to activating the first level of security.”)
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: the one or more second preset vehicles are at different orientations of the first preset vehicle, the orientations in the different orientations of the first preset vehicle are from at least two of a group consisting of in front of the first preset vehicle, at a left side of the first preset vehicle, at a right side of the first preset vehicle, and at a rear of the first preset vehicle. (Pinella, Fig. 2)
5. The method according to claim 1, after prompting, by the vehicle to everything server, the one or more second preset vehicles to turn on the one or more preset exterior lamps, the method further comprising:
determining, by the vehicle to everything server, determining one or more third preset vehicles excluding the first preset vehicle, where at least one of the one or more suspicious targets of the first preset vehicle appear in one or more third images, which are captured by one or more surround-view cameras of the one or more third preset vehicles and are from the plurality of first images, and the one or more third preset vehicles are from all the plurality of preset vehicles in the monitoring area; (Penilla, [0149] “For example, if a burglary or crime occurred within the location, the sensor data of the location as well as the sensor data of the vehicles can be coordinated to identify when and who traversed specific locations within the area.” Fig. 3, “image capture area.” Because the claims do not distinguish the second and third vehicles (or the fourth vehicles, as per claim 7), the prior art’s teaching of a single group of vehicles serves to teach all of the claimed groups.)
prompting, by the vehicle to everything server, the one or more third preset vehicles to capture one or more videos via the one or more surround-view cameras of the one or more third preset vehicles; (Penilla, claims 1 and 4 “receiving a first remote request at the vehicle to activate a first level of security … illuminating said area proximate to the vehicle using one of said second type of sensors in response to activating the first level of security … wherein the actions include … controlling recording of audio or video.”)
obtaining, by the vehicle to everything server, the one or more videos from the one or more third preset vehicles; (Penilla, claim 1, “the recording producing a media file; and transmitting the media file to Internet storage associated with an account of the user of the vehicle”)
transmitting, by the vehicle to everything server, the one or more videos to a vehicle owner terminal corresponding to the first preset vehicle. (Penilla, claim 1, “the recording producing a media file; and transmitting the media file to Internet storage associated with an account of the user of the vehicle”)
6. The method according to claim 1, determining, by the vehicle to everything server, that the one or more suspicious targets of the first preset vehicle appear in the one or more second images, which are captured by the corresponding surround-view camera of the first preset vehicle and are from the plurality of first images, and the definition of each of the one or more suspicious targets in each of the one or more second images is less than the preset value further comprising:
obtaining, by the vehicle to everything server, one or more images captured by the corresponding surround-view camera of the first preset vehicle if the one or more suspicious targets of the first preset vehicle appear in the one or more second images, which are captured by the corresponding surround-view camera of the first preset vehicle and are from the first images, where the one or more suspicious targets of the first preset vehicle appears in the one or more images captured by the corresponding surround-view camera of the first preset vehicle, and (Penilla, [0149] “For example, if a burglary or crime occurred within the location, the sensor data of the location as well as the sensor data of the vehicles can be coordinated to identify when and who traversed specific locations within the area.” Fig. 3, “image capture area.”)
the preset exterior lamp of the first preset vehicle is at a turned on state when the vehicle to everything server obtains the one or more images captured by the corresponding surround-view camera of the first preset vehicle; (Penilla, claim 1 “illuminating said area proximate to the vehicle”)
determining, by the vehicle to everything server, that the one or more suspicious targets of the first preset vehicle appear in the one or more second images, which are captured by the corresponding surround-view camera of the first preset vehicle and are from the first images and (Penilla, [0149] “For example, if a burglary or crime occurred within the location, the sensor data of the location as well as the sensor data of the vehicles can be coordinated to identify when and who traversed specific locations within the area.” Note that the previous sentence of this paragraph states that this is performed by cloud processing. Additionally, Lu discloses that similar determinations (e.g., Fig. 3A, 311) are done automatically. Fig. 3, “image capture area.”)
the definition of each of the one or more suspicious targets in each of the one or more second images is less than the preset value if a definition of each of the one or more suspicious targets in each of the one or more images captured by the corresponding surround-view camera of the first preset vehicle is less than the preset value. (Penilla, [0107] “This type of activity can be predefined based on rules, as being suspicious. Other types of activity around vehicle 102 can also be defined as suspicious and added to a rules database.”)
7. The method according to claim 1, after prompting, by the vehicle to everything server, the one or more second preset vehicles to turn on the one or more preset exterior lamps, the method further comprising:
controlling, by the vehicle to everything server, the plurality of surround-view cameras of all the plurality of preset vehicles in the monitoring area to track the one or more suspicious targets until the one or more suspicious targets exit from the monitoring area; (Penilla, [0149] “For example, if a burglary or crime occurred within the location, the sensor data of the location as well as the sensor data of the vehicles can be coordinated to identify when and who traversed specific locations within the area.” Fig. 3, “image capture area.”)
predicting, by the vehicle to everything server, one or more fourth preset vehicles of the plurality of preset vehicles during tracking, where the one or more suspicious targets of the first preset vehicle appear in one or more images captured by one or more surround-view cameras of the one or more fourth preset vehicles; (Penilla, [0149] “For example, if a burglary or crime occurred within the location, the sensor data of the location as well as the sensor data of the vehicles can be coordinated to identify when and who traversed specific locations within the area.” Fig. 3, “image capture area.”)
predicting, by the vehicle to everything server, position information of the one or more suspicious targets of the first preset vehicle in the one or more images captured by the one or more surround-view cameras of the one or more fourth preset vehicles; and (Penilla, [0149] “For example, if a burglary or crime occurred within the location, the sensor data of the location as well as the sensor data of the vehicles can be coordinated to identify when and who traversed specific locations within the area.” Fig. 3, “image capture area.” Penilla’s determination of traversing specific locations teaches the claimed position information of targets.)
determining, by the vehicle to everything server, one or more fifth preset vehicles of the plurality of preset vehicles according to the predicted position information of the one or more suspicious targets of the first preset vehicle in the one or more images captured by the one or more surround-view cameras of the one or more fourth preset vehicles, where the one or more suspicious targets of the first preset vehicle appear in an illuminating area illustrated by one or more preset exterior lamps of the one or more fifth preset vehicles. (Penilla, [0149] “For example, if a burglary or crime occurred within the location, the sensor data of the location as well as the sensor data of the vehicles can be coordinated to identify when and who traversed specific locations within the area.” Fig. 3, “image capture area.” See also claim 1 “illuminating said area proximate to the vehicle.”)
Claims 8-14 are rejected as per claims 1-7. Additionally, see Pinella [0170] for the claimed hardware.
Claims 15-20 are rejected as per claims 1-7. Additionally, see Pinella [0173] for the claimed storage medium.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US11070769B1 – claim 12 “A method for capturing object data of an object, the method comprising: classifying an object as suspicious activity based on obtained object data related to the object by a first controller of a primary vehicle”
US11205068B2 – titled “Surveillance Camera System Looking At Passing Cars”
US11270586B2 – claim 11 “A method for providing information regarding a parking space, the method comprising: obtaining, by a server, images of vehicles parked in parking spaces; extracting, by the server, occupant information and vehicle information of the parked vehicles from the obtained images, … ”
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/DAVID ORANGE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2663