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 .
DETAILED ACTION
1. This Office Action is in response to the amendment filed on 04/02/2026. Claims 1-7 are pending in this application. Claims 1, 5, 6 and 7 are independent claims. Claim 8 is canceled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
2. The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
3. Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding the amendment to the claims 1, 5, 6 and 7, such as “wherein the first progress is completion of an installation process or an update data download process and the second progress is a current progress of the installation process or the update data download process prior to completion”, the examiner cannot find the support from the specification. The closest support regarding this subject matter, the examiner found from the spec was Fig. 2 and par 42, In Step S108, the ECU 10 notifies the user terminal 200 about the completion of the installation. For example, the ECU 10 transmits, to the user terminal 200 as a notification target, information indicating the completion of the process of installing the update data for the ECU 10. The user terminal 200 is associated with the vehicle ID of the vehicle 2 including the ECU 10. After then, the process is terminated. When determination is made that the update data installation process is not completed (NO in Step S104), the process proceeds to Step S110. Par 43, In Step S110, the ECU 10 determines whether the user terminal 200 has requested the progress. For example, the ECU 10 determines that the user terminal 200 has requested the progress when the ECU 10 receives, from the user terminal 200, information indicating a request for transmission of the progress. For example, the user terminal 200 requests the ECU 10 to transmit the progress in response to a user's operation. When determination is made that the user terminal 200 has requested the progress (YES in Step S110), the process proceeds to Step S112.
Thus, the examiner cannot find the support for “wherein the first progress is completion of an update data download process and the second progress is a current progress of the update data download process prior to completion”. The dependent claims 2-4 are rejected for incorporating the deficiency of their independent claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
3. 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.
5. Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogawa (US PGPub 20210219115), in view of Ikeda (US PGPub 20060059248), in view of Chun (US PGPub 20040054650), and further in view of Kiyama (US PGPub 20180074811).
As per Claim 1, Ogawa teaches of vehicle comprising: a communication device configured to execute communication between the vehicle and a mobile terminal device of a user that is different and separate from a display device mounted on the vehicle; (Fig. 1 and Par 32, In a case where the user updates the application program of the ECU 16 from outside of the vehicle, the user can input operation while checking various screens related to the update of the application program on the mobile terminal 4 [different and separate from the vehicle], and perform the procedure related to the update of the application program. That is, the user can properly use the on-board display 17 inside the vehicle and use the mobile terminal 4 from outside of the vehicle, and can perform procedure related to the update of the application program. Par 3-4, There has been known a center device which wirelessly distributes content data to vehicles using technology of connected cars.)
a control device configured to control the vehicle; (Par 23, The content data distributed from the center device to the vehicle includes reprogramming data for updating an application program related to vehicle control and diagnosis of an ECU mounted on the vehicle, map data stored in the ECU, or the like. Usually, such content data has a large amount of data. Par 30, The ECUs 16 [control device] connected to the body network bus include, for example, a door ECU for controlling locking/unlocking of doors, a meter ECU for controlling a meter display, an air conditioning ECU for controlling an air conditioner, a window ECU for controlling opening/closing of windows.)
transmit information … to the mobile terminal device by using the communication device … in response to a transmission request from the mobile terminal device (Par 24, The mobile terminal 4 may be provided by a smartphone or a tablet having a web browser. The center device 2, the vehicle system 3, and the mobile terminal 4 are configured to be communicable with one another via a communication network 5. Par 32, In a case where the user updates the application program of the ECU 16 from outside of the vehicle, the user can input operation [request] while checking various screens related to the update of the application program on the mobile terminal 4 [outside the vehicle], and perform the procedure related to the update of the application program. That is, the user can properly use the on-board display 17 inside the vehicle and use the mobile terminal 4 from outside of the vehicle, and can perform procedure related to the update of the application program.)
Ogawa does not specifically teach, however Ikeda teaches to transmit information on first progress among the plurality of types of progress [to the mobile terminal device] by using the communication device, wherein the first progress is completion of an installation process or an update data download process; and (Par 103, A case where the download is successful will now be described. The peer B starts sending the content item C. In other words, the peer D starts downloading the content item C from the peer B. When the download of the content item C is complete, the peer D sends the operation status DOWNLOAD COMPLETED to the center server CS (S605). Par 104, When the center server CS receives the operation status DOWNLOAD COMPLETED, the center server CS decreases the basic load value of the peer B, which has finished uploading the content item C, by 40 and decreases the basic load value of the peer D, which has finished downloading the content item C, by 20 (S503). Par 105, a case where the download fails will now be described. The peer D determines that the download has failed based on the occurrence of a connection failure or a connection timeout, in which case the peer D sends the operation status DOWNLOAD FAILED to the center server CS (S606). PAr 106, When the center server CS receives the operation status DOWNLOAD FAILED, the center server CS sets the basic load value of the peer B, from which content items cannot be downloaded, to -1 ("off-line") and decreases the basic load value of the peer D, which has failed to download the content item C, by 20 (S504).)
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add to transmit information on first progress among the plurality of types of progress [to the mobile terminal device] by using the communication device, wherein the first progress is completion of an installation process or an update data download process;, as conceptually seen from the teaching of Ikeda, into that of Ogawa because this modification can help monitor the software update downloading process of the software program of the control device [e.g. ECU] in vehicle to inform the user of the progress status whether it’s completed or incomplete in order to ensure the target features and functionalities from the software updates equipping the vehicle.
Neither Ogawa nor Ikeda specifically teaches, however Chun teaches to transmit information on second progress different from the first progress among the plurality of types of progress [to the mobile terminal device] by using the communication device in response to a transmission request [from the mobile terminal device], wherein the second progress is a current progress of the installation process or the update data download process prior to completion. (Par 34, That is, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the system request download procedure is triggered if there is an incomplete downloading of a file due to some system/device/environment errors or failures. The download termination by the system is performed according to the system request download termination procedure at step S311. Par 36, If the download status information of the requested file exists indicating incomplete downloading, the CPU 230 transmits this download status information and a download request signal to the contents server 150 (e.g., via the Internet 140 or other network) at step S402 and resumes the downloading of the file from the point at which the download was stopped in the previous download session at step S403. The download status information identifies to the contents server 150 the point in the file from which the download should be resumed. Par 38, As depicted in FIG. 5, when the file downloading apparatus 200 starts the system request download procedure which in this example implies an incomplete downloading, the CPU 230 of the mobile terminal displays a download suspension reason to the user through the display 280 or/and the speaker 290 at step S501 and asks the user if the user wishes to resume the downloading of the file at step S502. Fig. 4, Thus, it’s obvious that the user requests for the download information when it’s determined there is a download status information at S401 in Fig. 4 to resume the downloading with which file to start in order to complete the downloading.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add to transmit information on second progress different from the first progress among the plurality of types of progress [to the mobile terminal device] by using the communication device in response to a transmission request [from the mobile terminal device], wherein the second progress is a current progress of the installation process or the update data download process prior to completion, as conceptually seen from the teaching of Chun, into that of Ogawa and Ikeda because this modification can help visualize software update downloading process of the software program of the control device [e.g. ECU] in vehicle to inform the user of the progress status in order to complete the downloading in case it’s failed or incomplete by resuming at which point it’s failed.
None of Ogawa, Ikeda and Chun specifically teaches, however Kiyama teaches to acquire a plurality of types of progress in a process of updating software of the control device (Fig 3 and a plurality of types of progress status 512 and par 51, The status 512 is information indicating how much the update case specified by the update case ID 510 has progressed in the vehicle 200 specified by the VIN 511. The status 512 manages a progress status of an update case on the basis of a state such as whether or not the downloading of update software has been completed, whether or not the permission of installation has been obtained from a user (whether or not installation is being currently performed), or whether or not installation has been completed. Par 5-6, According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a software update system that manages updating of software of a control device mounted on a vehicle and there is provided a server that manages updating of software of a control device mounted on a vehicle, the server including an update software distribution unit that distributes update software for updating the software of the control device to the vehicle.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add acquiring a plurality of types of progress in a process of updating software of the control device, as conceptually seen from the teaching of Kiyama, into that of Ogawa, Ikeda and Chun because this modification can help update the software program of the control device in vehicle using a software update server with progress status indication in order to improve performance, enhancing safety and adding new features for the vehicles.
As per Claim 2, none of Ogawa, Ikeda and Chun specifically teaches, however Kiyama further teaches of the vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the first progress includes at least one of progress of transmission of update information for the software to the vehicle and progress of an update process for the software in the vehicle. (Par 51, The status 512 is information indicating how much the update case specified by the update case ID 510 has progressed in the vehicle 200 specified by the VIN 511. The status 512 manages a progress status of an update case on the basis of a state such as whether or not the downloading of update software has been completed, whether or not the permission of installation has been obtained from a user (whether or not installation is being currently performed), or whether or not installation has been completed.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add at least one of progress of transmission of update information for the software to the vehicle and progress of an update process for the software in the vehicle, as conceptually seen from the teaching of Kiyama, into that of Ogawa, Ikeda and Chun because this modification can help update the software program of the control device in vehicle using a software update server with progress status indication in order to improve performance, enhancing safety and adding new features for the vehicles.
As per Claim 3, none of Ogawa, Ikeda and Chun specifically teaches, however Kiyama teaches of the vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the control device is configured to transmit the information on the second progress to the mobile terminal device when the transmission request is received from the mobile terminal device before an update process for the software is completed. (Par 67, On the other hand, in a case where it is determined that there is an update case for which updating has not yet been completed (S701: Yes), the update information display unit 232 notifies a user that the installation of update software is started, by using the input and output device 234 (step S702). Here, the update information display unit 232 confirms update contents with reference to the update software which is downloaded from the telematics center 100 in step S605 of FIG. 4 and is stored in the storage device 215.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add transmitting the information on the second progress to the communication instrument when the transmission request is received from the communication instrument before an update process for the software is completed, as conceptually seen from the teaching of Kiyama, into that of Ogawa, Ikeda and Chun because this modification can help update the software program of the control device in vehicle using a software update server with progress status indication in order to improve performance, enhancing safety and adding new features for the vehicles.
As per Claim 4, none of Ogawa, Ikeda and Chun specifically teaches, however Kiyama teaches of the vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the display device is configured to notify an occupant of the vehicle about the plurality of types of progress. (Par 51, The status 512 is information indicating how much the update case specified by the update case ID 510 has progressed in the vehicle 200 specified by the VIN 511. The status 512 manages a progress status of an update case on the basis of a state such as whether or not the downloading of update software has been completed, whether or not the permission of installation has been obtained from a user (whether or not installation is being currently performed), or whether or not installation has been completed. Par 67-68, Here, the update information display unit 232 confirms update contents with reference to the update software which is downloaded from the telematics center 100 in step S605 of FIG. 4 and is stored in the storage device 215. The confirmed update contents are output to the input and output device 234 of the navigation terminal 230 and are displayed on the screen thereof, the user is notified of updating. Further, at this time, choices regarding whether to permit updating are displayed together on the screen, and the user is caused to select any choice in the input and output device 234.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add notifying an occupant of the vehicle about the plurality of types of progress, as conceptually seen from the teaching of Kiyama, into that of Ogawa, Ikeda and Chun because this modification can help update the software program of the control device in vehicle using a software update server with progress status indication in order to improve performance, enhancing safety and adding new features for the vehicles.
Re Claim 5, it is the method claim, having similar limitations of claim 1. Thus, claim 5 is also rejected
under the similar rationale as cited in the rejection of claim 1.
Re Claim 6, it is the system claim, having similar limitations of claim 1. Thus, claim 6 is also rejected
under the similar rationale as cited in the rejection of claim 1.
However, Kiyama teaches of the following limitations different from the claim 1 such as a communication system comprising: a server configured to communicate with the vehicle; and a server configured to communicate with the vehicle, and (Fig 1 and par 5, According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a software update system that manages updating of software of a control device mounted on a vehicle, the software update system including a software updating device which is mounted on the vehicle, and a server which communicates with the software updating device through a network, and in which the server includes an update software distribution unit that distributes update software for updating the software of the control device to the software updating device, and in which the software updating device includes a storage device that stores the update software distributed from the server and stores update information regarding influence on operation of the vehicle in a case where the updating of the software of the control device is not successful, and a software updating unit that updates the software of the control device by using the update software stored in the storage device, and controls operation of the software updating unit on the basis of the update information stored in the storage device.).
transmit update information to be used for updating software of the control device, (Par 61, The update software and the update information which are transmitted from the telematics center 100 in step S615 are received by the communication unit 220 in the software updating device 210 of the vehicle 200 (step S605). Par 59, This update information indicates influence on the operation of the vehicle 200 in a case where the updating of software for each ECU mounted on the vehicle 200 which is a request source has not been successful. Par 76, Here, the ECU software updating unit 214 performs the determination in step S803 on the basis of the update information which is downloaded from the telematics center 100 in step S605 of FIG. 4 and is stored in the storage device 215. Par 6, According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a server that manages updating of software of a control device mounted on a vehicle, the server including an update software distribution unit that distributes update software for updating the software of the control device to the vehicle)
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add a communication system comprising: a server configured to communicate with the vehicle; and a server configured to communicate with the vehicle, transmitting update information to be used for updating software of the control device, as conceptually seen from the teaching of Kiyama, into that of Ogawa, Ikeda and Chun because this modification can help update the software program of the control device in vehicle using a software update server with progress status indication in order to improve performance, enhancing safety and adding new features for the vehicles.
Re Claim 7, it is the product system claim, having similar limitations of claim 1. Thus, claim 7 is also rejected under the similar rationale as cited in the rejection of claim 1.
Response to Amendment
6. The amendment filed with respect to the claims 1, 5, 6 and 7 is objected to under 35 U.S.C. 132(a) because it introduces new matter into the disclosure. 35 U.S.C. 132(a) states that no amendment shall introduce new matter into the disclosure of the invention. The added material which is not supported by the original disclosure is as follows: regarding the amendment to the claims 1, 5, 6 and 7, such as “wherein the first progress is completion of an installation process or an update data download process and the second progress is a current progress of the installation process or the update data download process prior to completion”, the examiner cannot find the support from the specification. Applicant is required to cancel the new matter in the reply to this Office Action.
Response to Arguments
7. Applicant’s argument with respect to claims 1, 5, 6 and 7 as well as their dependent claims of the remark on pages 5-8 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.
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 JAE UK JEON whose telephone number is (571)270-3649. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-6pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chat Do can be reached at 571-272-3721. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAE U JEON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2193
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