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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the method steps must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
As per claim 4, the specification does not disclose how it is determined when a person looks in a direction of the door of the motor vehicle. The specification discloses that an ultra-wideband unit is used to determine when a person looks in a direction of the door of the motor vehicle but fails to disclose how to determined when a person looks in a direction of the door of the motor vehicle using an ultra-wideband unit. For instance, it is understood that the ultra-wideband unit produces sensor readings or images but how does one determine when a person looks in a direction of the door of the motor vehicle from said sensor readings or images. Particular algorithms or data processing would be required to translate the sensor data into a determination of when a person looks in the direction of the door, however this is not disclosed in the specification.
Claims 5-6 are rejected under the same rationale by virtue of dependency.
Additionally, claim 6 is rejected for a similar reason as the specification does not disclose how to determine an orientation of a face of the person or determine a light of sight of the person using an ultra-wideband unit.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shen (CN 210466502).
As per claim 4, Shen discloses a method for actuating an access system of a motor vehicle, wherein the motor vehicle includes the access system and the access system locks and unlocks the motor vehicle (see at least page 1, para. 9, for control unit controls intelligent door lock to lock or unlock), the method comprising:
operating, an ultra-wideband unit of the motor vehicle, in radar mode (see at least pg. 3, para. 4, for microwave radar unit is IR-UWB radar);
detecting, by the ultra-wideband unit, a position of a person approaching the motor vehicle (see at least pg. 2, para. 6, for microwave radar unit detects the distance, or relative position, between a person and the door lock);
detecting, by the ultra-wideband unit, a body position of the person (the body position of a person is the same as the position of a person since a person has a body); and
actuating the access system when the person looks in a direction of a vehicle door of the motor vehicle or the person is located within a specified distance of the motor vehicle (see at least pg. 2, para. 6, for microwave radar unit determines if person is within distance threshold then perform facial recognition; Shen does not explicitly state that the door is unlocked but it is implied as Shen states this reduces the number of false activations of the door lock; additionally Applicant admits in para. 2 of the specification as filed that Shen teaches actuating the door lock when the person has approached the vehicle close enough).
As per claim 5, Shen further discloses wherein the body position of the person is detected by a body position scan by the ultra-wideband unit operating in the radar mode (see at least pg. 2, para. 6, for microwave radar unit detects the distance between a person and the door lock; the body position of a person is the same as the position of a person since a person has a body).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-4838. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8AM - 4PM ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ANNA MOMPER can be reached at (571) 270-5788. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ROBERT T NGUYEN/PRIMARY EXAMINER, Art Unit 3619