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(s) Status
Claims 1-15 are currently pending.
Claim Objections
Applicant is advised that should claim(s) 1 be found allowable, claim 14 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim(s) 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In particular, claim 1: 1) recites “acquire measurement data of vibration generated on a road from a sensing apparatus that measures vibration generated on the road by using an optical fiber buried in the road”, however it is unclear how the measurement data is acquired by the processor from the sensing apparatus, and it is further unclear how the sensing apparatus uses the optical fiber to enable measurements of vibration generated on the road. Claims 2-13 have the same issues due to dependency.Furthermore, claims 14-15 have similar issues as claim 1 and therefore are indefinite. 2) Recites “extract a vehicle vibration component from the measurement data by performing frequency filtering on the measurement data by using a band limiting filter having a passband associated to the road and a road surface state of the road” however it is unclear how the passband is associated with the road and road surface state of the road, and it is further unclear what a road surface state of the road entails, Claims 2-13 have the same issues due to dependency.Furthermore, claims 14-15 have similar issues as claim 1 and therefore are indefinite.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. CN 111811637 A, system extracting vehicle vibration signals using optical fibers embedded in a road.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHICO A FOXX whose telephone number is (571)272-5530. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 - 6:00 M-F.
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CHICO A. FOXX
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2685
/CHICO A FOXX/Examiner, Art Unit 2685