aaDETAILED 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 .
Priority
2. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/20/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
7. Claim(s) 1 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 2021/0146836 A1) in view of Lauber et al. (US 2020/0219394 A1).
8. With reference to claim 1, Lee teaches A vehicle display control device comprising a display control unit that displays a peripheral image simulating a peripheral situation of a host vehicle and an area image (“the surround view monitoring system for the vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention may be included in the vehicle, and may include a plurality of cameras 10 for capturing images of a region around the vehicle, an image synthesizer 30 for forming a synthesized image for monitoring a region around the vehicle by synthesizing the images captured by the plurality of cameras 10, a driving recognizer 40 for recognizing information on the driving state of the vehicle, and a display controller 60 for controlling a display device 70 to selectively display a portion or an entirety of the synthesized image formed by the image synthesizer 30 based on driving-state information of the vehicle, recognized by the driving recognizer 40.” [0035]) Lee also teaches an area image in a first display area provided around a driver's seat of the host vehicle, and that displays area information that is information corresponding to the area image in correspondence with the peripheral situation of the host vehicle in a second display area (“the plurality of cameras 10 may include a front camera, a rear camera, a left camera, and a right camera to photograph the front side, the rear side, the left side, and the right side of the vehicle, respectively.” [0037] “The front camera may be a camera for photographing a region around the front side as the driving direction of the vehicle, and may also use a camera for photographing the region around the front side of the vehicle among the plurality of cameras 10. The front camera may detect an obstacle positioned at the front side of the vehicle in the image captured by photographing the region around the front side of the vehicle.” [0055] “The display controller 60 may display front-side detection information detected by the detection sensor 20 on a region around the front side of the vehicle while controlling the display device 70 to display a portion of the synthesized image including a region around the rear side of the vehicle.” [0060] “the display controller 60 may enlarge and display the region around the rear side of the vehicle by controlling the display device 70 to display only a portion of the synthesized image including a region around the rear side of the vehicle, and according to another embodiment, the display controller 60 may control the display device 70 to display the front-side detection information obtained by detecting the region around the front side of the vehicle by the separate detection sensor 20 while displaying the region around the rear side of the vehicle as the synthesized image. … the synthesized image displayed on the display device 70 may slide, or may be enlarged by driver manipulation. The surround view monitoring system for the vehicle may further include the collision determiner 50 for determining whether there is a possibility of the front side of the vehicle colliding with the obstacle detected by the detection sensor 20 based on the driving-state information of the vehicle recognized by the driving recognizer 40, and the display controller 60 may control the display device 70 to display the entire synthesized image when a collision possibility determiner determines that there is the collision possibility.” [0062-0063])
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Lee does not explicitly teach an area image indicating an area that enables the host vehicle to be parked on the peripheral image. This is what Lauber teaches (“a parking space that is located in the vicinity of the vehicle is detected, for example, by way of vehicle sensors. The parking space may be, for example, a perpendicular parking space or a parallel parking space. A relative position of the vehicle with respect to the parking space PFP is determined.” [0042] “a control signal SIG for generating the image is generated depending on the determined relative position of the vehicle with respect to the parking space PFP. The image comprises a virtual vehicle VF, a virtual parking space P and schematic elements SE (see FIG. 2).” [0047] “the control signal SIG is generated such that a bird's-eye view of the vehicle based on a camera image is displayed in the image (see FIG. 3). The bird's-eye view based on a camera image comprises the virtual vehicle VF, the virtual parking space, and 2D surroundings of the vehicle. The 2D surroundings of the vehicle are displayed by a hatched region in FIG. 3.” [0056]) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Lauber into Lee, in order to enable comprehensible and reliable view of a parking space for a driver.
9. With reference to claim 2, Lee teaches the display control unit displays the area image and the area information in at least partially the same manner. (“the display controller 60 according to an embodiment of the present invention may control the display device 70 to selectively display a portion or an entirety of the synthesized image based on driving-state information of the vehicle, recognized by the driving recognizer 40.” [0048] “The front camera may be a camera for photographing a region around the front side as the driving direction of the vehicle, and may also use a camera for photographing the region around the front side of the vehicle among the plurality of cameras 10. The front camera may detect an obstacle positioned at the front side of the vehicle in the image captured by photographing the region around the front side of the vehicle.” [0055] “The display controller 60 may display front-side detection information detected by the detection sensor 20 on a region around the front side of the vehicle while controlling the display device 70 to display a portion of the synthesized image including a region around the rear side of the vehicle.” [0060] “the display controller 60 may enlarge and display the region around the rear side of the vehicle by controlling the display device 70 to display only a portion of the synthesized image including a region around the rear side of the vehicle, and according to another embodiment, the display controller 60 may control the display device 70 to display the front-side detection information obtained by detecting the region around the front side of the vehicle by the separate detection sensor 20 while displaying the region around the rear side of the vehicle as the synthesized image. … the synthesized image displayed on the display device 70 may slide, or may be enlarged by driver manipulation. The surround view monitoring system for the vehicle may further include the collision determiner 50 for determining whether there is a possibility of the front side of the vehicle colliding with the obstacle detected by the detection sensor 20 based on the driving-state information of the vehicle recognized by the driving recognizer 40, and the display controller 60 may control the display device 70 to display the entire synthesized image when a collision possibility determiner determines that there is the collision possibility.” [0062-0063])
10. Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 2021/0146836 A1) and Lauber et al. (US 2020/0219394 A1), as applied to claims 1 and 2 above, and further in view of Ashida et al. (US 2023/0365193 A1).
11. With reference to claim 3, Lee teaches the display control unit displays, (“the surround view monitoring system for the vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention may be included in the vehicle, and may include a plurality of cameras 10 for capturing images of a region around the vehicle, an image synthesizer 30 for forming a synthesized image for monitoring a region around the vehicle by synthesizing the images captured by the plurality of cameras 10, a driving recognizer 40 for recognizing information on the driving state of the vehicle, and a display controller 60 for controlling a display device 70 to selectively display a portion or an entirety of the synthesized image formed by the image synthesizer 30 based on driving-state information of the vehicle, recognized by the driving recognizer 40.” [0035])
The combination of Lee and Lauber does not explicitly teach in a specific color, the area image indicating a first recommended area in which parking of the host vehicle is recommended and the area information corresponding to the area image indicating the first recommended area, the first recommended area being determined based on information about the peripheral situation from among a plurality of areas; and the display control unit displays, in a color different from the specific color, the area image indicating a second recommended area in which parking of the host vehicle is recommended and the area information corresponding to the area image indicating the second recommended area, the second recommended area being different from the first recommended area. This is what Ashida teaches (“the image generation unit 150 displays the first parking candidate frame 320 and the second parking candidate frame 330 in different display modes. Specifically, the image generation unit 150 generates a superimposed image in which the display modes are different from each other, on the basis of various kinds of data (for example, luminance information and position information of the first parking candidate frame 320 and the second parking candidate frame 330). In one example, the image generation unit 150 superimposes a first region 321 surrounded by the first parking candidate frame 320 in a predetermined color. The predetermined color may be an optional color such as red, blue, or yellow. The image generation unit 150 may cause brightness or luminance of the first region 321 or the first parking candidate frame 320 to be higher than brightness or luminance of the second parking candidate frame 330 or a second region surrounded by the second parking candidate frame 330. The image generation unit 150 may generate the first region 321 and the second region to be displayed in different colors, or generate the first parking candidate frame 320 and the second parking candidate frame 330 to be displayed in different colors.” [0020] “the first parking candidate frame 320 may be set to be a parking candidate frame recommended by the parking assist device 100. Specifically, for example, a parking candidate frame around which a smaller number of obstacles are present may be set as the recommended parking candidate frame from among the parking candidate frames, on the basis of a detection result of the detection unit 120. The first parking candidate frame 320 is not necessarily set to be the parking candidate frame recommended by the parking assist device 100. The first parking candidate frame 320 may be a parking candidate frame being selected by the user at the time when the parking candidate frames are displayed on the display unit 160. In this case, the parking candidate frame that is being selected by the user becomes the first parking candidate frame 320, and the selected first parking candidate frame 320 is displayed with highlighting.” [0022]) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Ashida into the combination of Lee and Lauber, in order to easily recognize the recommended parking candidate frame or the parking candidate frame being selected by the user.
12. Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 2021/0146836 A1) and Lauber et al. (US 2020/0219394 A1), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Maruyama et al. (US 2004/0236507 A1).
13. With reference to claim 4, Lee teaches the display control unit displays (“the surround view monitoring system for the vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention may be included in the vehicle, and may include a plurality of cameras 10 for capturing images of a region around the vehicle, an image synthesizer 30 for forming a synthesized image for monitoring a region around the vehicle by synthesizing the images captured by the plurality of cameras 10, a driving recognizer 40 for recognizing information on the driving state of the vehicle, and a display controller 60 for controlling a display device 70 to selectively display a portion or an entirety of the synthesized image formed by the image synthesizer 30 based on driving-state information of the vehicle, recognized by the driving recognizer 40.” [0035])
The combination of Lee and Lauber does not explicitly teach displays a marker indicating a direction in which the area is present in the second display area when the area is located outside a displayable range of the second display area. This is what Maruyama teaches (“the map is like viewed from above the vicinity of the current position of the vehicle in a vehicle heading direction or in a direction toward the target position. Thus the user can always grasp the situations of the vehicle running direction. At this time, flag marks are given to the current and target positions. And when the target position is out of the displayable range of the bird's eye view, a flag mark is attached to a position in the displayable range of the bird's eye view which is located in a direction toward the target position and is closer to the target position,” [0005]) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Maruyama into the combination of Lee and Lauber, in order to enable the driver to always grasp the current situations of a route toward the target position.
14. Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 2021/0146836 A1) and Lauber et al. (US 2020/0219394 A1), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Woo et al. (US 2021/0213939 A1).
15. With reference to claim 5, The combination of Lee and Lauber does not explicitly teach a function control unit that controls a state of an operation function related to parking of the host vehicle based on an operation on a function image indicating the operation function, wherein the display control unit displays the function image in the first display area, and moves display of the function image in accordance with an operation on the function image. This is what Maruyama teaches (“the controller 160 may be configured to perform autonomous parking by setting a position selected by the user's drag operation to a target parking space among the detected available parking spaces. Here, when the user drags an icon of a vehicle 10 to a desired available parking space on a screen displayed on the display 150, the controller 160 may be configured to set the dragged position of the icon of the vehicle 10 to a target parking space. In this case, the controller 160 may be configured to generate an optimal parking route by determining a size of and a distance to the target parking space set by the user's drag.” [0064-0066] “the controller 160 may be configured to change the display area according to a user's swipe operation. In this case, when the user's swipe operation is input through the screen displayed on the display 150, the controller 160 may be configured to display on the display 150 an area moved in the swipe direction from the current position. … when the user's pinch operation is input through the screen of the display 150, the controller 160 may be configured to expand or reduce and display the display area according to the pinch operation.” [0068-0069]) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Woo into the combination of Lee and Lauber, in order to provide drivers with a comprehensive parking situation around a host vehicle and automatically perform parking to a location a driver wants.
Conclusion
16. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michelle Chin whose telephone number is (571)270-3697. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8:00 AM-4:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Kent Chang can be reached on (571)272-7667. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)273-8300.
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/MICHELLE CHIN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2614
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