DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 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 of this title, 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, 4-8, 11-14, and 17-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mai et al. (U.S. Publication 2020/0406860), hereinafter Mai in view of Lee et al. (U.S. Publication 2021/0056058), hereinafter Lee.
Referring to claim 14, Mai teaches, as claimed, a vehicle (see Fig. 2B, 201) comprises one or more sensors (camera, motion sensor, etc., see Paragraph 116 and see Fig. 2B, 222, 224, 226), and a sensor data processing apparatus (Type 1 device and/or Type 2 device may be a… computer, see Paragraph 116, and see Fig. 3, Processor 302), wherein the apparatus is configured to:
obtain configuration information (information of the Type 1 device, see Paragraph 55) of the one or more sensors, wherein the configuration information of a sensor comprises (dashcam, see Paragraph 195) an I/O port (OBD, USB port, see Paragraph 184) of the sensor and an identifier or a type of the sensor (Note, Type 1 or 2);
load a corresponding data processing plug-in (support plug and play, see Paragraph 188) for each sensor of the one or more sensors based on the configuration information of the one or more sensors; and
receive, by using each data processing plug-in, data of a corresponding sensor (motion/activity detected, see Paragraph 191) through an I/O port of the corresponding sensor (wireless links may be established, see Paragraph 189), and
convert (down-converting, see Paragraph 105), by using each data processing plug-in, the received data (motion detection signal, see Paragraph 105) of the corresponding sensor into data in a specified data format (e.g. RF/WiFi/LTE/5G signal… digital communication, see Paragraph 105).
Mai does not disclose expressly encapsulating the received data in the specified data format.
Lee does disclose encapsulating (encapsulated packets, see Paragraph 7) the received data (data into… see Paragraph 7) in the specified (accepted data formats, see Paragraphs 6 and 11) data format (received data format, see Paragraph 7).
At the time of the invention it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Lee’s controlling scheme of automated machine (a self-driving car, see Lee, Paragraphs 4 and 6) into driving system of Mai.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to provide multitude of data communication/conversion system to overcome the complexity of would be all-in-one solution.
As to claim 17, the modification teaches the vehicle according to claim 14 wherein the configuration information further comprises a data flow relationship (respond to sensor based wakeup events, see Paragraphs 41-42; Note, data flow from sensors to processor but it is processor that ‘activates’ video capture state to the video camera (i.e. a video sensor)) between the I/O port of the sensor and the data processing plug-in, and the apparatus is configured to:
convert (down-converting, see Mai Paragraph 105; and to convert each one of the accepted data, see Lee Paragraph 6) the received data of the corresponding sensor into the data in the specified data format (data signal, cellular network signal, WiFi signal, see Mai Paragraph 65; and the accepted data formats, see Lee Paragraph 6) by using the data processing plug-in based on the data flow relationship (see Paragraphs 41-42; Note, when a motion is detected either by audio or video means, the video capturing starts which implies captured data goes to memory once processor sends a trigger data the camera to capture the images).
As to claim 18, the modification teaches the vehicle according to claim 17, wherein the configuration information further comprises a quantity of sensors (quantity … links, see Paragraph 134).
As to claim 19, the modification teaches the vehicle according to claim 14, wherein the apparatus is further configured to: send the data in the specified format to an upper-layer application (cloud server, see Paragraph 55; Note, information/packet are sent locally (lower layer) and/or globally (upper layer)).
As to claim 20, the modification teaches the vehicle according to claim 14, wherein the apparatus is further configured to: apply the data in the specified format to control the vehicle (see Fig. 6, CPD system wakes up…).
As to claim 20, the modification teaches the vehicle according to claim 14, wherein the I/O port is one of a controller area network (CAN) port (CAN bus protocol format, see Lee Paragraph 6), a CAN with flexible data rate (CANFD) port, a universal asynchronous receiver and transmitter (UART) port or a robot operating system (ROS) port.
As to claims 1, 4-8, 11-13, and 21-22, they are directed to a device/method to implement the system as set forth in claims 14, 17-20, and 23. Therefore, they are rejected on the same basis as set forth hereinabove.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/02/2025 have been fully considered but they are moot in view of new grounds of rejections.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Hyun Nam whose telephone number is (571) 270-1725 and fax number is (571) 270-2725. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM EST. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jyoti Mehta can be reached on (571) 270-3995. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HYUN NAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2183
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