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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 1/28/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-30 are pending. Amended features, where relevant, necessitate new grounds of rejections.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1, 11 and 21 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 3-6, 8-11, 13-16, 18-21, 23-26, and 28-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dolev et al. (US 9,769,658 hereinafter Dolev) in view Mondello et al. (US 2020/0313908 hereinafter Mondello).
Regarding claim 1, Dolev discloses an apparatus, comprising:
a memory (FIG. 1-4, col. 6, lines 36-39); and
a processor coupled to the memory (FIG. 1-4, col. 6, lines 4-14), wherein the processor is configured to:
obtain a certificate from a user device (Abstract, FIG. 1-4, col. 6, lines 4-14, col. 7, lines 6-44; i.e. receiving a certificate from a vehicle);
obtain an expected physical attribute of the user device (Abstract, FIG. 1-4, col. 6, lines 4-14, col. 7, lines 6-44; i.e. obtaining the vehicle visible attributes from the certificate);
obtain an indication of a current physical characteristic of the user device (Abstract, FIG. 1-4, col. 6, lines 4-14, col. 7, lines 6-44; i.e. capturing vehicle visible attributes using sensors such as a camera);
verify that the current physical characteristic of the user device matches the expected physical attribute of the user device (Abstract, FIG. 1-4, col. 6, lines 4-14, col. 7, lines 6-44; i.e. verifying that the captured vehicle visible attributes matching the visible attributes certified on the certificate);
verify the certificate from the user device based on the verifying that the current physical characteristic of the user device matches the expected physical attribute of the user device (Abstract, FIG. 1-4, col. 6, lines 4-14, col. 7, lines 6-44, col. 10, lines 62-67; i.e. the certificate is validated when both key and visible attributes are correct).
Dolev discloses the certificate exchanged vehicles are communicating to each other based on verifying the certificates; Dolev does not explicitly disclose provide access to privileged operations to the user device.
However, Mondello discloses providing access to privileged operations to the user device (Abstract, ¶ [0039], [0044]-[0050], [0054]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Dolev and Mondello in order to secure communications of emergency vehicles in an autonomous vehicle system and ensure that other non-emergency vehicles can securely receive, interpret, and respond to orders that affect the operation of the vehicle (Mondello, ¶ [0002]-[0005]).
Regarding claim 3, Dolev in view of Mondello discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to obtain the indication of the current physical characteristic of the user device, the processor is further configured to: obtain an image of the user device (Dolev, FIG. 1-4, col. 6, lines 4-14, col. 7, lines 6-44); and determine the current physical characteristic of the user device based on the image (Dolev, FIG. 1-4, col. 6, lines 4-14, col. 7, lines 6-44).
Regarding claim 4, Dolev in view of Mondello discloses the apparatus of claim 3, wherein the current physical characteristic of the user device comprises at least one of: a color of the user device; a type of the user device; a pose of the user device; a size of the user device; or a shape of the user device (Dolev, FIG. 1, col. 6, lines 4-14).
Regarding claim 5, Dolev in view of Mondello discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to obtain the certificate from the user device, the processor is configured to receive a radio frequency (RF) signal from the user device including the certificate, and wherein the current physical characteristic of the user device comprises a fingerprint of the RF signal from the user device (Dolev, FIG. 1, col. 3, lines 24-36).
Regarding claim 6, Dolev in view of Mondello discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to obtain the certificate from the user device, the processor is configured to receive the certificate from a network device (Dolev, FIG. 1-4, col. 6, lines 4-14, col. 7, lines 6-44; Mondello, ¶ [0027]-[0029], [0051]).
Regarding claim 8, Dolev in view of Mondello discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the expected physical attribute is obtained from the certificate from the user device (Dolev, FIG. 1, col. 6, lines 4-14).
Regarding claim 9, Dolev in view of Mondello discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the expected physical attribute is obtained from the memory (Dolev, FIG. 1, col. 6, lines 4-14, col. 7, lines 6-44).
Regarding claim 10, Dolev in view of Mondello discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to verify the certificate from the user device, the processor is configured to verify a signature of the certificate (Dolev, FIG. 1, col. 10, lines 24-67).
Regarding claim 11, see claim 1 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 13, see claim 3 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 14, see claim 4 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 15, see claim 5 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 16, see claim 6 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 18, see claim 8 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 19, see claim 9 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 20, see claim 10 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 21, see claim 1 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 23, see claim 3 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 24, see claim 4 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 25, see claim 5 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 26, see claim 6 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 28, see claim 8 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 29, see claim 9 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 30, see claim 10 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Claims 2, 7, 12, 22, 17 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dolev et al. (US 9,769,658 hereinafter Dolev) in view Mondello et al. (US 2020/0313908 hereinafter Mondello) and further in view of Zhang et al. (US 2020/0114920 hereinafter Zhang).
Regarding claim 2, Dolev in view of Mondello discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the user device comprises a vehicle (Dolev, FIG. 1-4; Mondello, ¶ [0007]).
Dolev in view of Mondello does not explicitly disclose wherein the certificate is obtained from the user device via a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication.
However, Zhang discloses wherein the certificate is obtained from the user device via a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication (¶ [0007], [0021], [0024]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Dolev, Mondello and Zhang in order to enable autonomous vehicles changing lanes on the road safely (Zhang, ¶ [0001]).
Regarding claim 7, Dolev in view of Mondello discloses the apparatus of claim 6.
Dolev in view of Mondello does not explicitly disclose wherein the network device comprises a road side unit.
However, Zhang discloses wherein the network device comprises a road side unit (¶ [0007], [0021], [0024]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Dolev, Mondello and Zhang in order to enable autonomous vehicles changing lanes on the road safely (Zhang, ¶ [0001]).
Regarding claim 12, see claim 2 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 22, see claim 2 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 17, see claim 7 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 27, see claim 7 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHI D NGUY whose telephone number is (571)270-7311. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9-5 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amir Mehrmanesh can be reached at (571)270-3351. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/C.D.N/Examiner, Art Unit 2435
/AMIR MEHRMANESH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2435
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