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 .
This office action is in response to communication filed on 9/8/2026. Claims 12-13 have been added. Claims 1-8 and 10-13 are pending on this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 9/8/2026 have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 1-8, 10-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ren et al (US20210264792) in view of Ong et al (US20220046381) and Malkes et al (US20190333370).
Regarding claim 1, Ren teaches a heads-up area setting device comprising:
at least one memory configured to store instructions (para. [0022]); and
at least one processor configured to execute the instructions (para. [0022]) to:
detect a moving object located in a predetermined monitoring area (para. [0015], New boundaries can be generated in realtime as people move around creating a dynamic geofence; para. [0032], Base station 201 can track the movement of people (e.g., through communication with mobile electronic devices) in an area to facilitate geofence creation and geofence changes); and
determine a range of a heads-up area (para. [0033], Cloud service 202 creates a geofence from the person count and reference locations) based on an arrangement situation of the moving object in the monitoring area (para. [0035], In general, the boundary geometry of a geofence can extend around people located within a specified range, for example, 20-30 meters, from base station 201. The boundary geometry of a geofence can be updated in essentially real time as people move; para. [0041], As person count 213 and reference locations 214 change, base station 201 can generate a new boundary for geofence 216. Alternately, base station 201 can send person count 213 and reference locations 214 to cloud service 202. As person count 213 and reference locations 214 change, cloud service 202 can generate a new boundary for geofence 216).
Ren fails to teach a processor configured to acquire video images from a plurality of cameras fixedly installed in a predetermined monitoring area;
detect a moving object located in the predetermined monitoring area on the video images from the plurality of cameras;
identify, for each of a plurality of sections obtained by dividing the monitoring area in a grid pattern, an arrangement situation of the moving object in each of the sections;
determine, for each of the plurality of sections, whether to set the section as a heads-up area or not based on an arrangement situation of the moving object in the monitoring area; and
set a heads-up area in a range including a plurality of intersections based on the determination for each of the plurality of sections.
Malkes teaches a processor (105 in fig. 1; para. [0032], Camera data may be received by a processor as pedestrians move across an intersection) configured to acquire video images from a plurality of cameras fixedly installed in a predetermined monitoring area (para. [0027], multiple cameras may be used for tracking the pedestrians in different locations within an intersection);
detect a moving object located in the predetermined monitoring area on the video images from the plurality of cameras (fig. 4; para. [0032], In one case, the video may be used to identify presence of a pedestrian moving across a lane, and track the pedestrian as that pedestrian crosses an intersection);
identify, for each of a plurality of sections obtained by dividing the monitoring area in a grid pattern (para. [0030], the processor may divide video data of the intersection into a grid pattern that divides an image of the intersection into a set of boxes or cells), an arrangement situation of the moving object in each of the sections (para. [0033], In certain instances, each cell in a grid pattern may be associated with a grid cell number and locations of particular pedestrians may be identified using specific grid cell numbers; para. [0042]);
determine, for each of the plurality of sections, whether to set the section as a heads-up area or not based on an arrangement situation of the moving object in the monitoring area (para. [0033], The “safe” or “unsafe” status of the pedestrian may be determined by identifying whether the pedestrian is located in a “safe” cell or in an “unsafe” cell of an intersection using the grid as discussed in FIG. 3; para. [0041]).
Therefore taking the combined teachings of Ren and Malkes as a whole, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to incorporate the features of Malkes into the device of Ren. The motivation to combine Ren and Malkes would be to increase the safety of pedestrian crossings (para. [0002] of Malkes.
Ong teaches a processor (220 in fig. 2) configured to set a heads-up area (para. [0023], The V2X object exchange system may be configured to generate and maintain a dynamic geofence for each client device; para. [0075]-[0076]) in a range including a plurality of intersections based on the determination for each of the plurality of sections (para. [0099], Process 600 may further include refining the generated geofence based on additional parameters (block 660). For example, V2X object exchange system 300 may adjust a shape of the generated geofence based on an intersection).
Therefore taking the combined teachings of modified Ren and Ong as a whole, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to incorporate the features of Ong into the device of modified Ren. The motivation to combine Ong and modified Ren would be to reduce the number of road accidents and to enhance road safety (para. [0016] of Ong).
Regarding claim 2, the modified device of Ren teaches a heads-up area setting device wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
determine the heads-up area by selecting sections, from the plurality of sections (para. [0030], [0039] of Malkes), in which the moving object is located (para. [0033] of Malkes).
Regarding claim 3, the modified device of Ren teaches a heads-up area setting device wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
determine the heads-up area by selecting an area (para. [0035] of Ren) having a density of the moving object equal to or greater than a predetermined value (para. [0042] of Ren, Density criteria can be defined, for example, as one person in a circle of diameter 3 m) from the plurality of sections (para. [0030], [0035] of Malkes).
Regarding claim 4, the modified device of Ren teaches a heads-up area setting device wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
determine the heads-up area by excluding an area having a density of the moving object equal to or less than a predetermined value (para. [0017] of Ren, As device totals and device locations in an existing geofence decrease, the existing geofence boundary can be reduced. Geofences that lack sufficient numbers of devices (and thus are no longer representative of a crowd) can be deleted) from the plurality of sections (para. [0030], [0035] of Malkes).
Regarding claim 5, the modified device of Ren teaches a heads-up area setting device wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
identify an attribute or a type of the moving object (para. [0035] of Ong, Camera 122 may perform object recognition to identify particular vehicles 110, pedestrians 114, bicyclists 116, scooters 118 and/or other types of street entities in the captured images or videos and/or determine the position, bearing, speed, and/or acceleration of particular vehicles 110, pedestrians 114, bicyclists 116, scooters 118, and/or other types of street entities in the captured images or videos); and
change the range of the heads-up area based on the attribute or the type of the moving object (para. [0025] of Ong, In some implementations, V2X object exchange system may estimate the braking distance and/or generate the geofence using a machine learning model trained to predict the estimated braking distance based on a plurality of vehicle parameters and a plurality of environmental parameters; para. [0074] of Ong).
Regarding claim 6, the modified device of Ren teaches a heads-up area setting device wherein the moving object is one of a pedestrian, a bicycle, a vehicle platoon, and a delivery robot (para. [0015], [0032] of Ren).
Regarding claim 7, the modified device of Ren teaches a heads-up area setting device wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
transmit a notification for informing of presence of the heads-up area to a vehicle entering the heads-up area (para. [0028], [0082] of Ong).
Regarding claim 8, the modified device of Ren teaches a heads-up area setting device wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
identify an attribute or a type of a vehicle entering the heads-up area (para. [0025], [0035] of Ong); and
transmit the notification to a vehicle (para. [0068] of Ong) having a specific attribute or type among vehicles entering the heads-up area (para. [0082] of Ong).
Regarding claim 10, the claim recites similar subject matter as claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons as stated above.
Regarding claim 11, the claim recites similar subject matter as claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons as stated above.
Regarding claim 12, the modified device of Ren teaches a heads-up area setting device wherein the plurality of sections are stationary grid cells (para. [0023], [0030] of Malkes) having fixed positions (para. [0037], [0042] of Malkes) and fixed sizes (para. [0042] of Malkes) within the monitoring area (para. [0019] of Malkes).
Regarding claim 13, the modified method of Ren teaches a heads-up area setting device wherein the plurality of sections are predetermined sections (para. [0021] of Malkes) obtained by dividing the monitoring area into grid cells (para. [0022] of Malkes) before detecting the moving object (para. [0038] of Malkes).
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LEON VIET Q NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-1185. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 11AM-7PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gregory Morse can be reached at 571-272-3838. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LEON VIET Q NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2663
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