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 .
This communication is in response to amendments filed on 04/13/2026.
In the application claims 1-4, 6-8, 22-25, 27-28, and 106-112 are pending. Claims 5, 9-21, 26, and 29-105 have been canceled.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 22 were fully considered; however, the arguments are moot in view of the new grounds of rejections.
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) 1-4, 6-8, and 22-25, 27-28, 106-108, and 110-112 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brew (US 2018/0215311 A1) and further in view of Lisiak (US 6,271,746 B1), and further in view of Purushothaman (US 2013/0204458 A1).
Consider claim 1, Brew teaches, a method comprising:
at processing circuitry (16) [of a vehicle], Brew teaches, “computer system/server 12 is shown in the form of a general-purpose computing circuit. The components of computer system/server 12 may include, but are not limited to, one or more processors or processing units 16, a system memory 28, and a bus 18 that operably couples various system components including system memory 28 to processor 16.” See ¶ 0062:
in response to receiving an indication of a triggering of an activator of a horn of the vehicle, Brew teaches, “[t]he horn may be triggered when a user calls for the horn” See ¶ 0027, Brew teaches, “in step 101, a context of the vehicle is detected. The external context may include detection (e.g., image, audible, etc.) of an object (a pothole, another vehicle, a person, animal or other obstruction) within the range of one or more vehicle sensors.” See ¶ 0016, Brew teaches, “the context of the vehicle is related to one or more other factors: the environment of the vehicle: e.g., weather; day vs night; road conditions; geographic location such as rural vs. urban vs. Africa vs, United States; a current season (e.g., winter or summer); etc. Other contextual factors can be related to other vehicles (e.g. a vehicle detected in front of the subject vehicle is a truck, motorcycle, etc., having a certain estimated distance required for stopping; one or more passengers of the vehicle e.g., if a passenger is experiencing a medical emergency, etc.” See ¶ 0021,
determining:
a driving characteristic of the vehicle, Brew teaches, “a horn of the vehicle is controlled to take a differential honking action based on the context of a vehicle. For example, the differential honking action can include, for example, timbre of the honking including sound waveform, a frequency of the honking, a volume of the honking, an oscillation rate of the honking, a duration of the honking, an amplitude of the honking, a sustainment of the honking, a decay of the honking, a release of the honking, a speed of the onset (e.g. more vigilant and likely to honk faster if pedestrian appears to be distracted and looking at a smartphone),” See ¶ 0022; and
a local regulation associated with a location of the vehicle, Brew teaches, “in order to achieve different attention-getting effects, be in compliance with local noise ordinances, and/or even be more harmonious in an urban or rural location concerned with noise pollution.” See ¶ 0025; Brew teaches, “volume of the honking may change depending on areas where animals are more likely to be, location, local regulations, time of day, season, etc.” See ¶ 0024;
determining an audible output tune based at least in part on a combination of the driving characteristic of the vehicle, and the local regulation associated with the location of the vehicle, Brew teaches, “a horn of the vehicle is controlled to take a differential honking action based on the context of a vehicle. For example, the differential honking action can include, for example, timbre of the honking including sound waveform, a frequency of the honking, a volume of the honking, an oscillation rate of the honking, a duration of the honking, an amplitude of the honking, a sustainment of the honking, a decay of the honking, a release of the honking, a speed of the onset (e.g. more vigilant and likely to honk faster if pedestrian appears to be distracted and looking at a smartphone),” See ¶ 0022, Brew teaches, “in order to achieve different attention-getting effects, be in compliance with local noise ordinances, and/or even be more harmonious in an urban or rural location concerned with noise pollution.” See ¶ 0025; Brew teaches, “Based on the way the received honks are processed by the recipient vehicles as per regulation, it processes and notifies the driver (i.e., audibly and/or visually) or makes a sound in the car, makes some vibration of the driver seats or such other actions.” See ¶ 0036;
determining an audible output volume based at least in part on the combination of the driving characteristic of the vehicle, and the local regulation associated with the location of the vehicle Brew teaches, “a horn of the vehicle is controlled to take a differential honking action based on the context of a vehicle. For example, the differential honking action can include, for example, …a volume of the honking… an amplitude of the honking… (e.g. more vigilant and likely to honk faster if pedestrian appears to be distracted and looking at a smartphone),” See ¶ 0022, Brew teaches, “If the effectiveness is less than the threshold value, the horn honking action can be modified (i.e., such as increasing the volume, changing the type of horn honking action, etc.).” See ¶ 0023, Brew teaches, “in order to achieve different attention-getting effects, be in compliance with local noise ordinances, and/or even be more harmonious in an urban or rural location concerned with noise pollution.” See ¶ 0025; and
generating an audible output for the vehicle according to the audible output tune and the audible output volume, Brew teaches, “the differential honking action can include, for example, timbre (i.e. tone/tune) of the honking including sound waveform, a frequency of the honking, a volume of the honking, an oscillation rate (i.e. tune) of the honking, a duration of the honking (length), an amplitude of the honking, a sustainment of the honking, a decay of the honking, a release of the honking, … the mode of the honking is selected based on the context.” See ¶ 0022;
Although, it is obvious that the driving characteristic of the vehicle is determined in response to receiving a triggering a horn of a vehicle, Brew teaches, “[t]he horn may be triggered when a user calls for the horn” See ¶ 0027, Brew teaches, “a context of the vehicle is detected. The external context may include detection (e.g., image, audible, etc.) of an object (a pothole, another vehicle, a person, animal or other obstruction) within the range of one or more vehicle sensors.” See ¶ 0016, Brew teaches, “contextual factors can be related to other vehicles (e.g. a vehicle detected in front of the subject vehicle is a truck, motorcycle, etc., having a certain estimated distance required for stopping” See ¶ 0021; Brew does not explicitly states that the driving characteristic of the vehicle is determined in response to receiving a triggering a horn of a vehicle; nonetheless, in an analogous art, Lisiak teaches, “the device controls abuse of the horn upon activation by limiting the length of the sounding period of the horn, and subsequently locking out use of the horn for a predetermined controlled use period. Normal use of the horn is restored upon the end of the controlled use period. The device may be reactivated after the end of the controlled use period.” See Col. 3 line 51-56; Lisiak teaches, “the controlled use or lockout period may be activated, deactivated and reactivated by the speed of the vehicle, for example activation may occur whenever the speed of the vehicle falls below 8 miles per hour, and may end whenever the speed of the vehicle increases above 8 miles per hour. Alternatively, the controlled use or lockout period may be activated by use of the brakes, or by the attainment of a predetermined value on one or more detectors or sensors that may be installed on the vehicle. Exemplary sensors include motion sensors, vibration sensors, and acceleration sensors. The invention contemplates activation or ending of the controlled use or lockout period by a combination of any of the above described sensors or detectors.” See col. 4 lines 56-67.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time of invention (effective filing date for AIA application) to modify the invention of Brew and upon activation of the horn, use vehicle sensors to determine, for example, “speed of the vehicle,” “use of the brakes,” “or by the attainment of a predetermined value on one or more detectors or sensors that may be installed on the vehicle. Exemplary sensors include motion sensors, vibration sensors, and acceleration sensors,” as suggested by Lisiak in an effort to prevent the abuse of the use of horn by the driver.
Brew does not teach, processing circuitry of a vehicle, in an analogous art, Purushothaman teaches, “system (500) consists of a smart horn (515) which includes a vehicle horn (525) and a first processor (520). The first processor (520) is adapted to activate the horn (525) automatically when receives a plurality of signals from a vehicle embedded system (505) or manually when raised by a driver (510).” See ¶ 0026; Purushothaman teaches, “the plurality of information transmitted is attributed the condition under which the smart horn (515) is pressed” See ¶ 0028; Purushothaman teaches, “one such sensor can be an airbag deployment sensor or a braking sensor that detects the real-time condition of the vehicle. A first processor (520) on receiving the plurality of signals determines the severity of the plurality of signals. On determining the severity, the first processor (520) modulates and embeds a plurality of information (530) in an inaudible upper frequency of a sound spectrum or sound wave generated by the horn (525).” See ¶ 0038.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time of invention (effective filing date for AIA application) to modify the combination of Brew-Lisiak and have the processor of the vehicle to detects the real-time conditions and determines the severity of the plurality of signals and on determining the severity… sound spectrum or sound wave generated by the horn, as suggested by, Purushothaman, in an effort to effectively use the horn to gain the attention based on a real-time situation.
Consider claim 2, the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining an ambient condition external to the vehicle, Brew teaches, “the context of the vehicle is related to one or more other factors: the environment of the vehicle: e.g., weather; day vs night; road conditions; geographic location such as rural vs. urban vs. Africa vs, United States; a current season (e.g., winter or summer); etc.” See ¶ 0021;
wherein the determining of the audible output volume is further based on the ambient condition external to the vehicle, Brew teaches, “the differential honking action can include, for example, … a volume of the honking, … an amplitude of the honking, … the mode of the honking is selected based on the context.” See ¶ 0022.
Consider claim 3, the method of claim 2, wherein the ambient condition external to the vehicle comprises at least one of an indication of a time of day, a location of the vehicle, an ambient noise level, local noise norms or patterns, or local vehicular audible output levels or patterns, Brew teaches, “the context of the vehicle is related to one or more other factors: the environment of the vehicle: e.g., weather; day vs night; road conditions; geographic location such as rural vs. urban vs. Africa vs, United States; a current season (e.g., winter or summer); etc.” See ¶ 0021; Brew teaches, “in order to achieve different attention-getting effects, be in compliance with local noise ordinances, and/or even be more harmonious in an urban or rural location concerned with noise pollution.” See ¶ 0025; Brew teaches, “effectiveness of the horn honking action can be measured and then in step 102b compared with a predetermined threshold value. If the effectiveness is less than the threshold value, the horn honking action can be modified (i.e., such as increasing the volume, changing the type of horn honking action, etc.).” See ¶ 0023; Brew teaches, “volume of the honking may change depending on areas where animals are more likely to be, location, local regulations, time of day, season, etc.” See ¶ 0024.
Consider claim 4, the method of claim 3, wherein the ambient condition external to the vehicle comprises at least one of an indication of a weather condition, an ambient lighting condition, a traffic signal, a traffic sign, a traffic condition, an approaching vehicle condition, a proximal vehicle condition, a proximal pedestrian condition, or a distance of the vehicle to an object, Brew teaches, “the context of the vehicle is related to one or more other factors: the environment of the vehicle: e.g., weather; day vs night; road conditions; geographic location such as rural vs. urban vs. Africa vs, United States; a current season (e.g., winter or summer); etc.… having a certain estimated distance required for stopping” See ¶ 0021; Brew teaches, “a speed of the onset (e.g. more vigilant and likely to honk faster if pedestrian appears to be distracted and looking at a smartphone)” See ¶ 0022; Brew teaches, “volume of the honking may change depending on areas where animals are more likely to be, location, local regulations, time of day, season, etc.” See ¶ 0024.
Consider claim 6, the method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle driving characteristic comprises at least one of an indication of a speed of the vehicle, an acceleration of the vehicle, an acceleration pedal activation of the vehicle, a brake pedal activation of the vehicle, a brake activation of the vehicle, a brake locking of the vehicle, hydroplaning of the vehicle, tire traction of the vehicle, tire rotation speed of the vehicle, steered wheels turning status of the vehicle, a selected gear of the vehicle, a gear stick position of the vehicle, a tachometer reading of the vehicle, a steering wheel position of the vehicle, an airbag activation status of the vehicle, a swerving indication for the vehicle, a current stoppage time of the vehicle, or a position of the vehicle relative to another vehicle, Brew teaches, “contextual factors can be related to other vehicles (e.g. a vehicle detected in front of the subject vehicle is a truck, motorcycle, etc., having a certain estimated distance required for stopping” See ¶ 0021; Lisiak teaches, “the controlled use or lockout period may be activated, deactivated and reactivated by the speed of the vehicle, for example activation may occur whenever the speed of the vehicle falls below 8 miles per hour, and may end whenever the speed of the vehicle increases above 8 miles per hour. Alternatively, the controlled use or lockout period may be activated by use of the brakes, or by the attainment of a predetermined value on one or more detectors or sensors that may be installed on the vehicle. Exemplary sensors include motion sensors, vibration sensors, and acceleration sensors. The invention contemplates activation or ending of the controlled use or lockout period by a combination of any of the above described sensors or detectors.” See col. 4 lines 56-67.
Consider claim 7, the method of claim 2, further comprising:
at the processing circuitry of the vehicle, See rejection of claim 1:
after the generating the first audible output for the vehicle, determining, at a second time subsequent to a first time associated with the indication of the triggering of the activator of the audible output of the vehicle, a second ambient condition external to the vehicle;
based at least in part on the determining the second ambient condition external to the vehicle at the second time, selecting automatically, by the processing circuitry, a second audible output volume different from the audible output volume; and
generating a second audible output for the vehicle according to the second audible output volume, wherein the second audible output according to the second audible output volume is in further response to the indication at the first time of the triggering of the activator of the audible output of the vehicle, Brew teaches, “the differential honking action can include, for example, timbre (i.e. tone/tune) of the honking including sound waveform, a frequency of the honking, a volume of the honking, an oscillation rate (i.e. tune) of the honking, a duration of the honking (length), an amplitude of the honking, a sustainment of the honking, a decay of the honking, a release of the honking, … the mode of the honking is selected based on the context.” See ¶ 0022; Brew teaches, “In step 102a, an effectiveness of the horn honking action can be measured and then in step 102b compared with a predetermined threshold value. If the effectiveness is less than the threshold value, the horn honking action can be modified (i.e., such as increasing the volume, changing the type of horn honking action, etc.). If the threshold value is met (i.e., the effectiveness is greater than the threshold value, the method proceeds to step 103.” See ¶ 0023, Lisiak teaches, “the controlled use period begins upon the release of the horn switch by the driver, and ends after a predetermined time. Normal use of the horn is restored upon the end of the controlled use period. The device may be reactivated after the end of the controlled use period.” See Col. 4 line 40-46.
Consider claim 8, the method of claim 1, further comprising:
at the processing circuitry of the vehicle, see rejection of claim 1:
after the generating the audible output, determining, at a second time subsequent to a first time associated with the indication of the triggering of the activator of the audible output of the vehicle, a second ambient condition external to the vehicle, wherein the second ambient condition is the same as the ambient condition;
based at least in part on the determining the second ambient condition external to the vehicle, setting automatically by the processing circuitry, a second audible output volume different from the audible output volume; and
generating a second audible output for the vehicle according to the second audible output volume, Brew teaches, “the differential honking action can include, for example, timbre (i.e. tone/tune) of the honking including sound waveform, a frequency of the honking, a volume of the honking, an oscillation rate (i.e. tune) of the honking, a duration of the honking (length), an amplitude of the honking, a sustainment of the honking, a decay of the honking, a release of the honking, … the mode of the honking is selected based on the context.” See ¶ 0022; Brew teaches, “In step 102a, an effectiveness of the horn honking action can be measured and then in step 102b compared with a predetermined threshold value. If the effectiveness is less than the threshold value, the horn honking action can be modified (i.e., such as increasing the volume, changing the type of horn honking action, etc.). If the threshold value is met (i.e., the effectiveness is greater than the threshold value, the method proceeds to step 103.” See ¶ 0023, Lisiak teaches, “the controlled use period begins upon the release of the horn switch by the driver, and ends after a predetermined time. Normal use of the horn is restored upon the end of the controlled use period. The device may be reactivated after the end of the controlled use period.” See Col. 4 line 40-46.
Consider claim 22, Brew teaches a system (12) comprising:
a memory (28) configured to store audible output tunes, Brew teaches “the vehicle horn mode, vigilance, and acoustic characteristics may be associated with a component defined by a policy, retrieved from a database that contains sound and other settings mapped to the current value,” See ¶ 0028; and
processing circuitry (16) (Brew teaches, “computer system/server 12 is shown in the form of a general-purpose computing circuit. The components of computer system/server 12 may include, but are not limited to, one or more processors or processing units 16, a system memory 28, and a bus 18 that operably couples various system components including system memory 28 to processor 16.” See ¶ 0062)
processing circuitry configured to:
in response to receiving an indication of a triggering of an activator of a horn of a vehicle, determine:
a driving characteristic of the vehicle, See rejection of claim 1;
a local regulation associated with a location of the vehicle;
determine, based at least in part on a combination of the driving characteristic of the vehicle, and the local regulation associated with the location of the vehicle, an audible output tune of the stored audible output tunes, See rejection of claim 1;
determine based at least in part on a combination of the driving characteristic of the vehicle, and the local regulation associated with the location of the vehicle, the audible output volume, See rejection of claim 1; and
generate the audible output for the vehicle according to the audible output tune and the audible output volume, See rejection of claim 1.
Consider claim 23, the system of claim 22, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine an ambient condition external to the vehicle, wherein the determining of the first audible output volume is further based on the ambient condition external to the vehicle, See rejection of claim 2.
Consider claim 24, the system of claim 23, wherein the first ambient condition external to the vehicle comprises at least one of an indication of a time of day, a location of the vehicle, an ambient noise level, local noise norms or patterns, local vehicular audible output levels or patterns, See rejection of claim 3.
Consider claim 25, the system of claim 24, wherein the ambient condition external to the vehicle comprises at least one of an indication of a weather condition, an ambient lighting condition, a traffic signal, a traffic sign, a traffic condition, an approaching vehicle condition, a proximal vehicle condition, a proximal pedestrian condition, or a distance of the vehicle to an object, See rejection of claim 4.
Consider claim 27, the system of claim 22, wherein the vehicle driving characteristic comprises at least one of an indication of a speed of the vehicle, an acceleration of the vehicle, an acceleration pedal activation of the vehicle, a brake pedal activation of the vehicle, a brake activation of the vehicle, a brake locking of the vehicle, hydroplaning of the vehicle, tire traction of the vehicle, tire rotation speed of the vehicle, steered wheels turning status of the vehicle, a selected gear of the vehicle, a gear stick position of the vehicle, a tachometer reading of the vehicle, a steering wheel position of the vehicle, an airbag activation status of the vehicle, a swerving indication for the vehicle, a current stoppage time of the vehicle, or a position of the vehicle relative to another vehicle, See rejection of claim 6.
Consider claim 28, the system of claim 22, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:
after the generating the first audible output for the vehicle, determine, at a second time subsequent to a first time associated with the indication of the triggering of the activator of the audible output of the vehicle, a second ambient condition external to the vehicle;
based at least in part the determining the second ambient condition external to the vehicle at the second time, select automatically a second audible output volume different from the first audible output volume; and
generate a second audible output for the vehicle according to the second audible output volume, wherein the second audible output according to the second audible output volume is in further response to the indication at the first time of the triggering of the activator of the audible output of the vehicle, See rejection of claim 7.
Consider claim 106, the method of claim 1, wherein the driving characteristic of the vehicle, the ambient condition external to the vehicle, and the local regulation associated with the location of the vehicle are determined directly in response to the receiving, at the first time, the indication of the triggering of the activator of the horn of the vehicle, Brew teaches, “[t]he horn may be triggered when a user calls for the horn” See ¶ 0027, Brew teaches, “in step 101, a context of the vehicle is detected. The external context may include detection (e.g., image, audible, etc.) of an object (a pothole, another vehicle, a person, animal or other obstruction) within the range of one or more vehicle sensors.” See ¶ 0016, Brew teaches, “the context of the vehicle is related to one or more other factors: the environment of the vehicle: e.g., weather; day vs night; road conditions; geographic location such as rural vs. urban vs. Africa vs, United States; a current season (e.g., winter or summer); etc. Other contextual factors can be related to other vehicles (e.g. a vehicle detected in front of the subject vehicle is a truck, motorcycle, etc., having a certain estimated distance required for stopping; one or more passengers of the vehicle e.g., if a passenger is experiencing a medical emergency, etc.” See ¶ 0021.
Consider claim 107, the method of claim 106, wherein the indication is human driver-initiated, Brew teaches, “The use of cognitive assessment and evaluation of current context to determine if an alert necessarily must be passed to the human occupants of a vehicle, in which case a human-targeted alert (e.g., a traditional horn, a cabin audio alert, a seat vibration, etc.) is needed for the human to become aware of the situation and take an action.” See ¶ 0032; “the horn may sound differently depending on whether it was initiated by a human or an SDV” See ¶ 0034.
Consider claim 108, the method of claim 1, wherein: the driving characteristic of the vehicle comprises a relevant driving factor, and the relevant driving factor further comprises at least one of a time in which the vehicle is stopped, a vehicle speed, a swerving indication of the vehicle, or a brake pedal activation of the vehicle. Lisiak teaches, “the controlled use or lockout period may be activated, deactivated and reactivated by the speed of the vehicle, for example activation may occur whenever the speed of the vehicle falls below 8 miles per hour, and may end whenever the speed of the vehicle increases above 8 miles per hour. Alternatively, the controlled use or lockout period may be activated by use of the brakes, or by the attainment of a predetermined value on one or more detectors or sensors that may be installed on the vehicle. Exemplary sensors include motion sensors, vibration sensors, and acceleration sensors. The invention contemplates activation or ending of the controlled use or lockout period by a combination of any of the above described sensors or detectors.” See col. 4 lines 56-67.
Consider claim 110, the method of claim 1, wherein: the ambient condition external to the vehicle comprises a temporal factor of the vehicle, and the temporal factor of the vehicle comprises a time of day the vehicle operates, Brew teaches, “effectiveness of the horn honking action can be measured and then in step 102b compared with a predetermined threshold value. If the effectiveness is less than the threshold value, the horn honking action can be modified (i.e., such as increasing the volume, changing the type of horn honking action, etc.).” See ¶ 0023; Brew teaches, “volume of the honking may change depending on areas where animals are more likely to be, location, local regulations, time of day, season, etc.” See ¶ 0024.
Consider claim 111, the method of claim 1, wherein: the ambient condition external to the vehicle comprises an environmental factor, and the environmental factor comprises at least one of a traffic signal condition, a type of neighborhood, an ambient noise level, or a terrain condition. Brew teaches, “the context of the vehicle is related to one or more other factors: the environment of the vehicle: e.g., weather; day vs night; road conditions; geographic location such as rural vs. urban vs. Africa vs, United States; a current season (e.g., winter or summer); etc. Other contextual factors can be related to other vehicles (e.g. a vehicle detected in front of the subject vehicle is a truck, motorcycle, etc., having a certain estimated distance required for stopping; one or more passengers of the vehicle e.g., if a passenger is experiencing a medical emergency, etc.” See ¶ 0021. Brew teaches, “effectiveness of the horn honking action can be measured and then in step 102b compared with a predetermined threshold value. If the effectiveness is less than the threshold value, the horn honking action can be modified (i.e., such as increasing the volume, changing the type of horn honking action, etc.).” See ¶ 0023; Brew teaches, “volume of the honking may change depending on areas where animals are more likely to be, location, local regulations, time of day, season, etc.” See ¶ 0024.
Consider claim 112, the method of claim 1, comprising at least one of:
determining an emergency situation indicator based at least in part on at least one of the driving characteristic of the vehicle, the ambient condition external to the vehicle, i.e. traffic signal, or [[the local regulation associated with the location of the vehicle]], wherein at least one of the audible output tune or the audible output volume of the audible output is determined based at least in part on the emergency situation indicator, Brew teaches, “the differential honking action can include altering the horn honking to emit a siren type sound similar to an emergency vehicle. For example, if a context is detected that a passenger of the car is suffering a life-threatening injury and must be driven to a hospital immediately the horn honking can be altered to be a siren. The horn can include a non-audible action such as flashing the headlights with the horn.” See ¶ 0026, Purushothaman teaches, “For example in an emergency scenario when the vehicle is either responding to an emergency or is involved in an emergency, maximum power of the speaker/horn is utilized so that the emergency message/broadcast can transmitted to a maximum range possible.” See ¶ 0030; Purushothaman teaches, “consider an emergency scenario when a vehicle utilizing a smart horn system (500) is involved in an accident and needs to send a distress message. A smart horn (515) receives a plurality of signals from a plurality of sensors connected to a vehicle-embedded system (505). In the present scenario, one such sensor can be an airbag deployment sensor or a braking sensor that detects the real-time condition of the vehicle. A first processor (520) on receiving the plurality of signals determines the severity of the plurality of signals. On determining the severity, the first processor (520) modulates and embeds a plurality of information (530) in an inaudible upper frequency of a sound spectrum or sound wave generated by the horn (525).” See ¶ 0038; Purushothaman teaches, “When the emergency vehicle is responding to an emergency and is waiting for a traffic signal clearance. A simple press of a smart horn (515) will send across the necessary distress message to an intelligent traffic controller (or receiving device (540)) configured to demultiplex and interpret the distress messages transmitted.” See ¶ 0039
; or [[determining a non-threatening situation indicator based at least in part on at least one of the driving characteristic of the vehicle, the ambient condition external to the vehicle, or the local regulation associated with the location of the vehicle, wherein at least one of the audible output tune or the audible output volume of the audible output is determined based at least in part on the non-threatening situation indicator]].
Claim 109 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brew (US 2018/0215311 A1) and further in view of Lisiak (US 6,271,746 B1), and further in view of Purushothaman (US 2013/0204458 A1), and further in view of Hess ().
Consider claim 109, the method of claim 1, wherein: the ambient condition external to the vehicle comprises an ambient noise level, the audible output volume is determined as a decibel level, the audible output is audible over the ambient noise level, and the audible output complies with the local regulation. Brew teaches, “in order to achieve different attention-getting effects, be in compliance with local noise ordinances, and/or even be more harmonious in an urban or rural location concerned with noise pollution.” See ¶ 0025; Brew teaches, “effectiveness of the horn honking action can be measured and then in step 102b compared with a predetermined threshold value. If the effectiveness is less than the threshold value, the horn honking action can be modified (i.e., such as increasing the volume, changing the type of horn honking action, etc.).” See ¶ 0023; Brew teaches, “volume of the honking may change depending on areas where animals are more likely to be, location, local regulations, time of day, season, etc.” See ¶ 0024. In an analogous art, Hess teaches, “a need for systems that control audio signal output levels to permit a listener to perceive the audio signals from different tracks at a consistent sound level. There is a need for systems that provide consistent sound levels in environments having loud ambient noise.” See ¶ 0007, Hess teaches, “[t]he loudness adaptation indicators are introduced into the audio signal to generate an adapted audio signal. An estimated ambient noise level is determined. The audio signal gain is dynamically adapted for outputting the audio signal containing the at least two tracks based on the loudness adaptation indicators in the adapted audio signal with an average loudness within the predetermined loudness range. The adapted gain is applied to the output audio signal according to the ambient noise level.” See ¶ 0008.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time of invention (effective filing date for AIA application) to modify the combination of Brew-Lisiak-Purushothaman and to determine the ambient noise level to dynamically adjust the horn volume while also comply with the local regulation, thereby, effectively using the correct volume for alerting and complying with the local noise regulation.
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.
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/Omer S Khan/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2686
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