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 .
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed 08/13/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-17 are pending in the application.
Applicant’s amendment overcomes the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejections from the previously filed Office Action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to amendments to independent claim(s) 1 have been fully considered; however, they are unpersuasive. The Applicant argues on page 6 of the Remarks filed on 08/13/2026:
“The Office Action relies on Igawa FIGS. 7A-7D and paragraph [0081] for the first and second "time of receipt" determinations. But Igawa describes FIGS. 7A-7D as graphs showing "the signal strengths of the received signals output from the receiving antennas 112A to 112D," with peaks in the signal strengths due to the moving object passing. Igawa therefore discloses variations in antenna output signal strength over time, not a computing device determining a first receipt time at one receiver and a second receipt time at another receiver as claimed.”
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. Igawa displays in Figs. 7A-7D a change in the signal strengths of received radar signals over time and specifically shows the signal strengths being received at a plurality of receivers. This is indeed a determination of a first reflected signal at a first time and a second reflected signal at a second time. It is important to note that this is how radar works, a radar transmits a radio wave which is then reflected off an object and received and the delay in the transmission and reception of the signal denotes object position information. Therefore, each reflected signal that is received at a receiver has a time of receipt that must be determined to then determine the propagation delay between the transmitted and received signals. Using the propagation delay, the position/velocity of the object is determined. When this position is being tracked over time, a plurality of reflected signals are being received to track the change in object position.
The Applicant further argues on page 7 of the remark filed, “A graph having a time axis does not itself disclose determining receipt times and then using a difference between such receipt times to determine object direction. The cited Igawa passages use time-varying signal-strength behavior as the source data and infer direction from signal-strength differences. Igawa does not disclose the claimed receipt-time determinations arranged in the claimed manner. Accordingly, Igawa fails to anticipate independent claim 1.”.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. Figs. 7A-7D clearly notes the x-axis as the time axis and this is indeed indicative of a plurality of receipt times. The change in the received signal strength is indeed noted through a time receipt of a plurality of radar signals. The examiner asserts that based on the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim language, the graphs depicted by Igawa clearly disclose the limitations as recited.
The Applicant is requested to also take a look at the pertinent prior art in the conclusion which also discloses the features of independent claim 1.
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) 1-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by IGAWA et al. (US 20180088227 A1), hereinafter IGAWA.
Regarding claim 1, IGAWA discloses
A radar system (see Fig. 1, radar 100, further see paragraph 0060, “FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a millimeter wave radar 100 according to the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the millimeter wave radar 100 includes an antenna unit 110 and a signal processing unit 120.”), comprising:
a transmitter configured to emit an electromagnetic wave in a region defining a field of view (FOV) of the radar system (see Fig. 1, transmitter 111, further see paragraph 0062, “The transmitting antenna 111 is an antenna capable of transmitting millimeter waves. FIG. 1 illustrates a millimeter wave W that is transmitted from the transmitting antenna 111. Although the configuration of the transmitting antenna 111 is not particularly limited, the configuration can be an antenna array in which antenna elements are arranged in an array.”);
a plurality of receivers (see Fig. 1, receiving antennas 112A, 112B, 112C and 112D, collectively 112, see paragraph 0061, “The antenna unit 110 includes one transmitting antenna 111 and four receiving antennas 112. Below, the four receiving antennas (collectively referred to by a reference numeral 112) will be respectively referred to as a receiving antenna 112A, a receiving antenna 112B, a receiving antenna 112C, and a receiving antenna 112D.”)) configured to detect reflected electromagnetic waves originating responsive to reflection of the emitted electromagnetic wave from an object located within the FOV of the radar system (see Fig. 4 where a moving object M passes between the receiving antennas 112 and the transmitted millimeter wave is reflected by the moving object, further see paragraph 0079, “As illustrated in FIG. 4, when the moving object M passes between the receiving antennas 112 and the target T, the millimeter wave W is reflected by the moving object M, thereby affecting the received signals of the receiving antennas 112.”); and
a computing device communicably coupled to the plurality of receivers (see Fig. 1, processor 121), the computing device configured to:
determine a first time of receipt, by a first receiver, of a first reflected electromagnetic wave associated with the emitted electromagnetic wave (see Figs 7A-7D which depict the time of receipt and strength of the reflected waves as received by each of the receive antennas respectively, 112A, 112B, 112C and 112D, further see paragraph 0081, “When, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the moving object M passes through the reception range H.sub.B and the reception range H.sub.C, the strengths of the received signals output by the respective receiving antennas 112 behave as illustrated in FIGS. 7A to 7D. FIGS. 7A to 7D includes graphs respectively showing the signal strengths of the received signals output from the receiving antennas 112A to 112D, where A in the figure is the output of the receiving antenna 112A, B in the figure is the output of the receiving antenna 112B, C in the figure is the output of the receiving antenna 112C, and D in the figure is the output of the receiving antenna 112D.”, where Fig. 7A depicts the “a first time of receipt, by a first receiver, of a reflected electromagnetic wave associated with the emitted electromagnetic wave”);
determine a second time of receipt, by a second receiver, of a second reflected electromagnetic wave associated with the emitted electromagnetic wave (see Figs 7A-7D which depict the time of receipt and strength of the reflected waves as received by each of the receive antennas respectively, 112A, 112B, 112C and 112D, further see paragraph 0081, “When, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the moving object M passes through the reception range H.sub.B and the reception range H.sub.C, the strengths of the received signals output by the respective receiving antennas 112 behave as illustrated in FIGS. 7A to 7D. FIGS. 7A to 7D includes graphs respectively showing the signal strengths of the received signals output from the receiving antennas 112A to 112D, where A in the figure is the output of the receiving antenna 112A, B in the figure is the output of the receiving antenna 112B, C in the figure is the output of the receiving antenna 112C, and D in the figure is the output of the receiving antenna 112D.”, where Fig. 7B depicts the “a second time of receipt, by a second receiver, of the reflected electromagnetic wave associated with the emitted electromagnetic wave”); and
determine, based on a difference between the first and second times of receipt (see paragraph 0087, “FIGS. 13A-C to FIGS. 15A-C schematically illustrate various types of movement of the moving object M and also include graphs showing the results of binarizing the associated differences in signal strengths. When the moving object M moves as illustrated in A in each set of figures, the differences in the sums of the signal strengths take the forms shown in B and C in the figure set. Therefore, the movement direction and speed of the moving object M can be inferred from these combinations of signal strengths.”), a direction of movement of the object relative to any one or a combination of the first and the second receivers (see paragraph 0087, “FIGS. 13A-C to FIGS. 15A-C schematically illustrate various types of movement of the moving object M and also include graphs showing the results of binarizing the associated differences in signal strengths. When the moving object M moves as illustrated in A in each set of figures, the differences in the sums of the signal strengths take the forms shown in B and C in the figure set. Therefore, the movement direction and speed of the moving object M can be inferred from these combinations of signal strengths.”).
Regarding claim 2, IGAWA further discloses
The radar system of claim 1, wherein the at least first and second receivers are separated by a predefined distance (see Fig. 2, where the first receiving antenna 112A and second receiving antenna 112B are separated by a predefined distance).
Regarding claim 3, IGAWA further discloses
The radar system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to determine that the object has a motion vector component along an axis between the first and second receivers, from the first receiver towards the second receiver responsive to the first time of receipt occurring before the second time of receipt (see Figs. 14A, 14B and 14C which depicts a motion vector component (i.e. time vs. intensity graph) along an axis between the first and second receivers (i.e. axis between HA and HB) where the motion of the object indicates that the object is moving from the first receiver towards the second receiver (i.e. from HA to HB)).
Regarding claim 4, IGAWA further discloses
The radar system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to determine that the object has a motion vector component along an axis between the first and second receivers, from the second receiver towards the first receiver responsive to the second time of receipt occurring before the first time of receipt (see Figs. 15A, 15B and 15C which depicts a motion vector component (i.e. time vs. intensity graph) along an axis between the first and second receivers (i.e. axis between HA and HB) where the motion of the object indicates that the object is moving from the second receiver towards the first receiver (i.e. from HB to HA)).
Regarding claim 5, IGAWA further discloses
The radar system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to determine that the object has a motion vector defined orthogonal to an axis between the first and second receivers responsive to the first and second times of receipt occurring simultaneously (see Figs. 7A and 7D which depict a simultaneous detection of the received waves in the motion vector (i.e. detections at overlapping times) between an axis orthogonal to the axis between the first and second receivers).
Regarding claim 6, IGAWA further discloses
The radar system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of receivers is arranged in a two-dimensional array and each of the plurality of receivers is separated from an adjacent receiver by a predefined distance (see Fig. 2, further see paragraph 0064, “FIG. 2 schematically illustrates the arrangement of the transmitting antenna 111 and the receiving antennas 112 in the antenna unit 110 and illustrates the antenna unit 110 as viewed from the target T direction. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the four receiving antennas 112 are arranged in a two row by two column array in the periphery of the transmitting antenna 111, with the transmitting antenna 111 at the center.”).
Regarding claim 7, IGAWA further discloses
The radar system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of receivers comprises first, second, and third receivers, wherein the first and second receivers are arranged adjacent to each other along a first axis, wherein the third receiver is arranged adjacent to any one of the first and second receivers along a second axis (see Fig. 2, further see paragraph 0064, “FIG. 2 schematically illustrates the arrangement of the transmitting antenna 111 and the receiving antennas 112 in the antenna unit 110 and illustrates the antenna unit 110 as viewed from the target T direction. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the four receiving antennas 112 are arranged in a two row by two column array in the periphery of the transmitting antenna 111, with the transmitting antenna 111 at the center.”, further see Fig. 5 where the first and second receivers are arranged adjacent to each other and the third receiver is adjacent to the second receiver).
Regarding claim 8, IGAWA further discloses
The radar system of claim 7, wherein the computing device is further configured to:
determine a third time of receipt, by the third receiver (see Figs 7A-7D which depict the time of receipt and strength of the reflected waves as received by each of the receive antennas respectively, 112A, 112B, 112C and 112D, further see paragraph 0081, “When, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the moving object M passes through the reception range H.sub.B and the reception range H.sub.C, the strengths of the received signals output by the respective receiving antennas 112 behave as illustrated in FIGS. 7A to 7D. FIGS. 7A to 7D includes graphs respectively showing the signal strengths of the received signals output from the receiving antennas 112A to 112D, where A in the figure is the output of the receiving antenna 112A, B in the figure is the output of the receiving antenna 112B, C in the figure is the output of the receiving antenna 112C, and D in the figure is the output of the receiving antenna 112D.”, where Fig. 7C depicts the “a third time of receipt, by the third receiver”); and
determine, based on a difference between the first, second, and third times of receipt (see paragraph 0087, “FIGS. 13A-C to FIGS. 15A-C schematically illustrate various types of movement of the moving object M and also include graphs showing the results of binarizing the associated differences in signal strengths. When the moving object M moves as illustrated in A in each set of figures, the differences in the sums of the signal strengths take the forms shown in B and C in the figure set. Therefore, the movement direction and speed of the moving object M can be inferred from these combinations of signal strengths.”), a direction of movement of the object relative to any one or a combination of the first, second, and the third receivers (see paragraph 0087, “FIGS. 13A-C to FIGS. 15A-C schematically illustrate various types of movement of the moving object M and also include graphs showing the results of binarizing the associated differences in signal strengths. When the moving object M moves as illustrated in A in each set of figures, the differences in the sums of the signal strengths take the forms shown in B and C in the figure set. Therefore, the movement direction and speed of the moving object M can be inferred from these combinations of signal strengths.”).
Regarding claims 9 and 17, the same cited section and rationale as claim 1 is applied.
Regarding claim 10, the same cited section and rationale as claim 2 is applied.
Regarding claim 11, the same cited section and rationale as claim 3 is applied.
Regarding claim 12, the same cited section and rationale as claim 4 is applied.
Regarding claim 13, the same cited section and rationale as claim 5 is applied.
Regarding claim 14, the same cited section and rationale as claim 6 is applied.
Regarding claim 15, the same cited section and rationale as claim 7 is applied.
Regarding claim 16, the same cited section and rationale as claim 8 is applied.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Regarding claim 1, KIM (KR 20160054911 A) discloses [Note: citations corresponding to provided English translation copy]
A radar system (see Fig. 1, radar 200), comprising:
a transmitter configured to emit an electromagnetic wave in a region defining a field of view (FOV) of the radar system (see Fig. 1, transmitter 210);
a plurality of receivers (see Fig. 1,a first receiver 220 and a second receiver 230) configured to detect reflected electromagnetic waves originating responsive to reflection of the emitted electromagnetic wave from an object located within the FOV of the radar system (see Fig. 1, further see paragraph 0037, “When a target (10) moves along the location where the lighting unit (100) and radar (200) are installed, the relative distance from the radar (200) to the target (10) can be measured.”) and
a computing device communicably coupled to the plurality of receivers (see paragraph 0057, “These first IF signals and second IF signals are converted into digital signals in an A/D converter (310) for subsequent signal processing (S40)”), the computing device configured to:
determine a first time of receipt, by a first receiver, of a first reflected electromagnetic wave associated with the emitted electromagnetic wave (see Fig. 1 where signal r1 is received at RX1 at a first time);
determine a second time of receipt, by a second receiver, of a second reflected electromagnetic wave associated with the emitted electromagnetic wave(see Fig. 1 where signal r1 is received at RX2 at a second time); and
determine, based on a difference between the first and second times of receipt (NOTE: this is how radar works, each reflected signal that is received at a receiver has a time of receipt that must be determined to then determine the propagation delay between the transmitted and received signals. Using the propagation delay, the position/velocity of the object is determined), a direction of movement of the object relative to any one or a combination of the first and the second receivers (see paragraph 0009, “and a control unit that detects the direction of travel, position, and speed of the target using a signal received by being reflected from the target through the first receiver and the second receiver, and calculates the time for turning on and off the plurality of lighting lights according to the direction of travel, position, and speed, thereby controlling the turning on and off of the plurality of lighting lights”).
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 NAZRA N. WAHEED whose telephone number is (571)272-6713. The examiner can normally be reached M-F (8 AM - 4:30 PM).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vladimir Magloire can be reached at (571)270-5144. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NAZRA NUR WAHEED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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