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 .
This is a Final Action on the Merits. Claims 1-5 and 7-14 are currently pending and are addressed below.
Response to Amendments
The amendment filed on June 27th, 2025 has been considered and entered. Accordingly claims 1 and 10-13 have been amended. Claims 16 has been cancelled.
Response to Arguments
The previous objections of claims 1 and 10-12 have been overcome due to the applicant’s amendments.
The previous rejection of claims 1-5 and 7 -14 under 35 USC 112(b) has been overcome due to the applicant’s amendments.
The applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-5 and 7-14 have been considered but are moot in view of the newly formulated grounds of rejections necessitated by the applicant’s amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 16 was noted as cancelled in the applicant’s remarks dated June 27th, 2025, however the claim is noted as “previously presented”. For the sake of examination claim 16 will treated as cancelled. Appropriate corrections is required.
Contingent Limitations
Claims 1-3, and 10-12 contain conditional limitations:
Claim 1: “a switching unit that moves before-switching and after-switching frames in a first direction parallel to or perpendicular to a vehicle travel direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in the same mode for the application is input, and moves before-switching and after-switching frames in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in a different mode for the application is input … corresponding to the instruction to show …”
Claim 2: “in a case where the operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in the same mode for the application is input, the switching unit moves the before-switching and after-switching frames in the first direction perpendicular to the vehicle travel direction, and in a case where the operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in a different mode for the application is input, the switching unit moves the before-switching and after-switching frames in the second direction parallel to the vehicle travel direction”
Claim 3: “wherein the switching unit displays the before- switching and after-switching frames in reduced size when moved”
Claim 10: “a switching unit that moves before-switching and after-switching frames in a first direction parallel to or perpendicular to a vehicle travel direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in the same mode for the application is input, and moves before-switching and after-switching frames in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in a different mode for the application is input … corresponding to the instruction to show …”
Claim 11: “moving before-switching and after-switching frames in a first direction parallel to or perpendicular to a vehicle travel direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in the same mode for the application is input, and moving before-switching and after-switching frames in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in a different mode for the application is input … corresponding to the instruction to show …”
Claim 12: “a switching unit that moves before-switching and after-switching frames in a first direction parallel to or perpendicular to a vehicle travel direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in the same mode for the application is input, and moves before-switching and after-switching frames in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in a different mode for the application is input … corresponding to the instruction to show …”
The broadest reasonable interpretation of a system (or apparatus or product) claim having structure that performs a function, which only needs to occur if a condition precedent is met, only requires structure for performing the function should the condition occur. See MPEP 2111.04, II. Accordingly, a structure capable of performing limitations (1)-(6) as noted above, is sufficient to disclose this limitation. See MPEP 2114. A claim containing a "recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus" if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1987).
With respect to conditional limitations in process claims, MPEP 2111.04 guides
The broadest reasonable interpretation of a method (or process) claim having contingent limitations requires only those steps that must be performed and does not include steps that are not required to be performed because the condition(s) precedent are not met. For example, assume a method claim requires step A if a first condition happens and step B if a second condition happens. If the claimed invention may be practiced without either the first or second condition happening, then neither step A or B is required by the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim
As claims 11-12 are process claims, Ex Parte Schulhauser applies to limitations (5)-(6). See MPEP
2111.04, II “contingent claims” ("[i]f the condition for performing a contingent step is not satisfied, the
performance recited by the step need not be carried out in order for the claimed method to be performed . . . [t]herefore "[t]he Examiner did not need to present evidence of the obviousness of the [ ] method steps of claim 1 that are not required to be performed under a broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim (e.g., instances in which the electrocardiac signal data is not within the threshold electrocardiac criteria such that the condition precedent for the determining step and the remaining steps of claim 1 has not been met);").
For example, the broadest reasonable interpretation of claim 11 does not require “moving before-switching and after-switching frames in a first direction parallel to or perpendicular to a vehicle travel direction” or “moving before-switching and after-switching frames in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction” since the conditional phrases “in a case where” does not require that the determination is actually made (i.e., “in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in the same mode for the application is input”; “in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in a different mode for the application is input”; -- rather than that they are determined).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-2, 5, and 7-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Manabe (US 20130285949 A1) (“Manabe”) in view of Takano (US 20100019934 A1) (“Takano”) in view of Simmons (US 20140210708 A1) (“Simmons”) in view of Pluciennik (US 20200080862 A1) (“Pluciennik”) in view of Winton (US 20190202349 A1) (“Winton”) in view of Hattori (JP 2008064889 A) (“Hattori”) (Translation Attached).
With respect to claim 1, it is important to note per the conditional limitation section above, the broadest reasonable interpretation of a system (or apparatus or product) claim having structure that performs a function, which only needs to occur if a condition precedent is met, only requires structure for performing the function should the condition occur. See MPEP 2111.04, II. Accordingly, a structure capable of performing limitation (1) as noted above, such as a switching unit, is sufficient to disclose this limitation. See MPEP 2114. A claim containing a "recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus" if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1987).
With respect to claim 1, Manabe teaches an image processing apparatus comprising:
processing circuitry that
creates a frame belonging to one of a plurality of modes as a frame of an application to be displayed on a screen provided in a vehicle (See at least Manabe Paragraph 25 “The display control unit 21 generates a display image to be displayed on the display screen of the display device 33 based on commands transmitted from the manipulation signal processing unit 12, the navigation unit 22, the audio control unit 23, the air conditioning control unit 24 and the handsfree phone control unit 25. Further, the display control unit 21 outputs an image signal corresponding to the generated display image to the display device 33.”); and
moves before-switching and after-switching frames in a first direction parallel to or perpendicular to a vehicle travel direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in the same mode for the application is input (See at least Manabe FIG. 6 and Paragraphs 70-71 “(9) Map Scroll As shown in FIG. 6, when the second manipulation finger and the first manipulation finger move alternately on the corresponding touchpad 52, 53 in the same direction, a map displayed on the display screen scrolls in the same direction with the manipulation direction of the second manipulation finger and the first manipulation finger on the touchpads 52, 53.”),
and moves before-switching and after-switching frames in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in a different mode for the application is input (See at least Manabe FIG. 6 and Paragraphs 66-69 “(7) Confirm Another Display Window 1 As shown in FIG. 6, when the first manipulation finger moves in the upward direction on the right touchpad 52 and the second manipulation finger moves in the upward direction on the left touchpad 53 at the same time, correlative with the manipulation on the touchpads 52, 53, the current display window on the display screen scrolls in the upward direction to disappear and a new display window is displayed on the display screen. Hereinafter, the display window scrolled in the upward direction is referred to as a previous display window, and the new display window displayed after the previous display window is referred to as a subsequent display window … (8) Confirm Another Display Window 2 Further, when the first manipulation finger moves in the downward direction on the right touchpad 52 and the second manipulation finger moves in the downward direction on the left touchpad 53 at the same time, in conjunction with the manipulation on the touchpads 52, 53, the current display window on the display screen scrolls in the downward direction and a new display window is displayed on the display screen Hereinafter, the display window scrolled in the downward direction is referred to as a previous display window, and the new display window displayed after the previous display window is referred to as a subsequent display window.”).
Manabe fails to explicitly disclose the plurality of modes including an open car mode in which an exterior image is displayed and a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed and a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame, and corresponding to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, the processing circuitry creates a second frame wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Takano teaches an open car mode in which an exterior image is displayed (See at least Takano FIG. 9 and Paragraphs 50-52 “When the parking assistance apparatus is activated, for example, by a switching operation by the driver of the vehicle, then as shown in FIG. 9, first, in Step S11, the images taken by the four on-board cameras which are the front camera 1, the rear camera 2, the right side camera 3 and the left side camera 4 are inputted to the image input unit 11 of the image processing device 10 and are stored in the frame memories. Next, in Step S12, the bird's eye image looking down on the entire periphery of the vehicle as the center from the virtual viewpoint above the vehicle is created by the bird's eye image creation unit 12 by using the images taken by these four on-board cameras, and is stored in the frame memory of the image output unit 13 … in Step S18, by the graphic form drawing unit 16, the track of the vehicle of the time when the vehicle moves from the parking start position to the target parking position while maintaining the predetermined steering angle is drawn as the parking path L on the bird's eye image created in Step S12. Then, in Step S19, by the image output unit 13, the image in which the vehicle mark V, the target parking frame F1, the parking start frame F2 and the parking path L are individually drawn on the bird's eye image is outputted to the display device 5, and the outputted image is displayed on the display device 5.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the apparatus of Manabe to include an open car mode in which an exterior image is displayed, as taught by Takano as disclosed above, in order to assist with vehicle parking (Takano Paragraph 4 “It is an object of the present invention to provide a parking assistance apparatus and a parking assistance method, which are capable of appropriately assisting the driving operation when the vehicle is parked so as to allow the driver who is unaccustomed to the driving to easily park the vehicle.”).
Manabe in view of Takano fail to explicitly disclose the plurality of modes including a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed and a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame, and corresponding to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, the processing circuitry creates a second frame wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Simmons teaches the plurality of modes including a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed (See at least Simmons Paragraph 174 “The device 1402 can also switch modes or content layers digitally without the need for a physical motion or actual hardware flip. A screen display 1410 can be flipped, switched, rotated, changed, or combination thereof. The screen display 1410 can “flip” between the productivity mode, the entertainment mode, or any other mode. For illustrative purposes, the screen display 1410 is shown with a motion arrow indicating a rotation, although it is understood that any other display change may be implemented.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the apparatus of Manabe in view of Takano to include the plurality of modes including a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed, as taught by Simmons as disclosed above, in order to increase the versatility of the vehicle display screen (Simmons Paragraph 2 “An embodiment of the present invention relates generally to an electronic system, and more particularly to a system for electronic display.”).
Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons fail to explicitly disclose a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame, and corresponding to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, the processing circuitry creates a second frame wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Pluciennik teaches a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame (See at least Pluciennik FIG. 24G and Paragraph 200 “Screen Y of FIG. 24G shows the display as the user is approaching the destination. Alongside the destination card, a possible POI suggestion is displayed indicating nearby parking, which in this case is beyond the destination. As explained above, the user can select to add the parking into the route, in which case, a suitable card is added at the end of the stack, e.g. as shown in screen Z, and the route is extended to the parking zone which is now the final stop for the journey, e.g. as shown in screen AA. At the end of the journey, after arriving at the final stop, so that there are no remaining cards in the stack, the display may simply indicate this, e.g. by displaying a message such as “Have a nice day!” as shown in screen AB of FIG. 24G.”)
the processing circuitry creates a second frame wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame (See at least Pluciennik Paragraph 162 “The What's Ahead Cards (or WAC for short) is a system of cards representing each important item that a user will encounter as they travel along a determined route, with display cards representing the individual items being sequentially displayed at the top of the display screen of a GUI as the navigation apparatus moves along the determined route, e.g. as in FIG. 5 which shows an example of a display card 501 (in this case an instruction card informing the user of the next instruction required to continue along the determined route, in this case “Left turn on Brouwersgracht” in 300 m) displayed at the top of the GUI and superimposed on top of the normal navigation guidance display 500 which includes a route line 502 indicating the determined route within the navigation map and a chevron 503 reflecting the current position of the navigation apparatus along the route. It will be appreciated that various other icons reflecting information such as the current speed, weather conditions, and estimated arrival time may also be displayed, typically at the bottom of the display as shown in FIG. 5”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the apparatus of Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons to include a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame and the processing circuitry creates a second frame wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame as taught by Pluciennik as disclosed above, in order to ensure information is easily presented to a user (Pluciennik Paragraph 2 “The present invention is directed to methods of providing information, such as travel, traffic or navigation information, to a user of a navigation apparatus, and to a navigation apparatus arranged for carrying out the steps of the methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention”).
Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik fail to explicitly disclose the frame is displayed on a screen provided on a ceiling of the vehicle; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Winton teaches that the frame is displayed on a screen provided on a ceiling of the vehicle (See at least Winton FIG. 1B and 8 and Paragraphs 99-100 “At step 812, the moodroof media application 230 acquires and/or generates visual media content and/or audio media content based on at least the user inputs and the media sources … At step 814, the moodroof media application 230 outputs the visual content 244 to one or more moodroof displays 110 and outputs audio content 242 to an audio output device 212.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the apparatus of Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik to include that the frame is displayed on a screen provided on a ceiling of the vehicle, as taught by Winton as disclosed above, such that the processing circuitry creates a second frame in response to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, in order to easily viewable route information to a user (Winton Paragraph 9 “At least one advantage and technological improvement of the disclosed techniques is that the ceiling of a vehicle cabin may be used as a display space for displaying media content to occupants in the vehicle cabin, while still allowing the ceiling to be opened in order to let natural light and air flow into the vehicle cabin”).
Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton fail to explicitly disclose that the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Hattori teaches that the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle (See at least Hattori Paragraph 64 “Further, the controller 54 generates an array image of main celestial bodies that can be viewed by the occupant through the glass roof 18 based on the vehicle position, direction, and time. In both cases, the controller 54 captures an image of the starry sky with the imaging camera 52 and performs predetermined image processing on the image data of the captured image, thereby arranging an actual main celestial body (for example, a relatively bright star). Generate an image”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the apparatus of Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton to include that the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle, as taught by Hattori as disclosed above, in order to ensure an accurate sky is shown to the user (Hattori Paragraph 1 “The present invention relates to an astronomical device for enabling astronomical observation and appreciation from the passenger compartment”).
The conditional limitations carried out in claim 1 are performed by a switching unit (Spec. FIG. 1, 142 “IMAGE/SOUND CREATION UNIT”). Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori discloses the same structure (Manabe, FIG. 1, Paragraph 23 “The information process ECU 11 includes a manipulation signal processing unit (M-SIGNAL PROC)”; Paragraph 29 “The manipulation signal processing unit 12 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a flash memory, an input/output interface, which are not shown. The manipulation signal processing unit 12 includes a manipulation signal input sub-unit (M-SIGNAL INPUT) 13 and a function command output sub-unit (FC COMD OUTPUT) 14 as functional blocks. Specifically, the CPU of the manipulation signal processing unit 12 executes a program, which is read out from the flash memory to the DRAM, so that the manipulation signal processing unit 12 functions as the manipulation signal input sub-unit 13 and the function command output sub-unit 14”) such that Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori discloses a structure capable of performing limitation (1).
With respect to claim 2, it is important to note per the conditional limitation section above, the broadest reasonable interpretation of a system (or apparatus or product) claim having structure that performs a function, which only needs to occur if a condition precedent is met, only requires structure for performing the function should the condition occur. See MPEP 2111.04, II. Accordingly, a structure capable of performing limitation (2) as noted above, such as a switching unit, is sufficient to disclose this limitation. See MPEP 2114. A claim containing a "recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus" if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1987).
The conditional limitations carried out in claim 2 are performed by a switching unit (Spec. FIG. 1, 142 “IMAGE/SOUND CREATION UNIT”). Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori discloses the same structure (Manabe, FIG. 1, Paragraph 23 “The information process ECU 11 includes a manipulation signal processing unit (M-SIGNAL PROC)”; Paragraph 29 “The manipulation signal processing unit 12 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a flash memory, an input/output interface, which are not shown. The manipulation signal processing unit 12 includes a manipulation signal input sub-unit (M-SIGNAL INPUT) 13 and a function command output sub-unit (FC COMD OUTPUT) 14 as functional blocks. Specifically, the CPU of the manipulation signal processing unit 12 executes a program, which is read out from the flash memory to the DRAM, so that the manipulation signal processing unit 12 functions as the manipulation signal input sub-unit 13 and the function command output sub-unit 14”) such that Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori discloses a structure capable of performing limitation (2).
With respect to claim 2, Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori teaches that in a case where the operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in the same mode for the application is input, the processing circuitry moves the before-switching and after-switching frames in the first direction perpendicular to the vehicle travel direction (See at least Manabe FIG. 6 and Paragraphs 70-71 “(9) Map Scroll As shown in FIG. 6, when the second manipulation finger and the first manipulation finger move alternately on the corresponding touchpad 52, 53 in the same direction, a map displayed on the display screen scrolls in the same direction with the manipulation direction of the second manipulation finger and the first manipulation finger on the touchpads 52, 53.”),
and in a case where the operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in a different mode for the application is input, the processing circuitry moves the before-switching and after-switching frames in the second direction parallel to the vehicle travel direction (See at least Manabe FIG. 6 and Paragraphs 66-69 “(7) Confirm Another Display Window 1 As shown in FIG. 6, when the first manipulation finger moves in the upward direction on the right touchpad 52 and the second manipulation finger moves in the upward direction on the left touchpad 53 at the same time, correlative with the manipulation on the touchpads 52, 53, the current display window on the display screen scrolls in the upward direction to disappear and a new display window is displayed on the display screen. Hereinafter, the display window scrolled in the upward direction is referred to as a previous display window, and the new display window displayed after the previous display window is referred to as a subsequent display window … (8) Confirm Another Display Window 2 Further, when the first manipulation finger moves in the downward direction on the right touchpad 52 and the second manipulation finger moves in the downward direction on the left touchpad 53 at the same time, in conjunction with the manipulation on the touchpads 52, 53, the current display window on the display screen scrolls in the downward direction and a new display window is displayed on the display screen Hereinafter, the display window scrolled in the downward direction is referred to as a previous display window, and the new display window displayed after the previous display window is referred to as a subsequent display window.”).
With respect to claim 5, Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori teaches the processing circuitry creates a frame in which a destination is shown on a lower side thereof and a current location is shown on an upper side thereof (See at least Pluciennik Paragraph 162 “The What's Ahead Cards (or WAC for short) is a system of cards representing each important item that a user will encounter as they travel along a determined route, with display cards representing the individual items being sequentially displayed at the top of the display screen of a GUI as the navigation apparatus moves along the determined route, e.g. as in FIG. 5 which shows an example of a display card 501 (in this case an instruction card informing the user of the next instruction required to continue along the determined route, in this case “Left turn on Brouwersgracht” in 300 m) displayed at the top of the GUI and superimposed on top of the normal navigation guidance display 500 which includes a route line 502 indicating the determined route within the navigation map and a chevron 503 reflecting the current position of the navigation apparatus along the route. It will be appreciated that various other icons reflecting information such as the current speed, weather conditions, and estimated arrival time may also be displayed, typically at the bottom of the display as shown in FIG. 5”), as a frame showing a route from the current location to the destination to be displayed on a screen provided on a ceiling of the vehicle (See at least Winton FIG. 1B and 8 and Paragraphs 99-100 “At step 812, the moodroof media application 230 acquires and/or generates visual media content and/or audio media content based on at least the user inputs and the media sources … At step 814, the moodroof media application 230 outputs the visual content 244 to one or more moodroof displays 110 and outputs audio content 242 to an audio output device 212.”).
With respect to claim 7, Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori teach displaying an icon indicating a category of the destination, and an icon indicating an occupant who has set the destination (See at least Pluciennik FIG. 5 and Paragraph 117 “FIG. 5 shows an example of how a set of display cards may be used in accordance with embodiments of the invention to display upcoming information about a route to a user travelling along the route;”).
With respect to claim 8, Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori teach that the processing circuitry further creates a sound for reproducing music mapped to a current location in advance (See at least Winton Paragraphs 98-99 “At step 810, the moodroof media application 230 acquires and/or generates visual media content and/or audio media content based on at least the one or more states, media sources, and optionally a goal state. For example, the media acquisition and generation engine 450 may acquire visual content 244, and optionally audio content 242, from media sources 250. The media acquisition and generation engine 450 may also generate visual content 244 and optionally audio content 242 … At step 812, the moodroof media application 230 acquires and/or generates visual media content and/or audio media content based on at least the user inputs and the media sources. For example, the media acquisition and generation engine 450 may acquire visual content 244, and optionally audio content 242, from media sources 250 in accordance with user inputs 470 that select the content and specify the media source. The media acquisition and generation engine 450 may also generate visual content 244, and optionally audio content 242, in accordance with the user inputs 470. In some embodiments, the acquired and/or generated visual content is associated with the audio content (e.g., visualization graphics generated for a piece of music, an image of an ocean view accompanying an ocean soundtrack, etc.)”).
With respect to claim 9, Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori teach that the processing circuitry further changes a route to a destination1 and a traveling speed of the vehicle according to a time at which the frame created by the processing circuitry is displayed (See at least Pluciennik Paragraphs 162-163 “It will be appreciated that various other icons reflecting information such as the current speed, weather conditions, and estimated arrival time may also be displayed, typically at the bottom of the display as shown in FIG. 5. FIG. 5 also shows various examples of other cards that may be displayed to the user at appropriate points along the route. In general, the cards include a distance to the item alongside any additional associated information that might be relevant for the particular item. Indeed, it will be appreciated that in general the cards may include a number of different types, representing different types of item along the route … Upon arrival, the “reaching waypoint or destination” card morphs into an “arrived to waypoint or destination” card which is composed of the address (or name in case of POI or favourite) and icon.”).
With respect to claim 10, it is important to note per the conditional limitation section above, the broadest reasonable interpretation of a system (or apparatus or product) claim having structure that performs a function, which only needs to occur if a condition precedent is met, only requires structure for performing the function should the condition occur. See MPEP 2111.04, II. Accordingly, a structure capable of performing limitation (4) as noted above, such as a switching unit, is sufficient to disclose this limitation. See MPEP 2114. A claim containing a "recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus" if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1987).
With respect to claim 10, Manabe teaches a display system comprising a screen provided in a vehicle, a projector that projects an image on the screen, and an image processing apparatus, wherein the image processing apparatus includes processing circuitry that: creates a frame belonging to one of a plurality of modes as a frame of an application to be displayed on the screen provided in the vehicle (See at least Manabe Paragraph 25 “The display control unit 21 generates a display image to be displayed on the display screen of the display device 33 based on commands transmitted from the manipulation signal processing unit 12, the navigation unit 22, the audio control unit 23, the air conditioning control unit 24 and the handsfree phone control unit 25. Further, the display control unit 21 outputs an image signal corresponding to the generated display image to the display device 33.”);
moves before-switching and after-switching frames in a first direction parallel to or perpendicular to a vehicle travel direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in the same mode for the application is input (See at least Manabe FIG. 6 and Paragraphs 70-71 “(9) Map Scroll As shown in FIG. 6, when the second manipulation finger and the first manipulation finger move alternately on the corresponding touchpad 52, 53 in the same direction, a map displayed on the display screen scrolls in the same direction with the manipulation direction of the second manipulation finger and the first manipulation finger on the touchpads 52, 53.”),
and moves before-switching and after-switching frames in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in a different mode for the application is input (See at least Manabe FIG. 6 and Paragraphs 66-69 “(7) Confirm Another Display Window 1 As shown in FIG. 6, when the first manipulation finger moves in the upward direction on the right touchpad 52 and the second manipulation finger moves in the upward direction on the left touchpad 53 at the same time, correlative with the manipulation on the touchpads 52, 53, the current display window on the display screen scrolls in the upward direction to disappear and a new display window is displayed on the display screen. Hereinafter, the display window scrolled in the upward direction is referred to as a previous display window, and the new display window displayed after the previous display window is referred to as a subsequent display window … (8) Confirm Another Display Window 2 Further, when the first manipulation finger moves in the downward direction on the right touchpad 52 and the second manipulation finger moves in the downward direction on the left touchpad 53 at the same time, in conjunction with the manipulation on the touchpads 52, 53, the current display window on the display screen scrolls in the downward direction and a new display window is displayed on the display screen Hereinafter, the display window scrolled in the downward direction is referred to as a previous display window, and the new display window displayed after the previous display window is referred to as a subsequent display window.”).
Manabe fails to explicitly disclose the plurality of modes including an open car mode in which an exterior image is displayed and a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed and a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame, and corresponding to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, the processing circuitry creates a second frame wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Takano teaches an open car mode in which an exterior image is displayed (See at least Takano FIG. 9 and Paragraphs 50-52 “When the parking assistance apparatus is activated, for example, by a switching operation by the driver of the vehicle, then as shown in FIG. 9, first, in Step S11, the images taken by the four on-board cameras which are the front camera 1, the rear camera 2, the right side camera 3 and the left side camera 4 are inputted to the image input unit 11 of the image processing device 10 and are stored in the frame memories. Next, in Step S12, the bird's eye image looking down on the entire periphery of the vehicle as the center from the virtual viewpoint above the vehicle is created by the bird's eye image creation unit 12 by using the images taken by these four on-board cameras, and is stored in the frame memory of the image output unit 13 … in Step S18, by the graphic form drawing unit 16, the track of the vehicle of the time when the vehicle moves from the parking start position to the target parking position while maintaining the predetermined steering angle is drawn as the parking path L on the bird's eye image created in Step S12. Then, in Step S19, by the image output unit 13, the image in which the vehicle mark V, the target parking frame F1, the parking start frame F2 and the parking path L are individually drawn on the bird's eye image is outputted to the display device 5, and the outputted image is displayed on the display device 5.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the apparatus of Manabe to include an open car mode in which an exterior image is displayed, as taught by Takano as disclosed above, in order to assist with vehicle parking (Takano Paragraph 4 “It is an object of the present invention to provide a parking assistance apparatus and a parking assistance method, which are capable of appropriately assisting the driving operation when the vehicle is parked so as to allow the driver who is unaccustomed to the driving to easily park the vehicle.”).
Manabe in view of Takano fail to explicitly disclose the plurality of modes including a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed and a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame, and corresponding to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, the processing circuitry creates a second frame wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Simmons teaches the plurality of modes including a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed (See at least Simmons Paragraph 174 “The device 1402 can also switch modes or content layers digitally without the need for a physical motion or actual hardware flip. A screen display 1410 can be flipped, switched, rotated, changed, or combination thereof. The screen display 1410 can “flip” between the productivity mode, the entertainment mode, or any other mode. For illustrative purposes, the screen display 1410 is shown with a motion arrow indicating a rotation, although it is understood that any other display change may be implemented.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the apparatus of Manabe in view of Takano to include the plurality of modes including a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed, as taught by Simmons as disclosed above, in order to increase the versatility of the vehicle display screen (Simmons Paragraph 2 “An embodiment of the present invention relates generally to an electronic system, and more particularly to a system for electronic display.”).
Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons fail to explicitly disclose a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame, and corresponding to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, the processing circuitry creates a second frame wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Pluciennik teaches a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame (See at least Pluciennik FIG. 24G and Paragraph 200 “Screen Y of FIG. 24G shows the display as the user is approaching the destination. Alongside the destination card, a possible POI suggestion is displayed indicating nearby parking, which in this case is beyond the destination. As explained above, the user can select to add the parking into the route, in which case, a suitable card is added at the end of the stack, e.g. as shown in screen Z, and the route is extended to the parking zone which is now the final stop for the journey, e.g. as shown in screen AA. At the end of the journey, after arriving at the final stop, so that there are no remaining cards in the stack, the display may simply indicate this, e.g. by displaying a message such as “Have a nice day!” as shown in screen AB of FIG. 24G.”)
the processing circuitry creates a second frame wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame (See at least Pluciennik Paragraph 162 “The What's Ahead Cards (or WAC for short) is a system of cards representing each important item that a user will encounter as they travel along a determined route, with display cards representing the individual items being sequentially displayed at the top of the display screen of a GUI as the navigation apparatus moves along the determined route, e.g. as in FIG. 5 which shows an example of a display card 501 (in this case an instruction card informing the user of the next instruction required to continue along the determined route, in this case “Left turn on Brouwersgracht” in 300 m) displayed at the top of the GUI and superimposed on top of the normal navigation guidance display 500 which includes a route line 502 indicating the determined route within the navigation map and a chevron 503 reflecting the current position of the navigation apparatus along the route. It will be appreciated that various other icons reflecting information such as the current speed, weather conditions, and estimated arrival time may also be displayed, typically at the bottom of the display as shown in FIG. 5”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the apparatus of Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons to include a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame and the processing circuitry creates a second frame wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame as taught by Pluciennik as disclosed above, in order to ensure information is easily presented to a user (Pluciennik Paragraph 2 “The present invention is directed to methods of providing information, such as travel, traffic or navigation information, to a user of a navigation apparatus, and to a navigation apparatus arranged for carrying out the steps of the methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention”).
Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik fail to explicitly disclose the frame is displayed on a screen provided on a ceiling of the vehicle; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Winton teaches that the frame is displayed on a screen provided on a ceiling of the vehicle (See at least Winton FIG. 1B and 8 and Paragraphs 99-100 “At step 812, the moodroof media application 230 acquires and/or generates visual media content and/or audio media content based on at least the user inputs and the media sources … At step 814, the moodroof media application 230 outputs the visual content 244 to one or more moodroof displays 110 and outputs audio content 242 to an audio output device 212.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the apparatus of Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik to include that the frame is displayed on a screen provided on a ceiling of the vehicle, as taught by Winton as disclosed above, such that the processing circuitry creates a second frame in response to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, in order to easily viewable route information to a user (Winton Paragraph 9 “At least one advantage and technological improvement of the disclosed techniques is that the ceiling of a vehicle cabin may be used as a display space for displaying media content to occupants in the vehicle cabin, while still allowing the ceiling to be opened in order to let natural light and air flow into the vehicle cabin”).
Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton fail to explicitly disclose that the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Hattori teaches that the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle (See at least Hattori Paragraph 64 “Further, the controller 54 generates an array image of main celestial bodies that can be viewed by the occupant through the glass roof 18 based on the vehicle position, direction, and time. In both cases, the controller 54 captures an image of the starry sky with the imaging camera 52 and performs predetermined image processing on the image data of the captured image, thereby arranging an actual main celestial body (for example, a relatively bright star). Generate an image”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the apparatus of Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton to include that the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle, as taught by Hattori as disclosed above, in order to ensure an accurate sky is shown to the user (Hattori Paragraph 1 “The present invention relates to an astronomical device for enabling astronomical observation and appreciation from the passenger compartment”).
The conditional limitations carried out in claim 10 are performed by a switching unit (Spec. FIG. 1, 142 “IMAGE/SOUND CREATION UNIT”). Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori discloses the same structure (Manabe, FIG. 1, Paragraph 23 “The information process ECU 11 includes a manipulation signal processing unit (M-SIGNAL PROC)”; Paragraph 29 “The manipulation signal processing unit 12 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a flash memory, an input/output interface, which are not shown. The manipulation signal processing unit 12 includes a manipulation signal input sub-unit (M-SIGNAL INPUT) 13 and a function command output sub-unit (FC COMD OUTPUT) 14 as functional blocks. Specifically, the CPU of the manipulation signal processing unit 12 executes a program, which is read out from the flash memory to the DRAM, so that the manipulation signal processing unit 12 functions as the manipulation signal input sub-unit 13 and the function command output sub-unit 14”) such that Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton discloses a structure capable of performing limitation (4).
With respect to claim 11, Manabe teaches an image processing method performed by a computer, the image processing method comprising:
creating a frame belonging to one of a plurality of modes as a frame of an application to be displayed on a screen provided in a vehicle (See at least Manabe Paragraph 25 “The display control unit 21 generates a display image to be displayed on the display screen of the display device 33 based on commands transmitted from the manipulation signal processing unit 12, the navigation unit 22, the audio control unit 23, the air conditioning control unit 24 and the handsfree phone control unit 25. Further, the display control unit 21 outputs an image signal corresponding to the generated display image to the display device 33.”); and
and moving before-switching and after-switching frames in a first direction parallel to or perpendicular to a vehicle travel direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in the same mode for the application is input (See at least Manabe FIG. 6 and Paragraphs 70-71 “(9) Map Scroll As shown in FIG. 6, when the second manipulation finger and the first manipulation finger move alternately on the corresponding touchpad 52, 53 in the same direction, a map displayed on the display screen scrolls in the same direction with the manipulation direction of the second manipulation finger and the first manipulation finger on the touchpads 52, 53.”),
and moving before-switching and after-switching frames in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in a different mode for the application is input (See at least Manabe FIG. 6 and Paragraphs 66-69 “(7) Confirm Another Display Window 1 As shown in FIG. 6, when the first manipulation finger moves in the upward direction on the right touchpad 52 and the second manipulation finger moves in the upward direction on the left touchpad 53 at the same time, correlative with the manipulation on the touchpads 52, 53, the current display window on the display screen scrolls in the upward direction to disappear and a new display window is displayed on the display screen. Hereinafter, the display window scrolled in the upward direction is referred to as a previous display window, and the new display window displayed after the previous display window is referred to as a subsequent display window … (8) Confirm Another Display Window 2 Further, when the first manipulation finger moves in the downward direction on the right touchpad 52 and the second manipulation finger moves in the downward direction on the left touchpad 53 at the same time, in conjunction with the manipulation on the touchpads 52, 53, the current display window on the display screen scrolls in the downward direction and a new display window is displayed on the display screen Hereinafter, the display window scrolled in the downward direction is referred to as a previous display window, and the new display window displayed after the previous display window is referred to as a subsequent display window.”).
Manabe fails to explicitly disclose the plurality of modes including an open car mode in which an exterior image is displayed and a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed and a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame, and corresponding to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, a second frame is created wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Takano teaches an open car mode in which an exterior image is displayed (See at least Takano FIG. 9 and Paragraphs 50-52 “When the parking assistance apparatus is activated, for example, by a switching operation by the driver of the vehicle, then as shown in FIG. 9, first, in Step S11, the images taken by the four on-board cameras which are the front camera 1, the rear camera 2, the right side camera 3 and the left side camera 4 are inputted to the image input unit 11 of the image processing device 10 and are stored in the frame memories. Next, in Step S12, the bird's eye image looking down on the entire periphery of the vehicle as the center from the virtual viewpoint above the vehicle is created by the bird's eye image creation unit 12 by using the images taken by these four on-board cameras, and is stored in the frame memory of the image output unit 13 … in Step S18, by the graphic form drawing unit 16, the track of the vehicle of the time when the vehicle moves from the parking start position to the target parking position while maintaining the predetermined steering angle is drawn as the parking path L on the bird's eye image created in Step S12. Then, in Step S19, by the image output unit 13, the image in which the vehicle mark V, the target parking frame F1, the parking start frame F2 and the parking path L are individually drawn on the bird's eye image is outputted to the display device 5, and the outputted image is displayed on the display device 5.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of Manabe to include an open car mode in which an exterior image is displayed, as taught by Takano as disclosed above, in order to assist with vehicle parking (Takano Paragraph 4 “It is an object of the present invention to provide a parking assistance apparatus and a parking assistance method, which are capable of appropriately assisting the driving operation when the vehicle is parked so as to allow the driver who is unaccustomed to the driving to easily park the vehicle.”).
Manabe in view of Takano fail to explicitly disclose the plurality of modes including a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed and a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame, and corresponding to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, a second frame is created wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Simmons teaches the plurality of modes including a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed (See at least Simmons Paragraph 174 “The device 1402 can also switch modes or content layers digitally without the need for a physical motion or actual hardware flip. A screen display 1410 can be flipped, switched, rotated, changed, or combination thereof. The screen display 1410 can “flip” between the productivity mode, the entertainment mode, or any other mode. For illustrative purposes, the screen display 1410 is shown with a motion arrow indicating a rotation, although it is understood that any other display change may be implemented.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of Manabe in view of Takano to include the plurality of modes including a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed, as taught by Simmons as disclosed above, in order to increase the versatility of the vehicle display screen (Simmons Paragraph 2 “An embodiment of the present invention relates generally to an electronic system, and more particularly to a system for electronic display.”).
Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons fail to explicitly disclose a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame, and corresponding to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, a second frame is created wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Pluciennik teaches a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame (See at least Pluciennik FIG. 24G and Paragraph 200 “Screen Y of FIG. 24G shows the display as the user is approaching the destination. Alongside the destination card, a possible POI suggestion is displayed indicating nearby parking, which in this case is beyond the destination. As explained above, the user can select to add the parking into the route, in which case, a suitable card is added at the end of the stack, e.g. as shown in screen Z, and the route is extended to the parking zone which is now the final stop for the journey, e.g. as shown in screen AA. At the end of the journey, after arriving at the final stop, so that there are no remaining cards in the stack, the display may simply indicate this, e.g. by displaying a message such as “Have a nice day!” as shown in screen AB of FIG. 24G.”)
a second frame is created wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame (See at least Pluciennik Paragraph 162 “The What's Ahead Cards (or WAC for short) is a system of cards representing each important item that a user will encounter as they travel along a determined route, with display cards representing the individual items being sequentially displayed at the top of the display screen of a GUI as the navigation apparatus moves along the determined route, e.g. as in FIG. 5 which shows an example of a display card 501 (in this case an instruction card informing the user of the next instruction required to continue along the determined route, in this case “Left turn on Brouwersgracht” in 300 m) displayed at the top of the GUI and superimposed on top of the normal navigation guidance display 500 which includes a route line 502 indicating the determined route within the navigation map and a chevron 503 reflecting the current position of the navigation apparatus along the route. It will be appreciated that various other icons reflecting information such as the current speed, weather conditions, and estimated arrival time may also be displayed, typically at the bottom of the display as shown in FIG. 5”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons to include a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame and a second frame is created wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame as taught by Pluciennik as disclosed above, in order to ensure information is easily presented to a user (Pluciennik Paragraph 2 “The present invention is directed to methods of providing information, such as travel, traffic or navigation information, to a user of a navigation apparatus, and to a navigation apparatus arranged for carrying out the steps of the methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention”).
Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik fail to explicitly disclose the frame is displayed on a screen provided on a ceiling of the vehicle; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Winton teaches that the frame is displayed on a screen provided on a ceiling of the vehicle (See at least Winton FIG. 1B and 8 and Paragraphs 99-100 “At step 812, the moodroof media application 230 acquires and/or generates visual media content and/or audio media content based on at least the user inputs and the media sources … At step 814, the moodroof media application 230 outputs the visual content 244 to one or more moodroof displays 110 and outputs audio content 242 to an audio output device 212.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method of Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik to include that the frame is displayed on a screen provided on a ceiling of the vehicle, as taught by Winton as disclosed above, such that the processing circuitry creates a second frame in response to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, in order to easily viewable route information to a user (Winton Paragraph 9 “At least one advantage and technological improvement of the disclosed techniques is that the ceiling of a vehicle cabin may be used as a display space for displaying media content to occupants in the vehicle cabin, while still allowing the ceiling to be opened in order to let natural light and air flow into the vehicle cabin”).
Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton fail to explicitly disclose that the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Hattori teaches that the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle (See at least Hattori Paragraph 64 “Further, the controller 54 generates an array image of main celestial bodies that can be viewed by the occupant through the glass roof 18 based on the vehicle position, direction, and time. In both cases, the controller 54 captures an image of the starry sky with the imaging camera 52 and performs predetermined image processing on the image data of the captured image, thereby arranging an actual main celestial body (for example, a relatively bright star). Generate an image”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton to include that the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle, as taught by Hattori as disclosed above, in order to ensure an accurate sky is shown to the user (Hattori Paragraph 1 “The present invention relates to an astronomical device for enabling astronomical observation and appreciation from the passenger compartment”).
With respect to claim 12, Manabe teaches a non-transitory recording medium recording a program that, when executed by a computer causes the computer to perform a method comprising:
creates a frame belonging to one of a plurality of modes as a frame of an application to be displayed on a screen provided in a vehicle (See at least Manabe Paragraph 25 “The display control unit 21 generates a display image to be displayed on the display screen of the display device 33 based on commands transmitted from the manipulation signal processing unit 12, the navigation unit 22, the audio control unit 23, the air conditioning control unit 24 and the handsfree phone control unit 25. Further, the display control unit 21 outputs an image signal corresponding to the generated display image to the display device 33.”); and
moves before-switching and after-switching frames in a first direction parallel to or perpendicular to a vehicle travel direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in the same mode for the application is input (See at least Manabe FIG. 6 and Paragraphs 70-71 “(9) Map Scroll As shown in FIG. 6, when the second manipulation finger and the first manipulation finger move alternately on the corresponding touchpad 52, 53 in the same direction, a map displayed on the display screen scrolls in the same direction with the manipulation direction of the second manipulation finger and the first manipulation finger on the touchpads 52, 53.”),
and moves before-switching and after-switching frames in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction in a case where an operation for switching from a frame that is being displayed to another frame in a different mode for the application is input (See at least Manabe FIG. 6 and Paragraphs 66-69 “(7) Confirm Another Display Window 1 As shown in FIG. 6, when the first manipulation finger moves in the upward direction on the right touchpad 52 and the second manipulation finger moves in the upward direction on the left touchpad 53 at the same time, correlative with the manipulation on the touchpads 52, 53, the current display window on the display screen scrolls in the upward direction to disappear and a new display window is displayed on the display screen. Hereinafter, the display window scrolled in the upward direction is referred to as a previous display window, and the new display window displayed after the previous display window is referred to as a subsequent display window … (8) Confirm Another Display Window 2 Further, when the first manipulation finger moves in the downward direction on the right touchpad 52 and the second manipulation finger moves in the downward direction on the left touchpad 53 at the same time, in conjunction with the manipulation on the touchpads 52, 53, the current display window on the display screen scrolls in the downward direction and a new display window is displayed on the display screen Hereinafter, the display window scrolled in the downward direction is referred to as a previous display window, and the new display window displayed after the previous display window is referred to as a subsequent display window.”).
Manabe fails to explicitly disclose the plurality of modes including an open car mode in which an exterior image is displayed and a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed and a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame, and corresponding to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, a second frame is created wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Takano teaches an open car mode in which an exterior image is displayed (See at least Takano FIG. 9 and Paragraphs 50-52 “When the parking assistance apparatus is activated, for example, by a switching operation by the driver of the vehicle, then as shown in FIG. 9, first, in Step S11, the images taken by the four on-board cameras which are the front camera 1, the rear camera 2, the right side camera 3 and the left side camera 4 are inputted to the image input unit 11 of the image processing device 10 and are stored in the frame memories. Next, in Step S12, the bird's eye image looking down on the entire periphery of the vehicle as the center from the virtual viewpoint above the vehicle is created by the bird's eye image creation unit 12 by using the images taken by these four on-board cameras, and is stored in the frame memory of the image output unit 13 … in Step S18, by the graphic form drawing unit 16, the track of the vehicle of the time when the vehicle moves from the parking start position to the target parking position while maintaining the predetermined steering angle is drawn as the parking path L on the bird's eye image created in Step S12. Then, in Step S19, by the image output unit 13, the image in which the vehicle mark V, the target parking frame F1, the parking start frame F2 and the parking path L are individually drawn on the bird's eye image is outputted to the display device 5, and the outputted image is displayed on the display device 5.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of Manabe to include an open car mode in which an exterior image is displayed, as taught by Takano as disclosed above, in order to assist with vehicle parking (Takano Paragraph 4 “It is an object of the present invention to provide a parking assistance apparatus and a parking assistance method, which are capable of appropriately assisting the driving operation when the vehicle is parked so as to allow the driver who is unaccustomed to the driving to easily park the vehicle.”).
Manabe in view of Takano fail to explicitly disclose the plurality of modes including a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed and a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame, and corresponding to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, a second frame is created wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Simmons teaches the plurality of modes including a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed (See at least Simmons Paragraph 174 “The device 1402 can also switch modes or content layers digitally without the need for a physical motion or actual hardware flip. A screen display 1410 can be flipped, switched, rotated, changed, or combination thereof. The screen display 1410 can “flip” between the productivity mode, the entertainment mode, or any other mode. For illustrative purposes, the screen display 1410 is shown with a motion arrow indicating a rotation, although it is understood that any other display change may be implemented.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of Manabe in view of Takano to include the plurality of modes including a theater mode in which entertainment content is displayed, as taught by Simmons as disclosed above, in order to increase the versatility of the vehicle display screen (Simmons Paragraph 2 “An embodiment of the present invention relates generally to an electronic system, and more particularly to a system for electronic display.”).
Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons fail to explicitly disclose a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame, and corresponding to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, a second frame is created wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Pluciennik teaches a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame (See at least Pluciennik FIG. 24G and Paragraph 200 “Screen Y of FIG. 24G shows the display as the user is approaching the destination. Alongside the destination card, a possible POI suggestion is displayed indicating nearby parking, which in this case is beyond the destination. As explained above, the user can select to add the parking into the route, in which case, a suitable card is added at the end of the stack, e.g. as shown in screen Z, and the route is extended to the parking zone which is now the final stop for the journey, e.g. as shown in screen AA. At the end of the journey, after arriving at the final stop, so that there are no remaining cards in the stack, the display may simply indicate this, e.g. by displaying a message such as “Have a nice day!” as shown in screen AB of FIG. 24G.”)
a second frame is created wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame (See at least Pluciennik Paragraph 162 “The What's Ahead Cards (or WAC for short) is a system of cards representing each important item that a user will encounter as they travel along a determined route, with display cards representing the individual items being sequentially displayed at the top of the display screen of a GUI as the navigation apparatus moves along the determined route, e.g. as in FIG. 5 which shows an example of a display card 501 (in this case an instruction card informing the user of the next instruction required to continue along the determined route, in this case “Left turn on Brouwersgracht” in 300 m) displayed at the top of the GUI and superimposed on top of the normal navigation guidance display 500 which includes a route line 502 indicating the determined route within the navigation map and a chevron 503 reflecting the current position of the navigation apparatus along the route. It will be appreciated that various other icons reflecting information such as the current speed, weather conditions, and estimated arrival time may also be displayed, typically at the bottom of the display as shown in FIG. 5”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons to include a first frame displayed on a car navigation system of the vehicle shows a route from a current location to a destination, the destination is shown on an upper side of the first frame and the current location is shown on a lower side of the first frame and a second frame is created wherein the destination is shown on a lower side of the second frame and the current location is shown on an upper side of the second frame as taught by Pluciennik as disclosed above, in order to ensure information is easily presented to a user (Pluciennik Paragraph 2 “The present invention is directed to methods of providing information, such as travel, traffic or navigation information, to a user of a navigation apparatus, and to a navigation apparatus arranged for carrying out the steps of the methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention”).
Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik fail to explicitly disclose the frame is displayed on a screen provided on a ceiling of the vehicle; the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Winton teaches that the frame is displayed on a screen provided on a ceiling of the vehicle (See at least Winton FIG. 1B and 8 and Paragraphs 99-100 “At step 812, the moodroof media application 230 acquires and/or generates visual media content and/or audio media content based on at least the user inputs and the media sources … At step 814, the moodroof media application 230 outputs the visual content 244 to one or more moodroof displays 110 and outputs audio content 242 to an audio output device 212.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method of Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik to include that the frame is displayed on a screen provided on a ceiling of the vehicle, as taught by Winton as disclosed above, such that the processing circuitry creates a second frame in response to the instruction to show the rout in the first frame on the ceiling screen, in order to easily viewable route information to a user (Winton Paragraph 9 “At least one advantage and technological improvement of the disclosed techniques is that the ceiling of a vehicle cabin may be used as a display space for displaying media content to occupants in the vehicle cabin, while still allowing the ceiling to be opened in order to let natural light and air flow into the vehicle cabin”).
Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton fail to explicitly disclose that the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle.
Hattori teaches that the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle (See at least Hattori Paragraph 64 “Further, the controller 54 generates an array image of main celestial bodies that can be viewed by the occupant through the glass roof 18 based on the vehicle position, direction, and time. In both cases, the controller 54 captures an image of the starry sky with the imaging camera 52 and performs predetermined image processing on the image data of the captured image, thereby arranging an actual main celestial body (for example, a relatively bright star). Generate an image”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the apparatus of Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton to include that the exterior is a view looking up towards a sky above the vehicle, as taught by Hattori as disclosed above, in order to ensure an accurate sky is shown to the user (Hattori Paragraph 1 “The present invention relates to an astronomical device for enabling astronomical observation and appreciation from the passenger compartment”).
With respect to claim 13, Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori teach that the ceiling screen is disposed on an interior ceiling of the vehicle (See at least Winton FIG. 1B and 8 and Paragraphs 99-100 “At step 812, the moodroof media application 230 acquires and/or generates visual media content and/or audio media content based on at least the user inputs and the media sources … At step 814, the moodroof media application 230 outputs the visual content 244 to one or more moodroof displays 110 and outputs audio content 242 to an audio output device 212.”).
With respect to claim 14, Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori teach that the screen is a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen (See at least Simmons Paragraph 50).
Claims 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Manabe (US 20130285949 A1) (“Manabe”) in view of Takano (US 20100019934 A1) (“Takano”) in view of Simmons (US 20140210708 A1) (“Simmons”) in view of Pluciennik (US 20200080862 A1) (“Pluciennik”) in view of Winton (US 20190202349 A1) (“Winton”) in view of Hattori (JP 2008064889 A) (“Hattori”) (Translation Attached) further in view of Walkin (US 20200057555 A1) (“Walkin”).
With respect to claim 3, it is important to note per the conditional limitation section above, the broadest reasonable interpretation of a system (or apparatus or product) claim having structure that performs a function, which only needs to occur if a condition precedent is met, only requires structure for performing the function should the condition occur. See MPEP 2111.04, II. Accordingly, a structure capable of performing limitation (3) as noted above, such as a switching unit, is sufficient to disclose this limitation. See MPEP 2114. A claim containing a "recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus" if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1987).
The conditional limitations carried out in claim 3 are performed by a switching unit (Spec. FIG. 1, 142 “IMAGE/SOUND CREATION UNIT”). Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori discloses the same structure (Manabe, FIG. 1, Paragraph 23 “The information process ECU 11 includes a manipulation signal processing unit (M-SIGNAL PROC)”; Paragraph 29 “The manipulation signal processing unit 12 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a flash memory, an input/output interface, which are not shown. The manipulation signal processing unit 12 includes a manipulation signal input sub-unit (M-SIGNAL INPUT) 13 and a function command output sub-unit (FC COMD OUTPUT) 14 as functional blocks. Specifically, the CPU of the manipulation signal processing unit 12 executes a program, which is read out from the flash memory to the DRAM, so that the manipulation signal processing unit 12 functions as the manipulation signal input sub-unit 13 and the function command output sub-unit 14”) such that Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori discloses a structure capable of performing limitation (3).
With respect to claim 3, Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori teaches that the processing circuitry displays the before-switching and after-switching frames when moved (See at least Manabe FIG. 6).
Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori fails to explicitly disclose displaying the before-switching and after-switching frames in reduced size.
Walkin, however, teaches displaying the before-switching and after-switching frames in reduced size (See at least Walkin FIGS. 5A25-5A27 and Paragraph 321 “ in FIG. 5A25, after selection of email application icon 218, drags the email application icon 218 out of the dock (e.g., and expands display of email application icon 218), in FIG. 5A25. In some embodiments, movement of the first application icon corresponds to the movement of the first contact. In some embodiments, the first application icon changes its appearance or moves from below the first contact to above the first contact on the display when the first application icon is dragged out of the dock completely or pass a predefined threshold y-coordinate on the display outside of the dock. For example, email application icon 218 expands when dragged out of dock 4204, in FIG. 5A25. In some embodiments, the change in appearance of the first application icon is accompanied by display of a split screen divider indicator on the display which prompts the user to drop the first application icon into the other side of the split screen divider indicator to split the screen between the first user interface and an application user interface corresponding to an application of the first application icon.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the apparatus of Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori to include displaying the before-switching and after-switching frames in reduced size, as taught by Walkin as disclosed above, in order to ensure optimal displaying of the frames (Walkin Paragraph 2 “This relates generally to electronic devices with touch-sensitive surfaces, including but not limited to electronic devices with touch-sensitive surfaces for navigating between user interfaces, displaying a dock, and displaying system user interface elements (e.g., a home affordance)”).
With respect to claim 4, Manabe teaches in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori that the processing circuitry displays the before-switching and after-switching frames when moved (See at least Manabe FIG. 6).
Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori fails to explicitly disclose displaying the before-switching and after-switching frames in reduced brightness.
Walkin, however, teaches displaying the before-switching and after-switching frames in reduced brightness (See at least Walkin 485 “ In response to detecting the input: in accordance with a determination that the system user interface element overlaps the first application without overlapping the second application, the device displays the system user interface element with a first appearance (e.g., a lower visual distinction appearance, such as lower opacity, lower brightness, lower contrast, and/or saturation that is closer to the saturation of the underlying user interface content); and in accordance with a determination that the system user interface element overlaps both the first application and the second application, the device displays the system user interface element with the first appearance (e.g., a lower visual distinction appearance, such as lower opacity, lower brightness, lower contrast, and/or saturation that is closer to the saturation of the underlying user interface content); ”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the apparatus of Manabe in view of Takano in view of Simmons in view of Pluciennik in view of Winton in view of Hattori to include displaying the before-switching and after-switching frames in reduced brightness, as taught by Walkin as disclosed above, in order to ensure optimal displaying of the frames (Walkin Paragraph 2 “This relates generally to electronic devices with touch-sensitive surfaces, including but not limited to electronic devices with touch-sensitive surfaces for navigating between user interfaces, displaying a dock, and displaying system user interface elements (e.g., a home affordance)”).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IBRAHIM ABDOALATIF ALSOMAIRY whose telephone number is (571)272-5653. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-5:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Faris Almatrahi can be reached at 313-446-4821. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/IBRAHIM ABDOALATIF ALSOMAIRY/Examiner, Art Unit 3667 /KENNETH J MALKOWSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3667
1 There is no limiting definition as to what constitutes “a destination shown” with the specification failing to provide further clarification
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