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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/23/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mori et al. (Pub. No.: JP 2017245550 A, machine translation attached).
Regarding claim 1, Mori teaches a vehicle headlamp device aiming system (FIG. 1, vehicular headlamp apparatus 10) comprising:
an in-vehicle camera (FIG. 1, camera 40) configured to capture a front image of an own vehicle (paragraph [0006], “an imaging means for imaging the area in front of a vehicle” and “paragraph [0013], “The detection device 40 consists of a camera and the like, and is electrically connected to the image analysis unit 18, which is an acquisition means provided in the vehicle 12”); a headlamp device (FIG. 1, a headlight unit 20) configured to set a light illumination range in front of the own vehicle (FIG. 5 & 5, and paragraph [0011], “the vehicle headlight device 10 according to this embodiment includes a headlight unit 20 as an illumination means for irradiating light (visible light) into the high beam light distribution area Ha”);
a controller (FIG. 1, control unit 14) configured to perform variable light distribution control of identifying a light- reduction or light-blocking region (FIG. 4, the light-reducing area (light-blocking area Sa)”) in the light illumination range, based on a captured image by the in-vehicle camera (paragraph [0031], “based on the image detected (captured) by the detection device 40, the minimum number of light sources 22 that should be turned off is appropriately selected from among the multiple light sources 22. This allows for accurate determination of the light-reducing area”), wherein
the controller is configured to
set, in the headlamp device, a specific illumination unit whose illumination position is a specific position in a captured image of a calibration illumination target surface captured by the in- vehicle camera, at a time of initial setting (paragraph [0025], “the pattern light P from the laser beam LB is positioned on the center line C2 passing through the optical axis of the detection device 40. However, if, for example, the image analysis unit 18 acquires image data in which the center of the pattern light P is not positioned, it is determined that the detection device 40 is shifted relative to the headlight unit 20 in a rotational direction with respect to the vehicle's longitudinal axis”), and
detect a deviation between the specific position and the illumination position of the specific illumination unit, in the captured image of the calibration illumination target surface captured by the in-vehicle camera, and corrects an output of the variable light distribution control in accordance with the deviation (paragraph [0026], “image data that serves as a reference for optical axis adjustment is acquired by the image analysis unit 18, and the amount of deviation between the optical axis of the detection device 40 and the optical axis of the headlight unit 20 is derived by the derivation means 16 based on the image data that serves as a reference for optical axis adjustment”).
Regarding claim 2, Mori further teaches the headlamp device comprises illumination units arranged in a dot matrix (FIG. 12 and paragraph [0048], “The headlight unit 20 may have a light source 22 configured with multiple light-emitting diodes (LEDs) arranged in a two-dimensional manner”), and the specific illumination unit is identified as one or more of the illumination units (paragraph [0048], “a light source 22 in which a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) are arranged in the vehicle width direction”).
Regarding claim 3, Mori teaches a vehicle headlamp device aiming (FIG. 1, vehicular headlamp apparatus 10) method that performs variable light distribution control of identifying a light-reduction or light-blocking region (FIG. 4, the light-reducing area (light-blocking area Sa)”), based on a captured image by an in-vehicle camera paragraph [0031], “based on the image detected (captured) by the detection device 40, the minimum number of light sources 22 that should be turned off is appropriately selected from among the multiple light sources 22. This allows for accurate determination of the light-reducing area”), the vehicle headlamp device aiming method comprising:
Setting, in a headlamp device, specific illumination position unit whose illumination position is a specific position in a captured image of a calibration illumination target surface captured by the in- vehicle camera, at a time of initial setting (paragraph [0025], “the pattern light P from the laser beam LB is positioned on the center line C2 passing through the optical axis of the detection device 40. However, if, for example, the image analysis unit 18 acquires image data in which the center of the pattern light P is not positioned, it is determined that the detection device 40 is shifted relative to the headlight unit 20 in a rotational direction with respect to the vehicle's longitudinal axis”); and
detecting a deviation between the specific position and the illumination position of the captured by the in-vehicle camera, and correcting an output of the variable light distribution control in accordance with the deviation, at a time of calibration (paragraph [0026], “image data that serves as a reference for optical axis adjustment is acquired by the image analysis unit 18, and the amount of deviation between the optical axis of the detection device 40 and the optical axis of the headlight unit 20 is derived by the derivation means 16 based on the image data that serves as a reference for optical axis adjustment”).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SYED M KAISER whose telephone number is (571)272-9612. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9 a.m.-6 p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abdullah Riyami can be reached at 571-270-3119. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SYED M KAISER/Examiner, Art Unit 2831 /ABDULLAH A RIYAMI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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