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 .
Priority
Examiner acknowledges no foreign priority is claimed.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 3/9/2024, 12/2/2024, 12/2, 2024 9/17/2024 and 9/17/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered if signed and initialed by the Examiner.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 6/25/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Argument: Regarding amended independent claim 11, the applicant argues that Longman and Murray do not disclose or render obvious using situational awareness data indicating the distance, velocity, and/or angular range of the target object with respect to the radar device being to select at least one radar operational configuration to use for collecting the data about the target object.
Response: The Examiner disagrees. Claim amendment has changed the scope of invention. Claim 11 is now rejected with Longman et al. (US 2020/333433 A1), in view of Wu (US 2020/0300995 A1).
Cancellation of claims 1-10 and 12 has been acknowledged.
Amendment to claims 1 and 13 has been acknowledged.
Addition of new claims 21-31 has been acknowledged.
Examiner’s Note on Restriction
Applicant has received an action on the merits for the originally presented invention. The Examiner notes that Applicant has presented three slightly differing device claims, and that the Examiner has examined these claims as a single invention because the claims are obvious variants of each other. However, if future amendments to the claims or newly submitted claims are directed towards inventions that are independent or distinct form the invention originally claimed, the Examiner may review these claims in view of MPEP section 806 which is partially quoted below.
The general principles relating to distinctness or independence may be summarized as follows:
(A) Where inventions are independent (i.e., no disclosed relation there between), restriction to one thereof is ordinarily proper,
(B) Where inventions are related as disclosed but are distinct as claimed, restriction may be proper.
(C) Where inventions are related as disclosed but are not distinct as claimed, restriction is never proper.
(D) A reasonable number of species may be claimed when there is an allowable claim generic thereto.
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 24-28 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 24 depends on independent claim 11 and is a duplicate claim of claim 14. For purpose of examination, it is considered that claim 24 depends on claim 21. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 25 depends on independent claim 11 and is a duplicate claim of claim 15. For purpose of examination, it is considered that claim 25 depends on claim 21. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 26 depends on independent claim 11 and is a duplicate claim of claim 16. For purpose of examination, it is considered that claim 26 depends on claim 21. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 27 depends on independent claim 11 and is a duplicate claim of claim 17. For purpose of examination, it is considered that claim 27 depends on claim 21. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 28 depends on independent claim 11 and is a duplicate claim of claim 18. For purpose of examination, it is considered that claim 28 depends on claim 21. Appropriate correction is required.
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 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.
For applicant’s benefit portions of the cited reference(s) have been cited to aid in the review of the rejection(s). While every attempt has been made to be thorough and consistent within the rejection it is noted that the PRIOR ART MUST BE CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING DISCLOSURES THAT TEACH AWAY FROM THE CLAIMS. See MPEP 2141.02 VI.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 11 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Longman et al. (US 2020/333433 A1), in view of Wu (US 2020/0300995 A1).
Regarding independent claim 11, Longman et al. (‘433) discloses “a radar device for collecting data about a target object, the radar device being configured to transmit and/or receive RF signals in a plurality of radar operational configurations (paragraph 35: Figures 1-3: radar system 14 may include transmitter 30 structured to transmit a radar signal…radar system 14 may further include an antenna 26 structured to receive reflected radar signals from targets…radar system 14 may further include a controller 28 operably connected to antenna 26 and transmitter 30 and configured to operate on signals received by antenna 26…controller 28 may further be configured to control a waveform of a radar signal output by transmitter 30), the radar device comprising:
processing circuitry configured to: obtain situational awareness data for a vehicle (paragraph 37: the necessary performance characteristics may be determined by the operation state of the vehicle…in high speed applications such as traveling at highway speeds, a large maximal range and maximal Doppler shift may be necessary for the radar system to be able to detect all of vehicles and objects that could possibly affect operation of the vehicle; paragraph 38: in a low speed application such as parallel parking or navigating a parking lot, a high range resolution may be necessary in order to precisely determine the location of nearby objects and vehicles in order to avoid a collision while navigating so close to other objects; paragraph 40: Figure 3: vehicle 10 in which controller 28 of radar system 14 is configured to obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10…an operational state of vehicle 10 may include a velocity of vehicle 10…controller 28 of radar system 14 may be operably connected to a sensor that measures a velocity of vehicle 10, such as speedometer 32 … alternatively, controller 28 may be operably connected to a device such an as onboard navigation device 34 to obtain vehicle velocity from GPS data…navigation information may include information about whether vehicle 10 is on a highway, on local roads, nearing a destination, or in a parking lot…the navigation information may also include route information, so controller 28 may be able to preemptively determine an upcoming change in the operational state of vehicle 10; paragraph 41: Figure 4: a method 1000 for updating a waveform of a radar signal…in block 110, a radar system 14 including a controller 28 and transmitter 30 may be provided (see FIG. 2)…in block 112, controller 28 may obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10 (see FIG. 3)…controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters based on the present operational state of vehicle 10…if the present operational state of vehicle 10 is highway driving (as determined by vehicle velocity and/or navigation information info controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters to generate an updated waveform which has high maximal velocity and high maximal Doppler shift…if the present operational state of vehicle 10 is navigating a parking lot controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters to generate an updated waveform having high range resolution… transmitter 30 may transmit an updated radar signal based on the updated waveform),”
“a transmitter configured to transmit, according to the at least one radar operational configuration, one or more RF transmit signals (paragraph 35: Figure 2: radar system 14 may include transmitter 30 structured to transmit a radar signal…radar system 14 may further include an antenna 26 structured to receive reflected radar signals from targets. Radar system 14 may further include a controller 28 operably connected to antenna 26 and transmitter 30 and configured to operate on signals received by antenna 26… controller 28 may further be configured to control a waveform of a radar signal output by transmitter 30); and
a receiver configured to receive, according to the at least one radar operational configuration, one or more RF receive signals generated at least in part by reflection of the one or more RF transmit signals from the target object (paragraph 35: Figure 2: radar system 14 may include transmitter 30 structured to transmit a radar signal…radar system 14 may further include an antenna 26 structured to receive reflected radar signals from targets. Radar system 14 may further include a controller 28 operably connected to antenna 26 and transmitter 30 and configured to operate on signals received by antenna 26… controller 28 may further be configured to control a waveform of a radar signal output by transmitter 30).”
Longman et al. (‘433) describes controller 28 may further be configured to control a waveform of a radar signal output by transmitter 30 (paragraph 35: Figure 2); the necessary performance characteristics may be determined by the operation state of the vehicle…in high speed applications such as traveling at highway speeds, a large maximal range and maximal Doppler shift may be necessary for the radar system to be able to detect all of vehicles and objects that could possibly affect operation of the vehicle…the large maximal range and maximal Doppler shift would result in a corresponding low range resolution, but this is not as important at highway speeds where vehicles are spaced farther apart (paragraph 37); in a low speed application such as parallel parking or navigating a parking lot, a high range resolution may be necessary in order to precisely determine the location of nearby objects and vehicles in order to avoid a collision while navigating so close to other objects…the high range resolution would result in a corresponding low maximal range and low maximal Doppler shift, but this is not as important during low speed maneuver where far off objects and vehicles will have no effect on the operation of the vehicle (paragraph 38); vehicle 10 in which controller 28 of radar system 14 is configured to obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10…an operational state of vehicle 10 may include a velocity of vehicle 10…controller 28 of radar system 14 may be operably connected to a sensor that measures a velocity of vehicle 10, such as speedometer 32…controller 28 may be operably connected to a device such an as onboard navigation device 34 to obtain vehicle velocity from GPS data…in addition to vehicle velocity, the operational state of vehicle 10 may include navigation information obtained from onboard navigation device 34 or personal device 40…navigation information may include information about whether vehicle 10 is on a highway, on local roads, nearing a destination, or in a parking lot…the navigation information may also include route information, so controller 28 may be able to preemptively determine an upcoming change in the operational state of vehicle 10 (paragraph 40: Figure 3); a method 1000 for updating a waveform of a radar signal…in block 110, a radar system 14 including a controller 28 and transmitter 30 may be provided (see FIG. 2)…controller 28 may obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10 as described herein (see FIG. 3)…controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters based on the present operational state of vehicle 10…if the present operational state of vehicle 10 is highway driving, controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters to generate an updated waveform which has high maximal velocity and high maximal Doppler shift…if the present operational state of vehicle 10 is navigating a parking lot (as determined by vehicle velocity and/or navigation information) controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters to generate an updated waveform having high range resolution. In block 116, transmitter 30 may transmit an updated radar signal based on the updated waveform (paragraph 41: Figure 4).Longman et al. (‘433) does not explicitly disclose “the situational awareness data being indicative of a distance, velocity, and/or angular range of the target object with respect to the radar device; select, using the situational awareness data indicating the distance, velocity, and/or angular range and from among the plurality of radar operational configurations, at least one radar operational configuration to use for collecting the data about the target object.”
Wu (‘995) relates to automotive radar system. Wu (‘995) teaches “the situational awareness data being indicative of a distance, velocity, and/or angular range of the target object with respect to the radar device; select, using the situational awareness data indicating the distance, velocity, and/or angular range and from among the plurality of radar operational configurations, at least one radar operational configuration to use for collecting the data about the target object (paragraph 18: the radar system 100 also includes a radar controller processing unit 30 that is connected to supply input control signals to the distributed radar devices 10, 20 and to receive therefrom digital output signals generated by the receiver modules 12, 22…the radar controller processing unit 30 may be embodied as a micro-controller unit (MCU) or other processing unit that is configured and arranged for signal processing tasks such as, but not limited to, target identification, computation of target distance, target velocity, and target direction, and generating control signals…the radar controller processing unit 30 may, for example, be configured to generate calibration signals, receive data signals, receive sensor signals, generate frequency spectrum shaping signals (such as ramp generation in the case of FMCW radar) and/or state machine signals for RF (radio frequency) circuit enablement sequences…the radar controller processor 30 may be configured to program the modules (s) 11, 21 to operate in a coordinated fashion by transmitting MIMO waveforms for use in constructing a virtual aperture from a combination of the distributed apertures formed by the distributed transmitting and receiving antenna elements TX.sub.i, RX.sub.j).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433) with the teaching of Wu (‘995) for more reliable radar detection. In addition, both of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433) and Wu (‘995)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, vehicle radar system utilizing situational or surrounding conditions for to detect object.
Regarding claim 14, which is dependent on independent claim 11, Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) discloses the radar device of claim 11. Longman et al. (‘433) further discloses “the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of waveform types having corresponding frequency bandwidths (paragraph 36: the radar signal output by transmitter 30 may be a linear frequency modulated continuous wave (LFM-CW) signal. An LFM-CW signal may be characterized by one or more waveform parameters such as pulse repetition interval (PRI), chirp slope, sampling rate, and number of samples. The PRI corresponds to the interval between pulses, with closer pulses (i.e., small PRI) being better at tracking fast changes and resulting in a higher Unambiguous Doppler…a small PRI will also result in a lower maximal range and low range resolution…the chirp slope is a measure of how quickly the radar signal sweeps across a range of frequencies…the waveform of the radar signal may also be characterized by one or more performance characteristics, such as maximal range, maximal Doppler shift, and range resolution. It will be understood there is a fixed relationship between maximal range, maximal Doppler shift, and range solution in a radar system…a radar signal that has a large maximal range and large maximal Doppler shift will have a correspondingly low range resolution, and a radar signal that has a high range resolution will have a correspondingly small maximal range and small maximal Doppler shift);
the at least one radar operational configuration specifies at least one waveform type of the plurality of waveform types having a corresponding frequency bandwidth (paragraph 36: the radar signal output by transmitter 30 may be a linear frequency modulated continuous wave (LFM-CW) signal. An LFM-CW signal may be characterized by one or more waveform parameters such as pulse repetition interval (PRI), chirp slope, sampling rate, and number of samples…the PRI corresponds to the interval between pulses, with closer pulses (i.e., small PRI) being better at tracking fast changes and resulting in a higher Unambiguous Doppler…a small PRI will also result in a lower maximal range and low range resolution…the chirp slope is a measure of how quickly the radar signal sweeps across a range of frequencies…the waveform of the radar signal may also be characterized by one or more performance characteristics, such as maximal range, maximal Doppler shift, and range resolution. It will be understood there is a fixed relationship between maximal range, maximal Doppler shift, and range solution in a radar system…a radar signal that has a large maximal range and large maximal Doppler shift will have a correspondingly low range resolution, and a radar signal that has a high range resolution will have a correspondingly small maximal range and small maximal Doppler shift); and
the transmitter is configured to transmit the one or more RF transmit signals having the at least one waveform type (paragraph 36: paragraph 36: the radar signal output by transmitter 30 may be a linear frequency modulated continuous wave (LFM-CW) signal. An LFM-CW signal may be characterized by one or more waveform parameters such as pulse repetition interval (PRI), chirp slope, sampling rate, and number of samples. The PRI corresponds to the interval between pulses, with closer pulses (i.e., small PRI) being better at tracking fast changes and resulting in a higher Unambiguous Doppler…a small PRI will also result in a lower maximal range and low range resolution…the chirp slope is a measure of how quickly the radar signal sweeps across a range of frequencies…the waveform of the radar signal may also be characterized by one or more performance characteristics, such as maximal range, maximal Doppler shift, and range resolution. It will be understood there is a fixed relationship between maximal range, maximal Doppler shift, and range solution in a radar system…a radar signal that has a large maximal range and large maximal Doppler shift will have a correspondingly low range resolution, and a radar signal that has a high range resolution will have a correspondingly small maximal range and small maximal Doppler shift).”
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Longman et al. (US 2020/333433 A1)/Wu (US 2020/0300995 A1), in view of Murray et al. (US 2023/0145218 A1).
Regarding claim 13, which is dependent on independent claim 11, Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) discloses the trader device of claim 11. Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) does not explicitly disclose “the situational awareness data indicates an elevation range of the target object with respect to the radar device and/or an azimuth range of the target object with respect to the radar device.”
Murray et al. (‘218) relates to radar system. Murray et al. (‘218) teaches “the situational awareness data indicates an elevation range of the target object with respect to the radar device and/or an azimuth range of the target object with respect to the radar device (paragraph 37: RADAR sensor(s) 101 may detect these reflections and reflection characteristics such as bearing, azimuth, elevation).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) with the teaching of Murray et al. (‘218) for more reliable radar detection (Murray et al. (‘218) – paragraph 5). In addition, both of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433), Wu (‘995) and Murray et al. (‘218)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, vehicle radar system utilizing situational or surrounding conditions for to detect object.
Claims 15-16 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Longman et al. (US 2020/333433 A1)/Wu (US 2020/0300995 A1), in view of Charvat et al. (US 2022/413141 A1).
Regarding claim 15, which is dependent on independent claim 11, Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) discloses the radar device of claim 11. Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) does not explicitly disclose “the transmitter comprises a transmit antenna array comprising a plurality of transmit antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the transmit antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different subsets of the plurality of transmit antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets; and the transmitter is configured to transmit the one or more RF transmit signals using the at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets of the plurality of transmit antenna elements.”
Charvat et al. (‘141) relates to radar sensors. Charvat et al. (‘141) teaches “the transmitter comprises a transmit antenna array comprising a plurality of transmit antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the transmit antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different subsets of the plurality of transmit antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets; and the transmitter is configured to transmit the one or more RF transmit signals using the at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets of the plurality of transmit antenna elements (paragraph 291: Figures 14A-14B: a system capable of imaging objects in multiple dimensions…information in the elevation axis is obtained by emitting THz signals with different subsets of TX antenna array 102 at different times…at time t1, antennas 1, 2 and 3 emit (see FIG. 14A)…at time t2 (subsequent to t1), antennas 4, 5 and 6 emit (see Figure 14B)…because the subsets are offset from one another along the elevation axis, different viewpoints with respect to that axis are produced…TX antenna array 102 may be segmented in more than two subsets. Signals reflected in response to emission from the first subset of the TX antenna array 102 and signals reflected in response to emission from the second subset of the TX antenna array 102 are received with RX antenna array 104…the system generates two images…the system can determine the difference between the phases of these images, and may use the phase difference to obtain information with respect to the elevation axis).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) with the teaching of Charvat et al. (‘141) for more precise target detection. In addition, both of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433), Wu (‘995) and Charvat et al. (‘141)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, radar target detection using surrounding environmental and situational conditions.
Regarding claim 16, which is dependent on independent claim 11, Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) discloses the radar device of claim 11. Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) does not explicitly disclose “the transmitter comprises a transmit antenna array comprising a plurality of transmit antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the transmit antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different transmit phase shift patterns for transmitting the one or more RF transmit signals via the plurality of transmit antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one transmit phase shift pattern of the plurality of different transmit phase shift patterns; and the transmitter is configured to transmit the one or more RF transmit signals according to the at least one transmit phase shift pattern.”
Charvat et al. (‘141) relates to radar sensors. Charvat et al. (‘141) teaches “the transmitter comprises a transmit antenna array comprising a plurality of transmit antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the transmit antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different transmit phase shift patterns for transmitting the one or more RF transmit signals via the plurality of transmit antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one transmit phase shift pattern of the plurality of different transmit phase shift patterns; and the transmitter is configured to transmit the one or more RF transmit signals according to the at least one transmit phase shift pattern (paragraph 291:Figures 14A-14B: a system capable of imaging objects in multiple dimensions …information in the elevation axis is obtained by emitting THz signals with different subsets of TX antenna array 102 at different times…at time t.sub.1, antennas 1, 2 and 3 emit (see FIG. 14A)…at time t2 (subsequent to t1), antennas 4, 5 and 6 emit (see Figure 14B)…because the subsets are offset from one another along the elevation axis, different viewpoints with respect to that axis are produced…TX antenna array 102 may be segmented in more than two subsets. Signals reflected in response to emission from the first subset of the TX antenna array 102 and signals reflected in response to emission from the second subset of the TX antenna array 102 are received with RX antenna array 104…the system generates two images…the system can determine the difference between the phases of these images, and may use the phase difference to obtain information with respect to the elevation axis).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) with the teaching of Charvat et al. (‘141) for more precise target detection. In addition, both of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433), Wu (‘995) and Charvat et al. (‘141)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, radar target detection using surrounding environmental and situational conditions.
Regarding claim 19, which is dependent on independent claim 11, Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) discloses the radar device of claim 11. Longman et al. (‘433) does not explicitly disclose “the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of frame rates; the at least one radar operational configuration specifies at least one frame rate of the plurality of frame rates; and the processing circuitry is further configured to generate, according to the at least one radar operational configuration, a range-cross range image of the target object at least in part by using the one or more RF receive signals, received during a frame defined by the at least one frame rate, to generate the range-cross range image.”
Charvat et al. (‘141) relates to radar sensors. Charvat et al. (‘141) teaches “the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of frame rates (paragraph 159: Figure 16G: a frame rate as a function of range);
the at least one radar operational configuration specifies at least one frame rate of the plurality of frame rates (paragraph 305: the result is that the frame rate at which the data are imaged also varies as a function of the range. FIG. 16G illustrates how the frame rate may be varied as a function of the range); and
the processing circuitry is further configured to generate, according to the at least one radar operational configuration, a range-cross range image of the target object at least in part by using the one or more RF receive signals, received during a frame defined by the at least one frame rate, to generate the range-cross range image (paragraph 305: recognizing that propagation loss increases with increasing distance, data corresponding to different response pulses may be added to one another at a rate determined as a function of the range bin…Figure 16F illustrates how the integration rate may be varied as a function of the range…each range bin is assigned a different integration rate (though in other examples, an integration rate may be assigned to more than one range)…the range bin corresponding to ranges in the 20 m-40 m interval are assigned a rate of 2 integrations per second and the range bin corresponding to ranges in the 140 m-160 m interval are assigned a rate of 500 integrations per second. The result is that the frame rate at which the data are imaged also varies as a function of the range…Figure 16G illustrates how the frame rate may be varied as a function of the range, in accordance with some embodiments. In this example, the range bin corresponding to ranges in the 20 m-40 m interval are associated with a frame rate of 500 frames per second (FPS) and the range bin corresponding to ranges in the 140 m-160 m interval are associated with a frame rate of 2 FPS…the integration may be performed in a coherent fashion, thereby increasing the SNR by a factor equal to the integration rate).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) with the teaching of Charvat et al. (‘141) for more precise target detection. In addition, all of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433), Wu (‘995) and Charvat et al. (‘141)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, radar target detection using surrounding environmental and situational conditions.
Regarding claim 20, which is dependent on independent claim 11, Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) discloses the method of claim 11. Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) does not explicitly disclose “the one or more RF transmit signals have frequency content in a frequency band of 300 GHz - 3 THz.”
Charvat et al. (‘141) relates to radar sensors. Charvat et al. (‘141) teaches “the one or more RF transmit signals have frequency content in a frequency band of 300 GHz - 3 THz (paragraph 168; paragraph 173; paragraph 185; Figure 1A-B, Figure 3A).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) with the teaching of Charvat et al. (‘141) for more precise target detection. In addition, all of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433), Wu (‘995) and Charvat et al. (‘141)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, radar target detection using surrounding environmental and situational conditions.
Claims 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Longman et al. (US 2020/333433 A1)/Wu (US 2020/0300995 A1), and further in view of Lee (US 2020/0072956 A1).
Regarding claim 17, which is dependent on independent claim 11, Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) discloses the method of claim 11. Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) does not explicitly disclose “the receiver comprises a receive antenna array comprising a plurality of receive antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the receive antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different subsets of the plurality of receive antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets; and the receiver is configured to receive the one or more RF receive signals using the at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets of the plurality of receive antenna elements.”
Lee (‘956) relates to radar. Lee (‘956) teaches “the receiver comprises a receive antenna array comprising a plurality of receive antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the receive antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different subsets of the plurality of receive antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets; and the receiver is configured to receive the one or more RF receive signals using the at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets of the plurality of receive antenna elements (paragraph 55: Figure 3B: the transmitter antennas included in the second transmitter antenna group Tx2 may be arranged at a first interval which is adjusted to locate them on the same line as some receiver antennas 300 among the multiple receiver antennas included in the second receiver antenna group Rx2…a MIMO configuration shown in Figure 3B can be constructed by adjusting the interval between the transmitter antennas, and the formation of a virtual receiver antenna group VRx results in a double increase in number of receiver antennas…the MIMO configuration shown in FIG. 3B can use a binary phase shift (0 deg/180 deg) and can be used as a phase reference; paragraph 56: Figure 3C: the transmitter antennas included in the second transmitter antenna group Tx2 may be arranged at a second interval which is adjusted to locate them on the same line as some receiver antennas 310 among the multiple receiver antennas included in the second receiver antenna group Rx2 …a MIMO configuration shown in Figure 3C can be constructed by adjusting the interval between the transmitter antennas, and the formation of a virtual receiver antenna group VRx results in a double increase in number of receiver antennas …the MIMO configuration shown in FIG. 3C can use a binary phase shift (0 deg/180 deg) and can be used as a phase reference; paragraph 57: Figure 3D: the transmitter antennas included in the second transmitter antenna group Tx2 may be arranged at a third interval which is adjusted to locate them on the same line as some receiver antennas 320 among the multiple receiver antennas included in the second receiver antenna group Rx2. A MIMO configuration shown in Figure 3D can be constructed by adjusting the interval between the transmitter antennas, and the formation of a virtual receiver antenna group VRx results in a double increase in number of receiver antennas...the MIMO configuration shown in FIG. 3D can use a binary phase shift (0 deg/180 deg) and can be used as a phase reference).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) with the teaching of Lee (‘956) for improved radar detection (Lee (‘956) – paragraph 10). In addition, both of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433), Wu (‘995) and Lee (‘956)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, using multiple antenna arrays for radar detection.
Regarding claim 18, which is dependent on independent claim 11, Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) discloses the radar device of claim 11. Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) does not explicitly disclose “the receiver comprises a receive antenna array comprising a plurality of receive antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the receive antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different receive phase shift patterns for receiving the one or more RF receive signals via the plurality of receive antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one receive phase shift pattern of the plurality of different receive phase shift patterns; and the receiver is configured to receive the one or more RF receive signals according to the at least one receive phase shift pattern.”
Lee (‘956) relates to radar. Lee (‘956) teaches “the receiver comprises a receive antenna array comprising a plurality of receive antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the receive antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different receive phase shift patterns for receiving the one or more RF receive signals via the plurality of receive antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one receive phase shift pattern of the plurality of different receive phase shift patterns; and the receiver is configured to receive the one or more RF receive signals according to the at least one receive phase shift pattern (paragraph 55: Figure 3B: the transmitter antennas included in the second transmitter antenna group Tx2 may be arranged at a first interval which is adjusted to locate them on the same line as some receiver antennas 300 among the multiple receiver antennas included in the second receiver antenna group Rx2…a MIMO configuration shown in Figure 3B can be constructed by adjusting the interval between the transmitter antennas, and the formation of a virtual receiver antenna group VRx results in a double increase in number of receiver antennas…the MIMO configuration shown in FIG. 3B can use a binary phase shift (0 deg/180 deg) and can be used as a phase reference; paragraph 56: Figure 3C: the transmitter antennas included in the second transmitter antenna group Tx2 may be arranged at a second interval which is adjusted to locate them on the same line as some receiver antennas 310 among the multiple receiver antennas included in the second receiver antenna group Rx2 …a MIMO configuration shown in Figure 3C can be constructed by adjusting the interval between the transmitter antennas, and the formation of a virtual receiver antenna group VRx results in a double increase in number of receiver antennas …the MIMO configuration shown in FIG. 3C can use a binary phase shift (0 deg/180 deg) and can be used as a phase reference; paragraph 57: Figure 3D: the transmitter antennas included in the second transmitter antenna group Tx2 may be arranged at a third interval which is adjusted to locate them on the same line as some receiver antennas 320 among the multiple receiver antennas included in the second receiver antenna group Rx2. A MIMO configuration shown in Figure 3D can be constructed by adjusting the interval between the transmitter antennas, and the formation of a virtual receiver antenna group VRx results in a double increase in number of receiver antennas...the MIMO configuration shown in FIG. 3D can use a binary phase shift (0 deg/180 deg) and can be used as a phase reference).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) with the teaching of Lee (‘956) for improved radar detection (Lee (‘956) – paragraph 10). In addition, both of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433), Wu (‘995) and Lee (‘956)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, using multiple antenna arrays for radar detection.
Claims 21-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Longman et al. (US 2020/333433 A1), in view of Holt et al. (US 2019/0064338 A1).
Regarding independent claim 21, Longman et al. (‘433) discloses “a radar device for collecting data about a target object, the radar device being configured to transmit and/or receive RF signals in a plurality of radar operational configurations (paragraph 35: Figures 1-3: radar system 14 may include transmitter 30 structured to transmit a radar signal…radar system 14 may further include an antenna 26 structured to receive reflected radar signals from targets…radar system 14 may further include a controller 28 operably connected to antenna 26 and transmitter 30 and configured to operate on signals received by antenna 26…controller 28 may further be configured to control a waveform of a radar signal output by transmitter 30), the radar device comprising:
processing circuitry configured to: obtain situational awareness data for a vehicle (paragraph 37: the necessary performance characteristics may be determined by the operation state of the vehicle…in high speed applications such as traveling at highway speeds, a large maximal range and maximal Doppler shift may be necessary for the radar system to be able to detect all of vehicles and objects that could possibly affect operation of the vehicle; paragraph 38: in a low speed application such as parallel parking or navigating a parking lot, a high range resolution may be necessary in order to precisely determine the location of nearby objects and vehicles in order to avoid a collision while navigating so close to other objects; paragraph 40: Figure 3: vehicle 10 in which controller 28 of radar system 14 is configured to obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10…an operational state of vehicle 10 may include a velocity of vehicle 10…controller 28 of radar system 14 may be operably connected to a sensor that measures a velocity of vehicle 10, such as speedometer 32 … alternatively, controller 28 may be operably connected to a device such an as onboard navigation device 34 to obtain vehicle velocity from GPS data…navigation information may include information about whether vehicle 10 is on a highway, on local roads, nearing a destination, or in a parking lot…the navigation information may also include route information, so controller 28 may be able to preemptively determine an upcoming change in the operational state of vehicle 10; paragraph 41: Figure 4: a method 1000 for updating a waveform of a radar signal…in block 110, a radar system 14 including a controller 28 and transmitter 30 may be provided (see FIG. 2)…in block 112, controller 28 may obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10 (see FIG. 3)…controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters based on the present operational state of vehicle 10…if the present operational state of vehicle 10 is highway driving (as determined by vehicle velocity and/or navigation information info controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters to generate an updated waveform which has high maximal velocity and high maximal Doppler shift…if the present operational state of vehicle 10 is navigating a parking lot controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters to generate an updated waveform having high range resolution… transmitter 30 may transmit an updated radar signal based on the updated waveform),
the situational awareness data being indicative of a traffic level vehicle (paragraph 37: the necessary performance characteristics may be determined by the operation state of the vehicle…in high speed applications such as traveling at highway speeds, a large maximal range and maximal Doppler shift may be necessary for the radar system to be able to detect all of vehicles and objects that could possibly affect operation of the vehicle; paragraph 38: in a low speed application such as parallel parking or navigating a parking lot, a high range resolution may be necessary in order to precisely determine the location of nearby objects and vehicles in order to avoid a collision while navigating so close to other objects; paragraph 40: Figure 3: vehicle 10 in which controller 28 of radar system 14 is configured to obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10…an operational state of vehicle 10 may include a velocity of vehicle 10…controller 28 of radar system 14 may be operably connected to a sensor that measures a velocity of vehicle 10, such as speedometer 32 … alternatively, controller 28 may be operably connected to a device such an as onboard navigation device 34 to obtain vehicle velocity from GPS data…navigation information may include information about whether vehicle 10 is on a highway, on local roads, nearing a destination, or in a parking lot…the navigation information may also include route information, so controller 28 may be able to preemptively determine an upcoming change in the operational state of vehicle 10); and
select, using the situational awareness data indicating the traffic level, weather condition, and/or hazardous condition and from among the plurality of radar operational configurations, at least one radar operational configuration to use for collecting the data about the target object (paragraph 35: Figure 2: controller 28 may further be configured to control a waveform of a radar signal output by transmitter 30; paragraph 37: the necessary performance characteristics may be determined by the operation state of the vehicle…in high speed applications such as traveling at highway speeds, a large maximal range and maximal Doppler shift may be necessary for the radar system to be able to detect all of vehicles and objects that could possibly affect operation of the vehicle…the large maximal range and maximal Doppler shift would result in a corresponding low range resolution, but this is not as important at highway speeds where vehicles are spaced farther apart; paragraph 38: in a low speed application such as parallel parking or navigating a parking lot, a high range resolution may be necessary in order to precisely determine the location of nearby objects and vehicles in order to avoid a collision while navigating so close to other objects…the high range resolution would result in a corresponding low maximal range and low maximal Doppler shift, but this is not as important during low speed maneuver where far off objects and vehicles will have no effect on the operation of the vehicle; paragraph 40: Figure 3: vehicle 10 in which controller 28 of radar system 14 is configured to obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10…an operational state of vehicle 10 may include a velocity of vehicle 10…controller 28 of radar system 14 may be operably connected to a sensor that measures a velocity of vehicle 10, such as speedometer 32… controller 28 may be operably connected to a device such an as onboard navigation device 34 to obtain vehicle velocity from GPS data…navigation information may include information about whether vehicle 10 is on a highway, on local roads, nearing a destination, or in a parking lot…the navigation information may also include route information, so controller 28 may be able to preemptively determine an upcoming change in the operational state of vehicle 10; paragraph 41: Figure 4: updating a waveform of a radar signal…in block 110, a radar system 14 including a controller 28 and transmitter 30 may be provided (see FIG. 2)…controller 28 may obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10 as described herein (see FIG. 3)…in block 114, controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters based on the present operational state of vehicle 10…if the present operational state of vehicle 10 is highway driving, controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters to generate an updated waveform which has high maximal velocity and high maximal Doppler shift…if the present operational state of vehicle 10 is navigating a parking lot controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters to generate an updated waveform having high range resolution…transmitter 30 may transmit an updated radar signal based on the updated waveform);
a transmitter configured to transmit, according to the at least one radar operational configuration, one or more RF transmit signals (paragraph 35: Figure 2: radar system 14 may include transmitter 30 structured to transmit a radar signal…radar system 14 may further include an antenna 26 structured to receive reflected radar signals from targets. Radar system 14 may further include a controller 28 operably connected to antenna 26 and transmitter 30 and configured to operate on signals received by antenna 26… controller 28 may further be configured to control a waveform of a radar signal output by transmitter 30); and
a receiver configured to receive, according to the at least one radar operational configuration, one or more RF receive signals generated at least in part by reflection of the one or more RF transmit signals from the target object (paragraph 35: Figure 2: radar system 14 may include transmitter 30 structured to transmit a radar signal…radar system 14 may further include an antenna 26 structured to receive reflected radar signals from targets. Radar system 14 may further include a controller 28 operably connected to antenna 26 and transmitter 30 and configured to operate on signals received by antenna 26… controller 28 may further be configured to control a waveform of a radar signal output by transmitter 30).
Longman et al. (‘433) does not explicitly disclose the situational awareness data being indicative of “weather condition, and/or hazardous condition in an environment of the vehicle.”
Holt et al. (‘338) relates to radar systems. Holt et al. (‘338) teaches the situational awareness data being indicative of “weather condition (paragraph 46: the multi-function electronically steered weather radar, such as radar device 11, may electronically steer a transmit beam 42 by controlling a transmit array 18, which includes a plurality of transmit antenna elements 24 to output an FMCW transmit beam (200). The plurality of transmit antenna elements 24 may be arranged such that a number of transmit antenna elements in a first transmit array dimension is greater than a number of transmit antenna elements in a second transmit array dimension substantially perpendicular to the first transmit array dimension. The FMCW transmit beam 42 illuminates an area with a greater extent in a first illumination direction 45 than in a second illumination direction 46 substantially perpendicular to the first illumination direction…the transmit array may be controlled, for example, by array controller 66), and/or hazardous condition in an environment of the vehicle (paragraph 28: the weather radar may be used in a standard weather radar mode to detect weather systems in the path of the aircraft…when operating in mountainous regions, the lower receive beams of the radar may be used for navigation, such as for terrain avoidance…various receive beams may be used for weather observation, while other receive beams are simultaneously used to detect hazards on the ground or in the air near the aircraft).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433) with the teaching of Holt et al. (‘338) for more reliable radar detection (Holt et al. (‘338) – paragraph 2). In addition, both of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433) and Holt et al. (‘338)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, using multiple antenna arrays for radar detection.
Regarding claim 22, which is dependent on independent claim 21, Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) discloses the radar device of claim 21. Longman et al. (‘433) further discloses “the situational awareness data indicates the traffic level (paragraph 37: the necessary performance characteristics may be determined by the operation state of the vehicle…in high speed applications such as traveling at highway speeds, a large maximal range and maximal Doppler shift may be necessary for the radar system to be able to detect all of vehicles and objects that could possibly affect operation of the vehicle; paragraph 38: in a low speed application such as parallel parking or navigating a parking lot, a high range resolution may be necessary in order to precisely determine the location of nearby objects and vehicles in order to avoid a collision while navigating so close to other objects; paragraph 40: Figure 3: vehicle 10 in which controller 28 of radar system 14 is configured to obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10…an operational state of vehicle 10 may include a velocity of vehicle 10…controller 28 of radar system 14 may be operably connected to a sensor that measures a velocity of vehicle 10, such as speedometer 32 … alternatively, controller 28 may be operably connected to a device such an as onboard navigation device 34 to obtain vehicle velocity from GPS data…navigation information may include information about whether vehicle 10 is on a highway, on local roads, nearing a destination, or in a parking lot…the navigation information may also include route information, so controller 28 may be able to preemptively determine an upcoming change in the operational state of vehicle 10).”
Regarding claim 23, which is dependent on independent claim 21, Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) discloses the radar device of claim 21. Longman et al. (‘433) does not explicitly disclose “the situational awareness data indicates the weather condition.”
Holt et al. (‘338) relates to radar systems. Holt et al. (‘338) teaches “the situational awareness data indicates the weather condition (paragraph 46: the multi-function electronically steered weather radar, such as radar device 11, may electronically steer a transmit beam 42 by controlling a transmit array 18, which includes a plurality of transmit antenna elements 24 to output an FMCW transmit beam (200). The plurality of transmit antenna elements 24 may be arranged such that a number of transmit antenna elements in a first transmit array dimension is greater than a number of transmit antenna elements in a second transmit array dimension substantially perpendicular to the first transmit array dimension. The FMCW transmit beam 42 illuminates an area with a greater extent in a first illumination direction 45 than in a second illumination direction 46 substantially perpendicular to the first illumination direction…the transmit array may be controlled, for example, by array controller 66); paragraph 28: the weather radar may be used in a standard weather radar mode to detect weather systems in the path of the aircraft…various receive beams may be used for weather observation, while other receive beams are simultaneously used to detect hazards on the ground or in the air near the aircraft).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433) with the teaching of Holt et al. (‘338) for more reliable radar detection (Holt et al. (‘338) – paragraph 2). In addition, both of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433) and Holt et al. (‘338)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, using multiple antenna arrays for radar detection.
Regarding claim 24, Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) discloses the radar device of claim 21. Longman et al. (‘433) further discloses “the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of waveform types having corresponding frequency bandwidths (paragraph 36: the radar signal output by transmitter 30 may be a linear frequency modulated continuous wave (LFM-CW) signal. An LFM-CW signal may be characterized by one or more waveform parameters such as pulse repetition interval (PRI), chirp slope, sampling rate, and number of samples. The PRI corresponds to the interval between pulses, with closer pulses (i.e., small PRI) being better at tracking fast changes and resulting in a higher Unambiguous Doppler…a small PRI will also result in a lower maximal range and low range resolution…the chirp slope is a measure of how quickly the radar signal sweeps across a range of frequencies…the waveform of the radar signal may also be characterized by one or more performance characteristics, such as maximal range, maximal Doppler shift, and range resolution. It will be understood there is a fixed relationship between maximal range, maximal Doppler shift, and range solution in a radar system…a radar signal that has a large maximal range and large maximal Doppler shift will have a correspondingly low range resolution, and a radar signal that has a high range resolution will have a correspondingly small maximal range and small maximal Doppler shift);
the at least one radar operational configuration specifies at least one waveform type of the plurality of waveform types having a corresponding frequency bandwidth (paragraph 36: the radar signal output by transmitter 30 may be a linear frequency modulated continuous wave (LFM-CW) signal. An LFM-CW signal may be characterized by one or more waveform parameters such as pulse repetition interval (PRI), chirp slope, sampling rate, and number of samples…the PRI corresponds to the interval between pulses, with closer pulses (i.e., small PRI) being better at tracking fast changes and resulting in a higher Unambiguous Doppler…a small PRI will also result in a lower maximal range and low range resolution…the chirp slope is a measure of how quickly the radar signal sweeps across a range of frequencies…the waveform of the radar signal may also be characterized by one or more performance characteristics, such as maximal range, maximal Doppler shift, and range resolution. It will be understood there is a fixed relationship between maximal range, maximal Doppler shift, and range solution in a radar system…a radar signal that has a large maximal range and large maximal Doppler shift will have a correspondingly low range resolution, and a radar signal that has a high range resolution will have a correspondingly small maximal range and small maximal Doppler shift); and
the transmitter is configured to transmit the one or more RF transmit signals having the at least one waveform type (paragraph 36: paragraph 36: the radar signal output by transmitter 30 may be a linear frequency modulated continuous wave (LFM-CW) signal. An LFM-CW signal may be characterized by one or more waveform parameters such as pulse repetition interval (PRI), chirp slope, sampling rate, and number of samples. The PRI corresponds to the interval between pulses, with closer pulses (i.e., small PRI) being better at tracking fast changes and resulting in a higher Unambiguous Doppler…a small PRI will also result in a lower maximal range and low range resolution…the chirp slope is a measure of how quickly the radar signal sweeps across a range of frequencies…the waveform of the radar signal may also be characterized by one or more performance characteristics, such as maximal range, maximal Doppler shift, and range resolution. It will be understood there is a fixed relationship between maximal range, maximal Doppler shift, and range solution in a radar system…a radar signal that has a large maximal range and large maximal Doppler shift will have a correspondingly low range resolution, and a radar signal that has a high range resolution will have a correspondingly small maximal range and small maximal Doppler shift).”
Claims 25-26 and 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Longman et al. (US 2020/333433 A1)/Holt et al. (US 2019/0064338 A1), in view of Charvat et al. (US 2022/413141 A1).
Regarding claim 25, which is dependent on independent claim 11, Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) discloses the radar device of claim 11. Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) does not explicitly disclose “the transmitter comprises a transmit antenna array comprising a plurality of transmit antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the transmit antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different subsets of the plurality of transmit antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets; and the transmitter is configured to transmit the one or more RF transmit signals using the at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets of the plurality of transmit antenna elements.”
Charvat et al. (‘141) relates to radar sensors. Charvat et al. (‘141) teaches “the transmitter comprises a transmit antenna array comprising a plurality of transmit antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the transmit antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different subsets of the plurality of transmit antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets; and the transmitter is configured to transmit the one or more RF transmit signals using the at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets of the plurality of transmit antenna elements (paragraph 291: Figures 14A-14B: a system capable of imaging objects in multiple dimensions…information in the elevation axis is obtained by emitting THz signals with different subsets of TX antenna array 102 at different times…at time t1, antennas 1, 2 and 3 emit (see FIG. 14A)…at time t2 (subsequent to t1), antennas 4, 5 and 6 emit (see Figure 14B)…because the subsets are offset from one another along the elevation axis, different viewpoints with respect to that axis are produced…TX antenna array 102 may be segmented in more than two subsets. Signals reflected in response to emission from the first subset of the TX antenna array 102 and signals reflected in response to emission from the second subset of the TX antenna array 102 are received with RX antenna array 104…the system generates two images…the system can determine the difference between the phases of these images, and may use the phase difference to obtain information with respect to the elevation axis).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) with the teaching of Charvat et al. (‘141) for more precise target detection. In addition, both of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433), Holt et al. (‘338) and Charvat et al. (‘141)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, radar target detection using surrounding environmental and situational conditions.
Regarding claim 26, Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) discloses the radar device of claim 21. Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) does not explicitly disclose “the transmitter comprises a transmit antenna array comprising a plurality of transmit antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the transmit antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different transmit phase shift patterns for transmitting the one or more RF transmit signals via the plurality of transmit antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one transmit phase shift pattern of the plurality of different transmit phase shift patterns; and the transmitter is configured to transmit the one or more RF transmit signals according to the at least one transmit phase shift pattern.”
Charvat et al. (‘141) relates to radar sensors. Charvat et al. (‘141) teaches “the transmitter comprises a transmit antenna array comprising a plurality of transmit antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the transmit antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different transmit phase shift patterns for transmitting the one or more RF transmit signals via the plurality of transmit antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one transmit phase shift pattern of the plurality of different transmit phase shift patterns; and the transmitter is configured to transmit the one or more RF transmit signals according to the at least one transmit phase shift pattern (paragraph 291:Figures 14A-14B: a system capable of imaging objects in multiple dimensions …information in the elevation axis is obtained by emitting THz signals with different subsets of TX antenna array 102 at different times…at time t.sub.1, antennas 1, 2 and 3 emit (see FIG. 14A)…at time t2 (subsequent to t1), antennas 4, 5 and 6 emit (see Figure 14B)…because the subsets are offset from one another along the elevation axis, different viewpoints with respect to that axis are produced…TX antenna array 102 may be segmented in more than two subsets. Signals reflected in response to emission from the first subset of the TX antenna array 102 and signals reflected in response to emission from the second subset of the TX antenna array 102 are received with RX antenna array 104…the system generates two images…the system can determine the difference between the phases of these images, and may use the phase difference to obtain information with respect to the elevation axis).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) with the teaching of Charvat et al. (‘141) for more precise target detection. In addition, both of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433), Holt et al. (‘338) and Charvat et al. (‘141)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, radar target detection using surrounding environmental and situational conditions.
Regarding claim 29, Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) discloses the radar device of claim 21. Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) does not explicitly disclose “the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of frame rates; the at least one radar operational configuration specifies at least one frame rate of the plurality of frame rates; and the processing circuitry is further configured to generate, according to the at least one radar operational configuration, a range-cross range image of the target object at least in part by using the one or more RF receive signals, received during a frame defined by the at least one frame rate, to generate the range-cross range image.”
Charvat et al. (‘141) relates to radar sensors. Charvat et al. (‘141) teaches ““the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of frame rates (paragraph 159: Figure 16G: a frame rate as a function of range);
the at least one radar operational configuration specifies at least one frame rate of the plurality of frame rates (paragraph 305: the result is that the frame rate at which the data are imaged also varies as a function of the range. FIG. 16G illustrates how the frame rate may be varied as a function of the range); and
the processing circuitry is further configured to generate, according to the at least one radar operational configuration, a range-cross range image of the target object at least in part by using the one or more RF receive signals, received during a frame defined by the at least one frame rate, to generate the range-cross range image (paragraph 305: recognizing that propagation loss increases with increasing distance, data corresponding to different response pulses may be added to one another at a rate determined as a function of the range bin…Figure 16F illustrates how the integration rate may be varied as a function of the range…each range bin is assigned a different integration rate (though in other examples, an integration rate may be assigned to more than one range)…the range bin corresponding to ranges in the 20 m-40 m interval are assigned a rate of 2 integrations per second and the range bin corresponding to ranges in the 140 m-160 m interval are assigned a rate of 500 integrations per second. The result is that the frame rate at which the data are imaged also varies as a function of the range…Figure 16G illustrates how the frame rate may be varied as a function of the range, in accordance with some embodiments. In this example, the range bin corresponding to ranges in the 20 m-40 m interval are associated with a frame rate of 500 frames per second (FPS) and the range bin corresponding to ranges in the 140 m-160 m interval are associated with a frame rate of 2 FPS…the integration may be performed in a coherent fashion, thereby increasing the SNR by a factor equal to the integration rate).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433)/ Holt et al. (‘338) with the teaching of Charvat et al. (‘141) for more precise target detection. In addition, all of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433), Holt et al. (‘338) and Charvat et al. (‘141)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, radar target detection using surrounding environmental and situational conditions.
Regarding claim 30, Longman et al. (‘433)/Wu (‘995) discloses the radar system of claim 21. Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) does not explicitly disclose “the one or more RF transmit signals have frequency content in a frequency band of 300 GHz - 3 THz.”
Charvat et al. (‘141) relates to radar sensors. Charvat et al. (‘141) teaches “the one or more RF transmit signals have frequency content in a frequency band of 300 GHz - 3 THz (paragraph 168; paragraph 173; paragraph 185; Figure 1A-B, Figure 3A).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) with the teaching of Charvat et al. (‘141) for more precise target detection. In addition, all of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433), Holt et al. (‘338) and Charvat et al. (‘141)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, radar target detection using surrounding environmental and situational conditions.
Claims 27-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Longman et al. (US 2020/333433 A1)/Holt et al. (US 2019/0064338 A1), and further in view of Lee (US 2020/0072956 A1).
Regarding claim 27, Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) discloses the radar device of claim 21. Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) does not explicitly disclose “the receiver comprises a receive antenna array comprising a plurality of receive antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the receive antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different subsets of the plurality of receive antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets; and the receiver is configured to receive the one or more RF receive signals using the at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets of the plurality of receive antenna elements.”
Lee (‘956) relates to radar. Lee (‘956) teaches “the receiver comprises a receive antenna array comprising a plurality of receive antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the receive antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different subsets of the plurality of receive antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets; and the receiver is configured to receive the one or more RF receive signals using the at least one subset of the plurality of different subsets of the plurality of receive antenna elements (paragraph 55: Figure 3B: the transmitter antennas included in the second transmitter antenna group Tx2 may be arranged at a first interval which is adjusted to locate them on the same line as some receiver antennas 300 among the multiple receiver antennas included in the second receiver antenna group Rx2…a MIMO configuration shown in Figure 3B can be constructed by adjusting the interval between the transmitter antennas, and the formation of a virtual receiver antenna group VRx results in a double increase in number of receiver antennas…the MIMO configuration shown in FIG. 3B can use a binary phase shift (0 deg/180 deg) and can be used as a phase reference; paragraph 56: Figure 3C: the transmitter antennas included in the second transmitter antenna group Tx2 may be arranged at a second interval which is adjusted to locate them on the same line as some receiver antennas 310 among the multiple receiver antennas included in the second receiver antenna group Rx2 …a MIMO configuration shown in Figure 3C can be constructed by adjusting the interval between the transmitter antennas, and the formation of a virtual receiver antenna group VRx results in a double increase in number of receiver antennas …the MIMO configuration shown in FIG. 3C can use a binary phase shift (0 deg/180 deg) and can be used as a phase reference; paragraph 57: Figure 3D: the transmitter antennas included in the second transmitter antenna group Tx2 may be arranged at a third interval which is adjusted to locate them on the same line as some receiver antennas 320 among the multiple receiver antennas included in the second receiver antenna group Rx2. A MIMO configuration shown in Figure 3D can be constructed by adjusting the interval between the transmitter antennas, and the formation of a virtual receiver antenna group VRx results in a double increase in number of receiver antennas...the MIMO configuration shown in FIG. 3D can use a binary phase shift (0 deg/180 deg) and can be used as a phase reference).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) with the teaching of Lee (‘956) for improved radar detection (Lee (‘956) – paragraph 10). In addition, both of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433), Holt et al. (‘338) and Lee (‘956)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, using multiple antenna arrays for radar detection.
Regarding claim 28, Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) discloses the radar device of claim 21. Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) does not explicitly disclose “the receiver comprises a receive antenna array comprising a plurality of receive antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the receive antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different receive phase shift patterns for receiving the one or more RF receive signals via the plurality of receive antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one receive phase shift pattern of the plurality of different receive phase shift patterns; and the receiver is configured to receive the one or more RF receive signals according to the at least one receive phase shift pattern.”
Lee (‘956) relates to radar. Lee (‘956) teaches “the receiver comprises a receive antenna array comprising a plurality of receive antenna elements arranged along a dimension of the receive antenna array; the plurality of radar operational configurations specify a plurality of different receive phase shift patterns for receiving the one or more RF receive signals via the plurality of receive antenna elements, the at least one radar operational configuration specifying at least one receive phase shift pattern of the plurality of different receive phase shift patterns; and the receiver is configured to receive the one or more RF receive signals according to the at least one receive phase shift pattern (paragraph 55: Figure 3B: the transmitter antennas included in the second transmitter antenna group Tx2 may be arranged at a first interval which is adjusted to locate them on the same line as some receiver antennas 300 among the multiple receiver antennas included in the second receiver antenna group Rx2…a MIMO configuration shown in Figure 3B can be constructed by adjusting the interval between the transmitter antennas, and the formation of a virtual receiver antenna group VRx results in a double increase in number of receiver antennas…the MIMO configuration shown in FIG. 3B can use a binary phase shift (0 deg/180 deg) and can be used as a phase reference; paragraph 56: Figure 3C: the transmitter antennas included in the second transmitter antenna group Tx2 may be arranged at a second interval which is adjusted to locate them on the same line as some receiver antennas 310 among the multiple receiver antennas included in the second receiver antenna group Rx2 …a MIMO configuration shown in Figure 3C can be constructed by adjusting the interval between the transmitter antennas, and the formation of a virtual receiver antenna group VRx results in a double increase in number of receiver antennas …the MIMO configuration shown in FIG. 3C can use a binary phase shift (0 deg/180 deg) and can be used as a phase reference; paragraph 57: Figure 3D: the transmitter antennas included in the second transmitter antenna group Tx2 may be arranged at a third interval which is adjusted to locate them on the same line as some receiver antennas 320 among the multiple receiver antennas included in the second receiver antenna group Rx2. A MIMO configuration shown in Figure 3D can be constructed by adjusting the interval between the transmitter antennas, and the formation of a virtual receiver antenna group VRx results in a double increase in number of receiver antennas...the MIMO configuration shown in FIG. 3D can use a binary phase shift (0 deg/180 deg) and can be used as a phase reference).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433)/Holt et al. (‘338) with the teaching of Lee (‘956) for improved radar detection (Lee (‘956) – paragraph 10). In addition, both of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433), Holt et al. (‘338) and Lee (‘956)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, using multiple antenna arrays for radar detection.
Claim 31 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Longman et al. (US 2020/333433 A1), in view of Li et al. (US 2023/0176215 A1).
Regarding independent claim 31, Longman et al. (‘433) discloses “a radar device for collecting data about a target object, the radar device being configured to transmit and/or receive RF signals in a plurality of radar operational configurations (paragraph 35: Figures 1-3: radar system 14 may include transmitter 30 structured to transmit a radar signal…radar system 14 may further include an antenna 26 structured to receive reflected radar signals from targets…radar system 14 may further include a controller 28 operably connected to antenna 26 and transmitter 30 and configured to operate on signals received by antenna 26…controller 28 may further be configured to control a waveform of a radar signal output by transmitter 30), the radar device comprising:
processing circuitry configured to: obtain situational awareness data for a vehicle (paragraph 37: the necessary performance characteristics may be determined by the operation state of the vehicle…in high speed applications such as traveling at highway speeds, a large maximal range and maximal Doppler shift may be necessary for the radar system to be able to detect all of vehicles and objects that could possibly affect operation of the vehicle; paragraph 38: in a low speed application such as parallel parking or navigating a parking lot, a high range resolution may be necessary in order to precisely determine the location of nearby objects and vehicles in order to avoid a collision while navigating so close to other objects; paragraph 40: Figure 3: vehicle 10 in which controller 28 of radar system 14 is configured to obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10…an operational state of vehicle 10 may include a velocity of vehicle 10…controller 28 of radar system 14 may be operably connected to a sensor that measures a velocity of vehicle 10, such as speedometer 32 … alternatively, controller 28 may be operably connected to a device such an as onboard navigation device 34 to obtain vehicle velocity from GPS data…navigation information may include information about whether vehicle 10 is on a highway, on local roads, nearing a destination, or in a parking lot…the navigation information may also include route information, so controller 28 may be able to preemptively determine an upcoming change in the operational state of vehicle 10; paragraph 41: Figure 4: a method 1000 for updating a waveform of a radar signal…in block 110, a radar system 14 including a controller 28 and transmitter 30 may be provided (see FIG. 2)…in block 112, controller 28 may obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10 (see FIG. 3)…controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters based on the present operational state of vehicle 10…if the present operational state of vehicle 10 is highway driving (as determined by vehicle velocity and/or navigation information info controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters to generate an updated waveform which has high maximal velocity and high maximal Doppler shift…if the present operational state of vehicle 10 is navigating a parking lot controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters to generate an updated waveform having high range resolution… transmitter 30 may transmit an updated radar signal based on the updated waveform),
select, from among the plurality of radar operational configurations, at least one radar operational configuration to use for collecting the data about the target object (paragraph 35: Figure 2: controller 28 may further be configured to control a waveform of a radar signal output by transmitter 30; paragraph 37: the necessary performance characteristics may be determined by the operation state of the vehicle…in high speed applications such as traveling at highway speeds, a large maximal range and maximal Doppler shift may be necessary for the radar system to be able to detect all of vehicles and objects that could possibly affect operation of the vehicle…the large maximal range and maximal Doppler shift would result in a corresponding low range resolution, but this is not as important at highway speeds where vehicles are spaced farther apart; paragraph 38: in a low speed application such as parallel parking or navigating a parking lot, a high range resolution may be necessary in order to precisely determine the location of nearby objects and vehicles in order to avoid a collision while navigating so close to other objects…the high range resolution would result in a corresponding low maximal range and low maximal Doppler shift, but this is not as important during low speed maneuver where far off objects and vehicles will have no effect on the operation of the vehicle; paragraph 40: Figure 3: vehicle 10 in which controller 28 of radar system 14 is configured to obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10…an operational state of vehicle 10 may include a velocity of vehicle 10…controller 28 of radar system 14 may be operably connected to a sensor that measures a velocity of vehicle 10, such as speedometer 32… controller 28 may be operably connected to a device such an as onboard navigation device 34 to obtain vehicle velocity from GPS data…navigation information may include information about whether vehicle 10 is on a highway, on local roads, nearing a destination, or in a parking lot…the navigation information may also include route information, so controller 28 may be able to preemptively determine an upcoming change in the operational state of vehicle 10; paragraph 41: Figure 4: updating a waveform of a radar signal…in block 110, a radar system 14 including a controller 28 and transmitter 30 may be provided (see FIG. 2)…controller 28 may obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10 as described herein (see FIG. 3)…in block 114, controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters based on the present operational state of vehicle 10…if the present operational state of vehicle 10 is highway driving, controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters to generate an updated waveform which has high maximal velocity and high maximal Doppler shift…if the present operational state of vehicle 10 is navigating a parking lot controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters to generate an updated waveform having high range resolution…transmitter 30 may transmit an updated radar signal based on the updated waveform);
“a transmitter configured to transmit, according to the at least one radar operational configuration, one or more RF transmit signals (paragraph 35: Figure 2: radar system 14 may include transmitter 30 structured to transmit a radar signal…radar system 14 may further include an antenna 26 structured to receive reflected radar signals from targets. Radar system 14 may further include a controller 28 operably connected to antenna 26 and transmitter 30 and configured to operate on signals received by antenna 26… controller 28 may further be configured to control a waveform of a radar signal output by transmitter 30); and
a receiver configured to receive, according to the at least one radar operational configuration, one or more RF receive signals generated at least in part by reflection of the one or more RF transmit signals from the target object (paragraph 35: Figure 2: radar system 14 may include transmitter 30 structured to transmit a radar signal…radar system 14 may further include an antenna 26 structured to receive reflected radar signals from targets. Radar system 14 may further include a controller 28 operably connected to antenna 26 and transmitter 30 and configured to operate on signals received by antenna 26… controller 28 may further be configured to control a waveform of a radar signal output by transmitter 30).”
Longman et al. (‘433) describes controller 28 may further be configured to control a waveform of a radar signal output by transmitter 30 (paragraph 35: Figure 2); the necessary performance characteristics may be determined by the operation state of the vehicle…in high speed applications such as traveling at highway speeds, a large maximal range and maximal Doppler shift may be necessary for the radar system to be able to detect all of vehicles and objects that could possibly affect operation of the vehicle…the large maximal range and maximal Doppler shift would result in a corresponding low range resolution, but this is not as important at highway speeds where vehicles are spaced farther apart (paragraph 37); in a low speed application such as parallel parking or navigating a parking lot, a high range resolution may be necessary in order to precisely determine the location of nearby objects and vehicles in order to avoid a collision while navigating so close to other objects…the high range resolution would result in a corresponding low maximal range and low maximal Doppler shift, but this is not as important during low speed maneuver where far off objects and vehicles will have no effect on the operation of the vehicle (paragraph 38); vehicle 10 in which controller 28 of radar system 14 is configured to obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10…an operational state of vehicle 10 may include a velocity of vehicle 10…controller 28 of radar system 14 may be operably connected to a sensor that measures a velocity of vehicle 10, such as speedometer 32…controller 28 may be operably connected to a device such an as onboard navigation device 34 to obtain vehicle velocity from GPS data…in addition to vehicle velocity, the operational state of vehicle 10 may include navigation information obtained from onboard navigation device 34 or personal device 40…navigation information may include information about whether vehicle 10 is on a highway, on local roads, nearing a destination, or in a parking lot…the navigation information may also include route information, so controller 28 may be able to preemptively determine an upcoming change in the operational state of vehicle 10 (paragraph 40: Figure 3); a method 1000 for updating a waveform of a radar signal…in block 110, a radar system 14 including a controller 28 and transmitter 30 may be provided (see FIG. 2)…controller 28 may obtain a present operational state of vehicle 10 as described herein (see FIG. 3)…controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters based on the present operational state of vehicle 10…if the present operational state of vehicle 10 is highway driving, controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters to generate an updated waveform which has high maximal velocity and high maximal Doppler shift…if the present operational state of vehicle 10 is navigating a parking lot (as determined by vehicle velocity and/or navigation information) controller 28 may set a value of one or more of the waveform parameters to generate an updated waveform having high range resolution. In block 116, transmitter 30 may transmit an updated radar signal based on the updated waveform (paragraph 41: Figure 4). Longman et al. (‘433) does not explicitly disclose “the situational awareness data being indicative of a power level of the vehicle”, “select, using the situational awareness data indicating the power level of the vehicle.”
Li et al. (‘215) relates to automotive radar system. Li et al. (‘215) teaches “the situational awareness data being indicative of a power level of the vehicle (paragraph 31: the intelligent vehicle 001 may control the intelligent vehicle 001 in the automated driving mode, determine a current status of the vehicle and a surrounding environment of the vehicle through a manual operation, determine possible behavior of at least one another vehicle in the surrounding environment, determine a confidence level corresponding to a possibility of performing the possible behavior by the another vehicle, and control the intelligent vehicle 001 based on determined information; paragraph 52: the power supply 110 may supply power to the components of the intelligent vehicle 001…One or more battery packs of such a battery may be configured as a power supply to supply power to the components of the intelligent vehicle 002…the power supply 110 and the energy source 119 may be implemented together…the power supply 110 and the energy source 119 are implemented together in some all-electric vehicles; paragraph 53: the computer system 112 may be alternatively a plurality of computing devices that control individual components or subsystems of the intelligent vehicle 001 in a distributed manner).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radar device of Longman et al. (‘433) with the teaching of Li et al. (‘215) for more reliable radar detection. In addition, both of the prior art references, (Longman et al. (‘433) and Li et al. (‘215)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, vehicle radar system utilizing situational or surrounding conditions for to detect object.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Unnikrishnan et al. (US 2020/0218913 A1) describes a host vehicle includes at least one camera sensor, a memory, and at least one processor coupled to the memory and the at least one camera sensor, the at least one processor configured to detect the target object in one or more images captured by the at least one camera sensor, determine one or more first attributes of the target object based on measurements of the one or more images, determine one or more second attributes of the target object based on measurements of the map of the roadway on which the target object is travelling, and determine a motion state of the target object based on the one or more first attributes and the one or more second attributes of the target object (paragraph 7); the radar-camera sensor module 120 may detect one or more (or none) objects relative to the vehicle 100. In the example of Figure 1, there are two objects, vehicles 130 and 140, within the horizontal coverage zones 150 and 160 that the radar-camera sensor module 120 can detect. The radar-camera sensor module 120 may estimate parameters (attributes) of the detected object(s), such as the position, range, direction, speed, size, classification (e.g., vehicle, pedestrian, road sign, etc.), and the like…the radar-camera sensor module 120 may be employed onboard the vehicle 100 for automotive safety applications, such as adaptive cruise control (ACC), forward collision warning (FCW), collision mitigation or avoidance via autonomous braking, lane departure warning (LDW), and the like (paragraph 34).
Chung et al. (US 2022/252720 A1) describes discloses a multimode radar device capable of detecting the moving direction and status of the vehicle and automatically switching high- and low-resolution modes, wherein only a signal antenna module is needed for fulfilling the detection demands in different situations (paragraph 4).
Roger et al. (US 2020/03411134 A1) describes an implementation with three radar-MMICs 410-1, 410-2, 410-3 acting as receiver ICs and another radar-MMIC 810-4 acting as transmitter IC. Each of the radar-MMICs 410-1, 410-2, 410-3 is connected to a subset of receive antennas of an receive antenna array (not shown). The radar-MMIC 810-4 is connected to transmit antennas of an transmit antenna array (not shown) …the radar-MMIC 410-2 provides is local oscillator (LO) signal as synchronization signal to the other radar-MMICs 410-1, 410-3, and 810-4. All radar-MMICs 410-1, 410-2, 410-3, and 810-4 are connected via SPI. While radar-MMIC 410-3 acts as SPI master, the others act as SPI slaves. A communication cascade reaches from radar-MMIC 410-1 via radar-MIMIC 410-2 to radar-MMIC 410-3 (paragraph78: FIG. 8a).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NUZHAT PERVIN whose telephone number is (571)272-9795. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-5:00PM.
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Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
/NUZHAT PERVIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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