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 § 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.
Claim(s) 12 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhang et al. (US 2013/0293717).
Regarding claim 12, Zhang discloses a method for a travelling vehicle to detect lane lines of a lane, the travelling vehicle being equipped with a front camera module (front-view camera 20) and a rear camera module (rear-view camera 22), the front camera module capturing multiple frames of front image of the travelling vehicle, the rear camera module capturing multiple frames of rear image of the travelling vehicle, said method being implemented by a processor, and comprising steps of:
A) obtaining multiple pairs of matched images, each of the multiple pairs including one of the multiple frames of front image and one of the multiple frames of rear image that correspond to a same region of the lane (see paras 30-32, multiple pairs of images obtained from the front and rear cameras are matched based on lane line features, and spatial and temporal parameters);
B) obtaining feature values of lane line features in the multiple pairs of matched images (see paras 32-34, lane line features, and spatial and temporal parameters are determined);
C) determining whether or not a predetermined probabilistic correlation condition among the feature values of the lane line features in the multiple pairs of matched images is satisfied (see paras 34 and 38, predetermined thresholds are used to determine probabilistic correlation conditions between the paired images match);
D) receiving a current front image from the front camera module, and determining whether the current front image has a lane line feature (see paras 23 and 30-36, lane line sensors determine if images from the front-view camera contain lane lines); and
E) in response to determining that the current front image has a lane line feature and that the predetermined probabilistic correlation condition among the feature values of the lane line features in the multiple pairs of matched images is satisfied, outputting the lane line feature of the current front image as a current lane line detection result (see paras 22-23, processor 28 processes the images from the cameras 18 to obtain a composite image and can display the composite image on display 30).
Regarding claim 13, Zhang further discloses a system for a travelling vehicle to detect lane lines of a lane, the travelling vehicle being equipped with a front camera module and a rear camera module, the front camera module capturing multiple frames of front image of the travelling vehicle, the rear camera module capturing multiple frames of rear image of the travelling vehicle, said system comprising:
a connection interface module to be connected to the front camera module and the rear camera module (see Fig. 1 and para 22 cameras 20-26 are connected to processor 28);
a temporary data storage module (see para 22, image data from cameras 20-26 are stored for subsequent processing by processor 28); and
a processor electrically connected to said connection interface module and said temporary data storage module, and configured to perform the method as claimed in claim 12 (see Fig. 1 and para 22, processor 28 processes images captured by cameras 20-26),
wherein said processor is configured to collect the multiple frames of front image and the multiple frames of rear image through said connection interface module, and to store the multiple frames of front image and the multiple frames of rear image in said temporary data storage module (see paras 30-34, processed images are stored, matched/paired, and used to display to a user).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-11 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art of record does not disclose, teach, or suggest the claimed limitations of (in combination with all other limitations in the claims), F) identifying N111 number of the feature values from among the N11 number of the feature values, where the N111 number of the feature values fall within the reference feature value range, and N11 ≥ N111, and calculating PB=N111N11; G) identifying N31 number of the feature values from among the N3 number of the feature values, where the N31 number of the feature values fall within the reference feature value range, where N3 ≥ N31, and calculating PB|H=N31N3; H) receiving a current front image and a current rear image respectively from the front camera module and the rear camera module, determining whether the current front image has a lane line feature, and determining whether the current rear image has a lane line feature; I) in response to determining that the current front image has a lane line feature and identifying that PB|H is not smaller than a predetermined first reference probability, outputting the lane line feature of the current front image as a current lane line detection result; J) calculating PH|B=PB|H×PHPB in response to determining that the current front image does not have a lane line feature and that the current rear image has a lane line feature; and K) in response to that PH|B is not smaller than a second predetermined reference probability, performing coordinate transformation on the lane line feature of the current rear image based on a location and a capture direction of the front camera module and a location and a capture direction of the rear camera module, and outputting the lane line feature of the current rear image that has undergone the coordinate transformation as the current lane line detection result, as set forth in claim(s) 1, and F) calculating a third probability, which is a probability of occurrence of the third event given that the second event has occurred; G) receiving a current front image and a current rear image respectively from the front camera module and the rear camera module, determining whether the current front image has a lane line feature, and determining whether the current rear image has a lane line feature; H) in response to determining that the current front image has a lane line feature and identifying that the third probability is not smaller than a predetermined first reference probability, outputting the lane line feature of the current front image as a current lane line detection result; I) calculating a fourth probability based on the third probability in response to determining that the current front image does not have a lane line feature and that the current rear image has a lane line feature, where the fourth probability is a probability of occurrence of the second event given that the third event has occurred; and J) in response to that the fourth probability is not smaller than a second predetermined reference probability, performing coordinate transformation on the lane line feature of the current rear image based on a location and a capture direction of the front camera module and a location and a capture direction of the rear camera module, and outputting the lane line feature of the current rear image that has undergone the coordinate transformation as the current lane line detection result, as set forth in claim 10.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. To further show the state of the art please refer to the attached Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK R MILIA whose telephone number is (571) 272-7408. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Akwasi Sarpong can be reached at 571-270-3438. The fax number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARK R MILIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2681
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