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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to the response filed 11/12/2025. Claims 5-14 are presently pending and are presented for examination. Claims 1-4 and 15 are canceled.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 5-6, 8-9, and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hutchins et. al. (U.S. Publication No. 2021/0272388)-IDS in view of Berti (U.S. Publication No. 2019/0158270) in further view Zheng (W.O. Publication No. 2021/237542 A1).
Regarding claim 9 and similarly with respect to claim 5
Hutchins discloses “A system for storing and sharing repair and maintenance information, RMI, of a product, the system comprising: an embedded system comprised in the product configured to store the RMI,” (See Hutchins [0043] disclosing data that may be archived includes maintenance information, as well as repairs and official inspections that have been performed during the lifetime of the vehicle.).
Hutchins discloses “a central system configured to read, write and copy the encrypted RMI in the embedded system via a communication network;” (See Hutchins Fig. 1, Char. 104 disclosing a cloud server for facilitating outgoing and incoming communications including maintenance information, as well as repairs and official inspections that have been performed during the lifetime of the vehicle, see [0040] & [0043].).
Hutchins discloses “a service device of a service facility configured to download an application module,” (See Hutchins [0041] disclosing users, including service technicians and repair shops, whom may access vehicle data. Also see [0044] & Fig. 11, Char. 110, disclosing an interface element or “service device” for performing the downloading methods of the vehicle system module, 102.).
Hutchins discloses “establish a wireless connection between the embedded system and the service device,” (See Hutchins [0041] disclosing interface configurations provided to facilitate communications between a repair shop and a vehicle database module.).
Hutchins discloses “update by the application module in the service device, the RMI after servicing and/or repairing has been performed for the product” (See Hutchins [0043] disclosing processing the data for the vehicle corresponding to information of prior work/repairs. Also see [0048] disclosing tracking all aspects of the work or job being performed on the vehicle when a vehicle arrives at the repair facility.).
Hutchins discloses “and store the updated RMI in the embedded system,” (See Hutchins [0043] disclosing storing the data for the vehicle corresponding to information of prior work/repairs.).
Hutchins discloses all the elements of claim 9 except “wherein the RMI is encrypted by an encryption code which is unique to the product and the encryption code is provided by a provider of the product to a customer of the product;”, “decrypt and display the encrypted RMI received from the embedded system when the encryption code is provided to the service device and when the product is in physical proximity to the service facility,”, and “wherein the encryption code is provided to the service facility by the customer of the product.” (See Hutchins [0109] disclosing a dedicated communication channel made available to a vehicle owner, such as a special usb port to implement a secure SSL FOB device, to ensure the current vehicle owner has complete control over who has access to the vehicle data. The data storage and access controls are included with the vehicle computer, thus provided from a provider, however do not correspond to an encryption code.).
Berti discloses “wherein the RMI is encrypted by an encryption code which is unique to the product and the encryption code is provided by a provider of the product to a customer of the product;” (See Berti Abstract disclosing encrypted maintenance records. From the manufacturer or distributor, the asset is shipped with an encryption key that provides access to the equipment information and allows further updates on parts that are added or removed, and maintenance performed.).
Hutchins and Berti are analogous art, because they are reasonably pertinent to the subject matter of the claimed invention. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hutchins to incorporate the teachings of Berti to include providing an encryption code or a digital key to a customer for access to RMI. Doing so provides a known method for facilitating secure communications between a customer and a service/product provider, incorporated with a reasonable expectation of success as doing so advantageously provides methods for monitoring performance of an asset, life-cycle of the asset, and predictive maintenance for the asset across a broad range of industries, with a secure digital record, see Berti [0002]-[0004].
Zheng “decrypt and display the encrypted RMI received from the embedded system when the encryption code is provided to the service device and when the product is in physical proximity to the service facility,”, and “wherein the encryption code is provided to the service facility by the customer of the product.” (See Zheng [0106] and [0133] disclosing a user providing an encrypted record and an encryption key to a maintenance facility/person, for decryption and display of the encrypted data.).
Hutchins and Zheng are analogous art, because they are reasonably pertinent to the subject matter of the claimed invention. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hutchins to incorporate the teachings of Zheng to include providing an encryption code or a digital key from a customer to a maintenance facility for providing access to RMI. Doing so provides a known method for facilitating secure communications between a customer and a service/product provider, incorporated with a reasonable expectation of success as doing so advantageously provides methods for securing digital maintenance records, see Zheng [0002]-[0004].
Regarding claim 6 and similarly with respect to claim 12
Hutchins discloses “The method according to claim 5, wherein the product is a vehicle, and the RMI comprises any one or any combination of the following information: a) Repair instructions; b) Bill of material and updates; c) Vehicle service records; d) Vehicle specification and variants; e) Component information; f) Latest software version; g) Data module related to one or more superstructures.” (See Hutchins [0129] disclosing data or information returned to the vehicle owner can include all data for the subject vehicle, such as repair procedures.).
Regarding claim 8 and similarly with respect to claim 11
Hutchins discloses “The method according to claim 5, further comprising communicating and updating the encrypted RMI between the embedded system comprised in the product and the central system via a communication system.” (See Hutchins Fig. 1, Chars. 102 & 104 and [0047] disclosing pods provided to permit processing and storage of vehicle data at a common or centralized workspace in the cloud.).
Regarding claim 13
Hutchins discloses “The system according to claim 9, wherein the wireless communication network is a cellular communication network or a short-range radio frequency communication network.” (See Hutchins [0039] disclosing the network the vehicle module may communicate in may be a cellular network.).
Regarding claim 14
Hutchins discloses “The system according to claim 9, wherein the central system is a cloud server or a local server.” (See Hutchins Fig. 1, Char. 104 disclosing a cloud server for facilitating outgoing and incoming communications.).
Claims 7 & 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hutchins et. al. (U.S. Publication No. 2021/0272388)-IDS in view of Berti (U.S. Publication No. 2019/0158270) in further view Zheng (W.O. Publication No. 2021/237542 A1) in even further view of Beveridge et. al. (U.S. Patent No. 11,748,510 B1).
Regarding claim 7 and similarly with respect to claim 10
Hutchins in view of Berti and Zheng discloses all the elements of the claimed invention except “further comprising re-encrypting the RMI and creating a new encryption code if the customer requires.” (Hutchins discloses all stored data is encrypted, see [0114] thus all data corresponding to RMI is encrypted and a new key is implicitly created, however it is not clear that this may be performed per a user request or requirement.).
Beveridge discloses “further comprising re-encrypting the RMI and creating a new encryption code if the customer requires.” (See Beveridge Col 14. L. 66-67 & Col. 15. L. 1-4 disclosing re-encrypting vehicle data per a user request. A new encryption key is generated see claim 11 and Fig. 8, Char. 844.).
Hutchins and Beveridge are analogous art, because they are in the same field of endeavor, vehicle controls. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hutchins to incorporate the teachings of Beveridge to include the re-encryption of vehicle data and creation of a new encryption key per a user request. Doing so provides a known method in the art for securing vehicle data, with a reasonable expectation of success, as it advantageously provides protection of shared data, see Beveridge Col. 1, L. 52-60.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/12/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding arguments filed with respect to claim 5 and claim 9
In response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
In this case, Berti discloses “wherein the RMI is encrypted by an encryption code which is unique to the product and the encryption code is provided by a provider of the product to a customer of the product;” (See Berti Abstract disclosing encrypted maintenance records. From the manufacturer or distributor, the asset is shipped with an encryption key that provides access to the equipment information and allows further updates on parts that are added or removed, and maintenance performed.).
Berti Abstract discloses shipping an asset from a manufacturer or distributor with an encryption key. Berti [0007]-[0013] further discloses that the encryption key solution provides access to information, including maintenance history. Berti therefore discloses shipping of a product (the asset) with an encryption code (encryption key) as provided by a provider (Manufacturer/dealer) to a customer, and providing access to RMI (maintenance history).
It would have been obvious to incorporate the solution of shipping a product with this encryption key from a provider to a customer, as disclosed by Berti, with the system as disclosed by Hutchins, as these solutions are reasonably pertinent to the subject matter of the claimed invention. That is, in accordance with [0005] of the instant application “An object of the invention is to provide an improved system and method for storing and sharing repair and maintenance information (RMI) of a product.” Hutchins is reasonably pertinent to the subject matter of the claimed invention as per Hutchins abstract, the disclosed system securely retrieves, processes, and archives vehicle events and historical data, the data including maintenance information and repair/inspection history, see Hutchins [0043]. Similarly, Berti [0007]-[0013] discloses a solution to provide an encrypted electronic log of data of an asset including maintenance information. These solutions are analogous, as they are related to providing improvements (secure/accuracy, see Hutchins Abstract, or secure/encrypted, see Berti Abstract) to the storage and sharing of repair/maintenance information of a product (vehicle/asset).
The combination advantageously provides methods for monitoring performance of an asset, life-cycle of the asset, and predictive maintenance for the asset across a broad range of industries, with a secure digital record, see Berti [0002]-[0004].
Zheng discloses “decrypt and display the encrypted RMI received from the embedded system when the encryption code is provided to the service device and when the product is in physical proximity to the service facility,”, and “wherein the encryption code is provided to the service facility by the customer of the product.” (See Zheng [0106] and [0133] disclosing a user providing an encrypted record and an encryption key to a maintenance facility/person, for decryption and display of the encrypted data.).
Zheng [0106] and [0133] discloses decryption and display of a maintenance record by a maintenance facility/person with an encryption key provided by a user (customer), the decryption performed when the product (movable platform) is being repaired by a repairer of the movable platform, and thus in physical proximity to the service facility.
It would have been obvious to incorporate the solution of shipping a product with this encryption key from a provider to a customer, as disclosed by Berti, with the system as disclosed by Hutchins, as these solutions are reasonably pertinent to the subject matter of the claimed invention. That is, in accordance with [0005] of the instant application “An object of the invention is to provide an improved system and method for storing and sharing repair and maintenance information (RMI) of a product.” Hutchins is reasonably pertinent to the subject matter of the claimed invention as per Hutchins abstract, the disclosed system securely retrieves, processes, and archives vehicle events and historical data, the data including maintenance information and repair/inspection history, see Hutchins [0043]. Similarly, Zheng [0002] discloses a solution to provide an encrypted running record of a mobile platform, including health information of the mobile platform. These solutions are analogous, as they are related to providing improvements (secure/accuracy, see Hutchins Abstract, or secure/encrypted, see Zheng Abstract) to the storage and sharing of repair/maintenance information of a product (vehicle/mobile platform).
The combination advantageously provides methods for securing digital maintenance records, see Zheng [0002]-[0004].
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 JERROD IRVIN DAVIS whose telephone number is (571)272-7083. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 am - 7:00 pm.
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/JERROD IRVIN DAVIS/Examiner, Art Unit 3656
/WADE MILES/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3656