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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/08/2024 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, 9, 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hu t al (Pub. No.: CN113450556A, machine translation attached), hereafter HU.
Regarding claim 1, Hu teaches a lighting system for lighting a traffic surface (FIG. 1-3, and paragraph [0008], “smart streetlights”), said system comprising:
at least one luminaire (FIG. 3), each luminaire comprising
at least one optical unit configured for outputting light (FIG. 3, a projection type zebra crossing device (d)), and
a controller configured for controlling the at least one optical unit of that luminaire (paragraph [0021], “controls the operation of the projective zebra crossing device to project the zebra crossing”);
at least one sensor (FIG. 3, pedestrian requirement sensing device (c)) configured for sensing data related to an event in the vicinity of the traffic surface (claim 1, “pedestrian demand sensing equipment, vehicle information
detection equipment, vehicle driving information transmission equipment, and projection zebra crossing equipment”) and/or a receiver for receiving data related to an event in the vicinity of the traffic surface (claim 2, “The computer image recognition device identifies the number of pedestrians in the
pedestrian demand perception area under the intelligent traffic lights”);
wherein the lighting system is configured for determining the occurrence of an event in the vicinity of and/or on the traffic surface based on the sensed data and/or the received data (claim 4, “The data processing device calculates vehicle driving behavior and the projection operation of zebra crossings by intelligent streetlights based on the number of pedestrians, vehicle speed, acceleration, and arrival time measured by the vehicle information detection device, the distance between intelligent streetlights and intelligent traffic lights, and the distance between intelligent streetlights and intelligent traffic lights”); and wherein the controller of the at least one luminaire is further configured for:
when the occurrence of an event has been determined, controlling the light output of the at least one optical unit of the at least one luminaire according to a first light configuration to form at least one strip light pattern on the traffic surface extending in a width direction substantially perpendicular to a predetermined direction of the traffic surface (claim 6, “the data processing device calculates vehicle driving behavior and the projection operation of the intelligent streetlight projection zebra crossing based on the number of pedestrians; vehicle speed, acceleration, and arrival time measured by the vehicle information detection device; the distance between the intelligent streetlights and intelligent traffic lights”).
Regarding claim 9, Hu further teaches the at least one sensor and/or receiver is configured for sensing and/or receiving data related to the presence and/or the movement and/or the speed on the traffic surface or in the vicinity of the traffic surface of any one or more of the following: a vehicle, a pedestrian, an animal, a static object, a moving object (paragraph [0019], “The data processing device calculates vehicle driving behavior and the projection operation of zebra crossings by intelligent streetlights based on the number of pedestrians, vehicle speed, acceleration, and arrival time measured by the vehicle information detection device, the distance between intelligent streetlights and intelligent traffic lights, and the distance between intelligent streetlights and intelligent traffic lights,”) wherein preferably the at least one sensor and/or receiver is configured for sensing and/or receiving data related to the presence and/or the movement and/or the speed of a vehicle on one or more lanes of the traffic surface and/or in the vicinity of one or more lanes of the traffic surface (paragraph [0063], “The radar sensor is used to measure the vehicle's speed, acceleration, and arrival time” and paragraph [0064], “The vehicle information transmission device will transmit the measured vehicle speed, acceleration, and arrival time to the vehicle driving information transmission device for the judgment and calculation of vehicle driving behavior”), wherein the at least one strip light pattern is preferably formed on at least the one or more lanes where the at least one vehicle has been sensed (claim 6, “the data processing device calculates vehicle driving behavior and the projection operation of the intelligent streetlight projection zebra crossing based on the number of pedestrians; vehicle speed, acceleration, and arrival time measured by the vehicle information detection device; the distance between the intelligent streetlights and intelligent traffic lights”).
Regarding claim 12, Hu further teaches the at least one luminaire is located near a point of interest (FIG. 1 & 3, (C)), and the at least one sensor and/or the receiver (FIG. 3, (d)) are configured for sensing and/or receiving data related to an event in the vicinity of that point of interest (claim 2, “The computer image recognition device identifies the number of pedestrians in the pedestrian demand perception area under the intelligent traffic lights”) and wherein the strip light pattern is formed upstream of the point of interest when looking in the direction of a movement on the traffic surface towards that point of interest (paragraph [0098], “Compare the magnitudes of t1 and t0; If t1 < t0, the vehicle detected by the information detection device will decelerate uniformly; otherwise, it will move at a constant speed”).
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 14-15, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stein (Pub. No.: US 20210370823 A1).
Regarding claim 14, Hu does not disclose controlling the light output according to the first light configuration further comprises forming an additional light pattern on the traffic surface (paragraph [0042], “as image pattern 8′ on the lane 1.2 and recognizes that the second vehicle 4.2 is cooperating accordingly”) distinct at least in shape from the strip light pattern, and preferably also distinct in color and/or in a flashing pattern.
Stein teaches controlling the light output according to the first light configuration further comprises forming an additional light pattern on the traffic surface (paragraph [0042], “as image pattern 8′ on the lane 1.2 and recognizes that the second vehicle 4.2 is cooperating accordingly”) distinct at least in shape from the strip light pattern, and preferably also distinct in color and/or in a flashing pattern (FIG. 6a-6c).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hu in view of Stein to incorporate an additional light pattern on the traffic surface hence image pattern for different event like a second vehicle 4.2 is cooperating (Stein, paragraph [0042])
Regarding claim 15, Hu as modified above further teaches controlling the light output according to a second configuration different from the first configuration (Stein, paragraph [0021], “In addition to color coding, corresponding symbols or pictogram, the projection of text or similar are, of course, also possible. This can be done both statically and by flashing or, in the case of text, in the manner of scrolling text”), wherein preferably the controller is configured for controlling the light output according to the second light configuration by default in the absence of the determination of the occurrence of an event, wherein preferably at least one light pattern of the second light configuration is different from the additional light pattern and from the strip light pattern of the first configuration (Stein, FIG. 6b).
Regarding claim 20, Hu as modified above further teaches the lighting system is further configured to derive a type of event from the sensed data and/or the received data and where a color of the light of the at least one strip light pattern and/or the position of the at least one strip light pattern on the traffic surface is based on the type of event (paragraphs [0041]-[0042]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 36, 39, 42-46 allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 36, the prior art fails to teach or reasonably suggest an optical unit comprising “the inner surface comprises in the posterior portion thereof a substantially flat surface area; and- wherein the outer surface comprises a convex surface comprising in the posterior portion thereof a substantially bulged portion bulging along a first light direction substantially perpendicular to the flat surface area of the inner surface, the bulged portion of the outer surface being configured to focus the light rays emitted from the lighting element in said first light direction”, as required in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Dependent claims 39, 42-46 are allowed by virtue of its dependency.
Claims 2, 4, 5, 7, 27, 29, 31 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 2, prior arts whether stand alone or in combination fail to teach or reasonably suggest the system according to Claim 1, comprising “the strip light pattern is contained within a minimum area enclosing rectangle having a length and a width smaller than said length, said length extending longitudinally at least across a portion of a width of the traffic surface, wherein preferably at least one of the length of the minimum area enclosing rectangle is at least 1,5 times as long as the width thereof”, as required in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Dependent claim 4 is also objected by virtue of its dependency.
Regarding claim 5, prior arts whether stand alone or in combination fail to teach or reasonably suggest the system according to Claim 1, comprising “an average illuminance and/or a uniformity of illuminance adapted to be perceived by a traffic surface user as a strip of light with substantially defined edges at ground level, a uniformity of illuminance of at least 30%, preferably at least 40%, more preferably at least 50%”, as required in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Regarding claim 7, prior arts whether stand alone or in combination fail to teach or reasonably suggest the system according to Claim 1, comprising “the strip light pattern has an average illuminance at ground level at least 3 times, more preferably at least 4 times, higher than the average illuminance at ground level in an area at the immediate proximity of the strip light pattern”, as required in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Regarding claim 27, prior arts whether stand alone or in combination fail to teach or reasonably suggest the system according to Claim 1, comprising “the at least one optical unit comprises at least two optical units and the controller is configured for controlling the at least two optical units, or each respective optical unit is configured for outputting a respective light pattern of one or more light configurations”, as required in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Dependent claim 31 is also objected by virtue of its dependency.
Regarding claim 29, prior arts whether stand alone or in combination fail to teach or reasonably suggest the system according to Claim 1, comprising “wherein preferably the system further comprises a first driver associated to the first optical unit and a second driver associated to the second optical unit, and wherein preferably the second optical unit is further configured for outputting a light pattern of the second light configuration, said light pattern being different from or the same as the additional light pattern”, as required in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
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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/SYED M KAISER/Examiner, Art Unit 2831 /ABDULLAH A RIYAMI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2831