DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to Applicant Amendment and Argument filed on 11/21/2025. This Action is made FINAL.
Claims 1-20 are pending for examination.
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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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) 1-2, 4-6, 8-9, 11-13, 15-16, and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyahara et al (US 10885788 B2) henceforth referred to as Miyahara and further in view of Frick et al (US 20040150835 A1) henceforth referred to as Frick.
Regarding Claim 1, Miyahara teaches A computing system comprising (col 3 line 49-53 : “FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one example of the configuration of a notification control apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 1 shows minimal components necessary for constituting the notification control apparatus according to the embodiment.”):
a memory storing instructions (col 3 line 54-57 : “As illustrated in FIG. 1, the notification control apparatus 1 includes an attribute detecting unit 2, an input recognizing unit 3, a message converting unit 4, and a road projection controller 5.”, col 6 line 5-12 : “A processing circuit implements the functions of the input recognizing unit 3, the travel state detecting unit 7, the object position detecting unit 8, the communication unit 9, the category detector 10, the attribute detecting unit 2, the road condition detecting unit 11, the determining unit 12, the message concept generating unit 13, the message converting unit 4, the road projection controller 5, and the audio-output controller 15 of the notification control apparatus 6.”, col 6 line 30-31 : “The processing circuit is a processor 23 that executes a program stored in a memory 24.”); and
at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured to execute the instructions to (col 6 line 30-34 : “The processing circuit is a processor 23 that executes a program stored in a memory 24. Examples of the processor 23 include a central processing unit, a processing unit, a calculating unit, a microprocessor, a microcomputer, and a digital signal processor (DSP).”):
receive routing data including routing information and road agent information of each of one or more road agents within a predetermined distance threshold of an autonomous vehicle (AV) (col 4 line 36-42 : “The travel state detecting unit 7 detects the travel state of the subject vehicle on the basis of information acquired from the vehicle control device 16. To be specific, the travel state detecting unit 7 detects, as the travel state, the speed and direction of travel of the subject vehicle and other things that are based on the driver's operation of the accelerator, brake, steering wheel, and other things.”, col 4 line 48-50 : “The object position detecting unit 8 detects the position of an object relative to the subject vehicle on the basis of information acquired from the vehicle sensor 17.”, col 5 line 29-35 : “The determining unit 12 determines the presence or absence of the object to be notified, on the basis of the travel state detected by the travel state detecting unit 7, the relative position of the object detected by the object position detecting unit 8, and the road condition detected by the road condition detecting unit 11.”, col 13 line 31-35 : “That is, the message converting unit 4 performs this conversion when the determining unit 12 determines that there is a notification target within a range that is predetermined from a travel route of the subject vehicle 25.”);
generate projection data including a content item associated with the routing information and the road agent information (col 5 line 36-42 : “The message concept generating unit 13 generates the concept of the input message that is notified to the notification target, from the input message recognized by the input recognizing unit 3. The message converting unit 4 converts the concept of the input message generated by the message concept generating unit 13 into a notification message indicating the same meaning as the input message.”);
determine a projection location, the projection location being at a surface of an environment outside of the AV (col 13 line 13-23 : “When determining that there is a notification target in step S104, the determining unit 12 may estimate a direction in which the notification target will move, on the basis of a change in the orientation of the face of the notification target detected by the attribute detecting unit 2, a change in the position of the notification target relative to the subject vehicle detected by the object position detecting unit 8, and the road condition detected by the road condition detecting unit 11. For a pedestrian waking toward a road along which the subject vehicle is traveling, for instance, the determining unit 12 estimates that the pedestrian will cross the road.”, Fig. 13, Fig. 13 shows the image displayed on a road surface of an environment outside of the AV); and
provide projection data to a projection controller device communicating with one or more projection devices, the projection controller device configured to cause at least one of the one or more projection devices to project the content item onto the surface at the projection location, wherein the projection data includes one or more projection parameters, (col 5 line 55-61 : “The road projection controller 5 controls the road projector 21 to project the notification message converted by the message converting unit 4 onto at least part of a road located around the object. The road projector 21 projects the notification message onto at least part of the road located around the object under the control of the road projection controller 5.”). However, Miyahara does not explicitly teach determine a color of the surface at the projection location and the one or more projection parameters selected based on the color of the surface.
However, in a similar field of endeavor (projection systems), Frick teaches a system to determine a color of the surface at the projection location (para [0028] : “FIG. 1 shows a profiling device 100 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, including essentially a color measurement unit 110 and a digital micro-controller based processor 120. The conventionally constructed color measurement unit includes an input optics 111 , a shutter 112, a set of color filters 113, a photo detector array 114, and an A/D converter 115.”, para [0030] : “In the illustrated example, the measurement unit 110 is constructed as a three-range (tri-stimulus) filter-color measurement device, whereby the measurement values represent the color values X, Y and Z according to CIE (Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage).”) and
the one or more projection parameters selected based on the color of the surface (para [0044] : “The digital image signals enter a transformation stage 210, which includes a scaling and gamma correction stage 211 and a color space converter. (CSC) 212 The scaling and gamma correction stage 211 is realized by color value replacement tables (lookup tables) in the memory, while the color space converter 212 essentially consists of a multiplication matrix, for example realized by the integrated circuit TMC2272A of the company Fairchild Semi-conductor. The color value replacement tables 211 are normally responsible for the adjustment of brightness B, contrast C and color temperature T, while the multiplication matrix 212 causes the rotation of the color space. The image data produced by the transformation stage 210 and transformed into the RGB color space of the projector are supplied to a modulation adaptation stage 203 also realized by color value replacement tables, where they are subjected to a further gamma correction, which takes into consideration the properties of the light modulator 205 used. The latter modulates the light originating from a projection light source 206 by way of the transformed (and adapted) image signals 204 supplied thereto. Digitally operating so called light valves are preferably used as light modulators, which depending on the modulation signal let light pass or block it. Such light valves are typically constructed as micro mirror fields. Of course, other types of modulators can also be used. The light modulated in space and color by the light modulator is then projected by a projection optics 207 onto a projection surface (not illustrated).”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to modify the system of Miyahara with the color profiling system of Frick to increase the visibility and quality of the projected image.
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of Miyahara and Frick teaches The computing system of claim 1, further Miyahara teaches the at least one processor is further configured to:
receive image data including one or more images (co 7 line 27-36 : “In step S102, the object position detecting unit 8 detects the position of the object relative to the subject vehicle on the basis of information acquired from the vehicle sensor 17. To be specific, the object position detecting unit 8 detects the position of the object relative to the subject vehicle on the basis of at least one of an image taken by a camera, the result of detection performed by a millimeter-wave radar, and the result of detection performed by an ultrasonic sensor.”);
identify an object within the one or more images (col 7 line 47-55 : “In step S104, the determining unit 12 determines whether there is a notification target to be notified, which is the object, on the basis of the travel state detected by the travel state detecting unit 7 in step S101, the relative position of the object detected by the object position detecting unit 8 in step S102, and the road condition detected by the road condition detecting unit 11 in step S103. If there is a notification target, the process proceeds to step S105. If there is no notification target, the process returns to step S101.”);
determine the object matches the content item based on one or more features of the one or more images and one or more features of the content item (col 8 line 4-9 : “In step S105, the category detector 10 detects the category of the notification target from an image taken by a camera, which is the vehicle sensor 17. In addition, the attribute detecting unit 2 detects the attribute of the notification target from the image, taken by the camera, which is the vehicle sensor 17.”, col 8 line 40-44 : “For a child being the notification target for instance, the message converting unit 4 converts the concept of the input message into a notification message that is easy for the child to understand, such as a symbol indicating “AFTER YOU”.”);
determine the object does not satisfy one or more projection thresholds (col 10 line 20-23 : “The first example describes an instance where the category detector 10 detects a category indicating human being and where the attribute detecting unit 2 detects an attribute indicating the age of a human being.”); and
adjust the one or more projection parameters of the content item based on determining the object does not satisfy one or more environmental thresholds (col 10 line 24-35 : “FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating how to notify a child 26 who is located in the direction of travel of a subject vehicle 25. As illustrated in FIG. 5, in which the notification target is the child 26, the message converting unit 4 converts the concept of the input message generated by the message concept generating unit 13 into a notification message 27 saying “AFTER YOU” in the form of a symbol. Under the control of the road projection controller 5, the road projector 21 projects the notification message 27 onto a road that is located around the child 26 and along which the subject vehicle 25 is traveling. The child 26 accordingly understands that he/she may cross the road.”, col 10 line 36-43 : “For an adult being the notification target, the message converting unit 4 may convert the concept of the input message generated by the message concept generating unit 13 into the notification message 27 shown in FIG. 6. For an elderly person being the notification target, the message converting unit 4 may convert the concept of the input message generated by the message concept generating unit 13 into the notification message 27 shown in FIG. 7.”).
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Miyahara and Frick teaches The computing system of claim 1, further Miyahara teaches the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine one or more motion characteristics of the one or more road agents (col 13 line 13-21 : “When determining that there is a notification target in step S104, the determining unit 12 may estimate a direction in which the notification target will move, on the basis of a change in the orientation of the face of the notification target detected by the attribute detecting unit 2, a change in the position of the notification target relative to the subject vehicle detected by the object position detecting unit 8, and the road condition detected by the road condition detecting unit 11.”); and
determine the projection location based on the one or more motion characteristics of the one or more road agents (col 13 line 35-42 : “The input message in this case is a message saying that the subject vehicle 25 is approaching near the adult 31. The road projection controller 5 then controls projection of the notification message 27 in the form of a line drawing between the subject vehicle 25 and the adult 31. The road projector 21 accordingly projects the notification message 27 in the form of a line drawing between the subject vehicle 25 and the adult 31.”).
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Miyahara and Frick teaches The computing system of claim 1, further Miyahara teaches the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine a road agent type of each of the one or more road agents (col 10 line 20-23 : “The first example describes an instance where the category detector 10 detects a category indicating human being and where the attribute detecting unit 2 detects an attribute indicating the age of a human being.”); and
determine the one or more projection parameters based on the determined road agent type of each of the one or more road agents (col 10 line 24-30 : “FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating how to notify a child 26 who is located in the direction of travel of a subject vehicle 25. As illustrated in FIG. 5, in which the notification target is the child 26, the message converting unit 4 converts the concept of the input message generated by the message concept generating unit 13 into a notification message 27 saying “AFTER YOU” in the form of a symbol.”).
Regarding Claim 6, the combination of Miyahara and Frick teaches The computing system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine a road agent type of each of the one or more road agents (col 10 line 20-23 : “The first example describes an instance where the category detector 10 detects a category indicating human being and where the attribute detecting unit 2 detects an attribute indicating the age of a human being.”); and
wherein the content item is further based on the determined road agent type of each of the one or more road agents (col 10 line 24-30 : “FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating how to notify a child 26 who is located in the direction of travel of a subject vehicle 25. As illustrated in FIG. 5, in which the notification target is the child 26, the message converting unit 4 converts the concept of the input message generated by the message concept generating unit 13 into a notification message 27 saying “AFTER YOU” in the form of a symbol.”).
Regarding Claims 8, it recites a method with limitations substantially the same as claim 1 above, therefore, it is rejected for the same reason.
Regarding Claim 9, it recites a method with limitations substantially the same as claim 2 above, therefore, it is rejected for the same reason.
Regarding Claim 11, it recites a method with limitations substantially the same as claim 4 above, therefore, it is rejected for the same reason.
Regarding Claim 12, it recites a method with limitations substantially the same as claim 5 above, therefore, it is rejected for the same reason.
Regarding Claim 13, it recites a method with limitations substantially the same as claim 6 above, therefore, it is rejected for the same reason.
Regarding Claim 15, it non-transitory computer readable medium with limitations substantially the same as claim 1 above, therefore, it is rejected for the same reason.
Regarding Claim 16, it non-transitory computer readable medium with limitations substantially the same as claim 2 above, therefore, it is rejected for the same reason.
Regarding Claim 18, it non-transitory computer readable medium with limitations substantially the same as claim 4 above, therefore, it is rejected for the same reason.
Regarding Claim 19, it non-transitory computer readable medium with limitations substantially the same as claim 5 above, therefore, it is rejected for the same reason.
Regarding Claim 20, it non-transitory computer readable medium with limitations substantially the same as claim 6 above, therefore, it is rejected for the same reason.
Regarding Claim 7, the combination of Miyahara and Frick teaches The computing system of claim 2, further Frick teaches wherein the one or more projection parameters is based on a color contrast level associated with the surface at the projection location (para [0038] : “The calibration module 171 produces setup RGB calibration color values 171 for calibration purposes and calculates therefrom and from the corresponding XYZ color measurement values 151 in a generally known manner adjustment values or calibration data 175 for the control of the brightness B, the contrast C and the color temperature T of the beamer, which setup RGB calibration color values 174 and adjustment values or calibration data 175 are output at the interface 130.”).
Regarding Claim 14, it recites a method with limitations substantially the same as claim 7 above, therefore, it is rejected for the same reason.
Claim(s) 3, 10, and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyahara and Frick and further in view of Thompson et al (US 9827901 B1) henceforth referred to as Thompson.
Regarding Claim 3, the combination of Miyahara and Frick teaches The computing system of claim 1, however Miyahara does not explicitly teach wherein the one or more projection parameters is associated with at least one of a brightness parameter and color parameter.
However, in the same field of endeavor (vehicle projector controls) Thompson teaches wherein the one or more projection parameters is associated with at least one of a brightness parameter and color parameter (col 6 line 43-45 : “Alternatively, a brightness of the projection profile may be a function of the sensed lighting status of the environment.”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to modify the system of Miyahara and Frick with the brightness parameter modifications of Thompson to increase the visibility of projected image in different environmental lighting scenarios.
Regarding Claim 10, it recites a method with limitations substantially the same as claim 3 above, therefore, it is rejected for the same reason.
Regarding Claim 17, it non-transitory computer readable medium with limitations substantially the same as claim 3 above, therefore, it is rejected for the same reason.
Conclusion
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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Lee et al (US 9978280 B2) teaches a driver assistance apparatus in a vehicle which includes a sensor configured to detect obstacles around the vehicle, a plurality of indicator output units disposed at different positions on the vehicle, and a processor configured to detect an obstacle around the vehicle and a positional relationship between the vehicle and the obstacle, selectively control the indicator output units to display an indicator outside the vehicle at a position and with a display characteristic, based on the detected positional relationship, detect the positional relationship between the vehicle and the obstacle changing, and selectively control the indicator output units to change at least one of the position and the display characteristic of the indicator based on the changing positional relationship.
Kim (US 11106214 B2) teaches a system with an artificial neural networked-based projection information recognition apparatus for a vehicle capable of learning information projected on a road surface by a neighboring vehicle based on an artificial neural network and also recognizing information projected on a region of interest determined based on a driving direction of the vehicle.
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/D.H./Examiner, Art Unit 3668
/JAMES J LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3668