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.
Claims 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pohl (Pub. No.: 2019/0049994 A1).
1) In regard to claim 1, Pohl discloses the claimed warning system for warning a driver of a vehicle (fig. 8: 800), comprising
a sensor (fig. 8: 806) for capturing ambient information (¶0056 discloses the sensor collect data regarding information around the vehicle);
a processing unit (fig. 8: 802) for processing information captured by the sensor (¶0056); and
an output unit (fig. 8: 808) for outputting a warning signal to the vehicle driver (¶0058-¶0059);
wherein the sensor is adapted to capture information about other road users (¶0059);
the processing unit is adapted to analyze the information with respect to the presence of one or more certain characteristics of the other road users, and to output a signal to the output unit for outputting the warning signal when the analysis detects the presence of specific characteristics of other road users (¶0059).
2) In regard to claim 2 (dependent on claim 1), Pohl further disclose the warning system according to claim 1, wherein the warning system is coupled to a mirror replacement system of a vehicle (¶0033-¶0034 discloses cameras are connected to the system) comprising a display for displaying vehicle environment information to a vehicle driver, wherein the vehicle environment information comprises mirror replacement information, and the output unit comprises the display (¶0058 discloses the camera captures data and the display generate visual instructions).
3) In regard to claim 3 (dependent on claim 2), Pohl further disclose the warning system according to claim 2, wherein the warning signal comprises a graphic representation on the display (¶0060).
4) In regard to claim 4 (dependent on claim 1), Pohl further disclose the warning system according to claim 1, wherein the warning signal is output as long as the presence of the certain characteristic or characteristics of other road users is detected (¶0058-¶0059).
5) In regard to claim 5 (dependent on claim 1), Pohl further disclose the warning system according to claim 1, wherein the warning signal is only output after a period of time has elapsed during which the presence of the certain characteristic or characteristics is continuously detected (¶0059).
6) In regard to claim 6 (dependent on claim 1), Pohl further disclose the warning system according to claim 1, wherein the warning signal is an acoustic signal and/or a visual signal (¶0058).
7) In regard to claim 7 (dependent on claim 1), Pohl further disclose the warning system according to claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a camera and/or a microphone and/or a radio receiver (¶0058).
8) In regard to claim 8 (dependent on claim 1), Pohl further disclose the warning system according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is a first sensor, and the warning system comprises a second sensor, which is a sensor different from the first sensor that outputs information to the processing unit (¶0034).
9) In regard to claim 9 (dependent on claim 8), Pohl further disclose the warning system according to claim 8, wherein the first sensor and the second sensor are sensors of different types and/or construction (¶0034).
10) In regard to claim 10 (dependent on claim 8), Pohl further disclose the warning system according to claim 8, wherein the processing unit is adapted to analyze the information from the first sensor and the second sensor with respect to the presence of certain characteristics of the other road users, and to output a signal to the output unit for outputting the warning signal when the analysis of the information from the first sensor and/or the analysis of the information from the second sensor in each case determines the presence of certain characteristics of other road users (¶0059).
11) In regard to claim 11 (dependent on claim 1), Pohl further disclose the warning system according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit is adapted to analyze the information with respect to the presence of certain patterns in time courses of the characteristic or characteristics of the other road users (¶0059).
12) In regard to claim 12 (dependent on claim 11), Pohl further disclose the warning system according to claim 11, wherein the patterns are tone sequences or frequency sequences of a sound signal (¶0066).
13) In regard to claim 13 (dependent on claim 11), Pohl further disclose the warning system according to claim 11, wherein the patterns are certain spatial and/or temporal sequences of brightness values and/or wavelengths in visual signals (¶0066).
14) In regard to claim 14 (dependent on claim 1), Pohl further disclose the warning system according to claim 1, further comprising a driver assistance system, wherein the processing unit is adapted to output a signal to the driver assistance system when the analysis detects the presence of certain characteristics of other road users (¶0057-¶0059).
15) In regard to claim 15, claim 15 is rejected and analyzed with respect to claim 1 and the references applied.
16) In regard to claim 16 (dependent on claim 15), Pohl further disclose the method according to claim 15, further comprising the step of verifying the analysis when it is determined that one or more certain characteristics of the other road users are present, by
capturing ambient information with a second sensor that is different from the first sensor, analyzing the ambient information captured by the second sensor to determine whether the ambient information contains information about other road users and whether one or more certain characteristics of the other road users are present (¶0033-¶0034).
17) In regard to claim 17 (dependent on claim 16), Pohl further disclose the method according to claim 16, wherein the warning signal is only output to the driver if the verification step results that one or more certain characteristics of other road users are present (¶0060).
18) In regard to claim 18 (dependent on claim 15), Pohl further disclose the method according to claim 15, wherein the warning signal is output when one or more certain characteristics are present during a certain time period (¶0059).
19) In regard to claim 19 (dependent on claim 15), Pohl further disclose the method according to claim 15, wherein the warning signal is output until a driver monitoring system determines that the driver has noticed the warning signal (¶0068).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CURTIS J KING whose telephone number is (571)270-5160. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 6:00 - 2:00 EST.
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/CURTIS J KING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685