DETAILED ACTION
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 Objections
Claim 60 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 60 reads “A non-transitory computer-readable medium operations having stored thereon instructions…” The word “operations” appears to be unnecessarily included.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 42-61 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claim 42 Analysis:
STEP 1: Does claim 42 fall within one of the statutory categories? Yes. The claim is directed toward a system, which falls within one of the statutory categories.
STEP 2A (PRONG 1): Is the claim directed to a law of nature, a natural phenomenon or an abstract idea? Yes, the claim is directed to an abstract idea.
Claim 42 recites: A system comprising: a communication module and a processor; and
wherein the processor storing instructions in a non-transitory memory that, when executed, cause the processor to: establish a connection, by sending a connection request via the communication module of a vehicle, to a user device;
receive, a first message from the user device, wherein the first message comprises an occupant profile comprising a vehicle setting corresponding to the vehicle and a priority level;
determine, a modification in the vehicle setting; and
transmit a second message via the communication module to the user device, wherein the second message comprises a modified vehicle setting configured for updating the occupant profile.
The limitation highlighted in claim 42 above is a mental process that can be practicably performed in the human mind and, therefore, an abstract idea. The limitations of claim 42 highlighted above merely consists of determining a change to a vehicle setting. This is the equivalent of a person mentally making the decision to modify a vehicle setting or mentally noting a change in a vehicle setting based on observation. Thus, the claim recites a mental process.
STEP 2A (PRONG 2): Does the claim recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application? No, the claim does not recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application.
Claim 42 recites: A system comprising: a communication module and a processor; and
wherein the processor storing instructions in a non-transitory memory that, when executed, cause the processor to: establish a connection, by sending a connection request via the communication module of a vehicle, to a user device;
receive, a first message from the user device, wherein the first message comprises an occupant profile comprising a vehicle setting corresponding to the vehicle and a priority level;
determine, a modification in the vehicle setting; and
transmit a second message via the communication module to the user device, wherein the second message comprises a modified vehicle setting configured for updating the occupant profile.
Claim 42 does not recite any of the exemplary considerations that are indicative of an abstract idea having been integrated into a practical application. The additional elements underlined above do not integrate the abstract idea into practical application. The establishing a connection and receiving steps are recited at a high level of generality (as a general means of data gathering) and amount to mere data gathering, which is a form of insignificant extra solution activity. Further, the transmitting step is recited at a high level of generality (as a generic outputting of information such as displaying or transmitting of information) and amounts to mere post solution actions, which is also a form of insignificant extra solution activity. Still further, the method amounts to instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely use a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea which is indicative that the judicial exception has not been integrated into a practical application. In the instant case, the steps of establishing a connection, receiving, and transmitting are performed by a processor. Thus, it is clear that the abstract idea is merely implemented on a computer, which is indicative of the abstract idea having not been integrated into a practical application.
STEP 2B: Does the claim recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception? No, the claim does not recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Independent claim 42 does not include additional elements (considered both individually and as an ordered combination) that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception for the same reasons to those discussed above with respect to determining that the claim does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. A conclusion that an additional element is insignificant extra-solution activity in Step 2A should be re-evaluated in Step 2B to determine if they are more than what is well-understood, routine, conventional activity in the field. The additional limitations of establishing a connection, receiving, and transmitting are well-understood, routine, and conventional (WURC) activities in the field. Establishing a connection, receiving, and transmitting are fundamental, i.e. WURC, activities performed by processors.
Independent claims 55 and 60 are rejected using a similar rationale as applied to claim 42 above, as claim 55 and 60 are commensurate in scope with claim 42 but are drawn to a method and non-transitory computer readable medium, respectively.
Dependent claims 43-54, 56-59, and 61 do not recite any further limitations that cause the claims to be patent eligible. Rather, the limitations of dependent claims are directed toward additional aspects of the judicial exception and/or well-understood, routine and conventional additional elements that do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. Therefore, dependent claims 43-54, 56-59, and 61 are not patent eligible under the same rationale as provided for in the rejection of independent claim 42.
Therefore, claims 42-61 are ineligible under 35 U.S.C. §101.
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.
Claims 42-46, 51-53, 55-56, and 60 are rejected under 35 103 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20210046888 by Vardharajan (hereafter "Vardharajan"), in view of US 10692371 by Nix et al. (hereafter "Nix").
Regarding claim 42, Vardharajan discloses a system (Vardharajan: electronic system 1200 in Fig. 12) comprising: a communication module (Vardharajan: network interface(s) 1225 in Fig. 12) and a processor (Vardharajan: processor(s) 1205 in Fig. 12); and
wherein the processor storing instructions in a non-transitory memory that, when executed (Vardharajan ¶ [0009]: The vehicle further includes a non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations), cause the processor to: establish a connection, by sending a connection request via the communication module of a vehicle, to a user device (Vardharajan ¶ [0138]: the vehicle 105 may receive the data from the user device 110 as part of a handshake procedure. The handshake procedure may be initiated (e.g., by the vehicle 105 or user device 110) in accordance with settings provided for the vehicle 105 or the user device 110);
receive, a first message from the user device (Vardharajan ¶ [140]: In one case, the vehicle 105 may receive the activity profile from the user device 110 of the user. In another case, the vehicle 105 may retrieve the activity profile associated with the user), wherein the first message comprises an occupant profile comprising a vehicle setting corresponding to the vehicle (Vardharajan ¶ [140]: At block 925, the vehicle 105 determines the activity profile associated with the user to apply to the vehicle 105. Application of the activity profile to the vehicle 105 may cause adjustment of the cabin of the vehicle 105 to facilitate a desired cabin experience (e.g., associated by the user with the activity profile)) and a priority level (Vardharajan ¶ [0147]: Although the process 900 describes an embodiment in which a single user has profile setting privileges, in some embodiments, multiple users can have profile setting privileges. In these embodiments, each user may be associated with a different priority value. The vehicle 105 may identify the user that is associated with a highest priority value and determine the activity profile of this identified user).
It is noted Vardharajan fails to particularly disclose determine, a modification in the vehicle setting; and transmit a second message via the communication module to the user device, wherein the second message comprises a modified vehicle setting configured for updating the occupant profile.
However, Nix, in the same field of endeavor, teaches a system (Nix: system 200 in Fig. 2) comprising: a communication module (Nix: communication interface(s) 242 in Fig. 2) and a processor (Nix: processor(s) 234 in Fig. 2); and
wherein the processor storing instructions in a non-transitory memory that, when executed (Nix col. 15 lines 16-19: The memory 236 can store data 238 and computer-readable instructions 240 which are executed by the processor(s) 234 to cause the computing device(s) 207 to perform operations), cause the processor to: establish a connection, by sending a connection request via the communication module of a vehicle, to a user device (Nix col. 15 lines 52-54: The computing device(s) 207 can also include one or more communication interface(s) 242 used to communicate with one or more systems or devices);
receive, a first message from the user device (Nix col. 15 lines 39-42: The one or more computing device(s) 207 included in vehicle computing system 206 can also include one or more input/output interface(s) 244 that can be used to receive input, such as from a user), wherein the first message comprises an occupant profile comprising a vehicle setting corresponding to the vehicle (Nix col. 3 lines 19-26: In some implementations, the user profile data can be provided to an autonomous vehicle after the user requests a trip (e.g., a vehicle service request such as a rideshare trip, delivery trip, courier trip, or the like), and the autonomous vehicle can then implement one or more of the preferences or settings in determining the autonomous vehicle's operation and/or behavior during the user's trip);
determine, a modification in the vehicle setting (Nix col. 20 lines 45-52: a computing system may determine settings that are changed during a requested trip that may be associated with one or more user profile preferences/attributes. For example, the computing system may identify changes to vehicle settings such as seat position, entertainment choices, temperature, lighting, or the like, that are made/requested by the user during the requested trip); and
transmit a second message via the communication module to the user device, wherein the second message comprises a modified vehicle setting configured for updating the occupant profile (Nix col. 22 lines 41-51: a user may be informed of changes or modifications, such as by displaying changes or options to the user in a user interface, for example. The user interface can be provided to the user by a display device of a user device that is associated with the user. The user interface can be provided, in some implementations, via a software application associated with the service platform. In some embodiments, the user could be informed of the changes/modifications, and possibly provided with options to accept or override the attributes/settings changes).
Therefore, given the teachings as a whole, it would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the activity profile for cabin configuration system of Vardharajan to include the modification and communication of vehicle settings for updating a user profile of Nix. A person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make this modification in order to optimize processing power and efficiency by making and/or coordinating determinations and adjustments based on user profile attributes. Further, a vehicle computing system may be provided with learnable opportunities that can be used to more easily personalize future user experiences through the development of user profiles (Nix col. 8 lines 44-49).
Regarding claim 43, Vardharajan discloses wherein the communication module comprises a transmitter and a receiver (Vardharajan ¶ [0166]: The network interface(s) 1225 may include a communication device such as a transmitter, receiver, transceiver, modem, and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data with external machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via the network(s) 1265).
Regarding claim 44, Vardharajan discloses wherein the user device comprises one of a phone, a key fob, a smart card, a portable device with microchip, an identification (ID) card, a laptop, a personal computing device, a wearable device, and a badge (Vardharajan ¶ [0062]: the user device 110 may be, and/or may include, a mobile phone (e.g., smartphone), smartwatch, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet device, a laptop device, a watch, a computer, or generally any device that is operable to communicate via wireless communication (e.g., via cellular standards using antennas) and/or wired communication (e.g., USB)).
Regarding claim 45, Vardharajan discloses wherein the system further comprises an application interface on the user device (Vardharajan ¶ [0070]: the vehicle 105 and the user device 110 may have corresponding applications installed, such that the vehicle 105 and the user device 110 may interface (e.g., communicate, exchange data) with each other via the corresponding applications); and
wherein the system is operable to store the occupant profile on the user device (Vardharajan ¶ [0083]: To facilitate application and portability of activity profiles of the user of the user device 110, the user device 110 may store, or may have access to (e.g., via the user profile management system 125), one or more activity profiles of the user of the user device 110 that the user prefers to be applied to vehicles utilized by the user).
Regarding claim 46, Vardharajan discloses wherein the system is operable to transmit a third message from the vehicle to the user device, wherein the third message comprises an identification data of the vehicle prior to the receiving of the first message; and wherein the identification data of the vehicle comprises one or more of a vehicle identification number, a make of the vehicle, a model of the vehicle (Vardharajan ¶ [0048]: the user device may identify the vehicle based on data received by the user device from the vehicle during the handshake procedure, such as an official vehicle identification number of the vehicle or generally any vehicle identifier (e.g., name, number) previously applied to the vehicle by a user).
Regarding claim 51, Vardharajan discloses wherein the occupant comprises one of a non-owner driver, an owner driver, and a passenger (Vardharajan ¶ [0028]: a vehicle may have one or more drivers (e.g., pilot, co-pilot) and one or more passengers; Vardharajan ¶ [0045]: In an aspect, the user that has activity profile setting privileges may be referred to as a captain of the vehicle. The captain of the vehicle may be the user that owns the vehicle, rents the vehicle, has hailed the vehicle for a trip (e.g., through a ridesharing service or ride-hailing service), or otherwise has previously been designated by some party (e.g., owner, renter, previous captain, vehicle administrator) as the captain of the vehicle).
Regarding claim 52, Vardharajan discloses wherein the occupant profile is stored in one or more of a local storage, a remote storage, and a cloud storage (Vardharajan ¶ [0054]: Thus, in various embodiments, by tying a user's activity profiles to the user's device(s) and/or user's account (e.g., account for a service that facilitates vehicle ownership, rental, or sharing), the user has ready access to activity profiles (e.g., stored on one or more user devices of the user or on a remote server or via a cloud portal accessible to the user) that the user can apply to a vehicle).
Regarding claim 53, Vardharajan discloses wherein the communication module is operable for a wired communication and a wireless communication (Vardharajan ¶ [0137]: the vehicle 105 receives data indicative of an identity of a user of the vehicle 105. The vehicle 105 may receive the data indicative of the identity from the user device 110 of the user, such as via a wired or wireless connection between the vehicle 105 and the user device 110).
Claim 55 recites analogous limitations to claim 42, above, and is therefore rejected on the same premise.
Claim 56 recites analogous limitations to claim 44, above, and is therefore rejected on the same premise.
Claim 60 recites analogous limitations to claim 42, above, and is therefore rejected on the same premise.
Claims 47-50, 54, and 57-59 are rejected under 35 103 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20210046888 by Vardharajan (hereafter "Vardharajan"), in view of US 10692371 by Nix et al. (hereafter "Nix"), further in view of US 20170270490 by Penilla et al. (hereafter “Penilla”).
Regarding claim 47, Vardharajan discloses wherein the vehicle setting comprises one or more of a seat setting, a temperature setting, a radio setting (Vardharajan ¶ [0031]: Collectively, cabin characteristics, such as defined in an activity profile and a user setting(s), give riders (e.g., drivers if any, passengers) of vehicles a certain cabin experience. In various applications, cabin experience is provided primarily for the passengers to allow the passengers to perform a desired activity (e.g., working, resting, dining) while the vehicle is navigating (e.g., autonomously driving or being driven by a driver) and/or stationary. In this regard, by way of non-limiting examples, activity profiles may define locations and orientations of various objects (e.g., furniture such as seats, desk, light sources), a temperature (e.g., temperature range) to be maintained by in a cabin (or a portion thereof) by a heating system of the vehicle, music (e.g., type of music, user's playlist) to be played by a stereo in the cabin (or a portion thereof), on or off state of appliances (e.g., toasters, microwaves, etc.) in the cabin, on or off state of devices (e.g., computers), and/or others. A user setting(s) may be applied to customize cabin characteristics of an activity profile);
wherein the seat setting comprises one or more of a setting for a height of a seat, a recline of the seat, a lumbar support of the seat, an armrest height, and a temperature of the seat (Vardharajan ¶ [0131]: The Seat A 815 cabin characteristic and the Seat B 820 cabin characteristic may each be represented by a vector including values indicative of a set of parameters (X, Y, Z, θ, φ, H), where X represents an X-coordinate, Y represents a Y-coordinate, Z represents a Z-coordinate (e.g., height), θ represents an angular orientation, y represents a recline angle, and H represents a hardness (e.g., 0 being softest to 5 being hardest)); and
wherein the temperature setting comprises a fan speed, a preferred temperature, and tilt and position of vents of an HVAC system of the vehicle (Vardharajan ¶ [0131]: The Temp 830 cabin characteristic may direct one or more corresponding ECUs 205 to adjust a behavior of an HVAC system to effectuate a desired cabin temperature); and
wherein the radio setting comprises one or more of preferred genres of content, audio playback settings, and a volume (Vardharajan ¶ [0031]: music (e.g., type of music, user's playlist) to be played by a stereo in the cabin (or a portion thereof)).
It is noted Vardharajan and Nix fail to particularly disclose wherein the vehicle setting comprises one or more of a seat setting, a mirror setting, a temperature setting, a radio setting corresponding to the identification data of the vehicle; wherein the seat setting comprises one or more of a setting for a height of a seat, a recline of the seat, a lumbar support of the seat, an armrest height, and a temperature of the seat; and wherein the mirror setting comprises one or more of a mirror tilt, a mirror angle, a mirror height, and a mirror position; wherein the temperature setting comprises a fan speed, a preferred temperature, and tilt and position of vents of an HVAC system of the vehicle; and wherein the radio setting comprises one or more of preferred genres of content, audio playback settings, and a volume.
However, Penilla, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the vehicle setting comprises one or more of a seat setting, a mirror setting, a temperature setting, a radio setting corresponding to the identification data of the vehicle (Penilla ¶ [0159]: In one embodiment, the synchronization will enable users to universally transfer settings from portable devices to electronics of a vehicle. In some embodiments, the vehicle that the user wishes to drive is not his vehicle. For instance, the vehicle may be a friend's vehicle, a rented vehicle or a shared vehicle. If the user has programmed settings in his or her device, the settings that are useful for the vehicle will be transferred to the vehicle. Settings can include travel speed restrictions, car seat settings, mirror settings, remote access to home controls (e.g., lighting, garage doors, etc.), radio settings, satellite radio settings, internet settings, etc; Penilla ¶ [0138]: The settings can include, for example, temperature, radio settings, seat settings, meter settings, air settings, etc);
wherein the seat setting comprises one or more of a setting for a height of a seat, a recline of the seat, a lumbar support of the seat, an armrest height, and a temperature of the seat (Penilla ¶ [0157]: Settings can include cloud services, or local settings such as seat positions for the size of the user; Penilla ¶ [0105]: seat positions, seat heater/cooler); and
wherein the mirror setting comprises one or more of a mirror tilt, a mirror angle, a mirror height, and a mirror position (Penilla ¶ [0157]: Settings can include cloud services, or local settings such as seat positions for the size of the user, mirror positions); and
wherein the radio setting comprises one or more of preferred genres of content, audio playback settings, and a volume (Penilla ¶ [0157]: T Settings can include cloud services, or local settings such as seat positions for the size of the user, mirror positions, radio stations).
Therefore, given the teachings as a whole, it would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the activity profile for cabin configuration system of Vardharajan modified to include the modification and communication of vehicle settings for updating a user profile of Nix to further include the vehicle settings, including mirror settings, corresponding to the identification data of the vehicle of Penilla. A person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate sharing of data and allow users to unify settings across any number of vehicles the user may drive (Penilla ¶ [0158]).
Regarding claim 48, Vardharajan and Nix fail to particularly disclose wherein the occupant profile further comprises a limitation setting, wherein the limitation setting is received via an external device.
However, Penilla, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the occupant profile further comprises a limitation setting, wherein the limitation setting is received via an external device (Penilla ¶ [0105]: Login settings that can be set and remotely administered include but are not limited to, driving characteristics (rate of speed, fuel consumption guidelines) location based settings (GPS aided travel restrictions, travel radius boundaries, dynamically loading maps, dynamically loading directions, dynamically loading fuel, charge and battery service and purchase locations etc.), time of day based use restrictions (day driving only for example)).
Therefore, given the teachings as a whole, it would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the activity profile for cabin configuration system of Vardharajan modified to include the modification and communication of vehicle settings for updating a user profile of Nix to further include the vehicle limitation settings of Penilla. A person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make this modification in order to control all aspects of vehicle behavior particularly in situations involving delivery drivers utilizing fleet vehicles, dealerships allowing for test drives, valet parking, and parents limiting the driving of their children (Penilla ¶ [104]-[112]).
Regarding claim 49, Vardharajan and Nix fail to particularly disclose wherein the limitation setting comprises one or more of a maximum speed data, a maximum acceleration data, a sobriety verification requirement, a route limitation data, a time limit data, and a geo fencing data.
However, Penilla, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the limitation setting comprises one or more of a maximum speed data, a maximum acceleration data, a sobriety verification requirement, a route limitation data, a time limit data, and a geo fencing data (Penilla ¶ [0105]: Login settings that can be set and remotely administered include but are not limited to, driving characteristics (rate of speed, fuel consumption guidelines) location based settings (GPS aided travel restrictions, travel radius boundaries, dynamically loading maps, dynamically loading directions, dynamically loading fuel, charge and battery service and purchase locations etc.), time of day based use restrictions (day driving only for example)).
Therefore, given the teachings as a whole, it would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the activity profile for cabin configuration system of Vardharajan modified to include the modification and communication of vehicle settings for updating a user profile of Nix and the vehicle limitation settings of Penilla to explicitly include the vehicle limitations based on vehicle speed, location, and time of Penilla. A person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make this modification in order to control all aspects of vehicle behavior particularly in situations involving delivery drivers utilizing fleet vehicles, dealerships allowing for test drives, valet parking, and parents limiting the driving of their children (Penilla ¶ [104]-[112]).
Regarding claim 50, Vardharajan discloses wherein the second message comprises a seat setting data (Vardharajan ¶ [0131]: The Seat A 815 cabin characteristic and the Seat B 820 cabin characteristic may each be represented by a vector including values indicative of a set of parameters (X, Y, Z, θ, φ, H), where X represents an X-coordinate, Y represents a Y-coordinate, Z represents a Z-coordinate (e.g., height), θ represents an angular orientation, y represents a recline angle, and H represents a hardness (e.g., 0 being softest to 5 being hardest)), and a vehicle identification number (Vardharajan ¶ [0048]: the user device may identify the vehicle based on data received by the user device from the vehicle during the handshake procedure, such as an official vehicle identification number of the vehicle or generally any vehicle identifier (e.g., name, number) previously applied to the vehicle by a user).
It is noted Vardharajan fails to particularly disclose wherein the second message comprises a mirror setting data, a make of the vehicle, a model of the vehicle, and a make year of the vehicle.
However, Penilla, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the second message comprises a seat setting data (Penilla ¶ [0157]: Settings can include cloud services, or local settings such as seat positions for the size of the user; Penilla ¶ [0105]: seat positions, seat heater/cooler), a mirror setting data (Penilla ¶ [0157]: Settings can include cloud services, or local settings such as seat positions for the size of the user, mirror positions), a make of the vehicle, a model of the vehicle, a make year of the vehicle, and a vehicle identification number (Penilla ¶ [0210]: a user's vehicle 2404 entity in a data construct useful for running a VSW may contain, but not limited to, data points describing that vehicle's ID, the official manufacturer's vehicle database ID used in relating a vehicle to an official vehicle from a manufacturer, the user ID to determine which user a vehicle belongs to, the make, model, year, miles on the vehicle, trim details of the vehicle, vehicle identification number VIN).
Therefore, given the teachings as a whole, it would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the activity profile for cabin configuration system of Vardharajan modified to include the modification and communication of vehicle settings for updating a user profile of Nix to further include the vehicle mirror settings, and identification data of the vehicle of Penilla. A person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate sharing of data and allow users to unify settings across any number of vehicles the user may drive (Penilla ¶ [0158]).
Regarding claim 54, Vardharajan and Nix fail to particularly disclose wherein the system further comprises an artificial intelligence module comprising machine learning models to process historical data and recommend a setting based on one or more of real time sensor data, other occupants in the vehicle, current weather data, current traffic data, and a road condition.
However, Penilla, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the system further comprises an artificial intelligence module comprising machine learning models to process historical data and recommend a setting based on one or more of real time sensor data, other occupants in the vehicle, current weather data, current traffic data, and a road condition (Penilla ¶ [0182]-[0183]: Generation or analysis can be by way of overlap processes, cluster analysis algorithms, Connectivity based clustering, centroid-based clustering, clustering model most closely related to statistics is based on distribution models, cluster validation, density-based clustering, KNN/profile similarity, collaborative filtering, content-based filtering, hybrid recommender systems, mobile recommender systems, cross-sectional analysis, similarities in particular data types or settings, concentration in similar settings by particular demographics, and other similarity analysis calculators and aggregators. These settings can then be recommended to the user or can be automatically added to the profile. Recommender systems can the user the analyzed data to generate the custom recommendations for settings to users' profiles. FIG. 16A describes an ecosystem where an APP 104 in conjunction with a vehicle API 130 may work together to make assumptions, make decisions and take actions 2200. API and APP code together can be arranged in such a fashion that creates an assumption and reasoning logic module 2216. This Assumption and reasoning logic module can take inputs from various systems and data streams including but not limited to GPS 2206, calendars 2208, traffic conditions 2204, local news 2202, past data of user behavior and interaction 2210, vehicle diagnostics 1926, user preferences 2214, user login profiles 506, environmental interpretations by sensors 2212, marketing deals 2224 among others).
Therefore, given the teachings as a whole, it would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the activity profile for cabin configuration system of Vardharajan modified to include the modification and communication of vehicle settings for updating a user profile of Nix to further include the machine learning models and recommendations of Penilla. A person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make this modification in order to provide a learning engine that learns use behavior by the user or patterns of behavior of multiple users and provides recommendations or notifications with recommendations (Penilla ¶ [0069]).
Claim 57 recites analogous limitations to claim 50, above, and is therefore rejected on the same premise.
Claim 58 recites analogous limitations to claim 48, above, and is therefore rejected on the same premise.
Regarding claim 59, Vardharajan discloses wherein the priority level indicates a prevailing authority of the limitation setting over a conflicting situation with another occupant profile; and wherein the priority level has a value in a range of 1 to 10 with 1 being top priority to 10 being low priority (Vardharajan ¶ [0051]: the vehicle may have multiple users with activity profile setting privileges (e.g., multiple captains). In these aspects, each captain may be associated with a priority value. For example, when nine different users are designated as captains of the vehicle, each of the nine captains may be associated with a different priority value between 1 and 9, inclusive, where 1 is assigned to the captain with the highest priority and 9 is assigned to the captain with the lowest priority. In this example, when the user devices of the captain assigned a priority value of 2 and the captain assigned a priority value of 6 are providing activity profiles to the vehicle, the vehicle applies the activity profile of the captain assigned the priority value of 2. The captains may temporarily or permanently adjust the priority values of the various captains and/or add captains (e.g., introduce a new tenth captain and redefine priority values as being between 1 and 10, inclusive)).
Claims 61 is rejected under 35 103 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20210046888 by Vardharajan (hereafter "Vardharajan"), in view of US 10692371 by Nix et al. (hereafter "Nix"), further in view of KR 20140018673 by Choi (hereafter “Choi”).
Regarding claim 61, Vardharajan and Nix fail to particularly disclose wherein the occupant profile further comprises age of the occupant, height of the occupant, weight of the occupant, and a body size of the occupant.
However, Choi, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the occupant profile further comprises age of the occupant, height of the occupant, weight of the occupant, and a body size of the occupant (Choi pg. 4: the user profile information may further include personal information of the user (eg, user gender, age, body size, user identification information, terminal identification information, etc.); Choi pg. 5: the data included in each user profile information on the basis of the information storage unit 260, and thus the user's age, gender, height, weight).
Therefore, given the teachings as a whole, it would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the activity profile for cabin configuration system of Vardharajan modified to include the modification and communication of vehicle settings for updating a user profile of Nix to further include the profile attributes of Choi. A person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make this modification in order to derive optimized vehicle environment control information based on a plurality of user profile information by sharing user profile information of a vehicle generated based on individual preferences (Choi pg. 3).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the applicant’s disclosure:
US 20170282821 by Zych discloses a system that allows a vehicle to receive a set of configurations for interior systems and operation of the vehicle based on user preferences (Zych ¶ [0016] & [0059]), and allow those preferences to be updated based on identified patterns (Zych ¶ [0041]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICHOLAS P LANGHORNE whose telephone number is (571)272-5670. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:30.
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, Anne Antonucci can be reached at (313) 446-6519. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/N.P.L./Examiner, Art Unit 3666
/ANNE MARIE ANTONUCCI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3666