12DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-18 are presented for examination.
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US PG Pub No. 2016/0163125 A1) in view of Sakurai et al. (US PG Pub No. 2020/0183676 A1)).
Regarding claim 1, Kim teaches a vehicle network system comprising:
a plurality of electronic control units (ECUs) configured to perform a scheduled task (Fig 1; [0005]),
wherein when an error occurs in at least one ECU among the plurality of ECUs, the at least one ECU transmits a reset message to remaining ECUs (Fig 2), the at least one ECU is reset after transmitting the reset message and the remaining ECUs are reset in response to the reset message ([0026]; [0032]; Claims 4 and 9),
Kim does not teach the plurality of ECUs is sequentially reset according to a task performing order.
Sakurai teaches a process for resetting ECUs associated with a vehicle; wherein multiple ECUs are reprogrammed according to a specific ECU order based on the package file ([0127]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to sequentially reset the plurality of ECUs according to a task performing order. One would be motivated by the desire to follow a sequence of instructions to ensure correct operation.
Regarding claim 10, it is the method claim of claim 1 above. Therefore, it is rejected for the same reasons as claim 1 above.
Claim(s) 2, 6, 11, and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US PG Pub No. 2016/0163125 A1) in view of Sakurai et al. (US PG Pub No. 2020/0183676 A1)), further in view of Suganuma et al. (US PG Pub No. 2013/0096737 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Kim and Sakurai do not teach wherein the at least one ECU transmits the reset message including a reset reference time to the remaining ECUs, and each of the plurality of ECUs is reset at an added time of the reset reference time and a predetermined time corresponding to the task performing order.
Suganuma teaches a method of setting a reprogramming schedule for a target ECU ([0043]; [0071-73]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to transmit the reset message including a reset reference time to the remaining ECUs, and each of the plurality of ECUs is reset at an added time of the reset reference time and a predetermined time corresponding to the task performing order. One would be motivated by the desire to organize the schedule in which ECUs are updated/reset.
Regarding claim 6, Kim and Sakurai do not teach wherein the at least one ECU transmits a reset message including a reset time corresponding to a task performing order of a corresponding ECU to each of the remaining ECUs and the plurality of ECUs is reset at a reset time corresponding to the task performing order of the corresponding ECU.
Suganuma teaches a method of setting a reprogramming schedule for a target ECU ([0043]; [0071-73]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to transmits a reset message including a reset time corresponding to a task performing order of a corresponding ECU to each of the remaining ECUs and the plurality of ECUs is reset at a reset time corresponding to the task performing order of the corresponding ECU. One would be motivated by the desire to organize the schedule in which ECUs are updated/reset.
Regarding claim 11 and 15, they are the method claims of claims 2 and 6 above. Therefore, they are rejected for the same reasons as claims 2 and 6 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 7-9, 12-14, and 16-18 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC C WAI whose telephone number is (571)270-1012. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9-5.
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/Eric C Wai/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2195
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