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
INFORMATION DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/26/2024 & 08/05/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
ALLOWABLE SUBJECT MATTER
Claims 4-5 & 11-12 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.
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 of this title, 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, 6-10 & 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Kim (U.S. Publication 2010/0238283) in view of Zaheer (U.S. Publication 2021/0248392)
As to claims 1 & 8, Kim discloses a camera configured for capturing one or more images of a vehicle lane of a roadway while the vehicle is moving on the roadway;
([0011] discloses a lane departure warning system of a vehicle including a camera unit that generates an image during travel. [0011] and [0045] discloses camera unit 200 wherein an image is generated during travel.)
one or more processors configured for executing machine-readable instructions, stored on a memory ([0046-0048 discloses an image processing unit with functional modules (lane detection, lane width calculation) and multiple storage buffers that store image/lane information]), to cause the one or more processors to: determine, based on the captured one or more images, locations of a detection plurality of first lane markings defining a left extent of the vehicle lane and a plurality of second lane markings defining a right extent of the vehicle lane; ([0055-0056] discloses detecting left/right lane dividing lines and producing coordinate information [0047] discloses lane detection module detecting lane dividing lines. [0055-0056] discloses lane detection results given as coordinates of left/right lines; providing endpoints/slope/intercept)
project the determined locations in the one or more images to locations in a coordinate system of the roadway; ([0055] discloses converting detected lane line information into a top view coordinate system.)
determine a plurality of widths of the lane in the coordinate system of the roadway over a range of distances; ([0059-0065] discloses lane width from x intercept difference x per pixel distance; lane width value is periodically updated “at regular distances”)
determine variations of the lane widths in the coordinate system of the roadway over the range of distances; ([0066-0067] discloses the computed lane width values vary, and provides plots/descriptions of variation in lane width across frames.) and
Kim is silent to rescale the lane widths over the range of distances in the coordinate system to reduce determined variations of the lane widths.
However, Zaheer discloses rescale the lane widths over the range of distances in the coordinate system to reduce determined variations of the lane widths. ([0044, 0048] discloses camera initialization. Finding an IPM to synthetically rotate the viewpoint and lane width to fit equidistant lanes in rectified view. [0048] discloses the IPM is used to remove the perspective distortion. Application of the IPM rotates the camera into a top view thus rendering the intersecting lines as parallel.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing to modify Kim’s disclosure to include the above limitations in order to reduce the determined lane width variations over distance and improve robustness of lane-width estimation in the roadway coordinate system.
As to claims 2 & 9, Kim in view of Zaheer discloses everything as disclosed in claims 1 & 8. In addition, Kim discloses wherein variations of the lane widths are caused by one or more camera pitch angles that are different from a predetermined pitch angle and/or by one or more camera roll angles that are different from a predetermined roll angle. ([0060, 0062] discloses “pitch angle” wherein a vanished point is determined according to the pitch angle between the road surface and the camera and the calculation of the lane width changes according to the location of the vanishing point. See Per Pixel distance is calculated using the pitch angle.)
As to claims 3 & 10, Kim in view of Zaheer discloses everything as disclosed in claims 1 & 8. In addition, Kim discloses storing the rescaled lane widths and coordinates of lane markings in the coordinate system of the roadway, which are associated with the rescaled lane widths, in a memory. ([0046-0047])
As to claims 6 & 13, Kim in view of Zaheer discloses everything as disclosed in claims 1 & 8 but is silent to fitting the determined locations of a plurality of first lane markings defining a left extent of a lane and a plurality of second lane markings defining a right extent of the lane to a polynomial curve; and determining the locations of the first and second lane markings based on the fitted curve.
However, Zaheer discloses fitting the determined locations of a plurality of first lane markings defining a left extent of a lane and a plurality of second lane markings defining a right extent of the lane to a polynomial curve; and determining the locations of the first and second lane markings based on the fitted curve. ([0082] discloses the method fits second degree quadratic curves to lane boundary markers.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing to modify Kim in view of Zaheer’s disclosure to include the above limitations in order to represent curved lane boundaries more accurately than straight line fits and thereby improve downstream lane-width determination stability.
As to claims 7 & 14, Kim in view of Zaheer discloses everything as disclosed in claims 1 & 13 but is silent to determining the lane widths for the range of distances based on transverse distances between locations of the first and second lane markings at similar distances from the vehicle.
However, Zaheer discloses determining the lane widths for the range of distances based on transverse distances between locations of the first and second lane markings at similar distances from the vehicle. ([0083] discloses the lane width is calculated by intersecting a line perpendicular to the tangent and then finding the distance between the two points.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing to modify Kim in view of Zaheer’s disclosure to include the above limitations in order to compute lane width using a cross-lane separation at comparable along road positions reducing sensitivity to perspective/curvature artifacts.
CONCLUSION
No prior art has been found for claims 4-5 & 11-12 in their current form.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Stephen P Coleman whose telephone number is (571)270-5931. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8AM-5PM.
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Stephen P. Coleman
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2675
/STEPHEN P COLEMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2675