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 .
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 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 2022/0289223) in view of Clark et al. (US 2016/0269132).
Regarding claims 1, 13, Zhang discloses a safety system which includes at least one vehicle unit and at least one counter unit, which counter unit includes at least one radio-signal transceiver (fig. 2; abstract),
which vehicle unit includes a radio-signal transceiver (fig. 2B), directed in a first direction, whereby the vehicle unit is configured, to determine a distance between the vehicle unit and the counter unit and which directed in the first direction are arranged at a distance from each other, whereby the vehicle unit is configured, to determine a direction of the location of the counter unit in addition to the distance between the vehicle unit and the counter unit, by utilizing which, the vehicle unit is configured to determine a distance between the vehicle unit and the counter unit (page 4, [0042], and an alarm unit(11), whereby the alarm unit(11) is configured to produce an alarm when the distance between the vehicle unit and the counter unit (page 4, [0042]).
Zhang discloses all the limitations set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose at least two directional antennas; by utilizing the directional antennas, by utilizing the directional antennas in question, an omnidirectional antenna, determined by utilizing the directional antennas, goes below a first limit value and the counter unit is located in a sector directed in the direction of the directional antennas, and the distance between the vehicle unit and the counter unit, determined by utilizing the omnidirectional antenna(8), goes above a second limit value.
However, Clark discloses at least two directional antennas; by utilizing the directional antennas, by utilizing the directional antennas in question, an omnidirectional antenna, determined by utilizing the directional antennas, goes below a first limit value and the counter unit is located in a sector directed in the direction of the directional antennas, and the distance between the vehicle unit and the counter unit, determined by utilizing the omnidirectional antenna(8), goes above a second limit value (fig. 4; page 6, [0061-0063]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was first filed to incorporate the features of Zhang within the system of Clark in order to reduce attenuation and increase signal quality of the signal thereby maximizing the reliability of the system.
Regarding claim 2, Zhang discloses wherein the vehicle unit is configured to determine the distance between the vehicle unit and the counter unit by measuring signal transit time between the vehicle unit and the counter unit, and the vehicle unit is configured to determine the direction of the location of the counter unit by comparing the transit times of the signals received by different directional antennas (page 6, [0071]).
Regarding claim 3, Zhang discloses wherein between the radio-signal transceiver-(4) and the directional antennas(5) of the vehicle unit, there is a connector-(7) which is configured to connect the antennas alternately into connection with the transceiver in order to measure the transit times of the signal alternately from different antennas (fig. 2).
Regarding claims 4, 14, Zhang discloses wherein the vehicle unit includes a second radio-signal transceiver (4) and, in connection with it, at least two directional antennas(5) directed in a second direction opposite in relation to said first direction (fig. 2; page 4, [0038-0042]).
Regarding claims 5, 15, Zhang discloses wherein the vehicle unit is configured to adjust said first limit value based on the rate of change of the distance between the vehicle unit and the counter unit (fig. 1-fig. 2; page 4, [0038-0042]).
Regarding claims 6, 17, Zhang discloses wherein the vehicle unit includes a control unit(12), into which is configurable information on the direction of the counter unit seen by the vehicle unit, information on the direction of the vehicle unit seen by the counter unit, and information on the change in the mutual distance of the vehicle unit and the counter unit, whereby the control unit is configured to prevent the alarm unit from producing an alarm when the information shows that the vehicle unit and the counter unit will not crash (page 4, [0042]).
Regarding claims 7, 16, Zhang discloses wherein the alarm unit (11) is configured to give the more intensive alarm the more probable the crash is (page 4, [0042]).
Regarding claim 8, Zhang discloses which contains several vehicle units which are configured to communicate with each other (fig. 1; page 4, [0042]).
Regarding claim 9, Zhang discloses which includes at least one fixed support point(17) which comprises a radio-signal transceiver and at least two directional antennas directed in a specific direction (fig. 2).
Regarding claims 10-11, Zhang discloses wherein the alarm unit comprises at least two speakers (fig. 2; page 6, [0064]).
Regarding claim 12, Zhang discloses wherein the omnidirectional antenna-(8) and the at least two direction antennas(5) directed in the first direction are arranged into connection with the same circuit board(10) (page 4, [0042]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Alapuranen (US 2007/0032245) discloses intelligent transportation system and method.
Chen et al. (US 2022/0294495) discloses electronic…..system.
Sultan et al. (US 2010/0188248) discloses dual purpose wireless device.
Subramanya (US 2014/0210646) discloses advanced….system.
Sanders et al. (US 2022/0332285) discloses user……….key.
Rubin et al. (US 2020/0229137) discloses lane……system.
Bandyopadhyay et al. (US 2011/0205033) discloses wireless….mines.
Carter et al. (US 8,674,845) discloses systems………signal.
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DP
February 12, 2026
/DANIEL PREVIL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685