DETAILED ACTION
The amendments filed 11/05/2025 have been entered. Claims 1, 10, and 19 have been amended. Claims 1-20 remain pending in the application and are discussed on the merits below.
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 filed 11/05/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant asserts “Heckmann has not… been shown to disclose or suggest field of view ranges of the driver, and much less that the field of view ranges of the driver are divided into a plurality of field of view sectors of the vehicle” in pages 2-3 of Applicant’s Remarks. However, Examiner respectfully disagrees. Heckmann discloses observing a driver’s head and eye movements do determine which part of a traffic scene the driver has observed (see at least [0034]). One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the areas a driver is able to observe is a driver’s current field of view. Heckmann further discloses that for the current intersection has areas 7 and 8 that need to be viewed by the driver (see Fig. 1 and [0031]), indicating both areas are able to be viewed by the driver. As shown in Figure 1, areas 7 and 8 are the left and right sides of the intersection. One having ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the field of view of the driver is the intersection and areas 7 and 8 are the view sectors that the intersection is divided into.
Therefore, Applicant’s arguments are found not persuasive and the rejection under 35 USC §103 is maintained as outlined below.
Response to Amendment
Regarding the rejections under 35 USC §102 and 103, the amendments made to the claims fail to overcome the prior art of record. The rejections under 35 USC §102 and 103 are maintained as outlined below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Heckmann (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0232931 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Heckmann discloses:
A vehicle control method, comprising: dividing field of view ranges of a driver of a vehicle into a plurality of view sectors of the vehicle (for an intersection, prototypical areas would be areas 7 and 8, see at least [0031]) *The intersection is divided into areas 7 and 8, see Fig. 1, wherein the driver is required to view these areas before proceeding, see at least paragraph [0033]. Examiner sets forth that One having ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the field of view range is the intersection as a whole, and viewing areas 7 and 8 would be dividing the view range into a plurality of sectors
obtaining sight information of the driver (driver’s head and eye movements are observed, see at least [0034] and [0041]; eye tracker, see at least [0043]), wherein the sight information comprises a focus sector of the driver (infer from driver’s head and eye movements if part of traffic scene in the relevant area has been perceived, see at least [0041]), and the focus sector comprises at least one of the plurality of field of view sectors of the vehicle (areas of relevant traffic first area 7 and second area 8, see at least [0033]-[0034]); and
obtaining a control policy of the vehicle based on at least the sight information (signal causing activation of brakes is maintained as long as driver does not pay attention to area 7, see at least [0033]).
Regarding claim 2, Heckmann discloses the elements above and further discloses:
obtaining the control policy of the vehicle based on at least the sight information comprises: obtaining the control policy based on the sight information and vehicle information of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle information comprises at least one of the following: a steering wheel angle, an angular velocity, a turn signal, or a vehicle speed (information from turning lights switched on by driver determines which direction vehicle will drive on, see at least [0017])
Regarding claim 6, Heckmann discloses the elements above and further discloses:
the focus sector is obtained based on at least one of blind zone information or obstacle information (vehicles 3 and 4 are within an area which needs to be observed, see at least [0027]) *Examiner sets forth the other vehicles 3 and 4 are obstacles.
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 3, 10-12, 15, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heckmann in view of Kashchenko (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0077308 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Heckmann discloses the elements above and further discloses:
obtaining the control policy based on the sight information and the vehicle information of the vehicle comprises: processing the sight information and the vehicle information, to obtain a driving intention of the driver, wherein the driving intention is lane keeping, turning, or lane changing (it is possible to determine whether vehicle will turn, see at least [0017]); and obtaining the control policy based on the driving intention (signal to turn causes brakes of vehicle to be activated until driver perceives the traffic scene in the relevant area, see at least [0018])
Heckmann does not disclose:
using a trained neural network model
However, Kashchenko teaches:
processing the sight information and the vehicle information by using a trained neural network model, to obtain a driving intention of the driver, wherein the driving intention is lane keeping, turning, or lane changing; and obtaining the control policy based on the driving intention (collecting information, using internal and external sensors, of driver behavior, vehicle condition, and road or traffic conditions and feeding the information into a neural network to determine to automatically activate turn indicators, see at least [0014]; detect a change of gaze in connection with a left turn maneuver, see at least [0049]).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the driver gaze and turn disclosed by Heckmann by adding the trained neural network taught by Kashchenko with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification “to provide an automatic assistance to the driver of the motor vehicle in performing a maneuver by determining whether the current traffic conditions are suitable for changing the direction of the vehicle based on the rules for detecting, determining and confirming a new direction of the car, and activating the car turn signals in accordance with the new direction of the car” (see [0007]).
Regarding claim 10, Heckmann discloses:
A vehicle control apparatus, comprising: at least one processor (processor, see at least [0014] and [0045]); and (memory 15, see at least [0045]) coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (processor performs based on information stored in memory, see at least [0045]), cause the vehicle control apparatus to perform operations comprising:
dividing field of view ranges of a driver of a vehicle into a plurality of view sectors of the vehicle (for an intersection, prototypical areas would be areas 7 and 8, see at least [0031]) *The intersection is divided into areas 7 and 8, see Fig. 1, wherein the driver is required to view these areas before proceeding, see at least paragraph [0033]. Examiner sets forth that One having ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the field of view range is the intersection as a whole, and viewing areas 7 and 8 would be dividing the view range into a plurality of sectors
obtaining sight information of the driver (driver’s head and eye movements are observed, see at least [0034] and [0041]; eye tracker, see at least [0043]), wherein the sight information comprises a focus sector of the driver (infer from driver’s head and eye movements if part of traffic scene in the relevant area has been perceived, see at least [0041]), and the focus sector comprises at least one of the plurality of field of view sectors of the vehicle (areas of relevant traffic first area 7 and second area 8, see at least [0033]-[0034]); and
obtaining a control policy of the vehicle based on at least the sight information (signal causing activation of brakes is maintained as long as driver does not pay attention to area 7, see at least [0033]).
Heckmann does not explicitly disclose:
a non-transitory computer readable medium
However, Kashchenko teaches:
a non-transitory computer readable medium (a non-transitory computer-readable medium, see at least [0086])
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the memory and processor disclosed by Heckmann by adding the non-transitory computer readable medium taught by Kashchenko with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification “to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a processor of a general purpose computer” (see [0086]). Furthermore, the use of non-transitory computer readable medium is well known in the art and would have been obvious to use to One having ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Heckmann and Kashchenko teaches the elements above and Heckmann further discloses:
obtaining the control policy of the vehicle based on at least the sight information comprises: obtaining the control policy based on the sight information and vehicle information of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle information comprises at least one of the following: a steering wheel angle, an angular velocity, a turn signal, or a vehicle speed (information from turning lights switched on by driver determines which direction vehicle will drive on, see at least [0017])
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Heckmann and Kashchenko teaches the elements above and Heckmann further discloses:
obtaining the control policy based on the sight information and the vehicle information of the vehicle comprises: processing the sight information and the vehicle information, to obtain a driving intention of the driver, wherein the driving intention is lane keeping, turning, or lane changing (it is possible to determine whether vehicle will turn, see at least [0017]); and
obtaining the control policy based on the driving intention (signal to turn causes brakes of vehicle to be activated until driver perceives the traffic scene in the relevant area, see at least [0018]).
Heckmann does not disclose:
using a trained neural network model
However, Kashchenko teaches:
processing the sight information and the vehicle information by using a trained neural network model, to obtain a driving intention of the driver, wherein the driving intention is lane keeping, turning, or lane changing; and obtaining the control policy based on the driving intention (collecting information, using internal and external sensors, of driver behavior, vehicle condition, and road or traffic conditions and feeding the information into a neural network to determine to automatically activate turn indicators, see at least [0014]; detect a change of gaze in connection with a left turn maneuver, see at least [0049]).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the driver gaze and turn disclosed by Heckmann by adding the trained neural network taught by Kashchenko with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification “to provide an automatic assistance to the driver of the motor vehicle in performing a maneuver by determining whether the current traffic conditions are suitable for changing the direction of the vehicle based on the rules for detecting, determining and confirming a new direction of the car, and activating the car turn signals in accordance with the new direction of the car” (see [0007]).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Heckmann and Kashchenko teaches the elements above and Heckmann further discloses:
the focus sector is obtained based on at least one of blind zone information or obstacle information (vehicles 3 and 4 are within an area which needs to be observed, see at least [0027]) *Examiner sets forth the other vehicles 3 and 4 are obstacles.
Regarding claim 19, Heckmann discloses:
storing one or more instructions executable by a computer system to perform operations comprising (processor performs based on information stored in memory, see at least [0045]):
dividing field of view ranges of a driver of a vehicle into a plurality of view sectors of the vehicle (for an intersection, prototypical areas would be areas 7 and 8, see at least [0031]) *The intersection is divided into areas 7 and 8, see Fig. 1, wherein the driver is required to view these areas before proceeding, see at least paragraph [0033]. Examiner sets forth that One having ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the field of view range is the intersection as a whole, and viewing areas 7 and 8 would be dividing the view range into a plurality of sectors
obtaining sight information of the driver (driver’s head and eye movements are observed, see at least [0034] and [0041]; eye tracker, see at least [0043]), wherein the sight information comprises a focus sector of the driver (infer from driver’s head and eye movements if part of traffic scene in the relevant area has been perceived, see at least [0041]), and the focus sector comprises at least one of the plurality of field of view sectors of the vehicle (areas of relevant traffic first area 7 and second area 8, see at least [0033]-[0034]); and
obtaining a control policy of the vehicle based on at least the sight information (signal causing activation of brakes is maintained as long as driver does not pay attention to area 7, see at least [0033]).
Heckmann does not explicitly disclose:
a non-transitory computer readable medium
However, Kashchenko teaches:
a non-transitory computer readable medium (a non-transitory computer-readable medium, see at least [0086])
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the memory and processor disclosed by Heckmann by adding the non-transitory computer readable medium taught by Kashchenko with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification “to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a processor of a general purpose computer” (see [0086]). Furthermore, the use of non-transitory computer readable medium is well known in the art and would have been obvious to use to One having ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Heckmann and Kashchenko teaches the elements above and Heckmann further discloses:
obtaining the control policy of the vehicle based on at least the sight information comprises: obtaining the control policy based on the sight information and vehicle information of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle information comprises at least one of the following: a steering wheel angle, an angular velocity, a turn signal, or a vehicle speed (information from turning lights switched on by driver determines which direction vehicle will drive on, see at least [0017])
Claims 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heckmann in view of Arar et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0121867 A1; hereinafter Arar) and Sung (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0060234 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Heckmann discloses the limitations above and further discloses:
Left side of intersection and right side of intersection, see at least [0030]-[0031] and Fig. 1
Heckmann does not explicitly disclose:
a field of view sector of a left vehicle window, a field of view sector of a left rearview mirror, a field of view sector of a front vehicle window, a field of view sector of an in-vehicle rearview mirror, a field of view sector of a right vehicle window, and a field of view sector of a right rearview mirror
However, Arar teaches:
the plurality of field of view sectors comprises a field of view sector of a left vehicle window, a field of view sector of a left rearview mirror, a field of view sector of a front vehicle window, a field of view sector of a right vehicle window, and a field of view sector of a right rearview mirror (gaze regions include left side region corresponding to a driver side window and a driver side mirror, left front gaze region corresponding to left half portion of front windshield, right front gaze region corresponding to a right half of front windshield, right gaze region corresponding to passenger side window and passenger side mirror, see at least [0027])
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the observation relevant area disclosed by Heckmann by adding the left and right windows and mirrors taught by Arar with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order “to determine whether the driver or occupant has processed or seen certain object types, environmental conditions, or other information exterior to the vehicle” (see [0004]).
Furthermore, Sung teaches:
a field of view sector of an in-vehicle rearview mirror (driver may gaze to rearview, see at least [0110])
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the observation relevant area disclosed by Heckmann and the left and right windows and mirrors taught by Arar by adding the rearview gaze taught by Sung with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order “to check the situation behind the vehicle” (see [0110]).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Heckmann, Arar, and Sung teaches the elements above but Heckmann does not explicitly disclose:
the field of view sector of the front vehicle window comprises a left field of view sector of the front vehicle window and a right field of view sector of the front vehicle window
However, Arar teaches:
the field of view sector of the front vehicle window comprises a left field of view sector of the front vehicle window and a right field of view sector of the front vehicle window(gaze regions include left half portion of front windshield and right half of front windshield, see at least [0027])
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the observation relevant area disclosed by Heckmann by adding the left and right windows and mirrors taught by Arar with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order “to determine whether the driver or occupant has processed or seen certain object types, environmental conditions, or other information exterior to the vehicle” (see [0004]).
Claims 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heckmann in view of Laine (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0272215 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Heckmann discloses the elements above and further discloses:
Driver’s eye glance and head motion is used to determine where driver is focused, see at least [0019])
Heckmann does not explicitly disclose:
Line-of-sight
However, Laine teaches:
the focus sector is obtained based on at least a line-of-sight direction of the driver (determining a line of sight and field of view of a driver, see at least [0010] and [0058]).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the driver’s eye glance and head motion disclosed by Heckmann by adding the line of sight taught by Laine with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification “in order to determine if the driver sees the obstacle” (see [0014]). Furthermore, One of ordinary skill in the art would also understand that the combination of an eye gaze and head motion can be used to determine a line of sight.
Regarding claim 8, Heckmann discloses the elements above and further discloses:
Activating brakes of the vehicle so further driving is inhibited, see at least [0015]
Heckmann does not explicitly disclose:
the control policy comprises at least one of the following: an anti-collision warning policy, an autonomous emergency braking policy, an adaptive cruise control policy, a lane departure warning policy, a lane keeping assist policy, or a lane centering assist policy.
However, Laine teaches:
the control policy comprises at least one of the following: an anti-collision warning policy (an alert is generated if potential obstacle is on a possible collision course with the driver/vehicle, see at least [0044]), an autonomous emergency braking policy, an adaptive cruise control policy, a lane departure warning policy, a lane keeping assist policy, or a lane centering assist policy
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the prohibiting a turn to avoid a collision disclosed by Heckmann by adding the alert taught by Laine with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to generate “alerts to the driver for obstacles which the driver may not see” (see [0014]) to prevent a collision and maintain safety.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heckmann in view of Sung.
Regarding claim 9, Heckmann discloses the elements above but does not explicitly disclose:
displaying the focus sector on a display unit.
However, Sung teaches:
displaying the focus sector on a display unit (processor may control display to display a frame of the left side-view mirror, see at least [0226] and Fig. 9C)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the driver gaze determination disclosed by Heckmann by adding the display taught by Sung with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification “ to provide a driver assistance apparatus for assisting the driver in looking ahead by determining information necessary for the driver based on at least one of gaze and a gesture of the driver and outputting the information on the windshield and a method for controlling the same” (see [0008]).
Claims 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heckmann in view of Kashchenko as applied to claim 10 above and further in view of Arar and Sung.
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Heckmann and Kashchenko teaches the limitations above and Heckmann further discloses:
Left side of intersection and right side of intersection, see at least [0030]-[0031] and Fig. 1
Heckmann does not explicitly disclose:
the plurality of field of view sectors comprises a field of view sector of a left vehicle window, a field of view sector of a left rearview mirror, a field of view sector of a front vehicle window, a field of view sector of an in-vehicle rearview mirror, a field of view sector of a right vehicle window, and a field of view sector of a right rearview mirror.
However, Arar teaches:
the plurality of field of view sectors comprises a field of view sector of a left vehicle window, a field of view sector of a left rearview mirror, a field of view sector of a front vehicle window, a field of view sector of a right vehicle window, and a field of view sector of a right rearview mirror (gaze regions include left side region corresponding to a driver side window and a driver side mirror, left front gaze region corresponding to left half portion of front windshield, right front gaze region corresponding to a right half of front windshield, right gaze region corresponding to passenger side window and passenger side mirror, see at least [0027])
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the observation relevant area disclosed by Heckmann and the non-transitory computer readable medium taught by Kashchenko by adding the left and right windows and mirrors taught by Arar with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order “to determine whether the driver or occupant has processed or seen certain object types, environmental conditions, or other information exterior to the vehicle” (see [0004]).
Furthermore, Sung teaches:
a field of view sector of an in-vehicle rearview mirror (driver may gaze to rearview, see at least [0110])
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the observation relevant area disclosed by Heckmann, the non-transitory computer readable medium taught by Kashchenko, and the left and right windows and mirrors taught by Arar by adding the rearview gaze taught by Sung with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order “to check the situation behind the vehicle” (see [0110]).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Heckmann, Kashchenko, Arar, and Sung teaches the elements above but Heckmann and Kashchenko do not teach:
the field of view sector of the front vehicle window comprises a left field of view sector of the front vehicle window and a right field of view sector of the front vehicle window.
However, Arar teaches:
the field of view sector of the front vehicle window comprises a left field of view sector of the front vehicle window and a right field of view sector of the front vehicle window(gaze regions include left half portion of front windshield and right half of front windshield, see at least [0027])
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the observation relevant area disclosed by Heckmann and the non-transitory computer readable medium taught by Kashchenko by adding the left and right windows and mirrors taught by Arar with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order “to determine whether the driver or occupant has processed or seen certain object types, environmental conditions, or other information exterior to the vehicle” (see [0004]).
Claims 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heckmann in view of Kashchenko as applied to claim 10 above and further in view of Laine.
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Heckmann and Kashchenko teaches the limitations above and Heckmann further discloses:
Driver’s eye glance and head motion is used to determine where driver is focused, see at least [0019])
The combination of Heckmann and Kashchenko does not teach:
Line-of-sight
However, Laine teaches:
the focus sector is obtained based on at least a line-of-sight direction of the driver (determining a line of sight and field of view of a driver, see at least [0010] and [0058]).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the driver’s eye glance and head motion disclosed by Heckmann and the non-transitory computer readable medium taught by Kashchenko by adding the line of sight taught by Laine with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification “in order to determine if the driver sees the obstacle” (see [0014]). Furthermore, One of ordinary skill in the art would also understand that the combination of an eye gaze and head motion can be used to determine a line of sight.
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Heckmann and Kashchenko teaches the limitations above and Heckmann further discloses:
Activating brakes of the vehicle so further driving is inhibited, see at least [0015]
The combination of Heckmann and Kashchenko does not teach:
the control policy comprises at least one of the following: an anti-collision warning policy, an autonomous emergency braking policy, an adaptive cruise control policy, a lane departure warning policy, a lane keeping assist policy, or a lane centering assist policy.
However, Laine teaches:
the control policy comprises at least one of the following: an anti-collision warning policy (an alert is generated if potential obstacle is on a possible collision course with the driver/vehicle, see at least [0044]), an autonomous emergency braking policy, an adaptive cruise control policy, a lane departure warning policy, a lane keeping assist policy, or a lane centering assist policy
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the prohibiting a turn to avoid a collision disclosed by Heckmann and the non-transitory computer readable medium taught by Kashchenko by adding the alert taught by Laine with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to generate “alerts to the driver for obstacles which the driver may not see” (see [0014]) to prevent a collision and maintain safety.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heckmann in view of Kashchenko as applied to claim 10 above and further in view of Sung.
Regarding claim 18, Heckmann discloses the elements above but does not explicitly disclose:
displaying the focus sector on a display unit.
However, Sung teaches:
displaying the focus sector on a display unit (processor may control display to display a frame of the left side-view mirror, see at least [0226] and Fig. 9C)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the driver gaze determination disclosed by Heckmann and the non-transitory computer readable medium taught by Kashchenko by adding the display taught by Sung with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification “ to provide a driver assistance apparatus for assisting the driver in looking ahead by determining information necessary for the driver based on at least one of gaze and a gesture of the driver and outputting the information on the windshield and a method for controlling the same” (see [0008]).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/H.L./Examiner, Art Unit 3662
/DALE W HILGENDORF/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3662