DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 6-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Waelde et al. (Waelde, US PGPub 2020/0386601) in view of Seler et al. (Seler, US PGPub 2018/0372865).
Referring to Claim 6, Waelde teaches a plurality of transceiver units (Fig. 4A #301; [0060] and [0074-0075]), which are situated on separate installation supports and are connected to one another by a synchronization network, each of the transceiver units includes a scanning module (Fig. 4A #ADC; [0024], [0068] and [0079]) for scanning radar signals received on a plurality of channels in the form of time signals; wherein each of the installation supports has a raw-data interface (Fig. 4A #304; [0073]) for transmitting the time signal of the transceiver unit to a central evaluation instance (Fig. 4A #FPGA; [0079]), and the central evaluation instance is configured to jointly evaluate the time signals from the plurality of transceiver units; [0065] and [0067], but does not explicitly disclose nor limit the units are installed in different locations in the motor vehicle.
However, Seler teaches a plurality of radar modules installed in different location in the motor vehicle; See Fig. 1 #104, 106, 110, 114, 118 and 126; [0005] and [0029].
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Waelde with the different placements of the units as taught by Seler so as to predictably provide the ability to monitor the environment around the vehicle to alert and assist drivers, for example to avoid obstacles, particularly where collisions are possible.
Referring to Claim 7, Waelde as modified by Seler teaches wherein, the central evaluation instance is a processor in a control device which is separate from the installation supports; Fig. 4A #310; [0079].
Referring to Claim 8, Waelde teaches an oscillator, but does not explicitly disclose nor limit wherein an oscillator is situated at a location of the central evaluation instance for generation of a transmit signal for all of the transceiver units.
However, Seler teaches wherein an oscillator is situated at a location of the central evaluation instance for generation of a transmit signal for all of the transceiver units; Fig. 5 #130; [0040] and [0042].
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Waelde with oscillator being placed with the CPU as taught by Seler as it allows for further control of the signal being generated at the evaluation unit for optimizing the outputted signal.
Referring to Claim 9, Waelde as modified by Seler teach wherein an oscillator is disposed on one of the installation supports for generation of a transmit signal for all of the transceiver units; [0087] of Waelde and citations of Seler.
Referring to Claim 10, Waelde as modified by Seler teaches wherein each transceiver unit of the transceiver units has a local oscillator for generation of a transmit signal for the transceiver unit, and the local oscillators are synchronized with one another via the synchronization network; [0075].
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Waelde as modified by Seler in view of Cho et al. (Cho, US PGPub 2017/022314).
Referring to Claim 11, Waelde as modified by Seler teach the separate installation supports, but does not explicitly disclose nor limit they are self-contained housings, each of the self-contained housings is sealed on a front side by a radar dome which is transparent to radar waves, and each of the self-contained housings includes a board on which electronic components of a respective transceiver unit are situated.
While it is common knowledge that the claimed limitations are the well known and design of radar modules or units and would be common knowledge to one of ordinary skill in the art, Cho teaches in Fig. 1 and 2 self-contained housings, each of the self-contained housings is sealed on a front side by a radar dome which is transparent to radar waves, and each of the self-contained housings includes a board on which electronic components of a respective transceiver unit are situated; [0027-0032].
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Waelde as modified by Seler with the units as taught by Cho as it is predictable and well known to substitute one known element for another to obtain predictable results of providing improved mobility of the vehicle while using a smaller radar module that suppresses electromagnetic mutual coupling.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WHITNEY T MOORE whose telephone number is (571)270-3338. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday from 7am-4pm.
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/WHITNEY MOORE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3646
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