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 § 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 1-5 and 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kubota (US 20200172123 A1 ) and in view of Ohyama (US 20230221569 A1).
Regarding to claim 1, Kubota discloses a vehicle display control device ([0018]: cause an in-vehicle computer to display an image related to a state of a vehicle on a display; a computer includes memory and processor; Fig. 1; [0060]: a vehicle control system; [0066]: the driving assistance controller 200 and the automated driving controller 300; [0068]: store first map information 54 in a storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a flash memory; [0069]: the MPU 60 functions as a recommended lane determiner 61 and holds second map information 62 in the storage device such as an HDD or a flash memory; [0075]: a processor such as a central processing unit, i.e., CPU, executes a program; [0083]: each of the first controller 320 and the second controller 340 is implemented by a processor such as a CPU executing a program; Fig. 6; [0106]: a first display 450, a head-up display (HUD), i.e., a second display 460, and a third display 470 in host vehicle; [0109]: actually start the driving assistance; [0114]: the first display 450) comprising:
a memory ([0068]: store first map information 54 in a storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a flash memory; [0069]: the MPU 60 functions as a recommended lane determiner 61 and holds second map information 62 in the storage device such as an HDD or a flash memory.); and
a processor coupled with the memory, the processor being configured to ([0018]: cause an in-vehicle computer to display an image related to a state of a vehicle on a display; a computer includes memory and processor; [0075]: a processor such as a central processing unit, i.e., CPU, executes a program; [0083]: each of the first controller 320 and the second controller 340 is implemented by a processor such as a CPU executing a program):
display a first image, which shows a peripheral situation of a host vehicle supposing viewing from a virtual viewpoint, at a display provided at a periphery of a driver's seat of the host vehicle (Fig. 12; [0127]: the third screen IM3-1 is a screen displayed by the first display 450, and the fourth screen IM4-1 is a screen viewed by the eyes of the occupant by the projection from the HUD 460;
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; Fig. 12; [0128]: the third screen IM3-1 includes a surroundings detection information display area 600-1; Fig. 12; [0129]: the HMI controller 120 causes an image showing a road shape in front of the host vehicle M acquired from the second map information 62, an image showing the host vehicle M recognized by the host vehicle position recognizer 322, and an image showing a nearby vehicle m recognized by the external environment recognizer 321 to be displayed in the surroundings detection information display area 600-1; the HMI controller 120 causes the first display 450 to display an image showing all nearby vehicles m recognized by the external environment recognizer 321
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); and
at a time at which a drive assist function is operating, display a second image, which shows a situation at a place that is a target of drive assist, at a position of the display ([0130]: the HMI controller 120 causes all information indicating candidates for the state of the driving assistance; [0131]: the host vehicle M is executing the driving assistance; [0132]: the indicator “Hands Off” indicates that the host vehicle M is in a state in which it is not necessary for the occupant to operate the driving operation element 80; Fig. 13; [0140]: FIG. 13 shows the screens IM3-2 and IM4-2 displayed on the first display 450 and the HUD 460 when the auto switch 414 is operated; the HMI controller 120 causes the image showing the degree of driving assistance that is being executed to be displayed;
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; [0141]: the moving image is an image including a dynamic object in which a predetermined physical object dynamically moves according to a passage of time; the moving image may include an animation; Fig. 13; [0142]: the hands of the occupant are removed from the steering wheel 82 to be displayed in the driving assistance state display area 620-2 of the third screen IM3-2 as information;
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;
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; Fig. 14; [0143]: the requested action notification image 622 includes an image 622A showing the steering wheel 82 and images 622BL and 622BR showing the hands of the occupant;
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),
Kubota fails to explicitly disclose the position corresponding to the place.
In same field of endeavor, Ohyama teaches the position corresponding to the place (Fig. 7; [0012]: display at the superimposed position when the lane departure warning is performed;
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; the image corresponds to the road lane as illustrated in Fig. 7; Fig. 7; [0105]: the display control unit 73 starts displaying the departure warning content CTdw, see the upper part of FIG. 7; [0106]: the road surface superimposed image Prs is displayed as a virtual image in a warning color such as red, and superimposed so as to paint out a part of the road surface ahead of the own vehicle lane; the road surface superimposed image Prs corresponds to a place of road lane; the road surface superimposed image Prs is displayed as an animation; [0107]: when the vehicle A is about to deviate to the left side of the own vehicle lane, the boundary-enhanced image Pel has a shape extending in a thin strip along the lane marking Lml on the left side of the own vehicle, and is arranged between the road surface superimposed image Prs and the lane marking Lml.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kubota to include the position corresponding to the place as taught by Ohyama. The motivation for doing so would have been to display at the superimposed position when the lane departure warning is performed; to provide lane departure information to the HUD 100 and the meter display device 30, and to issue a lane departure warning to the driver by the driving support ECU 23; to effectively improve the convenience of virtual image display; to determine the execution of the narrow road driving support display for a driver with higher driving skill by the driving assistance ECU 23 as taught by Ohyama in Fig. 7 and paragraphs [0012], [0066], [0171], and [0226].
Regarding to claim 2, Kubota in view of Ohyama discloses the vehicle display control device of claim 1, wherein the second image is a captured image in which the situation at the place is imaged, or is a schematic image that schematically shows the situation at the place (or is optional; Kubota; Fig. 13; [0142]: the hands of the occupant are removed from the steering wheel 82 to be displayed in the driving assistance state display area 620-2 of the third screen IM3-2 as information;
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; Fig. 14; [0143]: the requested action notification image 622 includes an image 622A showing the steering wheel 82 and images 622BL and 622BR showing the hands of the occupant;
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).
Kubota in view of Ohyama further discloses wherein the second image is a captured image in which the situation at the place is imaged, or is a schematic image that schematically shows the situation at the place (or is optional; Ohyama; Fig. 7; [0012]: display at the superimposed position when the lane departure warning is performed;
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; Fig. 7; [0105]: the display control unit 73 starts displaying the departure warning content CTdw, see the upper part of FIG. 7; Fig. 7; [0106]: the road surface superimposed image Prs is displayed as a virtual image in a warning color such as red, and superimposed so as to paint out a part of the road surface, ahead of the own vehicle lane; the road surface superimposed image Prs is displayed as an animation; Fig. 7; [0107]: when the vehicle A is about to deviate to the left side of the own vehicle lane, the boundary-enhanced image Pel has a shape extending in a thin strip along the lane marking Lml on the left side of the own vehicle, and is arranged between the road surface superimposed image Prs and the lane marking Lml.).
Same motivation of claim 1 is applied here.
Regarding to claim 3, Kubota in view of Ohyama discloses the vehicle display control device of claim 1, wherein a layer that displays the second image is different than a layer that displays the first image (Ohyama; Fig. 7; [0012]: display at the superimposed position when the lane departure warning is performed;
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; Fig. 7; [0106]: the road surface superimposed image Prs at second layer is displayed as a virtual image in a warning color such as red, and superimposed so as to paint out a part of the road surface, i.e. first layer, ahead of the own vehicle lane; the road surface superimposed image Prs is displayed as an animation; Fig. 7; [0107]: when the vehicle A is about to deviate to the left side of the own vehicle lane, the boundary-enhanced image Pel has a shape extending in a thin strip along the lane marking Lml on the left side of the own vehicle, and is arranged between the road surface superimposed image Prs and the lane marking Lml).
Same motivation of claim 1 is applied here.
Regarding to claim 4, Kubota in view of Ohyama discloses the vehicle display control device of claim 1, wherein:
the drive assist function is a lane departure warning function (Ohyama; Fig. 7; [0012]: display at the superimposed position when the lane departure warning is performed;
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; Fig. 9; [0014]: display at the superimposed position when the lane departure warning is performed; [0065]: the driving support ECU 23 has driving support functions such as LDW, i.e., Lane Departure Warning; Fig. 7; [0106]: the road surface superimposed image Prs at second layer is displayed as a virtual image in a warning color such as red, and superimposed so as to paint out a part of the road surface, i.e. first layer, ahead of the own vehicle lane; the road surface superimposed image Prs is displayed as an animation; Fig. 7; [0107]: when the vehicle A is about to deviate to the left side of the own vehicle lane, the boundary-enhanced image Pel has a shape extending in a thin strip along the lane marking Lml on the left side of the own vehicle, and is arranged between the road surface superimposed image Prs and the lane marking Lml), and
the processor is configured to change gradually a displayed form of the second image as an extent to which the host vehicle departs from a travel lane increases (Ohyama; [0066]: when the driving support ECU 23 determines that the vehicle has deviated from the travelling lane, the driving support ECU 23 provides lane departure information to the HUD 100 and the meter display device 30, and issues a lane departure warning to the driver; Fig. 7; [0106]: the road surface superimposed image Prs, i.e., a second image, is displayed as an animation that repeatedly shifts and gradually changes from the lane marking Lml on the left side of the vehicle to the lane marking Lmr on the right side of the vehicle;
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; Fig. 7; [0107]: when the vehicle A is about to deviate to the left side of the own vehicle lane, the boundary-enhanced image Pel has a shape extending in a thin strip along the lane marking Lml on the left side of the own vehicle, and is arranged between the road surface superimposed image Prs and the lane marking Lml; the boundary-enhanced image Pel gradually repeats and changes the display state and the hidden state in accordance with the animation of the road surface superimposed image Prs, and becomes the hidden image at the timing when the road surface superimposed image Prs separates from the lane marking Lml).
Same motivation of claim 1 is applied here.
Regarding to claim 5, Kubota in view of Ohyama discloses the vehicle display control device of claim 4, wherein changing of the displayed form of the second image is a gradual increase of a size of the second image (Ohyama; Fig. 7; [0107]: when the vehicle A is about to deviate to the right side of the vehicle's lane, the road superimposed image Prs and the boundary-enhanced image Pel are displayed along the lane marking Lmr on the right side of the vehicle; the sizes of the superimposed image gradual increase as illustrated in Fig. 7;
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;
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; Fig. 8; [0108]: display the road surface superimposed image Prs and the guidance content CTGs; the size of superimposed image with dots increases as illustrated in Fig. 8;
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;
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; Fig. 9; [0112]: the plurality of boundary-enhanced images Pel shift on the road surface superimposed image Prs along the lane marking Lml while being enlarged in accordance with the travelling of the vehicle, and are visually recognized by the driver as approaching the vehicle together with the road surface in front; Fig. 10; [0113]: the display control unit 73 displays the road surface superimposed image Prs as the second related content CTr2;
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;
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; the size of the superimposed image with multiple dots increases as illustrated in Fig. 10; Fig. 15; [0125]: the bar image Pbr is a second image and is displayed between the preceding vehicle Af and the speedometer CTv in the driver's view; when the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle Af is increased by the deceleration control of the ACC function, the number of bar images Pbr displayed below the preceding vehicle Af increases;
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; increase the size of bar images Pbr as illustrated in Fig. 15).
Same motivation of claim 1 is applied here.
Regarding to claim 7, Kubota in view of Ohyama discloses the vehicle display control device of claim 1, wherein the drive assist function includes at least one of a lane departure warning function, a road sign recognizing function, a lane change assist function, a blind spot monitoring function, an alighting assist function, a vehicle approach warning function or an obstacle approach sensing function (one of … or; Ohyama; Fig. 7; [0012]: display at the superimposed position when the lane departure warning is performed;
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; [0065]: the driving support ECU 23 has driving support functions such as LDW, i.e., Lane Departure Warning; Fig. 9; [0014]: display at the superimposed position when the lane departure warning is performed).
Same motivation of claim 1 is applied here.
Regarding to claim 8, Kubota discloses a vehicle display control method executing processing by a processor ([0018]: cause an in-vehicle computer to display an image related to a state of a vehicle on a display; a computer includes memory and processor; Fig. 1; [0060]: a vehicle control system; [0066]: the driving assistance controller 200 and the automated driving controller 300; [0068]: store first map information 54 in a storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a flash memory; [0069]: the MPU 60 functions as a recommended lane determiner 61 and holds second map information 62 in the storage device such as an HDD or a flash memory; [0075]: a processor such as a central processing unit, i.e., CPU, executes a program; [0083]: each of the first controller 320 and the second controller 340 is implemented by a processor such as a CPU executing a program; Fig. 6; [0106]: a first display 450, a head-up display (HUD), i.e., a second display 460, and a third display 470 in host vehicle; [0109]: actually start the driving assistance; [0114]: the first display 450), the method comprising:
The rest claim limitations are similar to claim limitations recited in claim 1. Therefore, same rational used to reject 1 is also used to reject claim 8.
Regarding to claim 9, Kubota discloses a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute a vehicle display control process, the process comprising ([0018]: cause an in-vehicle computer to display an image related to a state of a vehicle on a display; a computer includes memory and processor; Fig. 1; [0060]: a vehicle control system; [0066]: the driving assistance controller 200 and the automated driving controller 300; [0068]: store first map information 54 in a storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a flash memory; [0069]: the MPU 60 functions as a recommended lane determiner 61 and holds second map information 62 in the storage device such as an HDD or a flash memory; [0075]: a processor such as a central processing unit, i.e., CPU, executes a program; [0083]: each of the first controller 320 and the second controller 340 is implemented by a processor such as a CPU executing a program; Fig. 6; [0106]: a first display 450, a head-up display (HUD), i.e., a second display 460, and a third display 470 in host vehicle; [0109]: actually start the driving assistance; [0114]: the first display 450):
The rest claim limitations are similar to claim limitations recited in claim 1. Therefore, same rational used to reject 1 is also used to reject claim 9.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kubota (US 20200172123 A1 ) in view of Ohyama (US 20230221569 A1), and further in view of Roth (US 20160196098 A1).
Regarding to claim 6, Kubota in view of Ohyama discloses the vehicle display control device of claim 5,
wherein the processor is configured to carry out warning in a case in which a value is greater than or equal to a threshold value (Kubota; [0107]: when the electrostatic capacitance is equal to or greater than a threshold value, the grip sensor 82A outputs a predetermined detection signal to the operation element state determiner 130 of the master controller 100).
Kubota in view of Ohyama further discloses a value is the size of the second image (Ohyama; Fig. 7; [0107]: the sizes of the superimposed image, i.e. second image, as illustrated in Fig. 7;
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;
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; Fig. 8; [0108]: display the road surface superimposed image Prs and the guidance content CTGs; the size of superimposed image, i.e. a second image, with dots increases as illustrated in Fig. 8;
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;
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; Fig. 10; [0113]: the display control unit 73 displays the road surface superimposed image Prs;
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;
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; the size of the superimposed image with multiple dots in Fig. 10; Fig. 15; [0125]: the bar image Pbr is a second image and is displayed between the preceding vehicle Af and the speedometer CTv in the driver's view; when the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle Af is increased by the deceleration control of the ACC function, the number of bar images Pbr displayed below the preceding vehicle Af increases;
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).
Kubota in view of Ohyama fails to explicitly disclose:
warning display.
In same field of endeavor, Roth teaches warning display (Fig. 1; [0023]: one processor; Fig. 4; [0032]: when a warning signal 14 such as, a lane departure warning, or any other driver assistance message is issued, the content of display 4 is altered to a short message, e.g., “STOP”;
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; [0033]: if the system determines that the driver is not looking at the target area on the lane, the warning parameters for lane departure warning may be altered; If the lane detection sensor detects the beginning of a lane change, the system provides an audible and optical warning at the closest display to remind the driver; Fig. 6; [0034]: the font size of the displayed text is increased and no disturbing graphics are displayed.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kubota in view of Ohyama to include warning display as taught by Roth. The motivation for doing so would have been to display a short message, e.g., “STOP in a display when a warning signal 14 such as, a lane departure warning, or any other driver assistance message is issued as taught by Ruth in Fig. 4 and paragraph [0032].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Hai Tao Sun whose telephone number is (571)272-5630. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00AM-6:00PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Daniel Hajnik can be reached at 5712727642. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HAI TAO SUN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2616
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