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 .
DETAIL ACTION
Notice to Applicant(s)
This continuation application has been examined. Claims 1-20 are pending.
The prior arts submitted on June 23, 2025, February 17, 2026 and March 10, 2026 have been considered.
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. § 119, which have been placed of record in the file.
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.
Claims 1-3, 8-16, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Grossman et al. (2019/0204845).
As per claim 1, Grossman et al. disclose an external sensing module for a vehicle configured to operate in an autonomous driving mode, the external sensing module comprising a lidar sensor configured to detect objects in a region of an external environment around the vehicle and within a threshold distance of the vehicle (see at least figures 4A, 4C, item 402); and an image sensor vertically aligned with the lidar sensor, arranged above the lidar sensor, and configured to enable classification of an object detected within the threshold distance of the vehicle (see at least figures 4A, 4C, 5 and 6).
As per claim 2, Grossman et al. disclose that the image sensor is further configured to enable classification of the object detected within the threshold distance of the vehicle as a particular shape (see at least figures 5 and 6).
As per claim 3, Grossman et al. disclose that the image sensor is arranged at a downward angle relative to the vehicle, the downward angle providing coverage within the threshold distance of the vehicle (see at least figures 4C, 5 and 6).
As per claim 8, Grossman et al. further disclose a cover including a separating surface having a downward sloping angle relative to the vehicle and projecting outwardly from the vehicle (see at least figure 4C).
As per claim 9, Grossman et al. disclose that the image sensor is arranged above the separating surface, and the lidar sensor is arranged below the separating surface (see at least figure 4C).
As per claim 10, Grossman et al. further disclose a radar sensor disposed along the external sensing module (see at least figures 4A, 4C, items 406; paragraph 0036).
As per claim 11, Grossman et al. disclose that the radar sensor is disposed adjacent to the image sensor (see at least figure 4C).
With respect to claims 12-16, 19 and 20, the limitations of these claims have been noted in the rejections above. They are therefore considered rejected as set forth above.
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) A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, nowwitstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 4-7, 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Grossman et al. as applied to the claims above, and further in view of Zhou Jianguo (CN-108189777).
With respect to claims 4 and 5, Grossman et al. disclose the claimed invention as discussed above except for a cleaning device is disposed adjacent to the mage sensor and configured to provide cleaning to the image sensor. However, such limitation is taught in at least figure 1, item 9 of the Zhou Jianguo reference. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to incorporate the teaching of Zhou Jianguo into the system of Grossman et al. with a reasonable expectation of success in order to provide the system with the enhanced capacity of including a cleaning device for cleaning the camera lense if desired.
With respect to claims 6 and 7, Zhou Jianguo disclose one or more illuminator units are disposed adjacent to the image sensor and configured to illuminate a field of view of the image sensor (see at least figure 1, items 3 and 11).
With respect to claims 17 and 18, the limitations of these claims have been noted in the rejections above. They are therefore considered rejected as set forth above.
Conclusion
All claims are rejected.
The following references are cited as being of general interest: Skrbina et al. (2003/0189084), Wee (2012/0081544), Frank et al. (2018/0032822) and Wodrich et al. (2018/0059236).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAN QUANG NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571) 272-6966. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Thursday from 7:00am to 5:30pm.
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August 3, 2026
/TAN Q NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3661
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