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 .
This office action is in response to applicant’s amendment dated 3/6/2025, claims 1-11 are currently pending in the application.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 7, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. (WO 2014126281 A1) hereinafter Choi in view of Sudo et al. (US 20220185178 A1) hereinafter Sudo.
Regarding claim 1, Choi teaches A work machine comprising (“As shown in FIG. 1, the construction machine according to the present invention” in ¶[0008] in page 3): a lower traveling body See Fig. 1); an upper turning body mounted on the lower traveling body so as to freely turn (see Fig. 1); a driving room provided in the upper turning body (“And optionally to the driver in the cab via the speaker 103 located in the cab (e.g. cabin)” in ¶[0008] and Fig. 1); an external sound collecting device arranged outside the driving room (“a microphone 101 positioned at the tip of a construction machine working device (for example, a boom or a bucket)” in ¶[0008] and 101 in Fig. 1); an internal sound output device arranged inside the driving room (“And optionally to the driver in the cab via the speaker 103 located in the cab (e.g. cabin)” in ¶[0008] and 104 in Fig. 1); and a control device (“the controller 102” in ¶[0008] and 102 in Fig. 1) Choi does not specifically disclose the device further comprises the control device configured to limit output, from the internal sound output device, of sound collected by the external sound collecting device, according to a detection result of an object existing around the work machine however,
Since it is known in the art as evidenced by Sudo for a device to further comprises the control device configured to limit output, from the internal sound output device, of sound collected by the external sound collecting device, according to a detection result of an object existing around the work machine in (“when only sound waves having a volume equal to or higher than a predetermined value are output into the vehicle, the volume of the output sound element may be lowered or the output of the sound element may be omitted” in ¶[0071]),
An ordinary skilled in the art would be motivated to modify the invention of Choi with the teachings of Sudo for the benefit of improving the user experience of the device, therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Choi with Sudo.
Regarding claim 2, Choi as modified by Sudo teaches the device of claim 1, Sudo further teaches the device further comprising wherein the control device limits the output from the internal sound output device based on whether the sound collected by the external sound collecting device includes a predetermined sound emitted from the object (“for example, sirens of emergency vehicles such as ambulances, fire engines, and police cars, sounds generated by large vehicles, and sound waves such as accidents between vehicles and output the sound waves into the vehicle” in ¶[0071]).
Regarding claim 7, Choi as modified by Sudo teaches the device of claim 1, Sudo further teaches the device further comprising wherein the control device stops the output of the sound from the internal sound output device (“when only sound waves having a volume equal to or higher than a predetermined value are output into the vehicle, the volume of the output sound element may be lowered or the output of the sound element may be omitted” in ¶[0071]) or increases a gain of a noise canceling function for the sound output from the internal sound output device as compared to that before detecting the object, to limit the output of the sound from the internal sound output device.
Regarding claim 11, claim is rejected for being the system comprising at least the same elements and performing at least the same functions performed by the device of rejected claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1 above).
Claim(s) 3-4, 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. (WO 2014126281 A1) hereinafter Choi in view of Sudo et al. (US 20220185178 A1) hereinafter Sudo and further in view of Tanaka et al. (US 20200384916 A1) hereinafter Tanaka.
Regarding claim 3, Choi as modified by Sudo teaches the device of claim 1, Choi as modified by Sudo does not specifically disclose the device further comprising wherein a plurality of the external sound collecting devices are provided, and the control device limits the output, from the internal sound output device, of the sound collected by the external sound collecting device provided in a direction in which the object exists, among the plurality of external sound collecting devices however,
Since it is known in the art as evidenced by Tanaka for a device to further comprise wherein a plurality of the external sound collecting devices are provided (12 a-d in Fig. 2), and the control device limits the output, from the internal sound output device, of the sound collected by the external sound collecting device provided in a direction in which the object exists, among the plurality of external sound collecting devices (“the microphone closest to the position of the object corresponds the microphone 12a, and the speaker in the direction in which the object is detected corresponds to the speakers 13a, 13d. The output control unit 163 outputs the environmental sound information in a predetermined time period prior to and subsequent to the time when the object is detected out of the environmental sound information collected by the microphone 12a, from the speaker 13a in a first volume, and from the speaker 13d in a second volume. For example, the output control unit 163 sets the first volume of the speaker 13a closer to the direction of the object larger than the second volume of the speaker 13d.” in ¶[0077]),
An ordinary skilled in the art would be motivated to modify the invention of Choi as modified by Sudo with the teachings of Tanaka for the benefit of improving the accuracy of the device, therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Choi as modified by Sudo with Tanaka.
Regarding claim 4, Choi as modified by Sudo and Tanaka teaches the device of claim 3, Tanaka further teaches the device further comprising wherein the control device detects the direction in which the object exists based on any one or more of the sound collected by each of the plurality of external sound collecting devices (“the driving assistance apparatus collects sound in the surroundings of the vehicle 10 by using a microphone arranged on an exterior of the vehicle 10. In the following description, sound collected by the microphone is denoted as “environmental sound”. After detecting the object 2 in the surroundings of the vehicle 10 and attenuating the stationary sound toward the driver 1 from the direction of the object 2” in ¶[0026]), position information of the object and the work machine (“The parameters are an external parameter and an internal parameter to convert a coordinate point of an image taken by the camera 11 into a coordinate point (coordinate point relative to the “reference position” of the vehicle 10). A reference position of the vehicle 10 is pre-set. In the following description, coordinates based on the reference position of the vehicle 10 are described as “coordinates in the vehicle coordinate system” in ¶[0053]), image information captured by an imaging device provided to the work machine, and the detection result of the object obtained by an object detection device provided in the work machine (“a driving assistance apparatus according to the second embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 11, the driving assistance apparatus 100 is connected to the camera 11 (cameras 11a to 11d), the microphone 12 (microphones 12a to 12d), the speaker 13 (13a to 13d), the inner camera 14, the vibrator 15 (15a, 15b), and a vehicle-information detecting device 25” in ¶[0100] and Fig. 11).
Regarding claim 9, Choi as modified by Sudo teaches the device of claim 1, Choi as modified by Sudo does not specifically disclose the device further comprising wherein the control device receives, from the object, a sound signal acquired by the object, and outputs, from the internal sound output device, a sound indicated by the sound signal however,
Since it is known in the art as evidenced by Tanaka for a device to further comprise wherein the control device receives, from the object, a sound signal acquired by the object, and outputs, from the internal sound output device, a sound indicated by the sound signal (“The communication unit 140 is a processing unit that performs data communication with other devices through a network” in ¶[0044]),
An ordinary skilled in the art would be motivated to modify the invention of Choi as modified by Sudo with the teachings of Tanaka for the benefit of improving the accuracy of the device, therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Choi as modified by Sudo with Tanaka.
Regarding claim 10, Choi as modified by Sudo teaches the device of claim 1, Choi as modified by Sudo does not specifically disclose the device further comprising wherein the control device provides a report based on limitation of the output of the sound however,
Since it is known in the art as evidenced by Tanaka for a device to further comprise wherein the control device provides a report based on limitation of the output of the sound (“The vibrators 15a, 15b are devices that give stimulus by vibration to the driver 1 in accordance with a control command from the driving assistance apparatus 100” in ¶[0034]),
An ordinary skilled in the art would be motivated to modify the invention of Choi as modified by Sudo with the teachings of Tanaka for the benefit of improving the accuracy of the device, therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Choi as modified by Sudo with Tanaka.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6, 8 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 AMMAR T HAMID whose telephone number is (571)272-1953. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5, Eastern time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vivian Chin can be reached at (571) 272-7848. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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AMMAR T. HAMID
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2695
/AMMAR T HAMID/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695
