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 § 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.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alasry (US Patent #9,616,809 B1), and further in view of Nishimura et al. (Pub # US 2020/0094838 A1).
Consider claim 1, Alasry teaches a drive assist apparatus for a vehicle, the drive assist apparatus comprising:; a monitor (driver status monitor) (116, Fig. 1) configured to monitor a line of sight of a driver who drives the vehicle; and a blinking controller (104, Fig, 1) configured to automatically blink the direction indicator when determination is made that before a set period elapses after the guidance on the steering (Column 3 lines 8-22), the driver has viewed a check region where a safety check is necessary for the steering (Column 5 lines 4-10).
Alasry does not teach a traveling environment recognizer configured to recognize traveling environment information outside the vehicle; a steering guide configured to give guidance, based on the traveling environment information, on steering that involves blinking of a direction indicator of the vehicle.
In the same field of endeavor, Nishimura et al. teaches a traveling environment recognizer (sensor) configured to recognize traveling environment information outside the vehicle [0095 and 0098]; a steering guide configured to give guidance, based on the traveling environment information, on steering that involves blinking of a direction indicator of the vehicle [0104-0105] for the benefit of predicting the travel direction.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a traveling environment recognizer configured to recognize traveling environment information outside the vehicle; a steering guide configured to give guidance, based on the traveling environment information, on steering that involves blinking of a direction indicator of the vehicle as shown in Nishimura et al., in Alasry device for the benefit of predicting the travel direction.
Consider claim 2, Alasry clearly shown and disclose the drive assist apparatus for a vehicle, wherein the check region comprises a mirror viewing area that is viewable using an on-board mirror, and a blind spot that is not viewable using the on-board mirror (Column 7 lines 13-50), and the blinking controller is configured to automatically blink the direction indicator when determination is made that the driver has viewed the mirror viewing area and the blind spot (Column 9 lines 35-50).
Consider claim 3, Alasry clearly shown and disclose the drive assist apparatus for a vehicle, wherein the mirror viewing area and the blind spot where the safety check is necessary are different depending on a direction of the steering (Fig. 4) (Column 7 line 15-65 and Column 8 lines 1-7).
Consider claim 4, Alasry teaches a drive assist apparatus for a vehicle, the drive assist apparatus comprising:; a monitoring unit (116, Fig. 1) configured to monitor a line of sight of a driver who drives the vehicle (Column 3 lines 8-22); and automatically blink the direction indicator when determination is made that before a set period elapses after the guidance on the steering, the driver has viewed a check region where a safety check is necessary for the steering . (Column 5 lines 4-10).
Alasry does not teach a traveling environment recognition unit configured to recognize traveling environment information outside the vehicle; and a processor, and wherein the processor is configured to give guidance, based on the traveling environment information, on steering that involves blinking of a direction indicator of the vehicle.
In the same field of endeavor, Nishimura et al. teaches a traveling environment recognition unit configured to recognize traveling environment information outside the vehicle [0095 and 0098]; and a processor, and wherein the processor is configured to give guidance, based on the traveling environment information, on steering that involves blinking of a direction indicator of the vehicle [0022] for the benefit of predict the travel path and direction.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JACK K WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-1938. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM - 5PM.
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/JACK K WANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2686
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