DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
2. This office action is in response to application number 18/438,826 filed on 02/12/2024, in
which claims 1-3 are presented for examination.
Priority
3. Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C 119
(a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No.JP2023-025070, filed on
02/21/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statements (IDS(s)) submitted on 02/12/2024 has been
received and considered.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
5. Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takatsuna (US
20220107798 A1) in view of (US 20220345357 A1) to Iwata et al. (hereinafter Iwata).
Regarding claim 1, An in-vehicle control device, comprising: a first electronic control unit including a first processor configured to control a target in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle, the first electronic control unit being unable to communicate with an update server configured to update software that is executed by a processor included in an electronic control unit; (Takatsuna Paragraph 0003: “A plurality of electronic control units (ECUs) for controlling operation of a vehicle is mounted on the vehicle. The ECUs each include a processor,”) (Takatsuna Paragraph 0050: “As indicated in FIG. 6, no communication module that can communicate with the server 1 is mounted on a vehicle specified by the vehicle ID “VID_1003”, and therefore “not possible” is set as the information that indicates the possibility of the OTA for the vehicle.”)(Takatsuna Paragraph 0058: “The vehicle ID and the version of software for the electronic control units 13a to 13d are used to determine whether there are update data for software for the electronic control units through a comparison with the latest version of software that the server 1 holds for each vehicle ID. The control unit 39 receives a confirmation result that indicates the presence or absence of update data from the server 1 as a response to the update confirmation request, and determines the presence or absence of update data based on the confirmation result.”) (Note: If there is no valid update there is no communication from the ECU to the server) a second electronic control unit including a second processor configured to control the target in-vehicle device, the second electronic control unit being able to communicate with the update server; (Takatsuna Paragraph 0058: “. When there are update data for software for any of the electronic control units, the control unit 39 transmits a distribution package download request to the server 1, and receives a distribution package transmitted from the server 1.”) […] and the control signal selection unit being configured to, when the control signal selection unit receives both the first control signal and the second control signal within a predetermined time, not send the first control signal to the target in-vehicle device but send the second control signal to the target in-vehicle device. (Takatsuna Paragraph 0070: “In step S14, the control unit 28 determines whether communication is made between the server 1 and the vehicle (software update device 11) within a predetermined period. The determination in step S14 may be made based on the communication log of the communication unit 27. The process proceeds to step S17 when the result of the determination in step S14 is YES, and proceeds to step S15 otherwise.”) (Takatsuna Paragraph 0088: “In step S36, the control unit 39 executes an activation process for the update-target electronic control units. The activation process in step S36 includes determining whether activation can be executed, a process of requesting the user for agreement to activation and receiving an input for agreement, requesting the update-target electronic control units for activation, etc. The update-target electronic control units activate and start an updated version of software by switching the software to be executed to the updated version of software. After that, the process is ended.”)
Takatsuna does not disclose and a control signal selection unit configured to send a first control signal and a second control signal, both for controlling the target in-vehicle device, to the target in-vehicle device, the first control signal being a signal received from the first processor and the second control signal being a signal received from the second processor,
However, Iwata does disclose and a control signal selection unit configured to send a first control signal and a second control signal, both for controlling the target in-vehicle device, to the target in-vehicle device, the first control signal being a signal received from the first processor and the second control signal being a signal received from the second processor, (Iwata Paragraph 0069: “The in-vehicle device 100 transmits and receives, for example, information for controlling the engine ECU, the accelerator control ECU, the brake control ECU, or the steering control ECU, as the information related to control of the vehicle 400 or the in-vehicle equipment.”) (Iwata Paragraph 0133: “In more detail, the processing unit 50 selectively switches transmission of the control information,”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Takatsuna to include and a control signal selection unit configured to send a first control signal and a second control signal, both for controlling the target in-vehicle device, to the target in-vehicle device, the first control signal being a signal received from the first processor and the second control signal being a signal received from the second processor, taught by Iwata. This would have been for the benefit to provide a plurality of in-vehicle devices each being connected to an Ethernet network and a CAN (Controller Area Network). Each of the plurality of in-vehicle devices transmits and receives information to and from another in-vehicle device via the Ethernet network and the CAN. At least one of the plurality of in-vehicle devices is able to transmit the same information to the Ethernet network and the CAN in parallel. [Iwata Paragraph 0005]
6. Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takatsuna (US
20220107798 A1) in view of Iwata (US 20220345357 A1) and further in view of (US 20110184584 A1) to Ukita et al. (hereinafter Ukita).
Regarding claim 2, Takatsuna in view of Iwata discloses claim 1, accordingly, the rejection of claim 1 is incorporated above.
Takatsuna in view of Iwata does not disclose The in-vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the first control signal and the second control signal are signals for controlling power consumption of the target in-vehicle device according to power consumption of another in-vehicle device mounted on the vehicle.
However, Ukita does disclose The in-vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the first control signal and the second control signal are signals for controlling power consumption of the target in-vehicle device according to power consumption of another in-vehicle device mounted on the vehicle. (Ukita Paragraph 0017: “According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling an appliance performed by a power management apparatus, which includes the steps of confirming presence of another power management apparatus in operation that is managing a same electronic appliance, recognizing, in a case N-1 (N.gtoreq.2) power management apparatuses are confirmed in the step of confirming to be operating, an attribute of one specific apparatus, among N power management apparatuses including the power management apparatus itself, to be a parent device and the attributes of remaining N-1 apparatuses to be a child device, collecting from N-1 child devices, in a case the attribute of the power management apparatus itself is recognized to be the parent device in the step of recognizing, control signals for controlling the electronic appliance, and selecting, among the control signals collected in the step of collecting, control signals of a same type, a number of which is largest, and transmitting the control signals to the electronic appliance.”)(Ukita Paragraph 0148: “Next, the function of the electric vehicle 124 will be summarized. The electric vehicle 124 includes a battery for storing power.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Takatsuna in view of Iwata to include The in-vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the first control signal and the second control signal are signals for controlling power consumption of the target in-vehicle device according to power consumption of another in-vehicle device mounted on the vehicle taught by Ukita. This would have been for the benefit to provide the power management apparatus breaks down or updating of software becomes necessary, repairing of the breakdown or updating of the software can be carried out while maintaining management of an electronic appliance. [Ukita Paragraph 0018]
7. Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takatsuna (US
20220107798 A1) in view of Iwata (US 20220345357 A1) and further in view of Choi (US 20170123782 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Takatsuna in view of Iwata discloses claim 1, accordingly, the rejection of claim 1 is incorporated above.
Takatsuna in view of Iwata does not disclose The in-vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the control signal selection unit is located in the first electronic control unit.
However, Choi does disclose The in-vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the control signal selection unit is located in the first electronic control unit. (Choi Paragraph 0093: “Referring to FIG. 3, the vehicle 1 may include an input 128, a display 129, an electronic control unit (ECU) 140, a drive unit 150, a telematics device 160, and a power-supply 170.”) (Choi Paragraph 0102: “If the remote service mode is selected through the input 128 during the standby mode, the ECU 140 may also transmit the selection signal of the remote service mode to the controller of the telematics device 160.”) (Note: ECU 140 can be the first electronic control unit)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Takatsuna in view of Iwata to include The in-vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the control signal selection unit is located in the first electronic control unit taught by Choi. This would have been for the benefit to provide a terminal for downloading an update file needed for software update upon receiving an update notification message during a standby mode, and updating software using the downloaded file during a normal mode, a vehicle including the terminal therein and a method for controlling the vehicle. [Choi Paragraph 0012]
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN J HARVEY whose telephone number is 571-272-5327. The examiner can normally be reached 7:16AM-4:46PM M, 6:30AM-5:00PM T-W, 7:30AM-5:00PM Th, 8:00AM-4:00PM F.
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/K.J.H./Junior Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3664
/KITO R ROBINSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3664