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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1-2, 4, 6-9, 11, 13, 15-16, 18 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Brulo (US Patent Application Publication 2022/0198905).
Regarding claim 1, Brulo discloses a system comprising:
a vehicle (1100) including one or more mounting points [0105];
at least one sensor assembly configured to removably couple to the one or more mounting points [0105, 0107]; and
a controller configured to:
receive, from the at least one sensor assembly, position data associated with the vehicle and environment data associated with a space surrounding the vehicle [0053, 0057, 0107];
determine, based on the position data and the environment data, if the vehicle is within a threshold distance of one or more edges defining the space [0058, 0139-0140]; and
generate, based on the vehicle being within the threshold distance, at least one alert [0061].
Regarding claims 2 and 9, Brulo further discloses wherein the sensor assembly includes a locating fixture (any of 1336, 1360, 1368) configured to facilitate aligning the at least one sensor assembly in a predetermined orientation relative to the vehicle [0109-0111; 0117, where the alignment feature may also include a protrusion, slot, hook and loop fastener, magnets, ball detent or others].
Regarding claims 4 and 11, Brulo further discloses wherein the one or more mounting points are disposed along an outermost edge of the vehicle [0112, as shown in Figures 14-17].
Regarding claims 6 and 13, Brulo further discloses wherein the at least one sensor assembly includes a camera [0053].
Regarding claim 7, Brulo further discloses wherein the one or more mounting points comprise an anterior mounting point, a first lateral mounting point, a second lateral mounting point opposite the first lateral mounting point, and a posterior mounting point [0117, as shown in Figures 17 or 18 and 21, the carriage 1360 of the sensor assembly is mounted to a mounting bracket 1356 having two sets of opposing faces].
Regarding claim 8, Brulo discloses a method comprising:
providing at least one sensor assembly [0105];
removably coupling the at least one sensor assembly to a vehicle (1100) at one or more mounting points [0105, 0107]; and
receiving, from the at least one sensor assembly, position data associated with the vehicle and environment data associated with a space surrounding the vehicle [0053, 0057, 0107];
determining, based on the position data and the environment data, if the vehicle is within a threshold distance of one or more edges defining the space [0058, 0139-0140]; and
generating, based on the vehicle being within the threshold distance, at least one alert [0061].
Regarding claim 14, Brulo further discloses wherein the vehicle is a first vehicle, further comprising:
removably coupling the at least one sensor assembly to a second vehicle, receiving, from the at least one sensor assembly, the position data associated with the second vehicle and the environment data associated with the space surrounding the second vehicle, determining, based on the position data and the environment data, if the second vehicle is within the threshold distance of one or more edges defining the space, and generating, based on the second vehicle being within the threshold distance, at least one alert [0109, 0166, as shown in Figure 21 the at least one sensor assembly is removably attached to the first vehicle and may be attached to a variety of second vehicles; Brulo discloses the steps of receiving, determining and generating as discussed in reference to claim 8 above].
Regarding claim 15, Brulo discloses a camera assembly comprising:
at least one sensor configured to removably couple to a vehicle (1100) at one or more mounting points [0105, 0107]; and
a controller configured to:
receive, from the at least one sensor, visual data [0053, 0057, 0107];
determine, based on the visual data, if the vehicle is within a threshold distance of one or more edges defining the space [0058, 0139-0140]; and
generate, based on the vehicle being within the threshold distance, at least one alert [0061].
Regarding claim 16, Brulo further discloses assembly further comprises a locating fixture (any of 1336, 1360, 1368) configured to facilitate aligning the at least one sensor assembly in a predetermined orientation relative to the vehicle [0109-0111; 0117, where the alignment feature may also include a protrusion, slot, hook and loop fastener, magnets, ball detent or others].
Regarding claim 18, Brulo further discloses wherein the at least one sensor is configured to measure distances between the vehicle and obstacles [0053-0054].
Regarding claim 20, Brulo further discloses wherein the controller is further configured to communicate with a user device to transmit at least one of the visual data or the at least one alert [0073-0074, 0094].
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) 3 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brulo (US Patent Application Publication 2022/0198905) in view of Ditty (US Patent Application Publication 2015/0259185).
Regarding claims 3 and 10, Brulo discloses the system of claim 1 and the method of claim 8 as discussed above but does not disclose wherein the controller is configured to receive, based on the vehicle being within the threshold distance, from the at least one sensor assembly, vehicle orientation data associated with at least a portion of the vehicle, and generate a course correction signal including a steering instruction for the vehicle to cause the vehicle to no longer be within the threshold distance.
Ditty discloses a controller (100) configured to receive, based on a vehicle (10) being within a threshold distance, from at least one sensor assembly (90), vehicle orientation data associated with at least a portion of the vehicle [0024-0026, 0062-0063]; and
generate a course correction signal including a steering instruction for the vehicle to cause the vehicle to no longer be within the threshold distance [0062-0063].
Ditty teaches that actively monitoring the stability condition of the lift device, such as whether the lift device is within a threshold distance of a stability limit, and course correcting by adjusting the axles to adjust the work envelope of the lift boom based on the orientation data may be used to increase forward stability without eliminating lateral stability of the vehicle [0041-0042]. Ditty teaches that lateral stability is important to accommodate wind loading while increased forward stability enhances operability of the vehicle [0041].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to generate the course correction signal disclosed by Ditty in response to the orientation data determined by Brulo’s at least one sensor assembly in order to increase forward stability of the vehicle without eliminating lateral stability.
Claim(s) 5 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brulo (US Patent Application Publication 2022/0198905) in view of Haemmerl (US Patent Application Publication 2009/0319134).
Regarding claims 5 and 12, Brulo discloses the system of claim 1 and the method of claim 8 as discussed above but does not disclose fiducial markers providing reference points on the vehicle for the at least one sensor assembly.
Haemmerl discloses a system comprising a sensor assembly (32), the system comprising fiducial markers (38, 38’) providing reference points on a vehicle (10) for the sensor assembly [0037].
Haemmerl teaches that the fiducial markers lead to strong signal changes in optical sensors that can be used to determine whether a part of the vehicle is within a defined space [0037]. Haemmerl also teaches that the markers can also be used to calibrate the sensor when the sensor measurements differ greatly from an expected result [0015].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the fiducial markers disclosed by Haemmerl with the vehicle disclosed by Brulo because it can be used to calibrate optical sensors used in positioning the vehicle in space and to calibrate the sensors.
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brulo (US Patent Application Publication 2022/0198905) in view of Rushton (US Patent Application Publication 2020/0277176).
Regarding claim 17, Brulo discloses the assembly of claim 15 as discussed above but does not disclose wherein the controller is configured to identify fiducial markers disposed on the vehicle or within the space to determine vehicle orientation and position relative to the space.
Rushton discloses a controller (12) configured to identify fiducial markers disposed on a vehicle (1) or within a space surrounding the vehicle to determine vehicle orientation and position relative to the space [0027, 0029-0030, 0040-0041, 0223].
Rushton teaches that determining the orientation of the vehicle relative to the space allows detection of the moment of tilt of the vehicle [0241], so that for example tilting over of the vehicle can be prevented depending on the carried loads. Rushton teaches that using fiducial markers to determine the orientation based on the position is one of a number of known ways to determine the orientation [0221-0224].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to determine the vehicle position and orientation relative to the space disclosed by Rushton on the vehicle disclosed by Brulo using fiducial markers on the vehicle because this is one of a number of known ways to predictably determine vehicle position and orientation. It would have been obvious to obtain these parameters to prevent tilting over of the vehicle.
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brulo (US Patent Application Publication 2022/0198905) in view of Berry (US Patent Application Publication 2021/0301494).
Regarding claim 19, Brulo discloses the assembly of claim 15 as discussed above but does not explicitly disclose the at least one sensor includes at least one of a LiDAR sensor, a stereo camera, an infrared camera or an ultrasonic sensor. Specifically, Brulo teaches that the distance sensors may include infrared lasers, sonar and the like [0057].
Berry discloses a perception-based alignment system for a bucket loader where LIDAR is used in place of or in addition to a smart camera and teaches that LIDAR also provides information regarding distances and orientations between objects [0029].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to simply substitute the at least one sensor disclosed by Brulo for the LIDAR disclosed by Berry to predictably determine the distance and orientations between the vehicle and the space as required by Brulo.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner
should be directed to JOSHUA CAMPBELL whose telephone number is (571) 272-8215. The examiner
can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor,
Lindsay M. Low can be reached on (571) 272-1196. The fax phone number for the organization where
this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSHUA CAMPBELL/
Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/CARL C STAUBACH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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