DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/11/2024 were filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter 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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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 1-9, 11, 13-24 and 26 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Hasegawa (US 2007/0253210 A1), Stein et al. (US 2007/0221822 A1) and Ikeda et al. (US 2008/0221767 A1).
For claims 1, 8, 9, and 18, Hasegawa discloses a vehicular headlamp control system (Fig. 1, 4, abstract), the vehicular headlamp control system comprising:
a camera equipped with the vehicular headlamp control system, wherein the camera views forward of the equipped vehicle;
an image processor;
wherein the camera captures image data as the equipped vehicle travels along a road; wherein the image processor is operable to process image data captured by the camera (Para. 0024, 0025, where the camera capture images on the road);
wherein the image processor processes image data captured by the camera for (d) an object detection system of the equipped vehicle (Para. 0025);
wherein the equipped vehicle comprises a headlamp that is switchable between a higher beam state of a light beam emitted by the headlamp and a lower beam state of the light beam emitted by the headlamp (Para. 0048, the headlamp switchable between low and high beams);
wherein the vehicular headlamp control system, with the equipped vehicle traveling along a road, and at least in part via processing by the image processor of image data captured by the camera, detects presence of a leading vehicle traveling along the road ahead of the equipped vehicle (Para. 0034, 0035, where the forward vehicle is detected by the camera);
wherein, based at least in part on curvature of a curved section of the road ahead of the equipped vehicle, the vehicular headlamp control system limits switching of the headlamp of the equipped vehicle to the higher beam state of the light beam emitted by the headlamp (Para. 0046, 0059, where the switching of the headlamp to high beam is limited during the curved section of the road); and
wherein, responsive to detecting presence of the leading vehicle traveling along the curved section of the road ahead of the equipped vehicle, and as the equipped vehicle travels along the curved section of the road, the vehicular headlamp control system delays switching of the headlamp of the equipped vehicle to the higher beam state of the lightbeam emitted by the headlamp even when taillights of the detected leading vehicle are no longer determined (Para. 0048, 0066, 0069, where the switching of the headlamp to high beam is not executed immediately due to the forward vehicle may only temporarily moves out of range of the camera).
Hasegawa does not specifically disclose the camera disposed at an in-cabin side of a windshield of a vehicle equipped with the vehicular headlamp control system, wherein the camera views forward of the equipped vehicle through the windshield of the equipped vehicle at a location that is swept by a windshield wiper of the equipped vehicle; wherein the image processor processes image data captured by the camera for at least one selected from the group consisting of (a) a traffic sign recognition system of the equipped vehicle, (b) a lane departure warning system of the equipped vehicle, (c) a forward collision warning system of the equipped vehicle; and wherein the curved section of the road ahead of the equipped vehicle comprises one selected from the group consisting of (i) a curved on-ramp of the road and (ii) a curved off-ramp of the road. Stein in the same field of the art discloses the camera disposed at an in-cabin side of a windshield of a vehicle equipped with the vehicular headlamp control system, wherein the camera views forward of the equipped vehicle through the windshield of the equipped vehicle at a location that is swept by a windshield wiper of the equipped vehicle (Fig. 1, para. 0036, where the camera is mounted in the cabin pointing toward the front of the vehicle where wiper of the vehicle swept the windshield); wherein the image processor processes image data captured by the camera for at least one selected from the group consisting of (a) a traffic sign recognition system of the equipped vehicle, (b) a lane departure warning system of the equipped vehicle, (c) a forward collision warning system of the equipped vehicle (Fig. 9, para. 0016, 0018). Ikeda in the same field of the art discloses the curved section of the road ahead of the equipped vehicle comprises one selected from the group consisting of (i) a curved on-ramp of the road and (ii) a curved off-ramp of the road (Fig. 2-5, abstract, para. 0005-0008, where the vehicle system identify curved on-ramp and off-ramp of the road). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the invention of Hasegawa to dispose the camera at an in-cabin side of a windshield of a vehicle equipped with the vehicular headlamp control system, wherein the camera views forward of the equipped vehicle through the windshield of the equipped vehicle at a location that is swept by a windshield wiper of the equipped vehicle; wherein the image processor processes image data captured by the camera for at least one selected from the group consisting of (a) a traffic sign recognition system of the equipped vehicle, (b) a lane departure warning system of the equipped vehicle, (c) a forward collision warning system of the equipped vehicle; and wherein the curved section of the road ahead of the equipped vehicle comprises one selected from the group consisting of (i) a curved on-ramp of the road and (ii) a curved off-ramp of the road, as taught by Stein and Ikeda to effectively recognizes and identifies road way objects, signs and traffic patterns using properly mounted camera system.
For claims 2 and 19, Hasegawa, as modified, discloses the vehicular headlamp control system of claims 1 and 18, wherein the vehicular headlamp control system determines that the equipped vehicle is approaching the curved section of the road at least in part via processing by the image processor of image data captured by the camera (Para. 0046, 0048).
For claims 3 and 20, Hasegawa, as modified, discloses the vehicular headlamp control system of claims 1 and 18, wherein the vehicular headlamp control system determines that the equipped vehicle is traveling along the curved section of the road based at least in part on steering wheel angle of the equipped vehicle (Para. 0037, 0050, 0057, 0079).
For claims 4 and 21, Hasegawa, as modified, discloses the vehicular headlamp control system of claims 1 and 18, wherein the vehicular headlamp control system determines that the equipped vehicle is approaching the curved section of the road based at least in part on geographic location of the equipped vehicle (Para. 0059).
For claims 5 and 22, Hasegawa, as modified, discloses the vehicular headlamp control system of claims 1 and 18, wherein the vehicular headlamp control system, responsive at least in part to a global positioning system, determines that the equipped vehicle is approaching the curved section of the road (Para. 0059, where GPS system is being utilized to determine the vehicle’s position and the approach of the curved section of the road).
For claims 6 and 23, Hasegawa, as modified, discloses the vehicular headlamp control system of claims 1 and 18, wherein the vehicular headlamp control system, responsive at least in part to a navigation system of the equipped vehicle, determines that the equipped vehicle is approaching the curved section of the road (Para. 0059, where GPS system is being utilized to determine the vehicle’s position and the approach of the curved section of the road).
For claims 7 and 24, Hasegawa, as modified, discloses the vehicular headlamp control system of claims 1 and 18, wherein the vehicular headlamp control system determines that the equipped vehicle is approaching the curved section of the road responsive at least in part to (a) a traffic sign recognition system of the equipped vehicle, (b) a forward collision warning system of the equipped vehicle, (c) an object detection system of the equipped vehicle, (d) a global positioning system and (e) a navigation system of the equipped vehicle (Para. 0034, 0059, where the determination is at least based on object detection system, GPS and navigation system).
For claims 11 and 26, Hasegawa, as modified, discloses the vehicular headlamp control system of claims 1 and 18, wherein the camera is disposed at a windshield electronics module of the equipped vehicle (Stein – Para. 0036, where the camera control system is mounted near the rear view mirror).
For claim 13, Hasegawa, as modified, discloses the vehicular headlamp control system of claim 1, wherein processing by the image processor comprises object detection (Stein – para. 0019, 0033, 0034, 0038, 0040).
For claim 14, Hasegawa, as modified, discloses the vehicular headlamp control system of claim 1, wherein processing by the image processor comprises object recognition (Stein – para. 0019, 0033, 0034, 0038, 0040, where objects detected are classified).
For claim 15, Hasegawa, as modified, discloses the vehicular headlamp control system of claim 1, wherein processing by the image processor comprises spectral discrimination (Stein – Fig. 5-9).
For claim 16, Hasegawa, as modified, discloses the vehicular headlamp control system of claim 1, wherein processing by the image processor comprises spatial recognition (Stein – Fig. 9).
For claim 17, Hasegawa, as modified, discloses the vehicular headlamp control system of claim 1, wherein processing by the image processor comprises lane marker detection (Fig. 9).
Claim 12 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Hasegawa (US 2007/0253210 A1), Stein et al. (US 2007/0221822 A1) and Ikeda et al. (US 2008/0221767 A1), as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Takahashi et al. (US 2007/0189612 A1).
For claim 12, Hasegawa discloses the vehicular headlamp control system of claim 1, but does not specifically disclose processing by the image processor comprises character recognition. Takahashi in the same field of the art discloses processing by the image processor comprises character recognition (Para. 0001). It would have been obvious to modify the invention of Hasegawa to process character recognition, as taught by Takahashi to allow the system to recognize and read character information such as place, road name and other road signs with characters.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 27-34 are allowed.
Claims 10 and 25 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
For claim 27, Hasegawa a most relevant/closest prior art on record discloses a vehicular headlamp control system (Fig. 1, 4, abstract), the vehicular headlamp control system comprising:
a camera equipped with the vehicular headlamp control system, wherein the camera views forward of the equipped vehicle;
an image processor;
wherein the camera captures image data as the equipped vehicle travels along a road; wherein the image processor is operable to process image data captured by the camera (Para. 0024, 0025, where the camera capture images on the road);
wherein the image processor processes image data captured by the camera for (d) an object detection system of the equipped vehicle (Para. 0025);
wherein the equipped vehicle comprises a headlamp that is switchable between a higher beam state of a light beam emitted by the headlamp and a lower beam state of the light beam emitted by the headlamp (Para. 0048, the headlamp switchable between low and high beams);
wherein the vehicular headlamp control system, with the equipped vehicle traveling along a road, and at least in part via processing by the image processor of image data captured by the camera, detects presence of a leading vehicle traveling along the road ahead of the equipped vehicle (Para. 0034, 0035, where the forward vehicle is detected by the camera);
wherein, based at least in part on curvature of a curved section of the road ahead of the equipped vehicle, the vehicular headlamp control system limits switching of the headlamp of the equipped vehicle to the higher beam state of the light beam emitted by the headlamp (Para. 0046, 0059, where the switching of the headlamp to high beam is limited during the curved section of the road); and
wherein, responsive to detecting presence of the leading vehicle traveling along the curved section of the road ahead of the equipped vehicle, and as the equipped vehicle travels along the curved section of the road, the vehicular headlamp control system delays switching of the headlamp of the equipped vehicle to the higher beam state of the lightbeam emitted by the headlamp even when taillights of the detected leading vehicle are no longer determined (Para. 0048, 0066, 0069, where the switching of the headlamp to high beam is not executed immediately due to the forward vehicle may only temporarily moves out of range of the camera). However, the prior arts on record do not teach, describe and/or suggest all the limitations as presented in the claim as a whole and specifically the vehicular headlamp control system limits switching of the headlamp of the equipped vehicle to the higher beam state of the light beam emitted by the headlamp responsive to determination that curvature of the curved section of the road ahead of the equipped vehicle is greater than a threshold degree of road curvature.
Claim(s) 28-34 depend(s) on claim 27, requiring all the depended limitations/features are also allowed for the same reason.
For claim(s) 10 and 25, the prior arts on record do not teach, describe and/or suggest all the limitations as presented in the claim including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims as a whole and specifically the vehicular headlamp control system limits switching of the headlamp of the equipped vehicle to the higher beam state of the light beam emitted by the headlamp responsive to determination that curvature of the curved section of the road ahead of the equipped vehicle is greater than a threshold degree of road curvature.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
(US 2008/0013790 A1) Ihara et al. discloses a camera system for recognizing objects on roadway and headlight control.
(US 2007/0253597 A1) Utida et al. discloses a vehicle lighting control system for vehicle.
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/SZE-HON KONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3657