DETAILED ACTION
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 Amendment
Applicant elected Group I without traverse. The claims of Group I, claims 11, 17, 19, 20, and their respective dependent claims have been considered and stand rejected. The claims belonging to Group II have been withdrawn from consideration.
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.
(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 11, 13, and 17-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hakobyan et al. (DE 102019219649 A1), hereinafter Hakobyan.
Regarding claim 1, Hakobyan teaches,
A radar system (“The invention relates to a radar sensor system”), comprising:
at least three radar sensors (“In preferred embodiments, the arrangement comprises at least three angularly resolving radar sensors which are arranged in different positions in said direction.”) which are connected to one another in a phase-coherent manner (“The radar sensors are coupled to one another via a phase synchronization connection.”);
wherein a first radar sensor of the radar sensors and a second radar sensor of the radar sensors are disposed spaced apart from one another (fig. 1, radar sensors 10 and 12), such that a virtual sensor is created using bistatic measurement of at least the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor using a MIMO method (“In a second step, an estimated value for the angle of the located radar object within an angle search area, which corresponds to the angle range determined for each of the radar sensors in the first step, is determined on the basis of amplitude and / or phase relationships between signals received in the first step, which correspond to different monostatic and bistatic configurations of transmitting and receiving radar sensors.” See also, “The varying positions of the transmitting antenna elements relative to the receiving antenna elements then lead to additional phase differences and thus to signals which are equivalent to signals that would be obtained with a configuration with a single transmitting antenna element and additional (virtual) receiving antenna elements. In this way, the aperture is virtually enlarged and thus the angular resolution is improved.”), and wherein at least one third radar sensor of the radar sensors is disposed offset to the virtual sensor (fig. 1, radar sensor 14); and
wherein the radar system is configured to acquire an elevation angle of a target using the virtual sensor and the at least one third radar sensor (“With the radar sensor system, elevation angles of a located radar object can thus be determined with a previously unattainable high level of accuracy, even with comparatively large object distances”).
Regarding claim 13, Hakobyan teaches,
The radar system according to claim 11, wherein the at least one third radar sensor is disposed such that it is offset in height relative to a plane between the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor (fig. 1, radar sensor 14 is disposed below the horizontal plane between the first and second radar sensors 10 and 12).
Regarding claim 17, Hakobyan teaches,
A method (“The object is further achieved by a method for operating a cooperative radar sensor system”) for acquiring an elevation angle (“With the radar sensor system, elevation angles of a located radar object can thus be determined with a previously unattainable high level of accuracy, even with comparatively large object distances”) using a radar system including at least three radar sensors (“In preferred embodiments, the arrangement comprises at least three angularly resolving radar sensors which are arranged in different positions in said direction.”) which are connected to one another in a phase-coherent manner (“The radar sensors are coupled to one another via a phase synchronization connection.”), the method comprising the following steps:
creating a virtual sensor using bistatic measurement of at least the first radar sensor of the radar sensors and a second radar sensor of the radar sensors using a MIMO method (“In a second step, an estimated value for the angle of the located radar object within an angle search area, which corresponds to the angle range determined for each of the radar sensors in the first step, is determined on the basis of amplitude and / or phase relationships between signals received in the first step, which correspond to different monostatic and bistatic configurations of transmitting and receiving radar sensors “ See also, “The varying positions of the transmitting antenna elements relative to the receiving antenna elements then lead to additional phase differences and thus to signals which are equivalent to signals that would be obtained with a configuration with a single transmitting antenna element and additional (virtual) receiving antenna elements. In this way, the aperture is virtually enlarged and thus the angular resolution is improved.”); and
evaluating data of the virtual sensor and data of at least one third radar sensor jointly in a phase-coherent manner in order to acquire an elevation angle of a target (“The determination of an estimated value for the angle of the located radar object carried out in the second step can then be carried out, for example, according to the principle of MIMO angle estimation. For this purpose, a superordinate angle estimation is carried out, in which the different configurations of transmitting and receiving radar sensors can be viewed as elements of a virtual MIMO array. For example, the individual radar sensors, which are arranged in different positions in the relevant direction, are viewed as a thinned array, and from each radar sensor, for example, only a single reference phase or complex amplitude is included in the evaluation for each located object and each transmitting radar sensor. The ambiguities of the angle estimation expected for the thinned out array are countered by restricting the angle estimation to an angle search space which corresponds to the angle range determined in the first step. As a result of the angle estimation divided into two steps, an angle estimation with high angular resolution can be carried out in a computationally efficient manner, and a high degree of robustness of the angle estimation is also achieved.”).
Regarding claim 18, Hakobyan teaches,
The method according to claim 17, wherein raw data from the sensors and/or preprocessed data are used in the joint evaluation (“In the first step, an angle estimate is therefore carried out for the individual radar sensors for a located radar object, and an angular range of the located radar object is determined…For example, the individual radar sensors, which are arranged in different positions in the relevant direction, are viewed as a thinned array, and from each radar sensor, for example, only a single reference phase or complex amplitude is included in the evaluation for each located object and each transmitting radar sensor. The ambiguities of the angle estimation expected for the thinned out array are countered by restricting the angle estimation to an angle search space which corresponds to the angle range determined in the first step.”).
Regarding claim 19, Hakobyan teaches,
A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium on which is stored a computer program (fig. 1, control and evaluation device 16) for acquiring an elevation angle (“The determination of an estimated value for the angle of the located radar object carried out in the second step can then be carried out, for example, according to the principle of MIMO angle estimation. For this purpose, a superordinate angle estimation is carried out, in which the different configurations of transmitting and receiving radar sensors can be viewed as elements of a virtual MIMO array. For example, the individual radar sensors, which are arranged in different positions in the relevant direction, are viewed as a thinned array, and from each radar sensor, for example, only a single reference phase or complex amplitude is included in the evaluation for each located object and each transmitting radar sensor. The ambiguities of the angle estimation expected for the thinned out array are countered by restricting the angle estimation to an angle search space which corresponds to the angle range determined in the first step. As a result of the angle estimation divided into two steps, an angle estimation with high angular resolution can be carried out in a computationally efficient manner, and a high degree of robustness of the angle estimation is also achieved.”) using a radar system including at least three radar sensors (“In preferred embodiments, the arrangement comprises at least three angularly resolving radar sensors which are arranged in different positions in said direction.”) which are connected to one another in a phase-coherent manner (“The radar sensors are coupled to one another via a phase synchronization connection.”), the computer program, when executed by a computer, causing the computer to perform the following steps:
creating a virtual sensor using bistatic measurement of at least the first radar sensor of the radar sensors and a second radar sensor of the radar sensors using a MIMO method (“In a second step, an estimated value for the angle of the located radar object within an angle search area, which corresponds to the angle range determined for each of the radar sensors in the first step, is determined on the basis of amplitude and / or phase relationships between signals received in the first step, which correspond to different monostatic and bistatic configurations of transmitting and receiving radar sensors “ See also, “The varying positions of the transmitting antenna elements relative to the receiving antenna elements then lead to additional phase differences and thus to signals which are equivalent to signals that would be obtained with a configuration with a single transmitting antenna element and additional (virtual) receiving antenna elements. In this way, the aperture is virtually enlarged and thus the angular resolution is improved.”); and
evaluating data of the virtual sensor and data of at least one third radar sensor jointly in a phase-coherent manner in order to acquire an elevation angle of a target (“The determination of an estimated value for the angle of the located radar object carried out in the second step can then be carried out, for example, according to the principle of MIMO angle estimation. For this purpose, a superordinate angle estimation is carried out, in which the different configurations of transmitting and receiving radar sensors can be viewed as elements of a virtual MIMO array. For example, the individual radar sensors, which are arranged in different positions in the relevant direction, are viewed as a thinned array, and from each radar sensor, for example, only a single reference phase or complex amplitude is included in the evaluation for each located object and each transmitting radar sensor. The ambiguities of the angle estimation expected for the thinned out array are countered by restricting the angle estimation to an angle search space which corresponds to the angle range determined in the first step. As a result of the angle estimation divided into two steps, an angle estimation with high angular resolution can be carried out in a computationally efficient manner, and a high degree of robustness of the angle estimation is also achieved.”).
Regarding claim 20, Hakobyan teaches,
An electronic control unit (fig. 1, control and evaluation unit 16) configured to acquire an elevation angle and/or calibrate and/or detect a misalignment of radar sensors (“In a second step, an estimated value for the angle of the located radar object within an angle search area, which corresponds to the angle range determined for each of the radar sensors in the first step, is determined on the basis of amplitude and / or phase relationships between signals received in the first step, which correspond to different monostatic and bistatic configurations of transmitting and receiving radar sensors “ See also, “The varying positions of the transmitting antenna elements relative to the receiving antenna elements then lead to additional phase differences and thus to signals which are equivalent to signals that would be obtained with a configuration with a single transmitting antenna element and additional (virtual) receiving antenna elements. In this way, the aperture is virtually enlarged and thus the angular resolution is improved.”), using a radar system including at least three radar sensors (“In preferred embodiments, the arrangement comprises at least three angularly resolving radar sensors which are arranged in different positions in said direction.”) which are connected to one another in a phase-coherent manner (“The radar sensors are coupled to one another via a phase synchronization connection.”), the electronic control unit configured to:
create a virtual sensor using bistatic measurement of at least the first radar sensor of the radar sensors and a second radar sensor of the radar sensors using a MIMO method (“In a second step, an estimated value for the angle of the located radar object within an angle search area, which corresponds to the angle range determined for each of the radar sensors in the first step, is determined on the basis of amplitude and / or phase relationships between signals received in the first step, which correspond to different monostatic and bistatic configurations of transmitting and receiving radar sensors “ See also, “The varying positions of the transmitting antenna elements relative to the receiving antenna elements then lead to additional phase differences and thus to signals which are equivalent to signals that would be obtained with a configuration with a single transmitting antenna element and additional (virtual) receiving antenna elements. In this way, the aperture is virtually enlarged and thus the angular resolution is improved.”); and
evaluate data of the virtual sensor and data of at least one third radar sensor jointly in a phase-coherent manner in order to acquire an elevation angle of a target (“The determination of an estimated value for the angle of the located radar object carried out in the second step can then be carried out, for example, according to the principle of MIMO angle estimation. For this purpose, a superordinate angle estimation is carried out, in which the different configurations of transmitting and receiving radar sensors can be viewed as elements of a virtual MIMO array. For example, the individual radar sensors, which are arranged in different positions in the relevant direction, are viewed as a thinned array, and from each radar sensor, for example, only a single reference phase or complex amplitude is included in the evaluation for each located object and each transmitting radar sensor. The ambiguities of the angle estimation expected for the thinned out array are countered by restricting the angle estimation to an angle search space which corresponds to the angle range determined in the first step. As a result of the angle estimation divided into two steps, an angle estimation with high angular resolution can be carried out in a computationally efficient manner, and a high degree of robustness of the angle estimation is also achieved.”).
Regarding claim 21, Hakobyan teaches,
The radar system according to claim 11, wherein the radar system is situated in a motor vehicle (“The invention relates to a radar sensor system with an arrangement of at least two angularly resolving radar sensors on a motor vehicle.”).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hakobyan in view Shollenberger (US 2019/0018128 A1).
Regarding claim 15, Hakobyan teaches the radar system according to claim 11. Hakobyan does not teach,
…wherein the at least one third radar sensor is disposed such that it is rotated relative to a plane between the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor
Shollenberger teaches,
…wherein the at least one third radar sensor is disposed such that it is rotated relative to a plane between the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor (fig. 6, third radar 616 is rotated relative to a plane between first radar 608 and second radar 610).
Hakobyan and Shollenberger are both analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of endeavor. It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar system of Hakobyan with the rotation of Shollenberger because the rotated radar device of increases angular resolution and makes efficient use of available space on a vehicle.
Claims 23-24 and 26-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hakobyan in view of Guo et al. (Guo, Y., Zhang Y., Tong, N., and Gong, J. (18 July 2016). Angle estimation and self-calibration method for bistatic MIMO radar with transmit and receive array errors. Circuits Syst Signal Process (2017) 36:1514-534.), hereinafter Guo.
Regarding claim 23, Hakobyan teaches the radar system according to claim 11. Hakobyan further teaches (note: what Hakobyan does not teach is struck through),
…wherein the at least one third radar sensor is disposed at a location corresponding to the virtual sensor (fig. 1, third sensor 14 is disposed at the same horizontal position as the virtual sensor),
Guo teaches,
…and wherein the radar system is configured to calibrate and/or detect a misalignment of the radar sensors using the virtual sensor and the third radar sensor (p. 1516, para. 2, “In this paper, a novel angle estimation and self-calibration method, which considers all the above errors of the transmit and receive array, is presented for bistatic MIMO radar. First of all, the combined influences of the three array errors of the transmit and receive arrays are shown to be equivalent to angularly dependent gain-phase error. Then, with the help of two well-calibrated auxiliary sensors in both transmit and receive arrays, a reduced dimensional method, which can decouple the DODs, DOAs and the equivalent angularly dependent gain-phase error coefficients, is proposed to estimate the angles and the equivalent angularly dependent gain-phase error coefficient”).
Guo is analogous to the claimed invention because it is in the same field of endeavor. It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Hakobyan with the radar system self-calibration of Guo because self-calibration is necessary for achieving high-resolution performance (see Guo, p. 1515, para. 3), and the structure of Hakobyan is appropriate for using the techniques of Guo to perform self-calibration.
Regarding claim 24, Hakobyan in view of Guo teaches the radar system according to claim 23. Hakobyan further teaches,
…wherein the third radar sensor is disposed such that it is offset in height relative to a plane between the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor (fig. 1, third sensor 14 is disposed below the first and second sensors 10 and 12, and thus below a horizontal plane between the first and second sensors 10 and 12).
Regarding claim 26, Hakobyan in view of Guo teaches the radar system according to claim 23. Hakobyan further teaches,
…wherein the radar system is situated in a motor vehicle (“The invention relates to a radar sensor system with an arrangement of at least two angularly resolving radar sensors on a motor vehicle.”).
Regarding claim 27, Hakobyan teaches the radar system according to claim 11. Hakobyan further teaches (note: what Hakobyan does not teach is struck through),
…wherein the at least one third radar sensor is disposed at a horizontal location corresponding to the virtual sensor while being vertically offset relative to a plane between the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor (fig. 1, radar sensor 14 is disposed at the same location as the virtual sensor comprising first radar sensor 10 and second radar sensor 12 and is vertically below a horizontal plane between said first and second radar sensors),
Guo teaches,
…and wherein the radar system is configured to calibrate and/or detect a misalignment of the radar sensors using overlapping antenna channels of the virtual sensor and the third radar sensor (p. 1516, para. 2, “In this paper, a novel angle estimation and self-calibration method, which considers all the above errors of the transmit and receive array, is presented for bistatic MIMO radar. First of all, the combined influences of the three array errors of the transmit and receive arrays are shown to be equivalent to angularly dependent gain-phase error. Then, with the help of two well-calibrated auxiliary sensors in both transmit and receive arrays, a reduced dimensional method, which can decouple the DODs, DOAs and the equivalent angularly dependent gain-phase error coefficients, is proposed to estimate the angles and the equivalent angularly dependent gain-phase error coefficient”).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Hakobyan with the radar system self-calibration of Guo because self-calibration is necessary for achieving high-resolution performance (see Guo, p. 1515, para. 3), and the structure of Hakobyan is appropriate for using the techniques of Guo to perform self-calibration.
Regarding claim 28, Hakobyan teaches the method according to claim 17. Hakobyan does not teach,
…further comprising calibrating and/or detecting a misalignment of the radar sensors based on the evaluation of the data of the virtual sensor and the data of at least one third radar sensor jointly in the phase-coherent manner.
Guo teaches,
…further comprising calibrating and/or detecting a misalignment of the radar sensors based on the evaluation of the data of the virtual sensor and the data of at least one third radar sensor jointly in the phase-coherent manner (p. 1516, para. 2, “In this paper, a novel angle estimation and self-calibration method, which considers all the above errors of the transmit and receive array, is presented for bistatic MIMO radar. First of all, the combined influences of the three array errors of the transmit and receive arrays are shown to be equivalent to angularly dependent gain-phase error. Then, with the help of two well-calibrated auxiliary sensors in both transmit and receive arrays, a reduced dimensional method, which can decouple the DODs, DOAs and the equivalent angularly dependent gain-phase error coefficients, is proposed to estimate the angles and the equivalent angularly dependent gain-phase error coefficient”).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Hakobyan with the radar system self-calibration of Guo because self-calibration is necessary for achieving high-resolution performance (see Guo, p. 1515, para. 3), and the structure of Hakobyan is appropriate for using the techniques of Guo to perform self-calibration.
Regarding claim 29, Hakobyan teaches the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium according to claim 19. Hakobyan does not teach,
…wherein the computer program, when executed by the computer, further cause the computer to calibrate and/or detect a misalignment of the radar sensors based on the evaluation of the data of the virtual sensor and the data of at least one third radar sensor jointly in the phase-coherent manner.
Guo teaches,
…wherein the computer program, when executed by the computer, further cause the computer to calibrate and/or detect a misalignment of the radar sensors based on the evaluation of the data of the virtual sensor and the data of at least one third radar sensor jointly in the phase-coherent manner (p. 1516, para. 2, “In this paper, a novel angle estimation and self-calibration method, which considers all the above errors of the transmit and receive array, is presented for bistatic MIMO radar. First of all, the combined influences of the three array errors of the transmit and receive arrays are shown to be equivalent to angularly dependent gain-phase error. Then, with the help of two well-calibrated auxiliary sensors in both transmit and receive arrays, a reduced dimensional method, which can decouple the DODs, DOAs and the equivalent angularly dependent gain-phase error coefficients, is proposed to estimate the angles and the equivalent angularly dependent gain-phase error coefficient”).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Hakobyan with the radar system self-calibration of Guo because self-calibration is necessary for achieving high-resolution performance (see Guo, p. 1515, para. 3), and the structure of Hakobyan is appropriate for using the techniques of Guo to perform self-calibration.
Regarding claim 30, Hakobyan teaches the electronic control unit according to claim 19. Hakobyan does not teach,
…wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to calibrate and/or detect a misalignment of the radar sensors based on the evaluation of the data of the virtual sensor and the data of at least one third radar sensor jointly in the phase-coherent manner.
Guo teaches,
…wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to calibrate and/or detect a misalignment of the radar sensors based on the evaluation of the data of the virtual sensor and the data of at least one third radar sensor jointly in the phase-coherent manner (p. 1516, para. 2, “In this paper, a novel angle estimation and self-calibration method, which considers all the above errors of the transmit and receive array, is presented for bistatic MIMO radar. First of all, the combined influences of the three array errors of the transmit and receive arrays are shown to be equivalent to angularly dependent gain-phase error. Then, with the help of two well-calibrated auxiliary sensors in both transmit and receive arrays, a reduced dimensional method, which can decouple the DODs, DOAs and the equivalent angularly dependent gain-phase error coefficients, is proposed to estimate the angles and the equivalent angularly dependent gain-phase error coefficient”).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Hakobyan with the radar system self-calibration of Guo because self-calibration is necessary for achieving high-resolution performance (see Guo, p. 1515, para. 3), and the structure of Hakobyan is appropriate for using the techniques of Guo to perform self-calibration.
Claim 25 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hakobyan in view of Guo, as applied to claim 23 above, and further in view of Shollenberger.
Regarding claim 25, Hakobyan in view of Guo teaches the radar system according to claim 23. Hakobyan as previously combined with Guo does not teach,
…wherein the third radar sensor is disposed such that it is rotated relative to a plane between the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor.
Shollenberger teaches,
…wherein the third radar sensor is disposed such that it is rotated relative to a plane between the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor (fig. 6, third radar 616 is rotated relative to a plane between first radar 608 and second radar 610).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar system of Hakobyan with the rotation of Shollenberger because the rotated radar device of increases angular resolution and makes efficient use of available space on a vehicle.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Schlichenmaier et al. (DE 102019112078 A1) teaches a coherent, multistatic radar system for use in a vehicle.
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/Anna K. Gosling/Examiner, Art Unit 3648
/VLADIMIR MAGLOIRE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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