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.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9-10, 12-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MEYHOFERet al. US Pub. No.: 2017/0177000 A1 “Meyhofer”, in view of MURZYN, US Pub. No.: US 2019/0244446 “MURZYN”.
Regarding claim 1, MEYHOFER discloses an apparatus for use in a vehicle (MEYHOFER, abstract), comprising: at least one processing core and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing core, cause the apparatus at least to (MEYHOFER, ¶ 0016-0019); send control information to control an at least in part transparent screen placed, or configured to be placed, at least in part in a field of view of a video sensor element of the vehicle (MEYHOFER, fig. 2, "210", "212", ¶ 0010); select an area of the screen which encompasses a part, or all of the screen (MEYHOFER, claim 1), and determine the control information so that the screen, when acting on the control information, transmits light through parts of the screen not comprised in the selected area (MEYHOFER, claim 2) and blocks (MEYHOFER, claim 3) or distorts light passing through the selected area toward the video sensor element (MEYHOFER, claims 1).
It is noted that MEYHOFER is silent about as claimed.
However, MURZYN discloses determine the control information (MURZYN, fig. 1, ¶ 23) such that the screen (MURZYN, Fig. 1), when acting on the control information (MURZYN, fig. 1, ¶ 23), displays one or more indicators visible to the video sensor element (MURZYN, ¶ 24).
Both MEYHOFER and MURZYN teach systems with capturing images from a display, and those systems are comparable to that of the instant application. Because the two cited references are analogous to the instant application, it 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, to include in the MEYHOFER disclosure, with information controlled by the control system as an indicator to an imaging sensor, as taught by MURZYN. Such inclusion would have increased the usefulness of the system by an improved system for monitoring operation of an vehicle. and would have been consistent with the rationale of combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results to show a prima facie case of obviousness (MPEP 2143(I)(A)) under KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S. Ct. 1727, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395-97 (2007).
Regarding claim 2, MEYHOFER/MURZYN, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the screen is capable of blocking light from passing through the screen in a configurable manner, and/or wherein the screen is capable of emitting light in the configurable manner (see MEYHOFER, claim 1).
Regarding claim 3, MEYHOFER/MURZYN, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the apparatus according to claim 1 claim 1 or 2, wherein the apparatus is configured to receive a video feed from the video sensor element or a second video sensor element, and to perform the selecting of the area based at least in part on the video feed (see MEYHOFER, ¶ 0021, and claims 2)
Regarding claim 4, MEYHOFER/MURZYN, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the apparatus according to claim 3, further configured to detect, based on the video feed, at least one bright light source in the video feed, and to select the area of the screen such that the selected area blocks the bright light source from the video sensor element (MEYHOFER, ¶ 0025, claim 3)
Regarding claim 5 MEYHOFER/MURZYN, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the apparatus according to claim 4, further configured to update the selection of the area to maintain the area (MEYHOFER, ¶ 27) between the bright light source and the video sensor element (MEYHOFER, 0026, claim 3)
Regarding claim 6, MEYHOFER/MURZYN, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the apparatus according to claim 5, further configured to update the selection of the area to maintain the area between the bright light source and the video sensor element based at least in part on a planned movement of the vehicle or a detected movement of the vehicle (MURZYN, ¶ 17)
Regarding claim 7, MEYHOFER/MURZYN, for the same motivation of combination, discloses the apparatus according to claim 1, configured to determine the control information such that the screen, when acting on the control information, adjusts a light sensitivity of a field of view of the video sensor element (MURZYN, ¶ 18).
Regarding claim 9, MEYHOFER/MURZYN, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the apparatus according to claim 1 claim 8, configured to determine the control information such that the screen, when acting on the control information, displays a predetermined indicator sequence (MURZYN, ¶ 23).
Regarding claim 10, MEYHOFER/MURZYN, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the apparatus according to claim 1 any of claims 8-9, configured to determine the control information such that the screen, when acting on the control information, displays an indicator of an operating parameter of the vehicle (MURZYN, ¶ 17).
Regarding claim 12, MEYHOFER/MURZYN, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle (see MEYHOFER, ¶ 0001, 0008.)
Regarding claim 13, MEYHOFER/MURZYN, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the apparatus according to claim 1 a, wherein the vehicle is a remotely operated vehicle (MEYHOFER, claim 1).
Regarding claim 14, MEYHOFER/MURZYN, for the same motivation of combination, discloses a method in a vehicle, comprising: sending control information to control an at least in part transparent screen placed, or configured to be placed, at least in part in a field of view of a video sensor element of the vehicle; selecting an area of the screen which encompasses a part, or all, of the screen (see rejection of claim 1); determining the control information so that the screen, when acting on the control information, transmits light through parts of the screen not comprised in the selected area and blocks or distorts light passing through the selected area toward the video sensor element (see rejection of claim 1); and determining the control information such that the screen, when acting on the control information, displays one or more indicators visible to the video sensor element (see rejection of claim 1); and determining the control information such that the screen, when acting on the control information, displays one or more indicators visible to the video sensor element (see rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 15, MEYHOFER/MURZYN, for the same motivation of combination, discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a set of computer readable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause an apparatus for a vehicle to at least: send control information to control an at least in part transparent screen placed, or configured to be placed, at least in part in a field of view of a video sensor element of a vehicle (see rejection of claim 1); select an area of the screen which encompasses a part, or all, of the screen; determine the control information so that the screen, when acting on the control information, transmits light through parts of the screen not comprised in the selected area and blocks or distorts light passing through the selected area toward the video sensor element (see rejection of claim 1); and determine the control information such that the screen, when acting on the control information, displays one or more indicators visible to the video sensor element (see rejection of claim 1); and determining the control information such that the screen, when acting on the control information, displays one or more indicators visible to the video sensor element (see rejection of claim 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 11 is 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 11082630 B2 Vehicular vision system using adaptive mask at camera
US 20210114439 A1 VEHICULAR VISION SYSTEM WITH GLARE REDUCING WINDSHIELD
US 20200319022 A1 STRAY-LIGHT TESTING STATION
US 10791324 B1 On-car stray-light testing cart
US 20200298871 A1 VEHICLE, CONTROL SYSTEM OF VEHICLE, AND CONTROL METHOD OF VEHICLE
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRANK F HUANG whose telephone number is (571)272-0701. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30 am - 6:00 pm (Eastern Time), Federal Alternative First Friday Off.
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/FRANK F HUANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2485
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