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
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.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ni (CN 117864015 A).
Regarding claims 1, 2 and 3, Ni discloses a vehicle-mounted road surface marking device (projection device 50 of fig. 2) comprising:
a projection device (50) that is provided in a vehicle including a towing device (tractor 200 and trailer 100 of fig. 2) configured to tow a towed vehicle at a rear portion and projects an optical image located at a vehicle-rear position of the vehicle onto a road surface on which the vehicle travels (pg. 4 5th para. the projection apparatus 50 for controlling the trailing portion of the trailer 100 performs a vehicle trailing width projection having the linear projection profile P shown in FIG. 2 on the rear ground of the trailer 100); and
a controller that controls the projection device such that a distance between an end portion of the optical image on a rear side and the vehicle in a traveling direction of the vehicle is shorter in a case where the towing device tows the towed vehicle as compared with a case where the towing device does not tow the towed vehicle (pg. 3 8th para. the driving track carries out dynamic width projection at the rear part of the trailer tail part, which can prompt the other road users according to the driving condition in time and properly so as to pay attention to the width and the driving track of the trailer, keep the safe distance and the safe driving state, and avoid the potential collision risk and further on pg. 5 2nd para., the projection distance L is related to the vehicle speed and/or acceleration of the vehicle, i.e., the projection distance L may be determined based on the vehicle speed and/or acceleration obtained from the tractor 200.).
Regarding claim 4, Ni discloses further comprising an angle adjustment device that adjusts an angle of the projection device with respect to a horizontal direction in a side view of the vehicle (pg. 4 last para. and 1st para. of pg. 5; when the tractor 200 turns in a direction indicated by the bending arrow A, for example, or travels along such a curve, the obtained steering information instructs the tractor 200 to perform the steering indicated by the arrow A, and based on this, it is determined that the passing track through which the trailer 100 has passed is an arc, The projection device 50 at the rear of the trailer 100 is then controlled to carry out a vehicle rear width projection with the arc shaped projection profile P shown in FIG. 3 on the rear ground of the trailer 100, and the projection device 50 at the rear of the trailer 100 is then controlled to carry out a vehicle rear width projection with the arc shaped projection profile P shown in FIG. 3. It can prompt surrounding road users that the trailer 100 having a width W sweeps through, for example, an arcuate area as shown in the figure within a predetermined time).
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.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ni (CN 117864015 A) in view of Kunii et al. (US PG Pub. 20180118095).
Regarding claim 5, Ni discloses a vehicle-mounted road surface marking device (projection device 50 of fig. 2) comprising: a projection device (50) that is provided in a vehicle including a towing device (tractor 200 and trailer 100 of fig. 2) configured to tow a towed vehicle at a rear portion and projects an optical image located at a vehicle-rear position of the vehicle onto a road surface on which the vehicle travels (pg. 4 5th para. the projection apparatus 50 for controlling the trailing portion of the trailer 100 performs a vehicle trailing width projection having the linear projection profile P shown in FIG. 2 on the rear ground of the trailer 100); and a controller that controls the projection device such that a distance between an end portion of the optical image on a rear side and the vehicle in a traveling direction of the vehicle is shorter in a case where the towing device tows the towed vehicle as compared with a case where the towing device does not tow the towed vehicle (pg. 3 8th para. the driving track carries out dynamic width projection at the rear part of the trailer tail part, which can prompt the other road users according to the driving condition in time and properly so as to pay attention to the width and the driving track of the trailer, keep the safe distance and the safe driving state, and avoid the potential collision risk and further on pg. 5 2nd para., the projection distance L is related to the vehicle speed and/or acceleration of the vehicle, i.e., the projection distance L may be determined based on the vehicle speed and/or acceleration obtained from the tractor 200.).
Ni fails to explicitly teach wherein a shape of the optical image in a case where the towing device tows the towed vehicle is a shape obtained by omitting a part of the optical image in a case where the towing device does not tow the towed vehicle.
Kunii discloses an image projection apparatus for a vehicle wherein a shape of the optical image in a case where the towing device tows the towed vehicle is a shape obtained by omitting/altering a part of the optical image in a case where the towing device does not tow the towed vehicle (para. 0060; image adjustment unit 560 performs image processing to the image data input by the image signal input unit 531 and the picture data and the image data stored in the nonvolatile memory 508. The image processing includes, for example, scaling processing that performs enlargement, reduction, and deformation of the image, brightness adjustment processing that changes brightness, contrast adjustment processing that changes a contrast curve of the image, and retinex processing that decomposes the image).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the application to modify projected image of Ni with the image processing of Kunii in order to project and display an easily recognizable image on a road surface or the like based on information related to a vehicle (Kunii; para. 0015).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANELL L OWENS whose telephone number is (571)270-5365. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00am-5:00pm M-F.
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/DANELL L OWENS/Examiner, Art Unit 2882 20 August 2026
/TOAN TON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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