DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office Action is sent in response to Applicant’s Communication received on November 18, 2024 for application number 18/951,059. This Office hereby acknowledges receipt of the following and placed of record in file: Specification, Drawings, Abstract, Oath/Declaration, and Claims.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. KR 10-2023-0162284 filed on November 21, 2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on November 18, 2024 is noted. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5-11 and 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ma (US PG Pub No. 2021/0025713 A1), hereinafter “Ma”.
Regarding claim 1, Ma discloses an apparatus for lane-keeping control for a vehicle, the apparatus comprising: a GPS receiver configured to receive GPS information (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8; paragraphs 5, 11, 37, 43, 49, 51, 67-68, 70, 82-83, 85-90, 100); a communication module configured to receive real-time kinematic positioning (RTK) information from an RTK system (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8; paragraphs 85-86, 100, 128-129); and a processor configured to: correct a location of a vehicle by using the GPS information and the RTK information to calculate precise positioning location information (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8; paragraphs 85-86, 100, 128-129); obtain lane link information corresponding to the precise positioning location information (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101, 106-107, 110-115, 118, 125-129, 133, 139); and determine a driving lane of the vehicle based on the precise positioning location information and the lane link information (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101, 106-107, 110-115, 118, 125-129, 133, 139).
Regarding claim 2, Ma discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: obtain lane link information corresponding to the precise positioning location from a map information DB; calculate lines marked on both sides of a lane based on a central location of the lane included in the lane link information; and determine the lane as a driving lane when the precise positioning location information is present within a range of the lines marked on both sides of the lane (Figs. 1-3 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83).
Regarding claim 3, Ma discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein, when the precise positioning location information is present in two lanes, the processor is configured to: calculate orthogonal distances between the precise positioning location information and each of the two lanes; and determine a driving lane of the vehicle based on the two orthogonal distances (Figs. 1-3 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 85-86, 91-101, 106-107).
Regarding claim 5, Ma discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to monitor lane departure of the vehicle based on the driving lane (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101).
Regarding claim 6, Ma discloses the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a capture module configured to capture an image of a front of the vehicle, wherein the processor is configured to: analyze the captured front image to identify line information; determine a driving lane of the vehicle based on the identified line information; and monitor lane departure of the vehicle based on the driving lane (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101, 106-107, 110-115).
Regarding claim 7, Ma discloses a method for lane-keeping control for a vehicle, the method comprising: analyzing, by a processor, front image information to detect lines (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101, 106-107, 110-115, 118, 125-129, 133, 139); determining, by the processor, whether it is possible to determine a driving lane of the vehicle by using the detected lines (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101, 106-107, 110-115, 118, 125-129, 133, 139); in response to that it is not possible to determine the driving lane, determining, by the processor, the driving lane of the vehicle based on precise positioning location information of the vehicle and map information (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101, 106-107, 110-115, 118, 125-129, 133, 139); and monitoring lane departure, by the processor, by using the driving lane (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101, 106-107, 110-115, 118, 125-129, 133, 139).
Regarding claim 8, Ma discloses the method of claim 7, wherein determining the driving lane of the vehicle comprises: correcting, by the processor, a location of the vehicle by using GPS information and RTK information of the vehicle to calculate the precise positioning location information; obtaining, by the processor, lane link information corresponding to the precise positioning location information; and determining, by the processor, the driving lane of the vehicle based on the precise positioning location information and the lane link information (Figs. 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80).
Regarding claim 9, Ma discloses the method of claim 8, wherein obtaining lane link information includes obtaining lane link information corresponding to the precise positioning location from a map information DB (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101, 106-107, 110-115, 118).
Regarding claim 10, Ma discloses the method of claim 8, wherein determining the driving lane of the vehicle based on the precise positioning location information and the lane link information includes: calculating lines marked on both sides of a lane based on a central location of the lane included in the lane link information; and determining the lane as the driving lane when the precise positioning location information is present within a range of the lines marked on both sides of the lane (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101, 106-107, 110-115, 118, 125-129, 133, 139).
Regarding claim 11, Ma discloses the method of claim 8, wherein determining the driving lane of the vehicle based on the precise positioning location information and the lane link information includes: when the precise positioning location information is present in two lanes, calculating orthogonal distances between the precise positioning location information and each of the two lanes; and determining the driving lane of the vehicle based on the two orthogonal distances (Figs. 1-3 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101).
Regarding claim 13, Ma discloses the method of claim 7, further comprising after determining whether it is possible to determine a driving lane of the vehicle, monitoring lane departure of the vehicle, by the processor, by using the detected lines when it is possible to determine the driving lane (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80).
Regarding claim 14, Ma discloses a method for lane-keeping control for a vehicle, the method comprising: correcting, by a processor, a location of a vehicle by using GPS information and RTK information of the vehicle to calculate precise positioning location information (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101, 106-107, 110-115, 118, 125-129, 133, 139); obtaining, by the processor, lane link information corresponding to the precise positioning location from a map information DB (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101, 106-107, 110-115, 118, 125-129, 133, 139); determining, by the processor, a driving lane of the vehicle based on the precise positioning location information and the lane link information (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101, 106-107, 110-115, 118, 125-129, 133, 139); and monitoring lane departure, by the processor, by using the driving lane (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101, 106-107, 110-115, 118, 125-129, 133, 139).
Regarding claim 15, Ma discloses the method of claim 14, wherein determining the driving lane of the vehicle includes: calculating lines marked on both sides of a lane based on a central location of the lane included in the lane link information; and determining the lane as the driving lane when the precise positioning location information is present within a range of the lines marked on both sides of the lane (Figs. 1-3 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 91-101, 106-107, 110-115, 118, 125-129, 133, 139).
Regarding claim 16, Ma discloses the method of claim 14, wherein determining the driving lane of the vehicle includes: when the precise positioning location information is present in two lanes, calculating orthogonal distances between the precise positioning location information and each of the two lanes; and determining the driving lane of the vehicle based on the two orthogonal distances (Figs. 1-3 and 6-8 (“lane line positioning method”); paragraphs 32-33, 40-46, 71-80, 82-83, 85-86, 91-101).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 12 and 17 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMAR MORALES whose telephone number is (571)272-5923. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday thru Friday.
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/O.M/Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/LINDSAY M LOW/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747