Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
This action is in response to the initial filing filed on November 2, 2023 Claims 1-16 have been examined in this application.
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.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hongyan et al (WO 2023/016350 A1) in view of Breed et al (US 2007/0135982 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Hongyan teaches an in-vehicle-object detection method for a radar device, comprising [0042 for radar in roof to sense passengers]:
a) obtaining a plurality of receiving signals corresponding to a plurality of space objects by an antenna array of the radar device [0047-0048 for using a MIMO array for receiving echo signal that are transmitted to a preset area];
b) computing a plurality of first distances between the antenna array and the plurality of space objects based on the plurality of receiving signals [0048 for transmitting to a target to determine distance and 0052 for determining seat occupancy using reflected signals];
c) filtering a background noise of the plurality of first distances to obtain a plurality of second distances between a plurality of indeterminate objects of the plurality of space objects and the antenna array [0049 for determining distance of each time-domain echo signal (multiple distances) 0061 for reducing clutter interference (filtering) to determine positions information (second distance based on a filtered echo];
d) performing a beamforming based on the plurality of second distances to compute a plurality of angle information each corresponding to each of the plurality of second distances [0063 for using beam steering to get target heading including azimuth and pitch (angles) and 0064 for determining position (distance)];
e) generating a distance-angle heatmap comprising a plurality of regions of interest (ROIs), wherein each of the plurality of ROIs corresponds to a passenger-seat position in the vehicle [0060 for determining occupied area (ROI) for a passenger inside a vehicle, and 0073];
and f) determining whether each of the plurality of ROIs in the distance-angle is associated with a human feature to decide whether each of the indeterminate objects is related to a human or an unhuman [0060-0061, 0064 for distance angle calculations for occupied area (ROI_ 0139-0142 for mean to determine a living being based on chest cavity motion (human child)].
Hongyan fails to explicitly teach using a heat map associated with a human feature.
Breed has a method for determining weight of an occupant of an automotive seat (abstract) and teaches using a heat map associated with a human feature [0221].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the passenger position techniques, as disclosed by Hongyun, further including the heat calculations as taught by Breed for the purpose to detect the presence of a human or other life form in a vehicle (Breed, 0221).
Regarding Claim 9, Hongyan teaches a radar device for detecting an object in a vehicle, comprising [0042 for radar in roof to sense passengers]:
an antenna array, configured to receive a plurality of receiving signals [0047-0048 for using a MIMO array for receiving echo signal that are transmitted to a preset area];
and a microprocessor, connected to the antenna array and configured to perform operations comprising [0041 for using a CAN and firmware]:
a) obtaining the plurality of receiving signals corresponding to a plurality of space objects [0047-0048 for using a MIMO array for receiving echo signal that are transmitted to a preset area];
b) computing a plurality of first distances between the antenna array and the plurality of space objects based on the plurality of receiving signals [0048 for transmitting to a target to determine distance and 0052 for determining seat occupancy using reflected signals];
c) filtering a background noise of the plurality of first distances to obtain a plurality of second distances between a plurality of indeterminate objects of the plurality of space objects and the antenna array [0049 for determining distance of each time-domain echo signal (multiple distances) 0061 for reducing clutter interference (filtering) to determine positions information (second distance based on a filtered echo];
d) performing a beamforming based on the plurality of second distances to compute a plurality of angle information each corresponding to each of the plurality of second distances [0063 for using beam steering to get target heading including azimuth and pitch (angles) and 0064 for determining position (distance)];
e) generating a distance-angle heatmap comprising a plurality of regions of interest (ROIs), wherein each of the plurality of ROIs corresponds to a passenger-seat position in the vehicle [0060 for determining occupied area (ROI) for a passenger inside a vehicle, and 0073];
and f) determining whether each of the plurality of ROIs in the distance-angle is associated with a human feature to decide whether each of the indeterminate objects is related to a human or an unhuman [0060-0061, 0064 for distance angle calculations for occupied area (ROI, 0139-0142 for mean to determine a living being based on chest cavity motion (human child)].
Hongyan fails to explicitly teach using a heat map associated with a human feature.
Breed has a method for determining weight of an occupant of an automotive seat (abstract) and teaches using a heat map associated with a human feature [0221].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the passenger position techniques, as disclosed by Hongyun, further including the heat calculations as taught by Breed for the purpose to detect the presence of a human or other life form in a vehicle (Breed, 0221).
Regarding Claim 2 and 10, Hongyan teaches step b) further comprises: computing a discrete Fourier transform to transform the plurality of receiving signals of the antenna array to be the plurality of first distances [0049-0050].
Regarding Claim 4 and 12, Hongyan teaches wherein step d) further comprises: computing a discrete Fourier transform to the plurality of second distances whose background noises are filtered to obtain the plurality of angle information from the plurality of second distances [0049-0050]
whose background noises are filtered and obtaining a plurality of second distance-angle information each comprising the plurality of second distances and the plurality of angle information [0053].
Regarding Claim 5 and 13, Hongyan teaches each of the plurality of ROIs comprises a plurality of distance-angle information grids, and step f) comprises [0188-0193]:
determining an energy value of each of the distance-angle information grids corresponding to each of the plurality of the ROIs according to the passenger-seat position in the vehicle [0188-0193 using seat belt reminders (determining seat positions)];
marking one of the distance-angle information grids in one of the ROIs when the energy value of the distance-angle information grid is determined to be greater than a first threshold [0173-0178];
and determining that one of the ROIs is associated with a first human feature candidate when a ratio of the distance-angle information grids being marked in the ROI is greater than a second threshold [0177-0180 for determining gestures (human features) using preset areas (regions)].
Regarding Claim 6 and 14, Hongyan teaches step f) further comprises: transforming the energy values of the distance-angle information grids in each of the plurality of the ROIs of the distance-angle into a plurality of angle-energy information [0209-0211 for using echo signal to determine occupants];
and determining that one of the ROIs is associated with a second human feature candidate when the angle-energy information of the ROI shows a shape similar to a human body [0214-0217, 0221-0223].
Hongyan fails to explicitly teach using a heat map associated with a human feature.
Breed has a method for determining weight of an occupant of an automotive seat (abstract) and teaches using a heat map associated with a human feature [0221].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the passenger position techniques, as disclosed by Hongyun, further including the heat calculations as taught by Breed for the purpose to detect the presence of a human or other life form in a vehicle (Breed, 0221).
Regarding Claim 7 and 15, Hongyan teaches step f) further comprises: computing a discrete Fourier transform according to the plurality of the second distance-angle information of each of the plurality of the ROIs to obtain a human physiological feature signal [0210-0211];
and determining that one of the pluralities of the ROIs is a third human feature candidate when the human physiological feature signal of the ROI is greater than a third threshold [0139-0142 for mean to determine a living being based on chest cavity motion (human child)].
Regarding Claim 8 and 16, Hongyan teaches wherein step f) further comprises: computing a weighting sum of a first determination result of the first human feature candidate [0060 for first determination (area occupied), a second determination result of the second human feature candidate [0067 for determining micro-motion (chest movement), and a third determination result of the third human feature candidate according to a first weight, a second weight, and a third weight for each of the plurality of ROIs [0061-0063 for weighting signals, 0126 for recognizing human movements, life form, and occupant recognition];
and determining that one of the ROIs is associated with the human feature when the weighting sum of the ROI is greater than a fourth threshold [0067-0069 for generating 3D point cloud data for each seat area].
Claims 3 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hongyan et al (WO 2023/016350 A1) in view of Breed et al (US 2007/0135982 A1), as applied to Claims 1 and 9 above, and further in view of Zhang (CN 104101878 B).
Regarding Claim 3 and 11, Hongyan fails to explicitly teach step c) further comprises: removing distances corresponding to a speed being close to zero from the plurality of first distances to obtain the plurality of second distances.
Zhang has a vehicle front target recognition system and a recognition method (abstract) and teaches removing distances corresponding to a speed being close to zero from the plurality of first distances to obtain the plurality of second distance [0008].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the passenger position techniques, as disclosed by Hongyun, further including the speed calculations as taught by Zhang for the purpose to curve radius and aerial angle in real time (Zhang, 0008).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yu et al (US 2019/0310363A1) has two radars protrudingly arranged on the bus body of the school bus in a tilted manner and respectively electrically connected to the main unit.
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/SAMARINA MAKHDOOM/
Examiner, Art Unit 3648