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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species A, FIG.5-6 with claims 1-3 and 5-9 in the reply filed on 4/09/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim 4 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species B, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 4/09/2026.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, 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) 1-3 and 5-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ASAI et al. (JP2022084358 (A) based on machine translation and related US 20230286464 A1) in view of SANJI et al. (US 20160272154 A1)
1. ASAI discloses (abstract) a moving object control device (FIG.1) comprising:
a mobile terminal position recognizing unit (smart ECU 4 - position identification unit F4) configured to, according to a communication situation between a first communication unit (receiver 7) provided in a moving object (in-vehicle system 2) and a mobile terminal (smart key 3) used by a user of the moving object, recognize a position of the mobile terminal with respect to the moving object; [0091]
a target door operation recognizing unit (target door setting unit F5) configured to recognize an operation on a target door provided on the moving object, correspondingly to a target seat of the moving object; [0092]
a target identification information recognizing unit (user setting reflection unit F7) configured to search for the mobile terminal existing near the target seat based on a situation recognized [0143] by the mobile terminal position recognizing unit when the target door operation recognizing unit recognizes the operation on the target door, and to recognize terminal identification information transmitted from the mobile terminal as target identification information associated with the user who uses the target seat when the mobile terminal existing near the target seat is detected (steps S304-S306); and [0107-0109]
a specific equipment setting unit configured to set specific equipment provided in the moving object, based on a setting condition associated with the target identification information when the target identification information recognizing unit recognizes the target identification information (steps S306-S307), [0108-0109]
the moving object control device further comprising a communication control unit configured to switch the first communication unit between an operating state and a stopped state at a predetermined period, [0006, 0087-0089]
the target identification information recognizing unit being configured to:
when the target door operation recognizing unit recognizes the operation on the target door (steps S201-S202), search for the mobile terminal within a first search range in the vicinity of the target seat outside the moving object in a case where the first communication unit is in the operating state [0011, 0098]; and start up the first communication unit to search for the mobile terminal within a second search range in the vicinity of the target seat inside and outside the moving object in a case where the first communication unit is in the stopped state. [0114, 0117]
However, SANJI fails to explicitly disclose:
when the target door operation recognizing unit recognizes the operation on the target door, search for the mobile terminal within a first search range in the vicinity of the target seat outside the moving object in a case where the first communication unit is in the operating state; and start up the first communication unit to search for the mobile terminal within a second search range in the vicinity of the target seat inside and outside the moving object in a case where the first communication unit is in the stopped state.
SANJI teaches (abstract) in a similar field of invention, (FIG.5) a system to detect movement and location of a mobile terminal using different search ranges which helps determine the location of mobile terminal within different areas, such that different areas would have different ranges, at least first and second.
[0053] In contrast, when the distance between the vehicle 1 and the portable communication terminal 2 corresponds to a short distance equal to or less than the predetermined reference distance (S208: short distance), the controller 11 proceeds to S214. At S214, the controller 11 determines that the portable communication terminal 2 exists within a range of a third area (an area 3, and referring to FIG. 5) which is closer to the vehicle 1 than the fourth area is. The third area is, as shown in FIG. 5, an area corresponding to a range of short distances in the vicinity of a door of a driver seat of the vehicle 1. In this case, the controller 11 permits locking or unlocking of the door, which is achieved by an electric door lock, as an action associated with the third area. The controller 11 notifies the body ECU 23 of the permission for locking or unlocking of the door. When the body ECU 23 is permitted to lock or unlock the door by the controller 11, the body ECU 23 locks or unlocks the door by activating an actuator of the electric door lock when the touch sensor 20 has sensed a touch. After S214, the controller 11 terminates the processing.
[0075] At S112 in the position determination processing of the first embodiment (referring to FIG. 2) and at S218 in the position determination processing of the second embodiment (referring to FIG. 3), as an action to be performed when a portable communication terminal has been authenticated through the NFC communication, another action may be performed in addition to permission for engine start. For example, the present disclosure may collaborate with a so-called driving position memory feature that autonomously adjusts the position of a power seat, electric mirror, or electric tilt steering column based on a set value, which is preliminarily registered for each driver, when the driver boards a vehicle. In this case, when the portable communication terminal has been authenticated through the NFC communication, based on the set value preliminarily registered for each driver in association with the portable communication terminal 2 that has been authenticated, the position of the power seat, electric mirror, or electric tilt steering column is automatically adjusted suitably for the driver.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to try using a first and second search ranges as needed as a mobile terminal moves around a moving object such as a vehicle in order to properly communicate and determine where a mobile terminal is located and perform corresponding action for vehicle.
2. The moving object control device according to claim 1, wherein when searching for the mobile terminal within the second search range, the target identification information recognizing unit first searches for the mobile terminal within a range outside the moving object in the second search range, and searches for the mobile terminal within a range inside the moving object in the second search range when the mobile terminal is not detected within the range outside the moving object in the second search range. (FIG.6-10) [0010, 0012, 0080-0083, 0089-0095, 0098-0108]
3. The moving object control device according to claim 1, further comprising: a target door open/close recognizing unit configured to recognize an open/close state of the target door, wherein the target identification information recognizing unit searches for the mobile terminal within a third search range inside the moving object when the target door operation recognizing unit recognizes that the target door is operated while the target door open/close recognizing unit recognizes that the target door is in an open state. (FIG.6-10) [0010, 0012, 0080-0083, 0089-0095, 0098-0108]
5. The moving object control device according to claim 1, wherein the specific equipment setting unit sets the specific equipment, based on setting conditions associated with the target identification information most frequently recognized in the past by the target identification information recognizing unit, in a case where the target identification information recognizing unit does not recognize the target identification information when the target door operation recognizing unit recognizes the operation on the target door. (FIG.6-10) [0010, 0012, 0080-0083, 0089-0095, 0098-0108]
6. The moving object control device according to claim 1, wherein the specific equipment setting unit sets the specific equipment, based on setting conditions associated with the target identification information previously recognized by the target identification information recognizing unit, in a case where the target identification information recognizing unit does not recognize the target identification information when the target door operation recognizing unit recognizes the operation on the target door. (FIG.6-10) [0010, 0012, 0080-0083, 0089-0095, 0098-0108]
7. The moving object control device according to claim 1, wherein when there is one mobile terminal with the terminal identification information registered in the moving object, the target identification information recognizing unit recognizes the terminal identification information transmitted from the mobile terminal as the target identification information at a point of time at which communication is established between the mobile terminal and a second communication unit provided in the moving object and communicating with the mobile terminal over a communication range wider than that of the first communication unit. (FIG.6-10) [0010, 0012, 0080-0083, 0089-0095, 0098-0108]
8. As applied for claim 1, a moving object control method executed by a computer, the method comprising:
a mobile terminal position recognizing step, according to a communication situation between a first communication unit provided in a moving object and a mobile terminal used by a user of the moving object, of recognizing a position of the mobile terminal with respect to the moving object; a target door operation recognizing step of recognizing an operation on a target door provided on the moving object, correspondingly to a target seat of the moving object; a target identification information recognizing step of searching for the mobile terminal existing near the target seat based on a situation recognized in the mobile terminal position recognizing step when the operation on the target door is recognized in the target door operation recognizing step, and recognizing terminal identification information transmitted from the mobile terminal as target identification information associated with the user who uses the target seat when the mobile terminal existing near the target seat is detected; a specific equipment setting step of setting specific equipment provided in the moving object, based on a setting condition associated with the target identification information when the target identification information is recognized in the target identification information recognizing step; and a communication control step of switching the first communication unit between an operating state and a stopped state at a predetermined period, the target identification information recognizing step including: when the operation on the target door is recognized in the target door operation recognizing step, searching for the mobile terminal within a first search range in the vicinity of the target seat outside the moving object in a case where the first communication unit is in the operating state; and starting up the first communication unit to search for the mobile terminal within a second search range in the vicinity of the target seat inside and outside the moving object in a case where the first communication unit is in the stopped state.
9. As applied for claim 1, a non-transitory recording medium storing a program that causes a computer to function as:
a mobile terminal position recognizing unit configured to, according to a communication situation between a first communication unit provided in a moving object and a mobile terminal used by a user of the moving object, recognize a position of the mobile terminal with respect to the moving object; a target door operation recognizing unit configured to recognize an operation on a target door provided on the moving object, correspondingly to a target seat of the moving object; a target identification information recognizing unit configured to search for the mobile terminal existing near the target seat based on a situation recognized by the mobile terminal position recognizing unit when the target door operation recognizing unit recognizes the operation on the target door, and to recognize terminal identification information transmitted from the mobile terminal as target identification information associated with the user who uses the target seat when the mobile terminal existing near the target seat is detected; a specific equipment setting unit configured to set specific equipment provided in the moving object, based on a setting condition associated with the target identification information when the target identification information recognizing unit recognizes the target identification information; and a communication control unit configured to switch the first communication unit between an operating state and a stopped state at a predetermined period, the program causing the target identification information recognizing unit to execute a process of: when the target door operation recognizing unit recognizes the operation on the target door, searching for the mobile terminal within a first search range in the vicinity of the target seat outside the moving object in a case where the first communication unit is in the operating state; and starting up the first communication unit to search for the mobile terminal within a second search range in the vicinity of the target seat inside and outside the moving object in a case where the first communication unit is in the stopped state.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CARLOS E GARCIA whose telephone number is (571)270-1354. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9-6pm F 9-5pm.
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, Brian Zimmerman can be reached at (571) 272-3059. 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.
CARLOS E. GARCIA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2686
/Carlos Garcia/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2686 5/19/2026
Prosecution Insights