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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2-2-2024 is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-15 are objected to because many of the claims use the phrase “arranged to”. The language “arranged to” creates uncertainty as to whether the sensor and processor are configured to perform the indicated functions or if they are merely capable. The examiner recommends “arranged to” be replaced with “configured to”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 1-15 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.
As per claims 1 and 15, the phrase “relating the difference in ranges to the radar bandwidth” makes the claim indefinite as it is unclear what the word “relating” is actually doing. The specification provides no additional information on what exactly “relating” is or does with respect to range and bandwidth. Further clarification is required.
As per claim 12, the phrase “pre-determined radial velocity” makes the claim indefinite. It is unclear where this pre-determined velocity comes from, which antenna it was measured from and whether or not it relates to the specific target being analyzed. Further clarification is required.
Claims 2-11, 13 and 14 are rejected as per their dependency on the claims above.
Examiner’s Note: For applicant’s benefit portions of the cited reference(s) have been cited to aid in the review of the rejection(s). While every attempt has been made to be thorough and consistent within the rejection it is noted that the PRIOR ART MUST BE CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING DISCLOSURES THAT TEACH AWAY FROM THE CLAIMS. See MPEP 2141.02 VI.
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 9, 10, 12, 14 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crouch, et. al., U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2022/0099817, filed December 23, 2020.
As per claims 1 and 15, as best understood by examiner, Crouch discloses an automotive radar system comprising:
at least a first radar sensor a second radar sensor, and a processor (Crouch, Fig. 2)
where each of the first and second radar sensors is arranged to transmit a radar signal over a radar bandwidth where each of the first and second radar sensor is arranged to determine respective ranges to one or more detected targets [[(140)]], where each determined range is associated with a complex value in a range vector (Crouch, ¶75),
where the processor is arranged to determine a difference in the ranges determined by the first radar sensor and by the second radar sensor (Crouch, ¶78 where range difference is spatial matching)
where the processor is arranged to convert the difference in ranges to an intermediate frequency, phase value by relating the difference in ranges to the radar bandwidth (Crouch, ¶79 ideal phase shifts);
and where the processor is arranged to adjust the complex values in the range vectors by the IF phase value and determine an angle to at least one of the detected targets based on the adjusted complex values in the range vectors from each of the first and second radar sensors (Crouch, ¶82-83).
Crouch fails to explicitly disclose adjusting complex values however Crouch disclose adjusting pertinent values of the data to provide more accurate measurements. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to address the complex values since it has been held that omission of an element and its function in a combination where the remaining elements perform the same functions as before involves only routine skill in the art. In re Karlson, 136 USPQ 184.
As per claim 2, Crouch further discloses the automotive radar system [[(100)]] according to claim 1, where each of the first and second radar sensors sensor (110, 120) comprises an antenna array [[(210)]] configured with a plurality of transmit-receive antenna pairs [[(210)]], where each of the transmit-receive antenna pair pairs is associated with a respective range vector (Crouch, ¶69).
As per claim 9, Crouch further discloses The automotive radar system according to claim 1,where each of the first and second radar sensors is arranged to transmit a frequency modulated continuous wave, radar signal over the radar bandwidth (Crouch, ¶53).
As per claim 10, Crouch further discloses the automotive radar system according to claim 1,where each of the first and second radar sensors sensor (110,120) is arranged to determine respective radial velocities to the one or more detected targets [[(140)]], where each pair of range and radial velocity is associated with a complex value [[(Vmn)]] in a range-Doppler matrix (Crouch, ¶59).
As per claim 12, as best understood by examiner, Crouch further discloses the automotive radar system [[(100)]] according to claim 1,where the processor [[(130)]] is arranged to determine the difference in the ranges in dependence of a pre-determined radial velocity (Crouch, ¶59 using radial velocity data).
As per claim 14, Crouch further discloses a vehicle comprising the system of claim 1 (Crouch, Fig. 1).
Claim(s) 3-8, 11 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crouch in view of Wu, et. al., U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2022/0094397, filed July 27, 2021.
As per claim 3, Crouch discloses the system of claim 2 but fails to disclose using a matrix to represent the antenna elements.
Wu teaches a matrix representation of the array elements for processing (¶39).
It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to use matrices, as Applicant has not disclosed that it solves any stated problem of the prior art or is for any particular purpose. It appears that the invention would perform equally well as the invention disclosed by Crouch. The examiner notes it is well within the skill of a person in the art to determine how the data should be processed using known algorithms.
As per claim 4, Crouch as modified by Wu discloses The automotive radar system [[(100)]] according to claim 3, where the processor [[(130)]] is arranged to determine the angle [[(a)]] by performing a phase alignment over the matrix V (405), where each row is rotated in dependence of the first element [[(Vx1)]] in the row (Wu, ¶50-51).
As per claim 5, Crouch as modified by Wu further discloses the automotive radar system [[(100)]] according to claim 3, where the processor [[(130)]] is arranged to determine the angle [[(a)]] by applying a pre-determined calibration phase rotation to at least some of the elements of the matrix (Wu, ¶71 where phase shifts are known).
As per claims 6 and 7, Crouch as modified by Wu further discloses the automotive radar system [[(100)]] according to claim 3, where the processor [[(130)]] is arranged to determine the angle [[(a)]] to at least one of the detected targets [[(140)]] by zero-padding the rows of the matrix V (405) in dependence of the [[IF]] intermediate frequency phase value [[(CDIF)]] for each radar sensor with respect to a pre-determined reference radar sensor (Wu, ¶50).
It is well within the skill of a person in the art to determine whether zero padding of elements should be done in rows or columns depending on the spare antenna arrangement.
As per claim 8, Crouch as modified by Wu further discloses the automotive radar system [[(100)]] according to claim 3, where the processor [[(130)]] is arranged to determine the angle [[(a)]] to at least one of the detected targets [[(140)]] by a two-dimensional Discrete Fourier Transform, DFT, of the matrix V (405) after at least phase adjustment by at least the [[IF]] intermediate frequency phase value [[(CDIF)]] for each of the first and second radar sensors (Crouch, ¶60 and Wu, ¶55).
As per claim 11, Crouch as modified by Wu further discloses the automotive radar system according to claim 1,where the processor [[(130)]] is arranged to determine the difference in the ranges as a difference between a weighted sum of the magnitudes of the complex values in the range vector for each radar sensor (Wu, ¶64 using weighting).
As per claim 13, Crouch as modified by Wu further discloses the automotive radar system according to claim 1,where the first radar sensor [[(110)]] and the second radar sensor [[(120)]] constitute front corner radar sensors of a vehicle [[(101)]], where the radar sensors (110, 120) are configured with an overlapping field-of-view, FoV, (135) in a forward direction [[(F)]] of the vehicle (Crouch, ¶4 and Wu, ¶3).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have the sensors face forward in order to gain the obvious benefit of sensing possible collisions.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and is provided on form PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS E WINDRICH whose telephone number is (571)272-6417. The examiner can normally be reached M-F ~7-3:30.
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/MARCUS E WINDRICH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3646