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 .
Status of Claims
This action is in reply to the application filed on 06/18/2024. Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been examined.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
Claim 1, 7 and 14 recites the “radar unit “. The corresponding structure in the disclosure for performing the claimed collecting and demodulating a radar echo is radar device (Paragraph [0023]: “FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a radar detection system 100 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Refer to FIG. 1. The radar detection system 100 includes a radar unit 105 and a processing unit 103 that are coupled to each other. The radar unit 105 includes an antenna unit 101 and a front-end unit 102 … “)
Claim 1, 7 and 14 recites the “processing unit “. The corresponding structure in the disclosure for performing the claimed performing range, doppler and angle processing is a processor (Paragraph [0081-0083]: “In some embodiments, the processing module includes a processor, an internal memory, or a non-volatile memory. The internal memory is, for example, a random access memory (RAM). Definitely, the processing module may further include hardware required by another function… “). Also disclosed in the specification is are algorithms for range processing (Para 0034: “Range processing includes range Fast Fourier Transform (range FFT). To detect objects within different ranges (distances), FFT processing is performed on each digital signal SD …”), doppler processing (Para 0035: “Doppler processing is performed on the matrix Lb to obtain a matrix Lc. Doppler processing includes Doppler Fast Fourier Transform (Doppler FFT). For a target of interest, range FFT may be repeatedly performed corresponding to the plurality of chirp signals …) and angle processing (Para 0036: “Angle processing is performed on the matrix Lc to obtain a matrix Ld. Angle processing includes angle Fast Fourier Transform (angle FFT). When there are two objects with a same distance and a same speed relative to the radar detection system 100, range FFT and Doppler FFT cannot work, and the two objects cannot be distinguished …)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION. —The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recite the limitations, “performing range processing, Doppler processing, and angle processing on the digital signal to obtain a first point-cloud image; recognizing whether there is a first cluster in the first point-cloud image; and recording a first location of the first cluster in response to recognizing that there is the first cluster in the first point-cloud image; or performing range processing and angle processing on the digital signal to obtain a second point-cloud image in response to recognizing that there is not the first cluster in the first point-cloud image; recognizing whether there is a second cluster at a corresponding recorded first location in the second point-cloud image; and recognizing that a tracking target is in a static state in response to recognizing that there is the second cluster at the first location”. It is unclear if the claim encompasses the limitation of recording or the collective of (performing…; recognizing…; and recognizing…), or if the claim encompasses (recording or performing) and the steps of recognizing and recognizing. The applicant should amend the claim to recite precisely and clearly the scope of the invention.
For the purpose of searching for prior art Claim 1 is interpreted as the limitation of … and recording a first location of the first cluster in response to recognizing that there is the first cluster in the first point-cloud image OR the collective of (performing range processing and angle processing on the digital signal to obtain a second point-cloud image in response to recognizing that there is not the first cluster in the first point-cloud image; recognizing whether there is a second cluster at a corresponding recorded first location in the second point-cloud image; and recognizing that a tracking target is in a static state in response to recognizing that there is the second cluster at the first location).
The corresponding dependent claims 2-6 are also rejected based on their dependency on rejected claim 1.
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)(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.
Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wen (CN113009441B).
Regarding claim 1 Wen discloses: An object tracking method based on radar point cloud (Specific implementation examples: “In the embodiment of the invention, the DBSCAN algorithm is a clustering algorithm based on density, the final result of clustering is obtained by finding the maximum set of data points density connection, the DBSCAN algorithm has fast clustering speed, it can effectively process the noise point, it can effectively find the space cluster of any shape, does not need input clustering number and so on, it can be better applied to radar data processing. clustering the point cloud data by DBSCAN algorithm, reducing the number of objects provided to the subsequent tracking algorithm and introducing hysteresis, realizing tracking only effective target by the tracker, and not switching between the adjacent targets.”), comprising: collecting and demodulating, by a radar unit, a radar echo to obtain a digital signal (Specific implementation examples :”Specifically, the radar signal processing system firstly mixing the transmitting signal and the receiving signal to obtain the intermediate frequency signal of the target information, the analogue signal is converted into a digital signal by ADC sampling. “); and performing, by a processing unit (Contents of invention: “The third aspect of the embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal device, comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor, the processor executes the computer program to realize the step of identifying method of the radar motion reflecting surface multi-path target.”), the following steps: performing range processing, Doppler processing, and angle processing on the digital signal to obtain a first point-cloud image ( Specific implementation examples:” In the embodiment of the invention, through the distance-Doppler frequency spectrum for constant false alarm detection, using multi-antenna information to the distance-Doppler spectrum in the detected peak value for angle calculation, namely between each antenna channel for angle-dimensional FFT, the angle of the target estimation, can obtain the point cloud data of the moving target.”) ; recognizing whether there is a first cluster in the first point-cloud image (Contents of invention: ”The invention firstly performs constant false alarm detection to the radar distance-Doppler frequency spectrum graph, extracting point cloud data of moving target in the distance-Doppler spectrum graph, clustering the point cloud data, according to the multi-cluster point cloud data, determining the moving reflecting surface straight line, so as to based on the moving reflecting surface straight line, real target, The geometrical relationship between the multi-path targets identifies the multi-path target generated by the motion reflecting surface.”); and recording a first location of the first cluster in response to recognizing that there is the first cluster in the first point-cloud image (Specific implementation examples :” If the above relationship satisfy the same, it is considered that B is the multi-path target of A generated by the static reflecting surface, otherwise, B is not the multi-path target of A, and the identification is completed. by the above content, the invention firstly performs constant false alarm detection to the radar distance-Doppler spectrum graph, extracting the peak value of the high signal-to-noise ratio in the Doppler frequency spectrum graph, then performing angle settlement to obtain the point cloud data of the moving target, clustering the data point cloud finding the centroid point from the same large vehicle according to the true speed of the center of mass-cluster point cloud data, so as to determine the moving reflecting surface straight line, based on the moving reflecting surface straight line, real target, the geometrical relationship between the multi-path target for identifying the multi-path target generated by the moving reflecting surface. “); or performing range processing and angle processing on the digital signal to obtain a second point-cloud image in response to recognizing that there is not the first cluster in the first point-cloud image; recognizing whether there is a second cluster at a corresponding recorded first location in the second point-cloud image; and recognizing that a tracking target is in a static state in response to recognizing that there is the second cluster at the first location.
Regarding claim 2 Wen discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Wen further teaches: wherein the step of recognizing whether there is a first cluster in the first point-cloud image comprises: performing clustering analysis on the first point-cloud image according to a clustering algorithm to obtain the first cluster (Specific implementation examples:” Optionally, as the second aspect of the present invention provides a radar motion reflecting surface multi-path target identification device of a specific implementation manner, the point cloud data clustering algorithm is DBSCAN algorithm.”).
Regarding claim 3 Wen discloses all the limitations of claim 2. Wen further teaches: wherein the step of recognizing whether there is a first cluster in the first point-cloud image further comprises: calculating a center of mass of a point cloud corresponding to the first cluster to obtain the first location of the first cluster (Specific implementation examples :” If the above relationship satisfy the same, it is considered that B is the multi-path target of A generated by the static reflecting surface, otherwise, B is not the multi-path target of A, and the identification is completed. by the above content, the invention firstly performs constant false alarm detection to the radar distance-Doppler spectrum graph, extracting the peak value of the high signal-to-noise ratio in the Doppler frequency spectrum graph, then performing angle settlement to obtain the point cloud data of the moving target, clustering the data point cloud finding the centroid point from the same large vehicle according to the true speed of the center of mass-cluster point cloud data, so as to determine the moving reflecting surface straight line, based on the moving reflecting surface straight line, real target, the geometrical relationship between the multi-path target for identifying the multi-path target generated by the moving reflecting surface. “) .
Regarding claim 4, Under the broadest reasonable interpretation applied during examination, alternative limitations recited with “at least one of” and “or” are satisfied when the prior art discloses any one of the recited alternatives. See MPEP § 2111 (Broadest Reasonable Interpretation); MPEP § 2173.05(h) (Alternative Limitations). Accordingly, for claim 1 (“and recording a first location of the first cluster in response to recognizing that there is the first cluster in the first point-cloud image; or performing range processing and angle processing on the digital signal to obtain a second point-cloud image in response to recognizing that there is not the first cluster in the first point-cloud image”), the limitation is met if the prior art determines any one recording a first location of the first cluster or performing range processing and angle processing on the digital signal to obtain a second point-cloud image. For claim 4, which further limits claim 1 by requiring “recognizing that the tracking target departs from a field of view of the radar unit in response to recognizing that there is not the second cluster at the first location” the limitation is satisfied by a reference that determines a cluster position based on processing of the first point cloud image or second point cloud image. See MPEP § 2173.05(h) (explaining that alternative formats, including “or” and “and/or,” are permissible and that meeting any one of the alternatives satisfies the limitation).
Regarding claim 5, Under the broadest reasonable interpretation applied during examination, alternative limitations recited with “at least one of” and “or” are satisfied when the prior art discloses any one of the recited alternatives. See MPEP § 2111 (Broadest Reasonable Interpretation); MPEP § 2173.05(h) (Alternative Limitations). Accordingly, for claim 1 (“and recording a first location of the first cluster in response to recognizing that there is the first cluster in the first point-cloud image; or performing range processing and angle processing on the digital signal to obtain a second point-cloud image in response to recognizing that there is not the first cluster in the first point-cloud image”), the limitation is met if the prior art determines any one recording a first location of the first cluster or performing range processing and angle processing on the digital signal to obtain a second point-cloud image. For claim 5, which further limits claim 1 by requiring “wherein the step of recognizing whether there is a second cluster in the second point-cloud image comprises: performing clustering analysis on the second point-cloud image according to a clustering algorithm to obtain the second cluster.” the limitation is satisfied by a reference that determines a cluster position based on processing of the first point cloud image or second point cloud image. See MPEP § 2173.05(h) (explaining that alternative formats, including “or” and “and/or,” are permissible and that meeting any one of the alternatives satisfies the limitation).
Claim 6 is rejected because it depends on rejected claim 5
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-20 are allowable.
Regarding claim 7 Wen discloses: An object tracking method based on radar point cloud (Specific implementation examples: “In the embodiment of the invention, the DBSCAN algorithm is a clustering algorithm based on density, the final result of clustering is obtained by finding the maximum set of data points density connection, the DBSCAN algorithm has fast clustering speed, it can effectively process the noise point, it can effectively find the space cluster of any shape, does not need input clustering number and so on, it can be better applied to radar data processing. clustering the point cloud data by DBSCAN algorithm, reducing the number of objects provided to the subsequent tracking algorithm and introducing hysteresis, realizing tracking only effective target by the tracker, and not switching between the adjacent targets.”), comprising: collecting and demodulating, by a radar unit, a radar echo to obtain a digital signal (Specific implementation examples :”Specifically, the radar signal processing system firstly mixing the transmitting signal and the receiving signal to obtain the intermediate frequency signal of the target information, the analogue signal is converted into a digital signal by ADC sampling. “); and performing, by a processing unit (Contents of invention: “The third aspect of the embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal device, comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor, the processor executes the computer program to realize the step of identifying method of the radar motion reflecting surface multi-path target.”), the following steps: performing range processing and angle processing on the digital signal to obtain first data; performing Doppler processing on the first data to obtain second data image ( Specific implementation examples:” In the embodiment of the invention, through the distance-Doppler frequency spectrum for constant false alarm detection, using multi-antenna information to the distance-Doppler spectrum in the detected peak value for angle calculation, namely between each antenna channel for angle-dimensional FFT, the angle of the target estimation, can obtain the point cloud data of the moving target.”); recognizing whether there is a first peak value in the second data; recognizing whether there is a second peak value in the first data in response to recognizing that there is not the first peak value in the second data; and recognizing that a tracking target is in a static state in response to recognizing that there is the second peak value in the first data.
In reference to depend/independent claim 7, the prior arts made of record individually or in any combination, failed to teach, render obvious, or fairly suggest to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the combination of the claimed features of claim 7. Specifically, the prior arts made of record fail to disclose the limitation: “recognizing whether there is a first peak value in the second data; recognizing whether there is a second peak value in the first data in response to recognizing that there is not the first peak value in the second data; and recognizing that a tracking target is in a static state in response to recognizing that there is the second peak value in the first data. “
Dependent claims 8-13 are also allowable due to their dependency on allowable independent claim 7.
Regarding claim 14 Wen discloses: An object tracking method based on radar point cloud (Specific implementation examples: “In the embodiment of the invention, the DBSCAN algorithm is a clustering algorithm based on density, the final result of clustering is obtained by finding the maximum set of data points density connection, the DBSCAN algorithm has fast clustering speed, it can effectively process the noise point, it can effectively find the space cluster of any shape, does not need input clustering number and so on, it can be better applied to radar data processing. clustering the point cloud data by DBSCAN algorithm, reducing the number of objects provided to the subsequent tracking algorithm and introducing hysteresis, realizing tracking only effective target by the tracker, and not switching between the adjacent targets.”), comprising: collecting and demodulating, by a radar unit, a radar echo to obtain a digital signal (Specific implementation examples :”Specifically, the radar signal processing system firstly mixing the transmitting signal and the receiving signal to obtain the intermediate frequency signal of the target information, the analogue signal is converted into a digital signal by ADC sampling. “); and performing, by a processing unit (Contents of invention: “The third aspect of the embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal device, comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor, the processor executes the computer program to realize the step of identifying method of the radar motion reflecting surface multi-path target.”), the following steps: performing range processing and angle processing on the digital signal to obtain first data (Contents of invention: “According to a first aspect of the embodiment of the invention, there is provided a radar tracking method, the method comprising: clustering the point cloud obtained by the radar sensing distance-Doppler plane, obtaining distance-Doppler point cloud cluster; performing secondary clustering to the distance-Doppler point cloud cluster in space dimension or angle dimension, obtaining secondary clustering point cloud cluster; determining the tracking target according to the distance-Doppler point cloud cluster and the corresponding secondary clustering point cloud cluster.“); generating a first point-cloud image based on the first data; recording a first location of at least one first cluster based on the first point-cloud image; performing Doppler processing on the first data to obtain a second point-cloud image; recording a second location of at least one second cluster based on the second point-cloud image; and recognizing a state of at least one tracking target based on the first location and the second location.
In reference to depend/independent claim 14, the prior arts made of record individually or in any combination, failed to teach, render obvious, or fairly suggest to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the combination of the claimed features of claim 14. Specifically, the prior arts made of record fail to disclose the limitation: “generating a first point-cloud image based on the first data; recording a first location of at least one first cluster based on the first point-cloud image; performing Doppler processing on the first data to obtain a second point-cloud image; recording a second location of at least one second cluster based on the second point-cloud image; and recognizing a state of at least one tracking target based on the first location and the second location.“
Dependent claims 15-20 are also allowable due to their dependency on allowable independent claim 14.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bongani J. Mashele whose telephone number is (703)756-5861. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00AM-5:00PM (CT).
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/BONGANI JABULANI MASHELE/Examiner, Art Unit 3648
/RESHA DESAI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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