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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/21/25 is being considered by the examiner.
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.
(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.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9-11 and 13-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hachisuka (US 2024/0109475).
With respect to claim 1,
Figures 1 and 7 of Hachisuka disclose a system for controlling a lamp, the system comprising:
a pair of lamps (70) configured to irradiate beams forward based on respective beam patterns thereof;
a sensing module (30) configured to sense an object in front of a subject vehicle in motion; and
a processor (10) configured to:
receive information on the sensed object (100 – see Figure 4); and
control the beam pattern of at least one of the pair of lamps such that a shadow area is formed in an area including the object based on the input object information (see LAs of Figure 7),
wherein the shadow area includes:
a main shadow area (LAs – see Figure 7) corresponding to a width of the object; and
a shadow margin area (ML, MR – see Figure 7) having a predetermined width from each of both sides of the main shadow area, and
wherein the processor is further configured to control the width of the shadow margin area based on at least one of internal factors, external factors, or any combination thereof (Paragraphs 90, 94 and 95).
With respect to claim 2,
Hachisuka further teaches wherein the internal factors include at least one of acceleration/deceleration tendency information, safe distance tendency information, reaction speed tendency information, lane keeping tendency information of a driver, or any combination thereof (Paragraphs 90-91),
wherein the external factors include at least one of information on a road where the vehicle is traveling, brightness information of the road where the vehicle is traveling, steering information of the vehicle, illuminance information, travel direction information of the object, or any combination thereof (Paragraphs 94-96), and
wherein the processor is further configured to:
analyze the internal factors based on at least one of the acceleration tendency information, the safe distance tendency information, the reaction speed tendency information, the lane keeping tendency information of the driver, or any combination thereof (Paragraphs 90-91); and
analyze the external factors based on at least one of the road information, the road brightness information, the steering information, the illuminance information, the travel direction information, or any combination thereof (Paragraphs 94-96).
With respect to claim 3,
Hachisuka further teaches wherein the sensing module is further configured to sense the road information (Paragraph 56), and wherein the processor is configured to receive the road information, and when the road where the vehicle is traveling corresponds to a specific road based on the received road information, control the width of the shadow margin area (Paragraphs 90, 94 and 95).
With respect to claim 4,
Hachisuka further teaches wherein the sensing module is further configured to sense the road brightness information, and wherein the processor is further configured to: receive the road brightness information; and in response to brightness of the road where the vehicle is traveling being equal to or lower than a reference brightness based on the received road brightness information, control the width of the shadow margin area (see Figures 11-12).
With respect to claim 5,
Hachisuka further teaches wherein the sensing module is further configured to sense the steering information, and wherein the processor is further configured to: receive the steering information; and in response to a steering degree of the vehicle being equal to or greater than a reference steering degree based on the received steering information, control the width of the shadow margin area (Paragraph 115).
With respect to claim 6,
Hachisuka further teaches wherein the sensing module is further configured to sense the illuminance information, and wherein the processor is further configured to: receive the illuminance information; and in response to a vehicle external illuminance value being equal to or lower than a reference illuminance value based on the received illuminance information, control the width of the shadow margin area (see Figures 11-12).
With respect to claim 7,
Hachisuka further teaches wherein the sensing module is further configured to sense the travel direction information, and wherein the processor is further configured to: receive the travel direction information; and in response to a travel direction of the object corresponding to the same direction as a travel direction of the vehicle based on the received travel direction information, control the width of the shadow margin area (see S320, S350 of Figures 11-12).
With respect to claim 9,
Hachisuka further teaches wherein the sensing module is further configured to sense a road where the vehicle is traveling, wherein the processor is further configured to, in response to a determination that the road where the vehicle is traveling is a curved road based on the sensed road information, control one of a width of a left area and a width of a right area of the shadow margin area to a first width or a second width based on at least one of the internal factors and the external factors, and wherein the first width has a smaller value than the second width (see S300 of Figures 11-12 and Figure 8).
With respect to claim 10,
Hachisuka further teaches wherein the processor is further configured to control the beam patterns of the pair of lamps to a specific beam pattern such that at least one of irradiation distances and widths of the beams irradiated by the pair of lamps varies based on at least one of the internal factors and the external factors (Paragraphs 106-107, 110-111).
With respect to claim 11,
Hachisuka further teaches wherein the internal factors include at least one of acceleration/deceleration tendency information, safe distance tendency information, lane change tendency information of a driver, or any combination thereof (Paragraphs 90-91), wherein the external factors include at least one of information on a road where the vehicle is traveling, brightness information of the road where the vehicle is traveling, travel state information of the vehicle, or any combination thereof (Paragraphs 94-96), and wherein the processor is further configured to: analyze the internal factors based on at least one of the acceleration/deceleration tendency information, the safe distance tendency information, the lane change tendency information of the driver, or any combination thereof (Paragraphs 90-91); and analyze the external factors based on at least one of the information on the road where the vehicle is traveling, the brightness information of the road where the vehicle is traveling, the travel state information of the vehicle, or any combination thereof (Paragraphs 94-96).
With respect to claim 13, this claim has substantially the same subject matter as that in claim 1 and differs only in that claim 1 is an apparatus claim whereas claim 13 is a method claim. Therefore, claim 13 is rejected under the same rationale as claim 1 above.
With respect to claim 14, this claim has substantially the same subject matter as that in claim 2 and differs only in that claim 2 is an apparatus claim whereas claim 14 is a method claim. Therefore, claim 14 is rejected under the same rationale as claim 2 above.
With respect to claim 15, this claim has substantially the same subject matter as that in claim 9 and differs only in that claim 9 is an apparatus claim whereas claim 15 is a method claim. Therefore, claim 15 is rejected under the same rationale as claim 9 above.
With respect to claim 16,
Figures 1 and 7 of Hachisuka disclose a vehicle comprising:
a pair of lamps (70) configured to irradiate beams forward based on respective beam patterns thereof;
a sensing module (30) configured to sense an object ahead of the vehicle during travel; and
a processor (10) configured to:
receive information on the sensed object (100 – see Figure 4); and
control the beam pattern of at least one of the pair of lamps such that a shadow area is formed in an area including the object based on the input object information (see LAs of Figure 7),
wherein the shadow area includes:
a main shadow area (LAs – see Figure 7) corresponding to a width of the object; and
a shadow margin area (ML, MR – see Figure 7) having a predetermined width from each of both sides of the main shadow area, and
wherein the processor is further configured to control the width of the shadow margin area based on at least one of internal factors, external factors, or any combination thereof (Paragraphs 90, 94 and 95).
With respect to claim 17,
Hachisuka further teaches wherein the internal factors include at least one of acceleration/deceleration tendency information, safe distance tendency information, reaction speed tendency information, lane keeping tendency information of a driver, or any combination thereof (Paragraphs 90-91), and
wherein the external factors include at least one of information on a road where the vehicle is traveling, brightness information of the road where the vehicle is traveling, steering information of the vehicle, illuminance information, travel direction information of the object, or any combination thereof (Paragraphs 94-96), and
wherein the processor is further configured to:
analyze the internal factors based on at least one of the acceleration tendency information, the safe distance tendency information, the reaction speed tendency information, the lane keeping tendency information of the driver, or any combination thereof (Paragraphs 90-91); and
analyze the external factors based on at least one of the road information, the road brightness information, the steering information, the illuminance information, the travel direction information, or any combination thereof (Paragraphs 94-96).
With respect to claim 18,
Hachisuka further teaches wherein the sensing module is further configured to sense a road where the vehicle is traveling, wherein the processor is further configured to, in response to a determination that the road where the vehicle is traveling is a curved road based on sensed road information, control one of a width of a left area and a width of a right area of the shadow margin area to a first width or a second width based on at least one of the internal factors and the external factors, and wherein the first width has a smaller value than the second width (see S300 of Figures 11-12 and Figure 8).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8, 12, 19 and 20 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 Jany Richardson whose telephone number is (571)270-5074. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 7:30am to 3:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alexander Taningco can be reached at (571) 272-8048. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JANY RICHARDSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845
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