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
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 4/13/2026 has been entered.
In the Instant Amendment, Claim(s) 5 and 12 has/have been amended; Claim(s) 1-4, 9-11 and 16-18 was/were cancelled; Claim(s) 5 and 12 is/are independent claims. Claims 5-8 and 12-15 have been examined and are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 4/13/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments in the remarks (pages 6-8) with respect to claim(s) 5 and 12 regarding the added features 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
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 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.
Claim(s) 5-8 and 12-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zadracvec (US 20010028450 A1) in views of Chen (US 20220137389 A1) and Trinh (US 20240257538 A1).
Regarding claim 5, Zadracvec teaches A system for acquiring an image for a mobility, the system comprising:
an image acquisition apparatus (Fig. 2; para. 0016) comprising:
a lens (1) configured to pass an optical signal (Fig. 2);
an optical amplifier (low-light-level amplifier 5) configured to receive and amplify the optical signal (Fig. 2);
a sensor (sensor 13’) configured to acquire an image signal included in the optical signal (Fig. 2; abstract; para. 0008); and
a plurality of reflectors (mirrors 2, 8) configured to change a path of the optical signal passing through the lens; and
wherein:
but fails to teach
an illuminance sensor configured to detect an illuminance value of an internal environment of the mobility or an external environment of the mobility;
a controller configured to: receive the illuminance value from the illuminance sensor; compare the illuminance value with a preset threshold value, wherein the preset threshold value is preset according to a type of the mobility; generate a first control signal in response to the illuminance value being greater than or equal to the preset threshold value, and generate a second control signal in response to the illuminance value being less than the preset threshold value; and wherein, in a case in which the image acquisition apparatus receives the first control signal from the controller, [daytime mode]; and wherein, in a case in which the image acquisition apparatus receives the second control signal from the controller, [night-vision mode],
an image acquisition apparatus comprising:
an image signal processor configured to:
process the image signal acquired by the sensor to obtain a processed image signal; and
transmit the processed image signal to the controller;
the image signal relates to a gesture image of a gesture of a passenger; and
the controller is further configured to transmit the processed image signal to the mobility.
However, in the same field of endeavor Chen teaches
an illuminance sensor (ambient light sensor 45) configured to detect an illuminance value of an internal environment of the mobility or an external environment of the mobility (para. 0073);
a controller (DSP 72) configured to: receive the illuminance value from the illuminance sensor, compare the illuminance value with a preset threshold value, wherein the preset threshold value is preset according to a type of the mobility (para. 0071); generate a first control signal in response to the illuminance value being greater than or equal to the preset threshold value; and generate a second control signal in response to the illuminance value being less than the preset threshold value; and wherein, in a case in which the image acquisition apparatus receives the first control signal from the controller, [daytime mode]; and wherein, in a case in which the image acquisition apparatus receives the second control signal from the controller, [night-vision mode] (Fig. 6; paras. 0072-0079).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in this art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to use the teachings as taught by Chen in Zadracvec to have an illuminance sensor configured to detect an illuminance value of an internal environment of the mobility or an external environment of the mobility; a controller configured to: receive the illuminance value from the illuminance sensor; compare the illuminance value with a preset threshold value, wherein the preset threshold value is preset according to a type of the mobility; generate a first control signal in response to the illuminance value being greater than or equal to the preset threshold value; and generate a second control signal in response to the illuminance value being less than the preset threshold value; and wherein, in a case in which the image acquisition apparatus receives the first control signal from the controller, [daytime mode]; and wherein, in a case in which the image acquisition apparatus receives the second control signal from the controller, [night-vision mode] for enabling an automatic switching configuration allowing optimized mode switching between daytime and night-vision modes improving functionalities of the device yielding a predicted result.
Moreover, in the same field of endeavor Trinh teaches
an image acquisition apparatus comprising:
an image signal processor (ISP of image capturing device xMC) configured to:
process the image signal acquired by the sensor to obtain a processed image signal (Figs. 1-6; paras. 0041-0046); and
transmit the processed image signal to the controller (Figs. 1-6);
the image signal relates to a gesture image of a gesture of a passenger (para. 0010); and
the controller is further configured to transmit the processed image signal to the mobility (Figs. 1-6).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in this art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to use the teachings as taught by Trinh in the combination to have an image acquisition apparatus comprising: an image signal processor configured to: process the image signal acquired by the sensor to obtain a processed image signal; and transmit the processed image signal to the controller; the image signal relates to a gesture image of a gesture of a passenger; and the controller is further configured to transmit the processed image signal to the mobility for optimizing captured images and improving image quality for vehicle monitoring system yielding a predicted result.
Regarding claims 6-7, the combination of Zadracvec, Chen and Trinh teaches everything as claimed in claim 5. In addition, Chen teaches
Claim 6: the system of claim 5, wherein the image acquisition apparatus further comprises a filter configured to filter out the optical signal passing through the lens (para. 0059-0060).
Claim 7: the system of claim 6, wherein the filter is configured to filter out the optical signal in the daytime image acquisition mode (para. 0059-0060).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in this art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to use the teachings as taught by Chen in the combination to have features of claims 6-7 for providing a filter configuration for enhancing the image quality of the image generated by the image sensor during daytime yielding a predicted result.
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Zadracvec, Chen and Trinh teaches everything as claimed in claim 5. In addition, Zadracvec teaches wherein the plurality of reflectors comprises an even number of the reflectors (Fig. 2; mirrors 2, 8).
Regarding claim 12, claim 12 reciting features corresponding to claim 5 is also rejected for the same reason above.
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Zadracvec, Chen and Trinh teaches everything as claimed in claim 12. In addition, the combination of Zadracvec and Chen teaches further comprising:
generating, by the controller, a second control signal in response to the illuminance value being less than the preset threshold value; transmitting the second control signal to the image acquisition apparatus (Chen: Figs. 1, 6; paras. 0072-0079); and
operating, by the image acquisition apparatus, in a night image acquisition mode in response to receiving the second control signal (Chen: Figs. 1, 6; paras. 0072-0079), wherein operating in the night image acquisition mode comprises the image acquisition apparatus controlling the plurality of reflectors such that the optical signal that passes through the lens passes through the optical amplifier before being transmitted to the sensor (Zadracvec: Fig. 2; para. 0016).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in this art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to use the teachings as taught by Chen in the combination for enabling the automatic switching configuration allowing optimized mode switching between daytime and night-vision modes improving functionalities of the device yielding a predicted result.
Regarding claims 14-15, claims 14-15 reciting features corresponding to claims 6-7 are also rejected for the same reasons above.
Alternative Rejections
+ Claims 5 and 12 are rejected as presented above, or in the alternative, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to have “wherein the preset threshold value is preset according to a type of the mobility”, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
+ Claims 5 and 12 are rejected as presented above, or in the alternative, Quan et al (CN-113468970-A) teaches “wherein the preset threshold value is preset according to a type of the mobility” (page 5, lines 44-52; page 6, lines 21-41; the thresholds to switch between night mode and daytime mode are obtained by calibration; calibration can be for any purposes; e.g. for a type of the mobility, calibration can be performed). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to have wherein the preset threshold value is preset according to a type of the mobility for optimizing the threshold value for optimizing the mode switching yielding a predicted result.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Quan Pham whose telephone number is (571)272-4438. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9am-7pm.
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/Quan Pham/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2637
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