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
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 4-5, 11 & 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)1 and 102(a)2 as being anticipated by Anderson et al., Pub. No.: US 20180162186 A1.
Regarding claims 1 & 11, Anderson et al. discloses a vehicle motion control apparatus & a method for controlling a vehicle motion control apparatus including a recognizer, a determiner, and a controller ([0074] “systems and methods used to control the motion of one or more portions of a vehicle under various circumstances to enhance the in-vehicle experience of vehicle occupants.) comprising:
a recognizer ([0156] “one or more cameras”) configured to obtain passenger movement information from an image including a passenger in a vehicle, and to determine whether a passenger groove motion exists, based on that the image is input ([0079] “an active suspension system, or other appropriate motion mitigation device” & [0080] “an event, or events, may be determined at least in part using information such as forces and/or accelerations applied to an occupants head and/or torso based on measurements and or predetermined transfer functions that relate vehicle motion to the motion of an occupants head and/or torso.” & [0156] “one or more cameras may be used for facial recognition of one or more passengers within the vehicle, in order to identify the passengers, as well as to measure head movements of the one or more passengers in the vehicle … the various sensors may be integrated into a seat that an occupant is located in such that the sensors may simply be in contact with the occupant simply by sending seated in and/or the seat may include portions that may be touched” & [0263] “the vehicle may be made to respond to music by simulating dancing motions or producing sound that mimics a subwoofer using one or more active suspension systems of the vehicle”);
a determiner ([0080] “sensors associated with an active suspension system”) configured to obtain vehicle status information based on that the passenger groove motion exists in the image to determine whether vehicle motion control is possible, and extract features of the passenger groove motion based on concluding that the vehicle motion control is possible ([0080] “the event or events may be determined at least in part using information such as forces and/or accelerations applied to the vehicle as determined by one or more sensors associated with an active suspension system. Additionally, in some embodiments, an event, or events, may be determined at least in part using information such as forces and/or accelerations applied to an occupants head and/or torso based on measurements and or predetermined transfer functions that relate vehicle motion to the motion of an occupants head and/or torso.” & [0263] “the vehicle may be made to respond to music by simulating dancing motions or producing sound that mimics a subwoofer using one or more active suspension systems of the vehicle. ); and
a controller configured to generate a target vehicle motion based on the features and control a vehicle motion by driving an actuator corresponding to the target vehicle motion ([0071] “FIG. 45… an active suspension actuator” & [0100] “a vehicle and/or suspension controller may be configured to accept one or more types of data such as one or more of vehicle acceleration, velocity and displacement in one or more directions as well as vehicle heave, roll and pitch from one or more sensors. Additionally, in some instances it may be beneficial for a controller to take into account physiological parameters and/or movements of a vehicle occupant during operation. … a controller may receive data about, for example, the movements of the head and/or torso as well as various physical parameters of one or more occupants. … determining how to control a suspension system of the vehicle.” & [0101] “a vehicle and/or suspension controller, may identify a situation and/or a pattern of road disturbances and/or characteristics that may lead to occupant discomfort or distress”.).
Regarding claims 4 & 14, Anderson et al. discloses the vehicle motion control apparatus of claim 1 & the method of claim 11, wherein the determiner is further configured to separate a predetermined body motion of the passenger by frequency, and analyze the frequency to extract the features of the passenger groove motion, including a groove frequency, a groove pattern, and a groove type ([0079] “a vehicle may be operated in a first mode of operation until an event, series of events and/or pattern of events, that indicates an increased likelihood of motion sickness of a vehicle occupant, is detected. The vehicle may then be operated in a second mode that provides enhanced mitigation of motion in one or more frequency ranges to help reduce the likelihood, severity and/or duration of an occupant's motion sickness.” & [[0142] “Information from one or more of these sensors may be fed into a pattern detection algorithm that resides in the vehicle controller 194. This pattern detection may be used to identify any desired event patterns related to vehicle motion including, for example, roll, pitch, heave, road surface irregularities, acceleration, braking, a combination of the foregoing, as well as any other appropriate type of motion.”).
Regarding claims 5 & 15, Anderson et al. discloses the vehicle motion control apparatus of claim 1 & the method of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to obtain key feature information including a groove type, a groove frequency, a groove timing, a groove intensity, and a groove direction from the features of the passenger groove motion, and generate the target vehicle motion based on the key feature information ([0194] “The frequency and amplitude of a motion induced in a portion of a vehicle may be selected by a controller… the vibration may be more intense, such as having a higher amplitude and/or frequency … the frequency and/or amplitude may also be varied” & [0261] The at least partial synchronization of the video with vehicle body movements may be based on a motion track provided … During playback, the active suspension system of a vehicle may be used to cause the vehicle to move in similar fashion and relative timing with the video being displayed.” & [0101] “the controller may be programmed to determine if situations and/or vehicle disturbances, such as acceleration in one or more directions within certain frequency ranges may induce motion sickness in the vehicle's occupants.”).
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 2 & 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over Anderson et al., Pub. No.: US 20180162186 A1 in view of Sung et al., Pub. No.: US 20220138966 A1.
Regarding claims 2 &12, Keller et al. discloses the vehicle motion control apparatus of claim 1 & the method of claim 11,
wherein the recognizer is further configured to obtain the image of the passenger from a camera mounted inside the vehicle based on that a driver input requesting the vehicle motion control corresponding to the passenger groove motion is received upon determining the passenger groove motion ([0197]- [0199] “vehicle sensors such as optical or infrared cameras located within and outside the vehicle may detect gestures of occupants and/or persons located outside of the vehicle as commands or signals.” & [0200] the active suspension system of a vehicle may be used to induce motion ... The induced motion may be a rocking or shaking motion at various frequencies in one or more bands ranging from about 1 Hz to 10 Hz” & [0201]-[0202] “the various movements and gestures noted above may be accomplished by actuating one or more actuators of the active suspension system ” & [0203] In some embodiments, one or more gestures may be activate by a vehicle occupant and/or driver pressing a button, physical or electronic, in the vehicle.” & [0220] “a pattern of motion may be created. … this motion may be induced at a frequency below the expected resonance of the system and at a small amplitude, and to measure the resulting motion by using one or more sensors present in the system. For example, one or more suspension position sensors may be used for this purpose. Then in a third step the frequency may be gradually increased to determine the frequency at which the motion is the greatest. ... This will indicate the full range of motion of the vehicle, and can be used to detect any mechanical interferences, and any inconsistencies in the motion pattern that could be the result of sensor and/or actuator malfunction. This can then be repeated for multiple patterns, to isolate functional problems to a single source of interference or malfunction.).
Anderson et al. is not explicit on “verify whether a predetermined body motion of the passenger is repetitive”, however Sung et al., US 20220138966 A1, teaches REPETITION COUNTING AND CLASSIFICATION OF MOVEMENTS SYSTEMS AND METHODS 140301and discloses;
verify whether a predetermined body motion of the passenger is repetitive from the image, and conclude that the passenger groove motion exists based on that the predetermined body motion of the passenger is repetitive ([0050] “real-time analysis of repetitive motion analysis … analyzing activities and associated repetitive motions, as long as there is at least one user present and being recorded.” & [0051] More specifically, some embodiments of the present invention relate to determining repetitive motions and counting those repetitive motions in a media file such as in a video. ... determining a plurality of images from a video, wherein the images are segmented” & [0052] “the determination of the repetitive motion further includes determining a first pattern and a second pattern, and the method further includes: determining a deduplicated pattern based on a comparison of the first pattern and the second pattern; and determining the at least one repetitive motion based on the deduplicated pattern.” & [0053] “the repetitive motions can include dance moves, workout moves, or any move with a periodic or quasi-periodic nature (within a predetermined error tolerance)”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use these above mentioned features disclosed by Sung et al. with the system disclosed by Anderson et al. in order to provide methods and systems for determining and classifying a number of repetitive motions in a video include the steps of first determining a plurality of images from a video, where the images are segmented from at least one video frame of the video (see Abstract & para.[0006]).).
Claims 3 & 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over Anderson et al., Pub. No.: US 20180162186 A1 in view of Kuno et al., Pub. No.: US 20040012250 A1.
Regarding claims 3 & 13, Anderson et al. discloses the vehicle motion control apparatus of claim 1 & the method of claim 11.
Anderson et al. is not explicit on “to determine whether the vehicle motion control is possible by checking whether the vehicle is stopped, whether there is a risk due to a vehicle motion, and whether there is a road slope from the vehicle status information.”, however Kuno et al., US 20040012250 A1, teaches Control Device For Electric Vehicle Stopping At Slope Road and discloses;
wherein the determiner is further configured to determine whether the vehicle motion control is possible by checking whether the vehicle is stopped, whether there is a risk due to a vehicle motion, and whether there is a road slope from the vehicle status information ([0016] One embodiment of a control device for an electric vehicle stopping at a slope road will be explained with reference to the illustrations in the drawing figures. FIG. 1 shows a systematic view of a control device for an electric vehicle stopping at a slope road” & [0032] & [0035] “The flag SLOPE corresponds to a flag for distinguishing whether the vehicle is under the stopping state at the slope road. "SLOPE=0" shows that the vehicle is not under the stopping state at the slope road. "SLOPE=1" shows that the vehicle is under the stopping state at the slope road.”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use these above mentioned features disclosed by Kuno et al. with the system disclosed by Anderson et al. in order to provide a control device for an electric vehicle stopping at a slope road which reduces a power consumption of the electric motor when the vehicle is stopping at the slope road with the generation of a drive torque (see Abstract & para.[0002]).).
Claims 6-10 & 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over Anderson et al., Pub. No.: US 20180162186 A1 in view of Park et al., Pub. No.: US 20250326295 A1.
Regarding claims 6, 8-10, 16 & 18-20; Anderson et al. discloses the vehicle motion control apparatus of claim 5 & the method of claim 15.
Anderson et al. is not explicit on “check an implementable motion and a physical upper limit based on information related to mounted hardware of the vehicle, and modify the set target vehicle motion … to generate a final target vehicle motion”, however Park et al., US 20250326295 A1, teaches APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A VEHICLE and discloses;
(claims 6 & 16) wherein the controller is further configured to set the target vehicle motion based on the key feature information, check an implementable motion and a physical upper limit based on information related to mounted hardware of the vehicle, and modify the set target vehicle motion based on the checked implementable motion and the checked physical upper limit to generate a final target vehicle motion ([0069]-[0072] The processor 170 may determine hardware information of the vehicle and a physical limitation of the vehicle. The processor 170 may determine an execution motion executable by the vehicle (“executable execution motion”) based on the hardware information of the vehicle and the physical limitation of the vehicle. The execution motion executable by the vehicle may be a motion that the vehicle is capable of executing or performing.: & [0072] “the processor 170 may generate an execution motion value corresponding to the execution motion executable for each hardware.” & [0106] & [0139] “the processor 170 may determine the hardware information of the vehicle and the physical limitation of the vehicle to determine whether the vehicle can execute the target motion.” & [0250] “displacement or force that would need to be applied by one or more of the active suspension actuators in order to replicate certain pre-recorded effects may be beyond the capability of one or more components of the active suspension system. … the pre-recorded data may be pre-filtered to limit actuator motion or force commands to be within predefined threshold limits. ... the maximum active force and/or the maximum displacement command sent to an actuator controller may be limited to a desired threshold in compression and/or extension.” & [0253] “the range of travel and force output of an active suspension actuator is typically capped below either an operational and/or physical threshold.”).
(claims 8 & 18) wherein the controller is further configured to verify whether an unimplementable motion exists within the target vehicle motion set based on the determined implementable motion, in response to determining the implementable motion based on the information related to the mounted hardware of the vehicle, and modify the set target vehicle motion set to remove the unimplementable motion based on that the unimplementable motion exists ([0145] “controlling the motion of the vehicle together with the content (in-car entertainment) executed in the vehicle.” & [0146] “recognize content running in the vehicle to generate a target motion for the content, to distribute control to one or more driving actuators depending on the target motion, and to drive the one or more driving actuators to control the motion of the vehicle.” & [0147] A vehicle control apparatus and a method according to embodiments of the present disclosure may define the motion of the vehicle for each hardware of the vehicle by identifying the executable motion depending on the hardware of the vehicle and distributing control to one or more actuators to execute the executable motion.” & [0148] “may improve user satisfaction and convenience by controlling the motion of the vehicle depending on the motion customized to the user by generating the target motion with the control value set by the user as well as the content running in the vehicle.”).
(claims 9 & 19) wherein the controller is further configured to check whether a motion exceeding the physical upper limit exists within the target vehicle motion set based on the physical upper limit which is determined based on the information related to the mounted hardware of the vehicle, and modify the set target vehicle motion set to modify the motion exceeding the physical upper limit to be below the physical upper limit based on that the motion exceeding the physical upper limit exists ([0124] “the processor 170 may separate and extract the instrument, may count when frequency amplitude of a specific instrument (e.g., a bass drum) exceeds a threshold … for controlling a target motion when content determined” & [0132] The processor 170 may determine the hardware information of the vehicle and the physical limitation of the vehicle … may determine the executable execution motion based on the hardware information of the vehicle and the physical limitation of the vehicle, and may generate the execution motion value corresponding to the execution motion.”& [0133] The processor 170 may compare the target motion value with the execution motion value, may determine that the target motion cannot be executed with the target motion value in the vehicle when the target motion value is not equal to or less than the execute motion value” & [0137]-[0138] The processor 170 may determine the hardware information of the vehicle and the physical limitation of the vehicle … may determine the executable execution motion based on the hardware information of the vehicle and the physical limitation of the vehicle, and may generate the execution motion value corresponding to the execution motion.”& [0139] “The processor 170 may compare the target motion value with the execution motion value, may determine that the target motion cannot be executed with the target motion value in the vehicle when the target motion value is not equal to or less than the execute motion value (i.e., when the target motion value is greater than the execution motion value), and may correct the target motion value to be equal to or less than the execution motion value.”).
(claims 10 & 20) wherein the controller is further configured to select the actuator which is implementable based on hardware mounted in the vehicle corresponding to the target vehicle motion, distribute a torque required to implement the target vehicle motion for each selected actuator, and control the vehicle motion by driving the selected actuator with the distributed torque ([0078], [0115]-[0129] “the processor 170 may operate the driving actuator to execute the target motion with the target motion value (or the corrected target motion value) so that torque may be input to the front wheel motor, the rear wheel motor, and the in-wheel motor, and may allow four-wheel position information to be input to the active suspension.” & [0131]-[0134] & [0140] “The processor 170 may determine the hardware information of the vehicle and the physical limitation of the vehicle … and may generate the execution motion value corresponding to the execution motion.” & [0134] “when the one or more actuators are selected as the one or more driving actuators, the processor 170 may operate each of the one or more driving actuators based on the target motion value (or the corrected target motion value).” & [0140] “the processor 170 may operate the one or more driving actuators to execute the target motion by the target motion value (or the corrected target motion value), so that the torque may be input to the front wheel motor, the rear wheel motor, and the in-wheel motor, and may allow the four-wheel position information to be input to the active suspension.”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use these above mentioned features disclosed by Park et al. with the system disclosed by Anderson et al. in order to provide a vehicle control apparatus and a method for controlling a vehicle, that allow a motion of the vehicle to be defined for each hardware of the vehicle by identifying an executable motion based on the hardware of the vehicle and distributing control to one or more actuators to execute the executable motion (see Abstract & para.[0007]).).
Regarding claims 7 & 17, Anderson et al. discloses the vehicle motion control apparatus of claim 6, wherein the controller is further configured to set the target vehicle motion including a target roll, a target pitch, a target surge, a target bounce, and a holding time based on the key feature information ([0076] “motion sickness may also occur due to motions in various directions such as heave, pitch, and/or roll at higher frequencies” & [0100] “a vehicle and / or suspension controller may be configured to accept one or more types of data such as one or more of vehicle acceleration, velocity and displacement in one or more directions as well as vehicle heave, roll and pitch from one or more sensors. … the vehicle may either be rerouted around these locations and/or the controller may operate the suspension system in a mode intended to reduce motion sickness while the vehicle is located in these areas.”).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See Notice of References Cited.
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/Jalal C CODUROGLU/Examiner, Art Unit 3665
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