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 .
Response to Amendment/Arguments
The 12.05.2025 claims are entered. No claims are amended, canceled, or newly added. Claims 22-36 remain pending.
Applicant’s arguments made in the 12.05.2025 Remarks have been fully considered but are unconvincing for the reasons below.
Applicant contends on p. 6 of the Remarks that Poulet does not teach “determining that the user device is configured to indicate a need for the non-visual guidance for passing through the door based on an identity of the door” because, Applicant alleges, messages about the about user position are distinct from the cited limitation.
This argument is unconvincing. The message about position cited in the office action refers to the door’s position in the accessible place, not the position of the user. As discussed in Poulet, the door can identify whether the user is visually impaired by receiving such information from a device on the user. In response, the door can give the user information about an accessible place, which is necessarily tied to its position within an accessible place, else it would not give the user information about the accessible place.
Applicant further contends on p. 6 that Poulet, by emitting messages about position, is distinct from the cited limitation because the identity of the door is not used to determine that a need from the user for guidance has been indicated.
This argument is unconvincing because the broadest reasonable interpretation of the limitation does not necessarily require the identity of the door be used to determine a need for guidance. For example, the claim could be read as requiring the guidance provided to be based on the identity of the door, not the determination. In this case, the guidance would comprise information like the position of the door (Abstract) and information about the accessible place (identity information as discussed above).
Applicant further contends on pp. 6-7 that Poulet is distinct from the present invention because Poulet teaches the identifier code was already provided by the user device, so there is no need for the door unit to be configured to determine an indicated need for guidance because an identifier code was already sent by the device.
This argument is also unconvincing. Poulet teaches that the guidance is provided upon receipt of the identifier code. In other words, the identifier code causes the door to issue guidance upon the door recognizing the code (see for example the Abstract of Poulet). The recognition of the code is taken as the determination that the user device has indicated a need for guidance. Thus, the guidance is only provided upon a determination that such guidance is needed.
Therefore, the prior art rejections stand.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 22-27, 29, and 35-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2016063305 A to Kuwabara, Takeshi et al. (hereinafter “Kuwabara”) in view of FR 2963973 A1 to Poulet, Florence et al. (hereinafter “Poulet”), and further in view of US 20190232868 A1 to Lenneman, Joseph et al. (hereinafter “Lenneman”).
Regarding claim 22, Kuwabara teaches a method for providing non-visual guidance for passing through a door, the method being performed by a guidance device (Kuwabara [0017]: “In the first embodiment of the present invention, in order to guide the visually handicapped person 16 into the car 3, the destination point is set, for example, at the position in front of the door 10”), the method comprising:
determining that a person is near the door and that non-visual guidance is to be provided to the person (Kuwabara [0017]: “Specifically, the visually impaired person guidance apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention captures an image including the white cane 15, for example, a camera 17 as an image capturing unit that captures an image, and the camera 17 captures the image. An image processing unit 18 (see FIG. 5) that processes the image that has been processed, and a notification unit 19 that notifies the visually impaired 16 to guide to a predetermined destination . . . ”).
Kuwabara does not appear to expressly teach that determining a person is near to the door and requires non-visual guidance comprises detecting a nearby user device using wireless communication and determining that the user device is configured to indicate a need for the non-visual guidance for passing through the door based on an identity of the door, wherein the configuration is obtained using direct communication with the user device or in communication with a server.
However, Poulet teaches that determining a person is near to the door and requires non-visual guidance comprises detecting a nearby user device using wireless communication and determining that the user device is configured to indicate a need for the non-visual guidance for passing through the door based on an identity of the door (Poulet [0005]: “The marker emits an identifier code. identifier code can specify the category of disability, for example visually impaired . . . The application may provide one or more commands based on the identifiers . . . ”; [0006]: “The messages generated by the processor may, in response to the recognition of a signal from a beacon, indicate to the user his position, specify information specific to the accessible place and / or give him a direction to take.” Messages from the door about its position taken as the identity of the door.), wherein the configuration is obtained using direct communication with the user device or in communication with a server (Poulet [0005]: “ . . . each tag corresponding to a plurality of database records, each associated with the tag and a command option, the processor controlling the gate motor based on the tag.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to have combined the system that offers guidance to aid passage through a door to a person with visual impairment detected by a camera taught by Kuwabara with the system that uses an RFID tag that identifies a person with visual impairment via an RFID wireless communication user device taught by Poulet. Doing so would have improved the reliability of the detection of a visually impaired person by providing a second, alternative means of identification of such a person.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that this combination further teaches determining an indication of location of the person in relation to the guidance device or the door by at least one of using an image captured by a camera (Kuwabara [0046]: “At this time, if the position determination unit 23 determines that the white cane 15 is present at the center position of the visual field 17A of the camera 17 from the landing 9A side to the door 10 side (S6 / YES), for example, it is stored in advance. Announcement audio signal such as “Go straight ahead” is output to the front speaker 19B.”).
While teaching using a camera to determine the location of the person, the above combination of Kuwabara and Poulet does not appear to expressly teach using an image captured by a camera to determine a distance from the camera to the person or determining a distance to the user device using wireless ranging.
However, Lenneman [0056] teaches a passenger proximity module (204) to find the distance between the camera mounted on a vehicle and a passenger with visual impairment (Abstract) using an image captured by a camera to determine a distance from the camera to the person (Lenemman [0036]: “The sensors 122 can include . . . optical cameras, . . . ”; [0046]; [0056]-[0057]: Lenneman teaches guiding the passenger using audible feedback of different kinds based on position, including directional feedback, to ultimately guide the passenger to the door.) or determining a distance to the user device using wireless ranging (Lenneman [0036]: “The sensors 122 can include, . . . ultra-wide band (UWB) sensors a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, or other suitable wireless-based unique identifiers.”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of locating a visually impaired person with a camera and using that information to guide the person to a door disclosed in the above combination of Kuwabara and Poulet with the method of using a camera to find the distance between a visually impaired person and a target door, ultimately guiding the person via feedback based on the distance taught in Lenneman. Doing so would have improved the guidance of the person by providing more metrics by which the feedback may aid the person in finding the door (for example, by “increasing alert frequency as the distance between the passenger and the vehicle 102 decreases . . . “ as taught in Lenneman [0047].
One of ordinary skill in the art would have appreciated that the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman further teaches providing the non-visual guidance to the person for passing through the door, wherein the non-visual guidance is based on the indication of location, wherein the providing non-visual guidance comprises at least one of generating sound for output on speakers mounted near the door (Kuwabara [0046]: “At this time, if the position determination unit 23 determines that the white cane 15 is present at the center position of the visual field 17A of the camera 17 from the landing 9A side to the door 10 side (S6 / YES), for example, it is stored in advance. Announcement audio signal such as “Go straight ahead” is output to the front speaker 19B.”), sending a signal to the user device for generating a sound for output to the person (The term “or” requires consideration of only one of the listed options.), or sending a signal to the user device for generating a vibration for output to the person (The term “or” requires consideration of only one of the listed options.).
Regarding claim 23, the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman further teaches the method according to Claim 22, wherein the determining that the person is near the door comprises detecting, in an image captured by the camera, a person with a white cane (Kuwabara [0017]: “Specifically, the visually impaired person guidance apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention captures an image including the white cane 15, for example, a camera 17 as an image capturing unit that captures an image, and the camera 17 captures the image.”).
Regarding claim 24, the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman teaches the method according to Claim 22.
Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman as combined above do not appear to expressly teach wherein the determining an indication of location and providing non-visual guidance is repeated until the person passes through the door.
However, Lenneman teaches wherein the determining an indication of location and providing non-visual guidance is repeated until the person passes through the door (Lenneman [0046]: “In an implementation, the alert module 208 transmits alerts that have an increasing alert frequency as the distance between the passenger and the vehicle 102 decreases”; [0053]: “Once the passenger has entered the vehicle 102, the door management module 212 provides data to the alert module 208 to cause the alert module 208 to terminate the alerts.”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method for generating guidance based on distance for a visually impaired person to aid in entering a doorway disclosed in the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman with the alert module that receives location indication data in the form of a distance and provides audible signals until terminated by entry of the passenger further taught in Lenneman because it would have reduced noise pollution by shutting off the alerts for the visually impaired person when they are no longer needed, improving the comfort of those nearby.
Regarding claim 25, the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman further teaches the method according to Claim 24, wherein the non-visual guidance comprises a first modulation of at least one of a sound or vibration to indicate distance between the person and the guidance device or the door, wherein the first modulation is detectable by a human (Lenneman [0046]-[0047]: “The alert characteristic may comprise a frequency characteristic, a pulse duration characteristic, a pulse separation characteristic, or the like.” The alert changes with distance. Understood that because the door is mounted on the vehicle, distance to the vehicle necessarily indicates distance to the door. The Examiner notes that Lenneman is relied upon to teach use of sound to indicate distance, and not the structure of a doorway. Rather, Kuwabara is relied upon to teach the doorway structure.).
Regarding claim 26, the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman further teaches the method according to Claim 25, wherein the first modulation is based on a variation of at least one of a sound pitch, a sound volume, a vibration intensity, a pulse modulation of sound, or a pulse modulation of vibration (Lenneman [0046]-[0047]: “The alert characteristic may comprise a frequency characteristic, a pulse duration characteristic, a pulse separation characteristic, or the like.”).
Regarding claim 27, the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman teaches the method according to Claim 24.
The combination as made above does not appear to expressly teach wherein the non-visual guidance comprises a modulation of at least one of a sound or vibration to indicate orientation of the person in relation to the guidance device or the door, wherein the modulation is detectable by a human.
However, Lenneman further teaches wherein the non-visual guidance comprises a modulation of at least one of a sound or vibration to indicate orientation of the person in relation to the guidance device or the door, wherein the modulation is detectable by a human (Lenneman [0045]: “In some implementations, if the passenger is determined to be traveling away from the vehicle 102, the alert may comprise an audible directional command.” In other contexts, Lenneman teaches the alert has an alert characteristic, which may comprise modulation of a sound, see [0046]. APOSITA would have thus understood that the directional alert generated would have also had an alert characteristic.).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of guiding a visually impaired person based on relative position and distance to a door disclosed in the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman with the method of detecting and generating directional alerts based on orientation of the visually impaired person further taught in Lenneman because it would have improved the guidance information provided by helping the person to face the right way, making it easier to approach the door.
Regarding claim 29, the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman teaches the method according to Claim 25.
This combination does not appear to expressly teach wherein the non-visual guidance comprises a second modulation of at least one of a sound or vibration to indicate orientation of the person in relation to the guidance device or the door, wherein the second modulation is detectable by a human.
However, Lenneman further teaches wherein the non-visual guidance comprises a second modulation of at least one of a sound or vibration to indicate orientation of the person in relation to the guidance device or the door, wherein the second modulation is detectable by a human (Lenneman [0045]: “In some implementations, if the passenger is determined to be traveling away from the vehicle 102, the alert may comprise an audible directional command.” In other contexts, Lenneman teaches the alert has an alert characteristic, which may comprise modulation of a sound, see [0046]. APOSITA would have thus understood that the directional alert generated would have also had an alert characteristic. The Examiner notes that even if this weren’t the case, the generation and emission of a sound is by definition a modulation of that sound.).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of guiding a visually impaired person based on relative position and distance to a door disclosed in the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman with the method of detecting and generating directional alerts based on orientation of the visually impaired person further taught in Lenneman because it would have improved the guidance information provided by helping the person to face the right way, making it easier to approach the door.
Claim 35 is rejected over similar reasons to claim 1, applied to a guidance device comprising a processor and memory storing instructions to perform the method of claim 1.
Claim 36 is rejected over similar reasons to claim 1, applied to a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program, which when executed on a guidance device, performs the method of claim 1.
Claims 28 and 30-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the respective combinations of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman made above, further in view of Microsoft Soundscape- A New Navigation App for the Blind and Visually Impaired- Tutorial and Review posted to the YouTube Channel Unsightly Opinions (hereinafter “Unsightly Opinions”).
Regarding claim 28, the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman teaches the method according to Claim 27.
This combination does not appear to expressly teach wherein the modulation is based on a variation of at least one of a sound pitch, a sound volume, a vibration intensity, a pulse modulation of sound, or a pulse modulation of vibration.
However, Unsightly Opinions teaches wherein the modulation is based on a variation of at least one of a sound pitch, a sound volume, a vibration intensity, a pulse modulation of sound, or a pulse modulation of vibration (Unsightly Opinions [08:40]: The video and voice over show that when the user (here the mobile device) is facing the target destination (the school), the pitch of the sound representing the user’s orientation relative to the target destination increases. APOSITA would have understood that in this combination, the destination would have been the door of Kuwabara, and the user’s orientation would have been measured by the module of Lenneman.)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of issuing direction alerts to a visually impaired person to aid their approach to a door taught in the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman with the method of increasing the pitch of a tone when a visually impaired person is facing the target location taught in Unsightly Opinions with a reasonable expectation of success because it would have provided an intuitive means of informing the person whether they are facing the correct way.
Regarding claim 30, the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman teaches the method according to Claim 29.
This combination does not appear to expressly teach wherein the second modulation is based on a variation of at least one of a sound pitch, a sound volume, a vibration intensity, a pulse modulation of sound, or a pulse modulation of vibration, and wherein the second modulation is different from the first modulation.
However, Unsightly Opinions teaches wherein the modulation is based on a variation of at least one of a sound pitch, a sound volume, a vibration intensity, a pulse modulation of sound, or a pulse modulation of vibration (Unsightly Opinions [08:40]: The video and voice over show that when the user (here the mobile device) is facing the target destination (the school), the pitch of the sound representing the user’s orientation relative to the target destination increases. APOSITA would have understood that in this combination, the destination would have been the door of Kuwabara, and the user’s orientation would have been measured by the module of Lenneman. Further, APOSITA would have recognized that Lenneman teaches the option of using a pulse duration modulation of sound to represent distance (first signal), which is different from pitch modulation (second signal).)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of issuing direction alerts to a visually impaired person to aid their approach to a door taught in the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman with the method of increasing the pitch of a tone when a visually impaired person is facing the target location taught in Unsightly Opinions with a reasonable expectation of success because it would have provided an intuitive means of informing the person whether they are facing the correct way.
Regarding claim 31, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized before the time of filing that above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, Lenneman, and Unsightly Opinions further teaches the method according to Claim 27, wherein the providing non-visual guidance comprises providing a peak modulation for the modulation when the person is oriented toward the guidance device or the door (Unsightly opinions [08:40-9:35]: Highest pitch taken as the peak modulation. APOSITA would have understood in the above combination that Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman are relied on in their roles to teach locating and determining the position and orientation of the user using external cameras and providing audible guidance to the user while Unsightly Opinions teaches how the audible guidance with respect to orientation may be provided intuitively to the user. Thus, APOSITA would have recognized that the beacon/destination of Unsightly Opinions would have been the door of Kuwabara.).
Claim 32 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the respective combinations of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman made above, further in view of US 20220074760 A1 to Yoon, Jaemin et al. (hereinafter “Yoon”).
Regarding claim 32, the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman teaches the method according to Claim 22.
This combination does not appear to expressly teach wherein the non-visual guidance includes an indication of a door type of the door.
However, Yoon teaches wherein the non-visual guidance includes an indication of a door type of the door (Yoon [0077], [0084]: “ . . . the guide of the geographic information may be provided using an output mechanism (such as a speaker) of the user terminal.”, “As an example, in the attribute information of the spatial object, . . . information on the width of an opening and the opening/closing type of the door (for example, a rotating door and an opening/closing direction) may be provided with respect to information about an entrance door;”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of providing visual guidance through a door taught by the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman with the method of providing audible information regarding the type of door to the visually impaired taught in Yoon because doing so would have improved the ease of movement of the visually impaired by providing them with more useful information about how to move around their surroundings.
Claim 33 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the respective combinations of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman made above, and US 20220074760 A1 to Yoon, Jaemin et al. (hereinafter “Yoon”), further in view of US 4458447 A to Heise, Stanley et al. (hereinafter “Heise”).
Regarding claim 33, the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, Lenneman, and Yoon teaches the method according to Claim 32, wherein the non-visual guidance includes an indication of direction of rotation of the revolving door (Yoon [0084]: “ . . . the guide of the geographic information may be provided using an output mechanism (such as a speaker) of the user terminal.”, “As an example, in the attribute information of the spatial object, . . . information on the width of an opening and the opening/closing type of the door (for example, a rotating door and an opening/closing direction) may be provided with respect to information about an entrance door;”).
This combination does not appear to expressly teach wherein the door type is a revolving door.
However, Heise teaches wherein the door type is a revolving door (Heise Abstract: Heise teaches the structure of a revolving door.).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the door guidance system mounted near a door disclosed in the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, Lenneman, and Yoon with the revolving door taught in Heise with a reasonable expectation of success because it would have “entrain[ed] the internal ambient environment to a great extent, thus economizing on energy costs by preventing escape of the internal ambient environment” as taught in Heise 1:39-44.
Claim 34 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the respective combinations of Kuwabara, Poulet, and Lenneman made above, and US 20220074760 A1 to Yoon, Jaemin et al. (hereinafter “Yoon”), further in view of Sliding Vs. Swing Door – How to Decide a Perfect Door for Interior to Glass Genius. (hereinafter “Glass Genius”) and Descriptive directions and information for blind or partially sighted visitors to arts venues to VocalEyes (hereinafter “VocalEyes”)
Regarding claim 34, the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, Lenneman, and Yoon teaches the method according to Claim 32.
This combination does not appear to expressly teach wherein the door type is a sliding door or a swing door.
However, Glass Genius teaches wherein the door type is a sliding door or a swing door (Glass Genius §Swing doors: Glass Genius teaches that the structure of a swing door was known in the art at the time of filing.).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of guiding a user to a door taught in the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, Lenneman, and Yoon with the swing door further taught in Glass Genius because it would have provided a simple, “user friendly” door type that is easy to install and fix as taught in the Pros section of Glass Genius.
This combination does not appear to expressly teach wherein the non-visual guidance includes an indication of direction of opening.
However, VocalEyes teaches wherein the non-visual guidance includes an indication of direction of opening (VocalEyes Summary, 2. Arrival: “This guide by audio-description specialists VocalEyes outlines the key steps to create effective descriptive directions.”, “Include information about steps, ramps to the door, and door type (automatic, revolving, push or pull to open), weight (i.e. if heavy) and material (glass, wood, etc.).”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of providing audio guidance for a person to pass through a swing door disclosed in the above combination of Kuwabara, Poulet, Lenneman, and Yoon with the step of including audio information about if the door is push or pull to open taught in VocalEyes because it would have improved visually impaired people’s ability to quickly and safely open the door by providing useful information, improving their mobility.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Inoue, Hiroyuki et al.. JP 2001184587 A. Guiding Radio Wave Transmitting Device.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HENRY RICHARD HINTON whose telephone number is (703)756-1051. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:30-4:30.
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/HENRY R HINTON/Examiner, Art Unit 3665
/HUNTER B LONSBERRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3665
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