DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
This action is in response to the application No. 19/084257 filed on 3/19/2025. Claims 1-20 are pending for examination.
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 § 112
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: “memory device” and “processing device” in claim 20.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 5-11, and 14-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yang et al. US 2021/0033712 (“Yang”).
As to claims 1, 11, and 20, Yang discloses a system and method comprising:
receiving sensing data collected during operation of a vehicle by a plurality of sensors of the vehicle (see at least [0052]: The calibration apparatus 10 is configured using a plurality of information acquisition units 11-1 and 11-2…);
determining, based on the received sensing data, a plurality of estimated locations of a first reference object in an environment of the vehicle, each estimated location of the plurality of estimated locations determined using a subset of the sensing data collected by a respective sensor of the plurality of sensors (see at least [0066]: the post-registration data of the point cloud data supplied from the information processing unit 12-1 is referred to as point cloud data Ca(i, t), and the post-registration data of the point cloud data supplied from the information processing unit 12-2 is referred to as point cloud data L(i, t). Note that “t” denotes an index relating to time (hereinafter referred to as “time index”), and “i” denotes an index relating to a feature point (hereinafter referred to as “feature point index”). Furthermore, the external parameters are assumed as a translation parameter T and a rotation parameter Rand);
determining, using the plurality of estimated locations, a plurality of optimization parameters, wherein the plurality of optimization parameters comprises:
one or more sensor parameters of a first sensor of the plurality of sensors (see at least [0069]: the translation parameter T and the rotation parameter R supplied from the calibration processing unit), and
a velocity of the first reference object (see at least [0208]: the calibration processing unit sets the weight according to a moving speed of a moving body provided with the plurality of information acquisition units for each acquisition of the peripheral object information, and reduces the weight as the moving speed increases); and
calibrating the first sensor using the one or more sensor parameters of the first sensor (see at least [0069]: The parameter update unit 16 updates the external parameters (the translation parameter and the rotation parameter) stored in the parameter storage unit 14 at a predetermined timing, using the translation parameter T and the rotation parameter R supplied from the calibration processing unit).
As to claims 5 and 14, Yang discloses wherein the first sensor comprises a camera sensor (see at least [0058]: The information acquisition unit 11-1 is configured using an imaging apparatus so as to acquire a captured image. The information acquisition unit 11-2 is configured using a ranging apparatus).
As to claims 6 and 15, Yang discloses wherein the one or more sensor parameters of the first sensor comprise one or more of: a location of the first sensor on the vehicle, a direction of view of the first sensor, or a focal distance of the first sensor (see at least [0066]: the rotation parameter R is a parameter relating to the attitudes of the information acquisition units 11-1 and 11-2).
As to claims 7 and 16, Yang discloses determining, based on the received sensing data, a second plurality of estimated locations of a second reference object in the environment of the vehicle; and wherein the plurality of optimization parameters is further determined using the second plurality of estimated locations (see at least Fig 4, related text).
As to claims 8 and 17, Yang discloses wherein the plurality of estimated locations of the first reference object comprises at least: a first subset of estimated locations of the first reference object at a first time, and a second subset of estimated locations of the first reference object at a second time (see at least [0058]-[0062]: The information processing unit 12-1 performs a structure from motion (SfM) process. In the SfM process, point cloud data for each feature point, for example, point cloud data indicating the distance for each feature point, is generated by a registration process for feature points of the peripheral object detected from a plurality of captured images in chronological order acquired by the information acquisition unit 11-1).
As to claims 9 and 18, Yang discloses wherein the plurality of optimization parameters further comprises: one or more additional sensor parameters of a second sensor of the plurality of sensors; the method further comprising: calibrating the second sensor using the one or more additional sensor parameters of the second sensor (see at least [0066]: the rotation parameter R is a parameter relating to the attitudes of the information acquisition units 11-1 and 11-2).
As to claims 10 and 19, Yang discloses wherein the one or more sensor parameters of the first sensor are adjusted during a down-time of the vehicle (see at least [0069]: the external parameters stored in the parameter storage unit 14 are updated with the newly calculated external parameters at a timing when the vehicle is put into a stop state thereafter).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 and 12-13 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 THOMAS P INGRAM whose telephone number is (571)272-7864. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Fadey Jabr can be reached at 571-272-1516. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Thomas Ingram/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3668
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