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 in Germany on 11/13/2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the German application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1 and 4-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sonn (20190056498) in view of Endo (20230328353).
Referring to claims 1 and 7, Sonn shows a method for operating a vehicle, the method comprising:
identifying a dark section of a roadway in a longitudinal direction in front of the vehicle (see paragraph 194 the identification of a change in lighting conditions e.g. entering a tunnel);
illuminating the dark section of roadway by using at least one gated camera arranged on the vehicle and at least one light source synchronized therewith and arranged on the vehicle (see the gated camera that adjust the number of pulses and sub-exposures and/or duration to meet the day and night or dark conditions see paragraph 194); and
tracking the
While Sonn shows tracking the DOF according to an ego speed of the vehicle Sonn does not specifically show tracking the illumination according to an ego speed of the vehicle. While the DOF is closely tied to the illumination in a range gated system it is not inherent that the illumination must be adjust based on the adjustment according to the DOF of a range gated system.
Endo shows a similar device that includes tracking the illumination according to an ego speed of the vehicle (see figure 7 not ethe change from long range mode 1 used at high speed to mode 2 used at low speed). It would have been obvious to include the tracking of the illumination according to an ego speed of the vehicle because this allows for efficiency in power consumption as shown by Endo (see paragraph 96-97).
Referring to claim 4, Endo shows the gated camera and the light source are operated such that the dark section is illuminated from a starting position from the beginning of a shadow to an end position (see the entrance of the Tunnel as shown in paragraph 194 is shown to be the dark conditions that alters the DOF also note the end position is merely the end position of what the light can sense in a range gated system).
Referring to claim 5, Endo shows the end position corresponds to a defined maximum range of the light source, or that the end position corresponds to a rear wall of an enclosed area forming the dark section (see the entrance of the Tunnel as shown in paragraph 194 is shown to be the dark conditions that alters the DOF also note the end position is merely the end position of what the light can sense in a range gated system).
Referring to claim 6, Sonn shows the dark section is part of a tunnel, an underpass, a garage, a parking garage, or an underground parking garage (see paragraph 194).
Referring to claim 8, Sonn in view of Endo shows wherein the gated camera is designed as a mono camera,
wherein two light sources are arranged offset from the gated camera and from one another, or that the gated camera is designed as a stereo camera which has two cameras which are spaced apart from one another by a base width, and
wherein exactly one or at least one light source is arranged offset from the two cameras of the gated camera (see figure 15 of Endo). It would have been obvious with the modification of Endo to include the two light sources and camera the arrangement of the light sources and cameras as shown by Endo because this allows for the range gated system to be placed in a headlamp of a vehicle as shown by Endo.
Referring to claim 9, Sonn shows the vehicle is designed as a utility vehicle or bus (see paragraph 146).
Referring to claim 10, Sonn shows the vehicle is designed as a semiautonomous or fully autonomous vehicle (see paragraph 146).
Claim(s) 2 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sonn (20190056498) in view of Endo (20230328353) and Grauer (20150160340).
Referring to claim 2, Sonn shows switching on the gated camera and the light source when the dark section is recognized in order to specifically illuminate the dark section (see paragraph 194). However Sonn fails to show switching on of a gated camera and the light source at the beginning of the dark section.
Grauer shows a similar device that can control a gated imaging system that can adjust the gating slices related to pre-mapped conditions in the roadway to allow for gating to detect a desired slice when road geometrics require DOF slices and when nighttime is detected (see paragraph 44 also see figure 4). It would have been obvious with the modification of Grauer including pre-mapped conditions and GPS data to control when a DOF slice is taken to allow for the device of Sonn to begin taking images at the beginning of the dark conditions shown in paragraph 194 (i.e. a tunnel). It would have been obvious to include the control the range gated camera system with the beginning of the dark section because this allows for a complete map of the dark section from the beginning without a delay caused by predicting when a dark section will begin.
Referring to claim 3, the combination of Sonn and Grauer shows the beginning of the dark section is recognized by using information from at least one sensor and/or by using information from an internal map (see paragraph 44 and the related map as shown by Grauer). It would have been obvious to include the control the range gated camera system with the beginning of the dark section because this allows for a complete map of the dark section from the beginning without a delay caused by predicting when a dark section will begin.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LUKE D RATCLIFFE whose telephone number is (571)272-3110. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-5:00PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Isam Alsomiri can be reached at 571-272-6970. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LUKE D RATCLIFFE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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