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 § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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)(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 1 and 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sugae (US 2020/0301009 A1; search report).
Regarding claim 1, Sugae teaches an object detection device comprising:
a transmitting unit configured to transmit a transmission wave in which a plurality of ultrasonic waves of different frequencies are multiplexed [[0050] distance detection apparatus 200 includes a wave transmitter 411; [0055] wave transmitter 411 transmits the transmission wave with the use of two frequencies in two bands formed by virtually or imaginarily dividing a predetermined frequency band as illustrated in FIG. 5];
a receiving unit configured to receive a reflected wave produced by reflection of the transmission wave from an object [[0051] distance detection apparatus 200 includes a wave receiver 421, an amplifier circuit 422, a filter processing portion 423, a frequency analysis portion 424];
a frequency analysis unit configured to generate reflected wave frequency information indicating a plurality of frequency components contained in the reflected wave [[abstract] estimation portion configured to estimate an amount of frequency transition between the transmission wave and the reception wave on the basis of a result of a frequency analysis], and separated echo information indicating temporal changes in amplitude value for each of the plurality of frequency components contained in the reflected wave [[0037] FIG. 3 is a view schematically illustrating, in a graphic form, a time change of a signal level (amplitude, for example) of the ultrasonic wave transmitted and received by the distance detection apparatus 200 of the embodiment; [0128] a wave receiver 421 (i.e., a receiving portion) configured to receive a reception wave based on the transmission wave which returned in response to reflection at an object O, an estimation portion 425 configured to estimate an amount of frequency transition due to Doppler shift between the transmission wave and the reception wave on the basis of a result of a frequency analysis on the reception wave and transmit frequency information indicating a relation between the at least two frequencies f1, f2 of the transmission wave];
a distance information generation unit configured to generate distance information about a distance to the object, based on the separated echo information [[0046] or obtaining the distance to the object of the detection target by the TOF method, it is important to identify the timing t4 at which the signal level of the reception wave reaches the peak exceeding the threshold value Th1. In order to identify the timing t4, an accurate detection of the reception wave is important, the detection wave which serves as the transmission wave that was reflected by the detection target object and then returned];
a Doppler detection unit configured to calculate a Doppler frequency, based on the reflected wave frequency information, transmission wave frequency information indicating a plurality of frequency components contained in the transmission wave [[0047] frequency transition due to Doppler shift may occur between the transmission wave and the reception wave. In such a case, if an amount of the frequency transition is not considered appropriately, the reception wave serving as the transmission wave that was reflected by the detection target object and then returned may not be detected accurately], and frequency interval information indicating an interval between the plurality of frequency components contained in the transmission wave [[0089] interval between the center frequency f21 and the upper limit frequency fb is smaller than 2×Δf, and the interval between the center frequency f21 and the lower limit frequency fa is larger than the 2×Δf. In such a case, the estimation portion 425 identifies that the wave motion that had been transmitted by using the band B2 such that the signal level reaches the peak at the center frequency f2 (refer to FIG. 5) came to include a frequency higher than the upper limit frequency fb of the predetermined frequency band FB as a result of the frequency transition due to the Doppler shift, and consequently corresponds to the wave motion which is actually undetectable as the wave motion forming the reception wav]; and
a correction unit configured to correct the distance information, based on the Doppler frequency [[0094-0098] in FIG. 4, on the basis of the estimation result made by the estimation portion 425, the correction portion 426 corrects the frequency of the wave motion detected as the wave motion forming the reception wave (the reception signal) so that consistency is made with the frequency of the transmission wave (the transmission signal) … detects the distance to the object by the TOF method].
Regarding claim 3, Sugae teaches the object detection device according to claim 1, wherein the distance information generation unit generates the distance information, based on a maximum amplitude value that is the largest of a plurality of the amplitude values detected for the individual frequency components at the same time, the maximum amplitude value being obtained from the separated echo information [[0071] the frequency analysis portion 424 detects a frequency at which the signal level of the reception wave reaches a peak that is equal to or greater than a threshold value, for example.].
Regarding claim 4, Sugae teaches the object detection device according to claim 3, wherein the distance information generation unit generates the distance information, based on corrected echo information indicating temporal changes in the maximum amplitude value [[0099] necessity of the detection of the distance to the object is higher in a situation in which the vehicle 1 is approaching or coming close the object than a situation in which the vehicle 1 is moving away from the object; [0108] correction portion 426 corrects the frequency of the wave motion detected as the wave motion forming the reception wave (the reception signal) such that the consistency is made between the frequencies of the reception wave (the reception signal) and the transmission wave (the transmission signal)].
Regarding claim 5, Sugae teaches the object detection device according to claim 1, wherein transmission of the transmission wave and reception of the reflected wave are performed using a common transducer [[0031] both the transmission of the transmission wave and the reception of the reception wave are realized or performed by the single transmitting and receiving portion 210 provided with the single vibrator 211].
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugae (US 2020/0301009 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Saito (JP 2008216005 A).
Regarding claim 2, Sugae does not explicitly teach and yet Saito teaches the object detection device according to claim 1, wherein the Doppler detection unit interpolates loss of the plurality of frequency components contained in the reflected wave, based on the frequency interval information, and calculates the Doppler frequency, based on a difference between the interpolated frequency components of the reflected wave and the frequency components of the transmission wave [[0047] As shown in FIGS. 2 (c) and 5 (b), the echo signal frequency calculating means 98 uses the spectrogram and is the maximum level frequency component of each of the received signal cells C1 to C3, and each received signal cell C1. A frequency fe ′ at a point corresponding to the time when the echo signal E arrives on the interpolation line L2 passing through the cut-out start position of .about.C3 is calculated as the frequency of the echo signal E. The difference between the frequency fe ′ of the echo signal E and the lower limit frequency fl of the frequency of the transmission signal F becomes the Doppler shift amount, which is output.].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the distance detection apparatus with doppler correction as taught by Sugae, with the interpolation of echo and transmission signal as taught by Saito so that the doppler shift amount may be determined.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN D ARMSTRONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7339. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 9am-5pm.
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, Isam Alsomiri can be reached at 571-272-6970. 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.
/JONATHAN D ARMSTRONG/ Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/ISAM A ALSOMIRI/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3645