DETAILED ACTION
Non-Final Rejection
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 .
Benefit of an Earlier Filing
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 Foreign Application No. (JP) 2022-114030 filed on 15th July, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/13/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification (more than 20 pages) has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-7 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HIRANO (WO 2012077345 A1) in view of SUGAWARA (JP 2020135203 A).
Referring to Claim 1, HIRANO teaches an object detection apparatus that detects an object (Title; Abstract), the object detection apparatus comprising:
a reception unit (oscillation control unit 101) that acquires a reception signal corresponding to a reflected wave from the object of a transmission wave (from ultrasonic sensor 102) that is an ultrasonic wave ([0014]; Fig. 1);
an information processing unit ([0014]; 105) that acquires object information related to a shape of the object ([0022]-[0023]) by inputting a feature quantity and other measurement information of a waveform of the reception signal to the learned learning model in which machine learning to estimate the shape of an object has been performed ([0030]-[0034]); wherein
a feature extraction unit that extracts, as temporal feature data, changes over time in a feature element included in the reception signal based on the reception signal and a feature pattern of the object prescribed in advance ([0014]-[0016]; [0058]);
a determination unit that determines the shape of the object by calculating the plurality of feature quantities and the measurement information while weighting with a predetermined weight ([0022]-[0023], Fig. 5); and
the measurement information is information having a correlation with changes in the waveform of the reception signal or the shape of the object ([0018]; [0030]).
HIRANO doesn’t explicitly teach from a learning model; the learning model includes a data compression unit that compresses the temporal feature data and acquires a plurality of feature quantities.
SUGAWARA teaches a learning model ([0022], [0023], [0031], and [0126]-[0129] and fig. 12);
a data compression unit that compresses the temporal feature data and acquires a plurality of feature quantities ([0022]-[0023]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the object detection apparatus disclosed in HIRANO with the learning model and data compression unit taught in SUGAWARA with a reasonable expectation of success because it would have improved robustness to waveform variations and noise, thereby improving object-shape determination and overall detection accuracy.
Referring to Claim 2, HIRANO teaches the object detection apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
a distance acquisition unit that acquires a distance to the object based on the reception signal, wherein the measurement information includes the distance acquired by the distance acquisition unit ([0014]-[0016]).
Referring to Claim 3, HIRANO teaches the object detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
the measurement information includes at least one of a temperature, humidity, and windspeed in the vicinity of an apparatus in which the reception unit is mounted ([0022]-[0023]; [0028]; [0034]; [0039]).
Referring to Claim 4, SUGAWARA teaches the object detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
when the plurality of feature quantities obtained by compressing the temporal feature data currently extracted by the feature extraction unit is a plurality of current feature quantities and the plurality of feature quantities obtained by compressing the temporal feature data extracted in the past is a plurality of past feature quantities, the measurement information includes at least a portion of the plurality of past feature quantities, and the determination unit determines the shape of the object by calculating the plurality of current feature quantities and at least a portion of the plurality of past feature quantities while weighting with a predetermined weight ([0022]-[0023]; [0085]).
Referring to Claim 5, HIRANO teaches the object detection apparatus according to claim 4, wherein:
the measurement information includes position change information indicating changes in a position at which the reception signal is received ([0031]-[0032]).
Referring to Claim 6, HIRANO teaches the object detection apparatus according to claim 4, wherein:
the determination unit determines the shape of the object by calculating a feature quantity based on a signal in which a feature portion exceeding a predetermined amplitude value is present in an amplitude waveform, among the plurality of current feature quantities and the plurality of past feature quantities, while weighting with a predetermined weight ([0031]-[0032]; [0046]).
Referring to Claim 7, HIRANO teaches the object detection apparatus according to claim 4, wherein:
the determination unit determines the shape of the object by calculating a feature quantity based on a signal in which a feature portion exceeding a predetermined amplitude value is present in an amplitude waveform and a feature quantity based on a signal in which the feature portion is not present, among the plurality of current feature quantities and the plurality of past feature quantities, while weighting with a predetermined weight, when the object is estimated to be in a position affecting the reception signal ([0031]-[0032]; [0037]-[0038]; [0046]; [0085]).
Referring to Claim 12, HIRANO teaches the object detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
the feature extraction unit identifies a feature element present in a portion exceeding a predetermined threshold in an amplitude waveform of the reception signal and extracts, as the temporal feature data, changes over time in the feature element during a predetermined period including the feature element ([0034]; [0046]).
Referring to Claim 13, SUGAWARA teaches the object detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
the data compression unit and the determination unit are provided in differing components, and the plurality of feature quantities obtained by compression by the data compression unit are transferred to the determination unit over a communication network ([0057]-[0061]).
Referring to Claim 14, SUGAWARA teaches the object detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
the measurement information expressed as a one-hot vector is inputted to the determination unit ([0036]; [0038]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 8-11 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:
Claim(s) 8 is allowable for disclosing a plurality of reception units including the reception unit and the feature extraction unit are disposed in differing positions; when the plurality of feature quantities obtained by compressing the temporal feature data based on the reception signal acquired by a portion of reception units among the plurality of reception units is the plurality of first feature quantities, and the plurality of feature quantities obtained by compressing the temporal feature data based on the reception signal acquired by another reception unit during a same time period as the acquisition of the reception signal by the portion of reception units is the plurality of second feature quantities, the measurement information includes at least a portion of the plurality of second feature quantities, and the determination unit determines the shape of the object by calculating the plurality of first feature quantities and at least a portion of the plurality of second feature quantities. These limitations, in combinations in the claims, were not found in the prior art.
Claim(s) 9-11, are allowable by virtue of their dependency from Claim(s) 8.
Examiner’s Note
Examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record in the body of this action for the convenience of the Applicant. However, any citation to specific, pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the references should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. In re Heck, 699 F.2d 1331, 1332-33, 216 USPQ 1038, 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (quoting In re Lemelson, 397 F.2d 1006, 1009, 158 USPQ 275, 277 (CCPA 1968)). Applicant, in preparing the response, should consider fully the entire reference as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AMIE M N'DURE whose telephone number is (571)272-6031. The examiner can normally be reached on 8AM-5:30PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Isam Alsomiri can be reached on 571-272-6970. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/AMIE M NDURE/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/ABDALLAH ABULABAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645
Prosecution Insights