DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the initial filing filed on February 16, 2024, claim 1-10 have been examined this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 2/16/2024 and 9/2025 has been acknowledged.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 .
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.
Claims 1-3, 6, and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cohen et al (US 2019/0391250 A1) in view of Lau (US 2020/0363501 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Cohen teaches an electronic device comprising [0019-0020 for radar sensors on a vehicle]:
a transmission antenna that transmits a transmission wave [0019-0020 for radar scanning and pulses];
a reception antenna that receives a reflected wave, which is the reflected transmission wave [0019-0020 for radar capture];
a controller that controls a radiation pattern of the transmission wave [0021 for means to get RCS, range/azimuth, and shapes];
and a signal processor that detects an object on a basis of a transmission signal transmitted as the transmission wave and a reception signal received as the reflected wave [0022-0023 for planning system of the autonomous vehicle. In aspects of this disclosure, information in addition to position information may be used to determine the point cluster],
wherein the controller performs control such that, when the transmission wave is transmitted a plurality of times in certain units [0011, 0019 for multiple scans],
a transmission wave with a varied radiation pattern is included at least once, and wherein the signal processor outputs a result of the detection of the object on a basis of [0011 for multiple subscans comprising scans at different frequencies, phase shifts, and the like. In such examples, each of the subscans may be treated equally, as overlapping scans from multiple radar],
among a plurality of clusters obtained by performing clustering on results of detection performed on the object the plurality of times [0027-0028 for n updated point cluster may provide an improved representation of an object in the environment because the points may be clustered based on one or more diverse types of information].
Cohen fails to explicitly teach clusters including a certain number or more of representative points of other clusters within a certain distance from representative points of the clusters.
Lau has one or more radar sensors coupled to a vehicle receive readings during a calibration time (abstract) and teaches clusters including a certain number or more of representative points of other clusters within a certain distance from representative points of the clusters [0177 for density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) or a similar data clustering algorithm to remove outliers and locate centroids].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object tracking techniques, as disclosed by Cohen, further including the clustering calculations as taught by Lau for the purpose to locate cluster centroids for target (Lau, 0171).
Regarding Claim 2, Cohen teaches the signal processor outputs the result of the detection of the object on a basis of, among the plurality of clusters obtained by performing the clustering on the results of the detection performed on the object the plurality of times [0027-0028 for n updated point cluster may provide an improved representation of an object in the environment because the points may be clustered based on one or more diverse types of information],
clusters including representative points of other clusters within the certain distance from the representative points of the clusters [0027].
Cohen fails to explicitly teach a number of the representative points of the other clusters being larger than or equal to the plurality of times.
Lau has one or more radar sensors coupled to a vehicle receive readings during a calibration time (abstract) and teaches a number of the representative points of the other clusters being larger than or equal to the plurality of times [0177 for density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) or a similar data clustering algorithm to remove outliers and locate centroids].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object tracking techniques, as disclosed by Cohen, further including the clustering calculations as taught by Lau for the purpose to locate cluster centroids for target (Lau, 0171).
Regarding Claim 3, Cohen teaches the controller controls a phase of the transmission wave and performs control such that, when the transmission wave is transmitted the plurality of times in the certain units, a transmission wave with a varied phase is included at least once [0011 for a single scan from a single radar device may comprise multiple subscans comprising scans at different frequencies, phase shifts].
Regarding Claim 6, Cohen teaches the transmission wave is transmitted the plurality of times in one frame in the certain units [0011 for a single scan from a single radar device may comprise multiple subscans comprising scans at different frequencies, phase shifts].
Regarding Claim 9, Cohen teaches a method for controlling an electronic device, the method comprising the steps of [0019-0020 for radar sensors on a vehicle]:
transmitting a transmission wave using a transmission antenna [0019-0020 for scanning pulses];
receiving a reflected wave, which is the reflected transmission wave, using a reception antenna [0019 for capturing data];
controlling a radiation pattern of the transmission wave [0021 for means to get RCS, range/azimuth, and shapes];
detecting an object on a basis of a transmission signal transmitted as the transmission wave and a reception signal received as the reflected wave [0022-0023 for planning system of the autonomous vehicle. In aspects of this disclosure, information in addition to position information may be used to determine the point cluster];
performing control such that, when the transmission wave is transmitted a plurality of times in certain units [0011, 0019 for multiple scans],
a transmission wave with a varied radiation pattern is included at least once [0011, 0023];
and outputting a result of the detection of the object on a basis of [0011, 0019 for multiple scans],
among a plurality of clusters obtained by performing clustering on results of detection performed on the object the plurality of times [0027-0028 for n updated point cluster may provide an improved representation of an object in the environment because the points may be clustered based on one or more diverse types of information].
Cohen fails to explicitly teach clusters including a certain number or more of representative points of other clusters within a certain distance from representative points of the clusters.
Lau has one or more radar sensors coupled to a vehicle receive readings during a calibration time (abstract) and teaches clusters including a certain number or more of representative points of other clusters within a certain distance from representative points of the clusters [0177 for density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) or a similar data clustering algorithm to remove outliers and locate centroids].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object tracking techniques, as disclosed by Cohen, further including the clustering calculations as taught by Lau for the purpose to locate cluster centroids for target (Lau, 0171).
Regarding Claim 10, Cohen teaches a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing computer program instructions, which when executed by a program causing an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform a process comprising [0019-0020 for radar sensors on a vehicle]
the steps of transmitting a transmission wave using a transmission antenna [0019-0020 for scanning pulses];
receiving a reflected wave, which is the reflected transmission wave, using a reception antenna [0019 for capturing data];
controlling a radiation pattern of the transmission wave [0021 for means to get RCS, range/azimuth, and shapes];
detecting an object on a basis of a transmission signal transmitted as the transmission wave and a reception signal received as the reflected wave [0022-0023 for planning system of the autonomous vehicle. In aspects of this disclosure, information in addition to position information may be used to determine the point cluster];
performing control such that, when the transmission wave is transmitted a plurality of times in certain units [0011, 0019 for multiple scans],
a transmission wave with a varied radiation pattern is included at least once [0011, 0023];
and outputting a result of the detection of the object on a basis of [0011, 0019 for multiple scans],
among a plurality of clusters obtained by performing clustering on results of detection performed on the object the plurality of times [0027-0028 for n updated point cluster may provide an improved representation of an object in the environment because the points may be clustered based on one or more diverse types of information].
Cohen fails to explicitly teach clusters including a certain number or more of representative points of other clusters within a certain distance from representative points of the clusters.
Lau has one or more radar sensors coupled to a vehicle receive readings during a calibration time (abstract) and teaches clusters including a certain number or more of representative points of other clusters within a certain distance from representative points of the clusters [0177 for density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) or a similar data clustering algorithm to remove outliers and locate centroids].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object tracking techniques, as disclosed by Cohen, further including the clustering calculations as taught by Lau for the purpose to locate cluster centroids for target (Lau, 0171).
Claims 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cohen et al (US 2019/0391250 A1) in view of Lau (US 2020/0363501 A1), as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Lee et al (US 2013/0088393 A1).
Regarding Claim 4, Cohen fails to explicitly teach the controller varies the phase of the transmission wave such that a variation in a radiation direction of the transmission wave falls within a certain range.
Lee has apparatus for phased array automotive radar which allow reductions in erroneous detections such as sidelobe clutter (abstract) and teach the controller varies the phase of the transmission wave such that a variation in a radiation direction of the transmission wave falls within a certain range [0022 for grating lobe) of the receive beam is aligned within 10 degrees, such as within 5 degrees].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object tracking techniques, as disclosed by Cohen, further including the phase calculations as taught by Lee for the purpose aligning lobes for excellent performance (Lee, 0023).
Regarding Claim 5, Cohen fails to explicitly teach the controller varies the phase of the transmission wave such that the variation in the radiation direction of the transmission wave becomes larger than or equal to 1 and smaller than or equal to 150.
Lee has apparatus for phased array automotive radar which allow reductions in erroneous detections such as sidelobe clutter (abstract) and teach the controller varies the phase of the transmission wave such that the variation in the radiation direction of the transmission wave becomes larger than or equal to 1 and smaller than or equal to 150 [0022 for grating lobe) of the receive beam is aligned within 10 degrees, such as within 5 degrees, 0041].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object tracking techniques, as disclosed by Cohen, further including the phase calculations as taught by Lee for the purpose aligning lobes for excellent performance (Lee, 0023).
Claims 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cohen et al (US 2019/0391250 A1) in view of Lau (US 2020/0363501 A1), as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Itohara et al (US 2014/0022110 A1).
Regarding Claim 7, Cohen fails to explicitly teach the signal processor selects the selected clusters from, among the plurality of clusters obtained by performing the clustering on the results of the detection performed on the object the plurality of times, clusters whose representative points are located within a certain distance.
Itohara has a radar device capable of reducing load of a clustering process and improving the tracking performance (abstract) and teaches the signal processor selects the selected clusters from, among the plurality of clusters obtained by performing the clustering on the results of the detection performed on the object the plurality of times, clusters whose representative points are located within a certain distance [0058 for he clusters of the cluster set formed in the clustering process is stored as one item. In a second and subsequent scans].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object tracking techniques, as disclosed by Cohen, further including the grouping calculations as taught by Itohara for the purpose to determine if a cluster is close to an existing item (Itohara, 0058).
Regarding Claim 8, Cohen fails to explicitly teach the signal processor outputs an average, a median, a minimum value, or a maximum value of representative points of the selected clusters as the result of the detection of the object.
Itohara has a radar device capable of reducing load of a clustering process and improving the tracking performance (abstract) and teaches the signal processor outputs an average, a median 0057 for gravity center of the new cluster, the position information of the loaded detected datum is se],
a minimum value, or a maximum value of representative points of the selected clusters as the result of the detection of the object [0058 for he clusters of the cluster set formed in the clustering process is stored as one item. In a second and subsequent scans].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object tracking techniques, as disclosed by Cohen, further including the grouping calculations as taught by Itohara for the purpose to determine if a cluster is close to an existing item (Itohara, 0058).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Branson (US 2018/0306912 A1) has a processor-implemented method in a vehicle for detecting objects from radar data includes: retrieving radar measurements taken at different periodic time increments.
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/SAMARINA MAKHDOOM/
Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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