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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed on 02/19/2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the KR10-2024-0023294 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/15/2024 was received and reviewed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Status of Claims
This office action is in response to application number 18/885,691 filed on 09/15/2024, in which claims 1-15 are presented for examination.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1 & 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huelsen et al. US 20230123315 A1 (hereinafter Huelsen).
Claim 1: Huelsen discloses A vehicle, comprising: a vehicle body; an environment sensor configured to generate environment detection information on an external environment [[0063]; FIG. 1 shows a vehicle roof 100 of a vehicle comprising a roof module 1. (…) An environmental sensor 16 (a lidar sensor in the case at hand) is disposed in a front center roof portion of vehicle roof 100, i.e., of roof module 10, in a longitudinal vehicle direction x. Other sensor types, such as (multidirectional) cameras and/or ultrasonic sensors and/or the like, can also be used]; a support member coupled to the vehicle body and the environment sensor, respectively [[0064]; Environmental sensor 16 is disposed directly behind a front transverse beam 102, which defines a front header of the roof of the vehicle. Roof module 10 further comprises a kinematic system 18. Kinematic system 18 allows environmental sensor 16 to be moved from a retracted position into a deployed position, in which environmental sensor 16 at least partially protrudes beyond roof skin 14, and furthermore to fix environmental sensor 16 at least in the deployed position in such a manner that environmental sensor 16 cannot be moved by an external force F]; and an actuator coupled to the vehicle body and one part of the support member, respectively, and configured to move the one part of the support member in a direction toward the vehicle body and a direction opposite to the vehicle body, wherein one side of the support member in a height direction is coupled to the actuator, and the other side of the support member in the height direction is rotatably coupled to the vehicle body, so that when the actuator is operated, the environment sensor rotates clockwise or counterclockwise about the other side of the support member [Fig. 2a-c, [0068] & [0069]; Actuator 26 can be a slide 28, for example, which can be moved along a drive axis 30 by means of drive 24 (see FIGS. 2 to 4). Drive 24 can be connected to slide 28 via a helical cable (not shown), for example, in order to linearly move slide 28 back and forth along drive axis 30 (see FIGS. 2(a), 3 and 4(a)). Slide 28 comprises a guide slot 32, in which a guide pin 34 is disposed in a movable manner. (...) In this configuration example, environmental sensor 16 can be mounted on a frame structure 36 of roof module 10 in the form of a fixed bearing in such a manner that it can rotate about an axis of rotation 38 by means of a projection formed on housing 22 (in the form of a guide lever 40), for example].
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Huelsen Figure 2a-c
Claim 10: Huelsen teaches the apparatus of claim 1, accordingly, the rejection of claim 1 above is incorporated.
Huelsen discloses the vehicle of claim 1, wherein the environment sensor includes one or more of a LIDAR sensor, a camera sensor, and a 4D imaging radar sensor [[0082]; Environmental sensor 16 (a lidar sensor in this case) is disposed in a front center roof area of vehicle roof 100 or roof module 10 with respect to a longitudinal vehicle direction x. Other sensor types, such as multi-directional cameras and/or ultrasonic sensors and/or the like, can be employed].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-9 & 11-15 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Sun et al. (US 20220306157 A1) discloses a vehicle-mounted camera gimbal servo system and a control method. The vehicle-mounted camera gimbal servo system includes a camera tri-axial gimbal and a servo control apparatus. The camera tri-axial gimbal includes a pitch motor, a roll motor, a yaw motor, a roll arm (1), a pitch arm (4), a yaw arm (5), a gimbal top (7), a camera (11), a pitch-axis bearing (12), and a counterweight block (13); the pitch motor includes a pitch motor stator (2) and a pitch motor rotor (3); the yaw motor includes a yaw motor stator (6) and a yaw motor rotor (8); the roll motor includes a roll motor stator (9) and a roll motor rotor (10); the servo control apparatus includes an inertial measurement unit, a three-dimensional modeling control unit, an angular velocity loop control unit, and an angular displacement loop control unit.
Freienstein et al. (US 20150329072 A1) discloses a device for a vehicle, particularly a motor vehicle, includes an environment sensor system which has at least one environment sensor for contactlessly detecting at least one environment region, means for adjusting the environment region to be detected, and a device for determining the environment region to be detected. The device has a position sensor which detects the tilting of the vehicle in respect of a vehicle base, and the means adjust the environment region to be detected depending on the tilt of the vehicle.
Mallano (US 8137008 B1) discloses a remote-controlled, roof-mounted, digital camera mount for a motor vehicle is herein disclosed. The apparatus comprises a mount system with a remote control. The mount system provides for remote control of pan and tilt functions on the mount. The remote control is provided by two (2) or more electric motors in wireless communication with said remote control located by an operator's position enabling the operator to control the positioning of the camera while operating the camera.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Anthony G Mora whose telephone number is (571)272-2306. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Thursday 8am-5pm PST, Alternating Friday 8am-4pm PST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kito R Robinson can be reached at (571)270-3921. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANTHONY GABRIEL MORA/Examiner, Art Unit 3664
/KITO R ROBINSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3664