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
Claims 1-13 are presented for examination.
Claims 1, 2, 910, 11, 12 and 13 were amended.
This is a Final Action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-13 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 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 1-13 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shiraishi et al. (US 2019/0384870) further in view of Dane et al. (WO 2021/016250)
1. Shiraishi teaches, A center (Abstract – teaches a central system managing vehicle data, analogous to the ‘center’, Shiraishi) comprising:
…wherein: the vehicle related device includes a shadow generation unit generating, for each of the multiple vehicles, a shadow using multiple pieces of vehicle data repeatedly acquired from the in-vehicle device of corresponding vehicle (Paragraph 5 - teaches repeatedly acquiring data to build/update a digital twin (Shadow), Shiraishi), each of the multiple pieces of vehicle data generated as the shadow is assigned with vehicle identification information for identifying the corresponding vehicle and timing identification information for identifying a timing at which each of the multiple pieces of vehicle data is acquired (Paragraph 125 - teaches VIN = vehicle ID and timestamps = timing information, Shiraichi), the shadow generation unit stores the shadow that includes the multiple pieces of vehicle data in a shadow storage unit provided in the vehicle related device (Paragraph 46 & 122 - teaches stored digital twin = stored shadow, Shiraichi), the service related device includes:
an index generation unit generating indices corresponding to respective shadows, each of which is assigned with the timing identification information, and stores the generated indices in an index storage unit provided in the service related device (Paragraph 120 - teaches generating/storing indices for retrieval, Shiraichi); and
an index acquisition unit that acquires, from the index storage unit, one of the indices corresponding to a designated parameter (Paragraph 120 - teaches queries index storage using designated parameters (make/model), Shiraichi), and
the vehicle related device further includes a data acquisition unit acquiring one of the multiple pieces of vehicle data from the shadow storage unit using the one of the indices, which is acquired corresponding to the designated parameter (Paragraph 120 - teaches retrieval of data from storage using indices, Shiraichi).
Shiraishi does not explicitly teach,
… the shadow being generated in a format of standardized vehicle data in which each of the multiple pieces of vehicle data is converted to a predefined layered structure.
a vehicle related device communicably connected with multiple in-vehicle devices individually mounted on multiple vehicles, the vehicle related device performing data communication with the multiple in-vehicle devices; and a service related device communicably connected with a service providing unit and performing data communication with the service providing unit.
However, Malladi teaches,
… the shadow being generated in a format of standardized vehicle data in which each of the multiple pieces of vehicle data is converted to a predefined layered structure (Paragraph 14 – teaches the software can include a data processing layer, a data enrichment layer and a data publication layer, where the data enrichment layer performs data decoding, metadata decoration and data normalization, thereby converting raw sensor data streams into structured and standardized data suitable for storage and processing, Malladi).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains to incorporate the layered data processing architecture of Malladi into the vehicle data processing system of Shiraishi in order normalize and structure incoming vehicle sensor data streams prior to storage and indexing, thereby improving scalability, interoperability and processing efficiency for large-scale vehicle monitoring systems.
However, Dane teaches,
a vehicle related device communicably connected with multiple in-vehicle devices individually mounted on multiple vehicles, the vehicle related device performing data communication with the multiple in-vehicle devices; (Paragraphs 15 - teaches vehicle controller (ECU) connected to multiple sensors and communicating data to a remote system, Dane) and a service related device communicably connected with a service providing unit and performing data communication with the service providing unit (Paragraph 15 and 52 - teaches a remote system that exchanges data with a service provider, matching the claimed “service related device”, Dane).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains to allow Shiroishi’s invention to be combined with Dane’s invention because both references are in the same field of endeavor, connected vehicles and digital twin systems for monitoring, diagnostics and services. The combination would enhance Shiroishi’s shadow/index service system with Dane’s remote control capability, yielding predictable improvement in vehicle service centers.
2. The combination of Shiraishi, Malladi and Dane teaches, The center according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle related device includes a latest index generation unit that generates latest indices for identifying latest shadows of respective vehicles (Paragraph 46 – teaches timestamped recent data corresponds to “latest indices”, Shiraishi) and stores the latest indices in a latest index storage unit provided in the vehicle related device (Paragraph 117- teaches updated data stored in memory = latest index storage, Shiraishi), and the index generation unit repeatedly acquires the latest indices from the latest index storage unit, and generates, as the indices corresponding to respective shadows, the latest indices, each of which is assigned with time information for specifying the shadow corresponding to the latest index (Paragraph 11 – teaches continuous update provides repeated acquisition with time information, Shiraishi).
3. The combination of Shiraishi, Malladi and Dane teaches, The center according to claim 2, wherein each of the latest indices includes vehicle position information indicating a position where the corresponding vehicle is present (Paragraph 44 - teaches driving area/position data included in indices, Shiraishi), and the index generation unit repeatedly acquires the latest indices for generating the indices corresponding to respective shadows (Paragraph 11 - teaches continuous update of indices with position, Shiraishi).
4. The combination of Shiraishi, Malladi and Dane teaches, The center according to claim 1, wherein each of the indices includes specific information for specifying one of the multiple vehicles, which is necessary for the service providing unit to provide a service (Paragraph 125 - teaches VIN/vehicle-specific identifier included in indices enable services, Shiraishi).
5. The combination of Shiraishi, Malladi and Dane teaches, The center according to claim 1, wherein the index acquisition unit:
acquires, from the service providing unit, a request that instructs acquisition of designated data of a designated vehicle at a designated time (Paragraph 160 - teaches service provider issues requests for vehicle-specific/time-specific data, Shiraishi);
acquires, from the index storage unit, one of the indices corresponding to the designated time and the designated vehicle in the request (Paragraph 120 - teaches queries indices based on vehicle/time info, Shiraishi); and
specifies one of the shadows based on the acquired index (Paragraph 123 - teaches index specifies the correct shadow, Shiraishi), and the data acquisition unit of the vehicle related device acquires, from the shadow storage unit, the designated data included in the one of the shadows specified by the index acquisition unit (Paragraph 125 - teaches system retrieves requested data from the shadow, Shiraishi).
6. The combination of Shiraishi, Malladi and Dane teaches, The center according to claim 1, wherein each of the shadows includes information related to a device mounted on the corresponding vehicle (Paragraph 41 – teaches Shadows/digital tins include sensor & ADAS device data, Shiraishi).
7. The combination of Shiraishi, Malladi and Dane teaches, The center according to claim 1, wherein the service related device includes an application programming interface through which the service providing unit accesses the service related device (Paragraph 49 and 155 - teaches software/report systems and digital twin modules used as access interfaces by external services (i.e. API), Shiraishi).
8. The combination of Shiraishi, Malladi and Dane teaches, The center according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle related device includes a vehicle control unit that controls each of the multiple vehicles on which the multiple in-vehicle device are respectively mounted, and the vehicle control unit acquires, from the service providing unit, a control instruction to one of the multiple vehicles without going through the service related device (Paragraphs 11 and 15, Claim 10 – teaches vehicle controller (ECU) that directly receives control parameters/instructions from the remote system, bypassing the service device, Shiraishi).
Claims 9-13 are similar to claim 1-8 hence rejected similarly.
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 AMRESH SINGH whose telephone number is (571)270-3560. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
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/AMRESH SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2159