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 .
Claims 1-10 are presented for examination.
Priority
The Applicant’s claim for priority based upon Korean Patent Application KR10-2024-0151042 filed on October 30, 2024 is duly noted by the examiner.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 22, 2026 has been considered by the examiner.
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)(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.
Claim(s) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Franz [U.S. Patent Application 2005/0254688].
With regard to claim 1, Franz meets the limitations of:
a control apparatus for a vehicle, comprising a processor configured to detect a position of a vehicle [a data processing unit (paragraph 0014 and figure 1) where a control apparatus is used for lane monitoring systems thereby implying the monitoring of a position of a vehicle (paragraph 0005)]
recognize whether a surrounding environment of the vehicle is in bad condition [transparent objects such as raindrops, or semitransparent objects such as ice or dust, for example, may be recognized, and in one exemplary embodiment even distinguished from one another, by measuring the blurriness of the image (paragraph 0008)]
control at least a part of the vehicle based on whether the surrounding environment is in bad condition wherein the processor performs control to clean at least a part of a sensor or a photographing device mounted on the vehicle, or performs control to warn a user of the vehicle when the surrounding environment of the vehicle is in bad condition [a system is able to display to the driver its instantaneous lack of functionality and/or to take countermeasures, such as switching on the wiper system, the windshield heating system, or the windshield washer system if there is information about the visual obstruction and, in the ideal case, about the type of visual obstruction (paragraph 0015)]
With regard to claim 2, Franz meets the limitation of:
the processor is further configured to detect the position of the vehicle based on a lane of a road on which the vehicle is currently positioned [a data processing unit (paragraph 0014 and figure 1) where a control apparatus is used for lane monitoring systems thereby implying the monitoring of a position of a vehicle (paragraph 0005)]
With regard to claim 3, Franz meets the limitation of:
the processor is further configured to recognize the surrounding environment of the vehicle as a bad condition environment when the lane of the road on which the vehicle is currently positioned is not recognized or the position of the vehicle is not detected [a system is able to display to the driver its instantaneous lack of functionality and/or to take countermeasures, such as switching on the wiper system, the windshield heating system, or the windshield washer system if there is information about the visual obstruction and, in the ideal case, about the type of visual obstruction (paragraph 0015)]
With regard to claim 4, Franz meets the limitation of:
the processor is further configured to recognize the surrounding environment of the vehicle as a bad condition environment when it is determined that a captured image acquired from the photographing device mounted on the vehicle is in a low light or bad condition using deep learning [a system is able to display to the driver its instantaneous lack of functionality and/or to take countermeasures, such as switching on the wiper system, the windshield heating system, or the windshield washer system if there is information about the visual obstruction and, in the ideal case, about the type of visual obstruction (paragraph 0015) via the use of a learning machine (paragraph 0024)]
With regard to claim 5, Franz meets the limitation of:
the processor is configured to control a driving assist unit when a lane of a road on which the vehicle is currently positioned is recognized or the position of the vehicle is detected [a data processing unit (paragraph 0014 and figure 1) where a control apparatus is used for lane monitoring systems thereby implying the monitoring of a position of a vehicle (paragraph 0005)]
With regard to claim 6, Franz meets the limitation of:
a control method for a vehicle comprising detecting a position of a vehicle [a data processing unit (paragraph 0014 and figure 1) where a control apparatus is used for lane monitoring systems thereby implying the monitoring of a position of a vehicle (paragraph 0005)]
recognizing whether a surrounding environment of the vehicle is in bad condition [transparent objects such as raindrops, or semitransparent objects such as ice or dust, for example, may be recognized, and in one exemplary embodiment even distinguished from one another, by measuring the blurriness of the image (paragraph 0008)]
controlling at least a part of the vehicle based on whether the surrounding environment is in bad condition [a system is able to display to the driver its instantaneous lack of functionality and/or to take countermeasures, such as switching on the wiper system, the windshield heating system, or the windshield washer system if there is information about the visual obstruction and, in the ideal case, about the type of visual obstruction (paragraph 0015)]
wherein, the controlling comprises performing control to clean at least a part of a sensor or a photographing device mounted on the vehicle, or performing control to warn a user of the vehicle when the surrounding environment of the vehicle is in bad condition [a system is able to display to the driver its instantaneous lack of functionality and/or to take countermeasures, such as switching on the wiper system, the windshield heating system, or the windshield washer system if there is information about the visual obstruction and, in the ideal case, about the type of visual obstruction (paragraph 0015)]
With regard to claim 7, Franz meets the limitation of:
the detecting comprises detecting the position of the vehicle based on a lane of a road on which the vehicle is currently positioned [a data processing unit (paragraph 0014 and figure 1) where a control apparatus is used for lane monitoring systems thereby implying the monitoring of a position of a vehicle (paragraph 0005)]
With regard to claim 8, Franz meets the limitation of:
the recognizing comprises recognizing the surrounding environment of the vehicle as a bad condition environment when the lane of the road on which the vehicle is currently positioned is not recognized or the position of the vehicle is not detected [a system is able to display to the driver its instantaneous lack of functionality and/or to take countermeasures, such as switching on the wiper system, the windshield heating system, or the windshield washer system if there is information about the visual obstruction and, in the ideal case, about the type of visual obstruction (paragraph 0015)]
With regard to claim 9, Franz meets the limitation of:
the recognizing comprises recognizing the surrounding environment of the vehicle as a bad condition environment when it is determined that a captured image acquired from the photographing device mounted on the vehicle is in a low light or bad condition using deep learning [a system is able to display to the driver its instantaneous lack of functionality and/or to take countermeasures, such as switching on the wiper system, the windshield heating system, or the windshield washer system if there is information about the visual obstruction and, in the ideal case, about the type of visual obstruction (paragraph 0015) via the use of a learning machine (paragraph 0024)]
With regard to claim 10, Franz meets the limitation of:
the controlling comprises controlling a driving assist unit when a lanc of a road on which the vehicle is currently positioned is recognized or the position of the vehicle is detected [a data processing unit (paragraph 0014 and figure 1) where a control apparatus is used for lane monitoring systems thereby implying the monitoring of a position of a vehicle (paragraph 0005)]
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Patent Publication 2018/0257647 to Jurca et al. discloses an automated detection of hazardous drifting vehicles by vehicle sensors.
U.S. Patent Publication 2018/0297612 to Fukamachi discloses an autonomous driving device and notification method.
U.S. Patent Publication 2018/0335774 to Sato et al. discloses an abnormality detection device.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAMESHANAND MAHASE whose telephone number is (571) 270-7223. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday- Friday 8:00AM - 5:00PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Davetta Goins can be reached on 571-272-2957. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/PAMESHANAND MAHASE/Examiner, Art Unit 2689
/DAVETTA W GOINS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2689
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