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 .
DETAILED ACTION
1. The following Office action is in response to communications filed on 3/14/2024. Claims 1-20 are currently pending within this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 3/14/2024 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Foreign Priority
3. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55 for claiming foreign priority to application KR 10-2023-0115834, filed on 8/31/2023.
Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 102
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.
4. Claims 1, 8, 10-11, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Odea (US PGPub 2015/0293216) [hereafter Odea].
5. As to claim 1, Odea discloses an object recognition apparatus (system 12 included within host vehicle 10 as shown in Figure 1 that performs the operational methods shown in Figures 2-4) comprising: a sensor (sensors 26); and a processor (control module 36 with processing devices 44 performing instructions stored within memory device 46) configured to: determine, based on at least one frame of data obtained via the sensor, at least one of a left road boundary or a right road boundary, of a road (road R as shown in Figure 1) on which a vehicle (host vehicle 10) is located (as shown in Figures 1 and 5); determine, on a plane (polar/Cartesian planes having corresponding coordinates) formed based on at least two coordinate axes in a specific frame of the data, positions of contour points that represent an object (as shown in Figure 5); assign a first reliability value (classification value of stationary based on determination of zero ground speed) or a second reliability value (classification value of moving based on determination of not zero ground speed) to the object based on at least one of the left road boundary, the right road boundary, or the positions of the contour points; and determine, based on the first reliability value or the second reliability value, whether the object is a moving object, a movable stationary object, or an immovable stationary object, wherein the first reliability value indicates that the object is the immovable stationary object, and wherein the second reliability value indicates that the object is the moving object or the movable stationary object (Paragraphs 0012-0015, 0018-0026, 0028, 0030-0033, 0035-0038, 0042-0044, 0047-0051, a host vehicle for navigating a road includes sensors comprising Lidar, radar, camera, etc., that provide data frames to a processor that uses said data frames to determine left and right offsets of data points that correspond to leftmost and rightmost edges or boundaries of the road, such as left and right lane markers, and also determine contours of objects with the field of view of the vehicle, such as guardrails or other moving vehicles, on a polar/Cartesian coordinate system, and uses said data points in addition to other vehicular sensors in order to determine if the detected objects exhibit a zero ground moving speed or higher and thereby assigns a classification to the data points of the objects based on said moving speed determination in order to distinguish/label the objects as moving objects or immovable stationary objects).
6. As to claim 8, Odea discloses the processor is configured to assign the first reliability value or the second reliability value to the object by determining whether the second reliability value is assigned to a second object to which the first reliability value has not been assigned (Paragraphs 0024-0025, the processor classifies the consolidated data points for objects such that objects having data points assigned the second value indicating the object is a moving object do not have the first value indicating the object is a stationary object assigned thereto in order to distinguish a long moving semi-truck trailer from a stationary guard rail having the same length).
7. As to claim 10, Odea discloses the moving object or the movable stationary object comprises a vehicle different from the vehicle, and wherein the processor is configured to assign, to the object, an identifier indicating that the object is the moving object or the movable stationary object (Paragraphs 0024-0025, the processor is further configured to distinguish and label the detected moving object as a vehicle such as a moving semi-truck).
8. As to claim 11, Odea discloses an object recognition method (as shown in Figures 2-4) performed by a computing device (system 12 included within host vehicle 10 as shown in Figure 1 that performs the operational methods shown in Figures 2-4), the method comprising: identifying determining, based on at least one frame of data obtained via the sensor, at least one of a left road boundary or a right road boundary, of a road (road R as shown in Figure 1) on which a vehicle (host vehicle 10) is located (as shown in Figures 1 and 5); determining, on a plane (polar/Cartesian planes having corresponding coordinates) formed based on at least two coordinate axes in a specific frame of the data, positions of contour points that represent an object (as shown in Figure 5); assigning a first reliability value (classification value of stationary based on determination of zero ground speed) or a second reliability value (classification value of moving based on determination of not zero ground speed) to the object based on at least one of the left road boundary, the right road boundary, or the positions of the contour points; and determining, based on the first reliability value or the second reliability value, whether the object is a moving object, a movable stationary object, or an immovable stationary object, wherein the first reliability value indicates that the object is the immovable stationary object, and wherein the second reliability value indicates that the object is the moving object or the movable stationary object (Paragraphs 0012-0015, 0018-0026, 0028, 0030-0033, 0035-0038, 0042-0044, 0047-0051, a host vehicle for navigating a road includes sensors comprising Lidar, radar, camera, etc., that provide data frames to a processor that uses said data frames to determine left and right offsets of data points that correspond to leftmost and rightmost edges or boundaries of the road, such as left and right lane markers, and also determine contours of objects with the field of view of the vehicle, such as guardrails or other moving vehicles, on a polar/Cartesian coordinate system, and uses said data points in addition to other vehicular sensors in order to determine if the detected objects exhibit a zero ground moving speed or higher and thereby assigns a classification to the data points of the objects based on said moving speed determination in order to distinguish/label the objects as moving objects or immovable stationary objects).
9. As to claim 18, Odea discloses the assigning of the first reliability value or the second reliability value to the object comprises: determining whether the second reliability value is assigned to a second object to which the first reliability value has not been assigned (Paragraphs 0024-0025, the processor classifies the consolidated data points for objects such that objects having data points assigned the second value indicating the object is a moving object do not have the first value indicating the object is a stationary object assigned thereto in order to distinguish a long moving semi-truck trailer from a stationary guard rail having the same length).
10. As to claim 20, Odea discloses the moving object or the movable stationary object comprises a vehicle different from the vehicle, and wherein the method further comprises: assigning, to the object, an identifier indicating that the object is the moving object or the movable stationary object (Paragraphs 0024-0025, the processor is further configured to distinguish and label the detected moving object as a vehicle such as a moving semi-truck).
Claims
11. Claims 2-7, 9, 12-17, and 19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
12. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL S OSINSKI whose telephone number is (571) 270-3949. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 10:00am - 6:00pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Oneal Mistry can be reached on (313) 446-4912. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)-273-8300.
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MO
/MICHAEL S OSINSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2664
1/8/2026