CTNF 18/691,921 CTNF 96878 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. Response to Amendment The amendment filed on 03/14/2024 has been entered. Claim 2 remain pending in this application. Claim 1 has been cancelled. Claim 2 is new. The Examiner notes that later filed claims appear to inadvertently revert changes made to the claims and made clear in remarks. For the purposes of this examination, the Examiner will review the amended claim set filed 03/14/2024. 12-151 AIA 26-51 12-51 Status of Claims This action is in reply to the application filed on 09/12/2024. Claim 2 is currently pending and have been examined. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 03/14/2024 and 03/14/2024, are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-12-aia AIA (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. 07-15-03-aia AIA Claim s 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sakamaki (US 20200312156 A1), hereinafter Sakamaki . Regarding claim 2 , Sakamaki discloses a method for resolving angle ambiguities in a spatially incoherent radar network, comprising (The Examiner notes that spatially incoherent radar networks as claimed merely recite an intended use that does not result in a structural/manipulative difference. See MPEP 2111.02 regarding effect of preamble.) : a surrounding area is scanned by multiple radar sensors (See at least Fig. 1A, [0026] “the first and second sensors may be the same type of sensor, such as a radar sensor”) , for each radar sensor, individually and independently of the respective other radar sensors, tracks of detected objects are generated in a state space (See at least Fig. 3, Items 102- 104, 316-318, [0082] “Once the track information in the sensor outputs 312 and 314 have been propagated, the IMMFs 114A and 114N can output time aligned tracks 316 and 318”) , tracks of different radar sensors are assigned to each other with the proviso that the tracks plausibly originate from the same object (See at least [0082] “The track fusion system 302 can then use the time aligned tracks 316 and 318 to perform track association 308 to associate those tracks (e.g., state estimates and error covariances) from the IMMFs 114A-N that are determined to match or represent a same target object.”) , the tracks assigned to each other are fused for different variants in order to resolve the angle ambiguities (See at least [0082] “By ensuring that the track information from the various sensors (102, 104, etc.) are time aligned, the track fusion system 302 can more accurately identify which tracks from the sensors represent a same target object. This allows the track fusion system 302 to fuse the correct tracks”) , a respective plausibility measurement is assigned to each variant (See at least Figs. 2-3, [0065] “In the measurement step, each filter (116A, 116B, 116N) can then use the sensor data 202 to calculate an accuracy or likelihood of accuracy of the output”, [0068] “In some cases, the fusion engine 218 can compare and/or combine the state and covariance values associated with the filters 116A, 116B, 116N to determine a state and covariance that best represents the motion of the target object 130 (e.g., the most accurate state and covariance and/or the state and covariance with the highest estimated likelihood of being accurate)”) , and the variant with the highest plausibility is selected in order to resolve the angle ambiguities. (See at least [0068] “In some cases, the fusion engine 218 can compare and/or combine the state and covariance values associated with the filters 116A, 116B, 116N to determine a state and covariance that best represents the motion of the target object 130 (e.g., the most accurate state and covariance and/or the state and covariance with the highest estimated likelihood of being accurate)”) . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Chen (US 20220390541 A1) - In some aspects, a mobile device may receive, from a transmitting device, the signal by a plurality of antennas. The mobile device may measure one or more phase differences among the signal received at the plurality of antennas. The mobile device may determine a first set of possible values for the angle of arrival that are consistent with the one or more phase differences. The mobile device may measure one or more signal values using one or more sensors of the mobile device. The mobile device may for each of the first set of possible values, determining a confidence score based on the one or more signal values. The mobile device may select, based on the confidence scores, one of the first set of possible values as the angle of arrival. Cao (US 20220262129 A1) - This document describes a multiple hypothesis-based data fusion tracker. Each hypothesis aligns to a different pseudo measurement type. The fusion tracker automatically determines, using a predefined error covariance associated with the radar, which pseudo measurement type has a greater chance of being accurate for a current situation. The fusion tracker may rely on either one of two combined radar and vision calculations, or the fusion tracker may ignore the vision-based pseudo measurements and instead, rely on radar pseudo measurements alone. By selecting between three different bounding boxes, a vision angle based box, a vision lateral position based box, or a radar only based box, the fusion tracker can balance accuracy and speed when drawing, repositioning, or resizing bounding boxes, even under congested traffic or other high volume situations. NG (US 20200116853 A1) - Radar system that utilizes Multiple Hypothesis Tracker (MHT) to resolve angle ambiguities, from a series of dwells with ambiguous detections over time. The system receives first and second observation, forms radar tracks and ambiguous angle detections using unfolding data at each of the ambiguous angle detections, scores the radar tracks to determine a best hypothesis of tracks, where a hypothesis for the MHT is formed by collecting compatible tracks into the hypothesis and computing probabilities of the hypothesis by using the score of each radar track in said hypothesis, and compares the scores of all the radar tracks originating from the first observation data to determine whether one of the scores of the radar tracks exceeds the scores of all other radar tracks originating from the same first observation data by a predetermined range. Menegozzi (US 6061022 A) - A method for finding a direction associated with a radiated electromagnetic wave, the method including the steps of: detecting the radiated electromagnetic wave; measuring at least one gain difference and at least one phase difference associated with the detected electromagnetic wave; estimating an elevational angle and an azimuthal angle associated with the detected electromagnetic wave using the at least one measured gain difference; determining a plurality of possible elevational and azimuthal angles associated with the detected electromagnetic wave using the at least one measured phase difference; and, respectively selecting one of the plurality of possible elevational and one of the plurality of possible azimuthal angles as elevational and azimuthal angles associated with the detected electromagnetic wave using the estimated elevational and azimuthal angles. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENNETH W GOOD whose telephone number is (571)272-4186. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Thu 7:30 am - 5:00 pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William J. Kelleher can be reached on (571) 272-7753. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /KENNETH W GOOD/ Examiner, Art Unit 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/691,921 Page 2 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/691,921 Page 3 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/691,921 Page 4 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/691,921 Page 5 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/691,921 Page 6 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/691,921 Page 7 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/691,921 Page 8 Art Unit: 3648
Prosecution Insights