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 02/20/2025 being considered by the examiner. A copy of initialed form is attached for Applicant’s record.
Claim Objection
Claims 1 and 13 are objected to because of the following reasons:
The claim 1 recites term "may be" which renders the claim unclear as to whether or not certain limitation following such indefinite language are intended to be a part of the claimed subject matter. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Deleting and replacing "may be" with a positive language such as "are" or an appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-5 and 8-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Budhia et al.(US 10744936 B1 of record, hereafter Budhia).
Regarding claim 1, Budhia discloses Light management system comprises a sensor unit and a control unit, wherein
the sensor unit is configured to determine an intensity of a light source on a first side of a transparent screen; (see sensors 102 outside the vehicle)
the sensor unit is further configured to, if the intensity of the light source is greater than a defined threshold, (see summary "compare the brightness level to a pre-determined threshold') determines a position of the light source with respect to the eyes of a person located on a second side of the transparent screen;
if, based on the position of the light source with respect to the eyes of the person, it is determined by the control unit that the light source may be blinding the person, the control unit is configured to tint at least a portion of the transparent screen to prevent the person from being blinded by the light source (see summary "The processor may be configured to extract from the ambient light information (a) a brightness level and (b) a direction of light, compare the brightness level to a pre-determined threshold and generate a control signal if (a) the brightness level is greater than the predetermined threshold and (b) the direction of the light corresponds to a field of view of a driver. The ambient light information may be determined in response to light directed towards one or more windows. The control signal may be configured to adjust an amount of tinting applied to the windows.").
Regarding claim 2, Budhia discloses the light management system of claim 1, wherein, if based on the position of the light source with respect to the eyes of the person it is determined that a direct line between the light source and the eyes of the person passes through the transparent screen at a point, the control unit is configured to tint at least a portion of the transparent screen including this point (see figures 8, 10, tinting of wind shield portions of a vehicle).
Regarding claim 3, Budhia discloses the light management system of claim 2, wherein the point at which the direct line between the light source and the eyes of the person crosses the transparent screen is arranged at a center of the portion of the transparent screen (see figures 8, 10, tinting of wind shield portions of a vehicle).
Regarding claim 4, Budhia discloses the light management system of claim 1, wherein the sensor unit comprises or is coupled to at least one camera (see figure 2, cameras inside and outside the vehicle).
Regarding claim 5, Budhia discloses the light management system of claim 1, wherein the sensor unit is further configured to determine a direction of light emitted by the light source and a current viewing direction of the person, and tint at least a portion of the transparent screen based on the direction of light emitted by the light source and the current viewing direction of the person (see column 27. lines 30-36 "If the light from the light source 400 is greater than the pre-determined threshold and if the incoming light direction corresponds to the field of view of the driver 202 then the processors 106a-106n may generate the control signal VCTRL. The signal VCTRL may control one or more of the actuators 116 configured to adjust an amount of tinting applied to
the windows").
Regarding claim 8, Budhia discloses the light management system of claim 4, wherein the sensor unit is further configured to determine a current behavior, gestures, facial expression, eye movement, head movement, body movement, eye reaction and/or biometric features of the person, and to tint at least a portion of the transparent screen based on the determined current behavior, gestures, facial expression, eye movement, head movement, body movement, eye reaction and/or biometric features of the person (see column 14, lines 23-34 "the video analytics may process the captured video frames for biometric markers to determine a vulnerability of the occupants of the vehicle 50'. For example, one or more of age, height and/or weight may be the determined biometric markers. The biometric markers may be used to differentiate between a child, an adolescent, a pregnant woman, a young adult, teenager, adult, etc. Feature maps may be detected and/or extracted while the video data is processed in the pipeline module 156 to generate inferences about body characteristics to determine age, gender, and/or condition (e.g., wrinkles, facial structure, bloodshot eyes, eyelids, signs of exhaustion, etc.)."
Regarding claim 9, Budhia discloses the light management system of any of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to gradually increase or decrease a
transparency of the respective portion to a desired transparency level (see column 33, lines 24-25 "the transition of the tinting 420' may have a smooth gradient effect').
Regarding claim 10, Budhia discloses the light management system of any of claim 9, wherein the control unit is configured to determine the desired transparency level of the respective portion based on at least one of lighting conditions on the first side of the transparent screen, lighting conditions on the second side of the transparent screen, and an eye sensitivity of the person (column 26, lines 15-19 "The ambient light sensors 114a-114i may be implemented in other locations (e.g., on the ego vehicle 50 exterior, on a hood of the ego vehicle 50, on a roof of the ego vehicle 50, throughout the interior of the ego vehicle 50, etc.").
Regarding claim 11, Budhia discloses the light management system of any of claim 1, wherein the light management system is integrated in or coupled to a vehicle, a building, a helmet, eyeglasses, ski or sports glasses, or safety glasses (see figures 8, 10, tinting of wind shield portions of a vehicle).
Regarding claim 12, Budhia discloses the light management system of claim 11, wherein the light management system is integrated in or coupled to a vehicle, and wherein the vehicle is one of a passenger vehicle, a truck, a tractor, a bus, a boat, a train, and a plane (see figures 8, 10, tinting of wind shield portions of a vehicle).
Regarding claim 13, Budhia discloses apparatus and method thereof comprising of determining an intensity of a light source on a first side of a transparent screen by means of a sensor unit; (see sensors 102 outside the vehicle)
if the intensity of the light source is greater than a defined threshold, (see summary "compare the brightness level to a pre-determined threshold') determining a position of the light source with respect to the eyes of a person located on a second side of the transparent screen by means of the sensor unit;
if, based on the position of the light source with respect to eyes of the person, it is determined by a control unit that the light source may be blinding the person, tinting at least a portion of the transparent screen to prevent the person from being blinded by the light source by means of the control unit (see summary "The processor may be configured to extract from the ambient light information (a) a brightness level and (b) a direction of light, compare the brightness level to a pre-determined threshold and generate a control signal if (a) the brightness level is greater than the predetermined threshold and (b) the direction of the light corresponds to a field of view of a driver. The ambient light information may be determined in response to light directed towards one or more windows. The control signal may be configured to adjust an amount of tinting applied to the windows").
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Budhia et al.(US 10744936 B1 of record, hereafter Budhia), as applied to claim 5 above, in view of Lewis (WO 2023/096713 of record).
Budhia discloses the light management system of claim 5. However, Budhia does not disclose wherein the sensor unit is further configured to predict a future viewing direction of the person, and tint at least a portion of the transparent screen based on the predicted future viewing direction; wherein a size and/or a position of the portion are set based on the current viewing direction and the predicted future viewing direction of the person. Lewis teaches wherein the sensor unit is further configured to predict a future viewing direction of the person, and tint at least a portion of the transparent screen based on the predicted future viewing direction (para.[207] "the computing device 121 can adjust the set of lens pixels 141associated with each lens region 131 in response to a predictive technique in response to wearer actions, such as the wearer moving their head when their gaze direction should be reassociated with a different lens region 131"). It would have been obvious one having ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the feature of predicting the viewing direction of the person of Lewis to Budhia for blinding prevention to predict a viewer’s gaze direction.
Allowable Subject Matter
1. Claim 7 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.
2. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: (claim 7) wherein a size and/or a position of the portion are set based on the current viewing direction and the predicted future viewing direction of the person.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TUYEN TRA whose telephone number is (571)272-2343. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6.
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, Bumsuk Won can be reached at 571-272-2713. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/TUYEN TRA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
