Prosecution Insights
Last updated: May 29, 2026
Application No. 18/507,268

APPARATUSES, COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED METHODS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR REMOTE VEHICLE ACCESS AND DATA TRANSFER

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Nov 13, 2023
Examiner
MULDER, DOMINICK ANTHONY CHIR
Art Unit
3661
Tech Center
3600 — Transportation & Electronic Commerce
Assignee
Honeywell International Inc.
OA Round
3 (Non-Final)
69%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
4m
Est. Remaining
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 69% — above average
69%
Career Allowance Rate
77 granted / 111 resolved
+17.4% vs TC avg
Strong +25% interview lift
Without
With
+25.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
12 currently pending
Career history
128
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
8.9%
-31.1% vs TC avg
§103
71.7%
+31.7% vs TC avg
§102
8.5%
-31.5% vs TC avg
§112
9.7%
-30.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 111 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Status of Claims Claims 1, 8, and 20 have been amended. Claim 6 has been cancelled. Claims 1-5 and 7-20 are currently pending and addressed below. 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. Claims 1-5, 7-10 and 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Monroe (US 2004/0008253), hereinafter referred to as Monroe, in view of Jordan et al. (US 2022/0148348), hereinafter referred to as Jordan. Monroe and Jordan are considered analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of remote communication with a vehicle in motion. Regarding claim 1, Monroe teaches: A computer-implemented method, comprising: obtaining a request to remotely download vehicle data ("The subject invention is specifically directed to data generation, collection and selective transmission of critical data generated by monitoring equipment onboard an aircraft or other commercial transport and for selectively displaying the data on a cockpit display console as well as for downloading, transmitting and displaying data at external monitoring and response stations, including fixed ground stations, roving ground stations and chase aircraft or vehicles." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0041) from a vehicle recording system ("An onboard data recorder is provided and is adapted for recording analog and/or digital cameras placed throughout the aircraft." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0094) to a remote computing environment ("The terminal center will include wireless transmission equipment for transmitting and receiving data to and from the vehicle, to and from the response vehicles and personnel, and to and from the various ground based remote stations, including a network connection to relay data from the vehicle to response and intercept vehicles and personnel." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0039) without physically accessing the vehicle recording system ("In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the aircraft in flight will transmit and receive data from the flight control station 11 and from a ground station 18 via satellite transmission 19 and when in line-of-sight by utilizing non-satellite based transmission 21." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0264) (The examiner notes that the ability of the aircraft as taught by Monroe to transmit and receive vehicle data to a remote station through satellite transmission and non-satellite based transmission indicates that physical access to the recording system is not needed to download the vehicle data. For example, Fig. 1 of Monroe as shown below illustrates an aircraft in flight transmitting data to at least a ground station and an FAA center which do not have physical access to the vehicle recording system) PNG media_image1.png 459 671 media_image1.png Greyscale and while a vehicle containing the vehicle recording system is in motion ("The sensors and cameras on the aircraft (see FIG. 2) provide onboard situational and event data that may be transmitted from air-to-ground to a flight control station 11 while the aircraft is in flight." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0264); in response to receiving at the vehicle an approval of the request from the remote computing environment ("In addition to triggering the transmission of data from the aircraft to the remote station in response to an event, it is also possible to download or pull information from the aircraft without the presence of an active alarm condition. Typically, this can only be done with password authorization, and all such actions will be logged with information as to who accessed the information and when." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0395), initiating, based at least in part on the request, a remote transfer of the vehicle data from the vehicle recording system to the remote computing environment ("Situational awareness data such as imagery, streaming video and streaming audio is both high in data content and degraded by latency. It is therefore desirable to provide a means to control or "trigger" the transmission of this data either automatically by a detected event, or upon request by a monitoring station." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0269), wherein: the remote transfer occurs without requiring a user to physically access the vehicle recording system ("Other types of events can trigger automatic transmission of onboard data, such as an off course maneuver, abrupt change in altitude, abrupt change in speed, steep angle of bank or attack, extreme high or low airspeed and the like, stall detection, or sensor indicated changes in management sensors such as rudder or aileron position and change, activation of landing gear and the like, change in hydraulic pressure and the like. Various alarm sensors such as fire, smoke, presence of gas or fumes, and the like may also be employed." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0093) (The examiner notes that the ability for onboard data to be transmitted automatically (i.e., without user input) as taught by Monroe indicates that physical access to the recording system is not required to perform the data transfer); and the remote computing environment is accessible to a user-controlled device to provide the vehicle data ("Upon command, the data may be sent in a live, real time format to off board stations. In the preferred embodiment the crewmembers are provided with panic buttons to trigger alarm and notification events." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0090) (The examiner notes that the panic button for commanding data to be sent as taught by Monroe corresponds to the claimed user-controlled device. The examiner further notes that the user-controlled device may be located remotely at a monitoring station ("From an operation perspective, a key aspect of the invention is the graphical user interface as typically displayed on an interactive monitor screen such as, by way of example, a CRT located at a remote monitoring station or an LCD on a wireless portable PDA based monitoring station." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0084)). Monroe does not explicitly disclose, but Jordan teaches: an approval of the request from the remote computing environment that is generated by the remote computing environment based on an evaluation of at least one operational condition associated with the vehicle (“The remote data manager 132, 232 stores vehicle event information in the remote data repository 130, 230. When the remote event detector 134, 234 receives the decoded data, it processes the decoded data to determine if an event of interest is found in the decoded data. The decoded information is then used by the remote event detector 134, 234 to detect events, incidents, or other predefined situations, in the data occurring with the asset 148, 248. Upon detecting an event of interest from the decoded data, the remote event detector 134, 234 stores the event information and supporting data in the remote data repository 130, 230. When the remote data manager 132, 232 receives remote event detector 134, 234 information, the remote data manager 132, 232 stores the information in the remote data repository 130, 230.” – see at least Jordan: paragraph 0091). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Monroe with these above aforementioned teachings from Jordan such that the approval of the request from the remote computing environment is generated by the remote computing environment based on an evaluation of at least one operational condition associated with the vehicle. At the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate Jordan’s remote data manager with Monroe’s aircraft surveillance and response system in order to selectively detect data associated with predefined events and operational conditions for a vehicle (“The decoded information is then used by the remote event detector to detect events, incidents, or other predefined situations, in the data occurring with the asset 830.” – see at least Jordan: paragraph 0113). Doing so would provide the benefit of using the remote data manager to manage the vehicle event data stored by a remote computing environment (“The data encoder 814 transmits the encoded data to the onboard data manager 812 which then sends the encoded video and audio data to the remote data repository 820 via a remote data manager 818 located in the data center 830 in response to an on-demand request by a remotely located user 834 or in response to certain operating conditions being observed onboard the asset 830. The onboard data manager 812 and the remote data manager 818 work in unison to manage the data replication process. The remote data manager 818 in the data center 832 can manage the replication of data from a plurality of assets.” – see at least Jordan: paragraph 0108). The examiner notes that Monroe already teaches aspects of selectively transmitting vehicle data to a remote computing environment based on operational conditions associated with a vehicle (“Other events may also trigger transmission of live video to the ground, including, but not limited to change in course inconsistent with the flight plan, change in cabin pressure, drop in altitude, extreme motions of control surfaces, detection of aircraft system failures, detection of a loud noise within the airframe, failure to respond to radio request, and the like.” – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0090), which provides the benefit of reducing the amount of bandwidth required to transmit data relative to a system which performs continuous transmission (“As these devices, particularly digital video cameras and encoders, come in more widespread use within a system, the amount of bandwidth required to transmit continuous, "live" images from an array of cameras is staggering.” – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0029). As such, Jordan merely provides additional teachings such that the decision of whether to store (i.e., download) the data is performed by the remote computing environment. Regarding claim 2, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein: the vehicle embodies an aerial vehicle ("The subject invention is generally related to surveillance and security systems for monitoring commercial transports such as aircraft or over-the-road vehicles, transportation transports and terminals, such as aircraft and airports, and emergency response vehicles and personnel." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0002); and the vehicle recording system embodies a flight recorder of an aerial vehicle ("The recorder is adapted for recording any IP data, including but not limited to encoded video from the cockpit video, radar, MDF and the like, as well as surveillance camera video, encoded audio such as radio receptions into the aircraft, automated flight systems and alarms, open microphones throughout the aircraft and in the cockpit, encoded aircraft instrumentation data such as ARINC-429 formatted data, analog and discrete inputs and the like, and aircraft bus data such as ARINC-573, ARINC-717 and the like." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0096). Regarding claim 3, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein: the request is obtained from the remote computing environment ("Because of this, data is transmitted either by "pushing" it to a monitor station during [an] emergency situation, or "pulling" it to a monitor station on request by the monitor station operator." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0264) (The examiner notes that the request to pull data by the monitor station operator as taught by Monroe corresponds to the claimed request from the remote computing environment); and the remote computing environment generates the request in response to user input provided to a user interface by the user-controlled device in an environment external to the vehicle ("From an operation perspective, a key aspect of the invention is the graphical user interface as typically displayed on an interactive monitor screen such as, by way of example, a CRT located at a remote monitoring station or an LCD on a wireless portable PDA based monitoring station." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0084). Regarding claim 4, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein: the user-controlled device embodies a control interface onboard the vehicle ("User interface devices are supplied on the transport, such as pilot displays and controls, crewmember "panic buttons" and the like." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0046) and configured to communicate with the vehicle recording system ("These devices are in communication with the system controller and provide system and event status when they are display devices, and provide control functions and trigger input when they are input devices. Examples of status and control units are the pilots MDU (Multifunction Display Unit). Examples of input devices are panic buttons located through the cabin and cockpit." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0046); and the request is obtained via a user input provided to a control interface of the vehicle ("Wireless components also provide mobile connectivity to wearable user interface devices such as panic buttons. This allows triggering of the system by any crewmember from any location on the transport. Wireless connections, such as 802.11, provide a data link to a PDA or laptop units equipped with wireless radios." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0047). Regarding claim 5, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein: the vehicle embodies an aerial vehicle ("The subject invention is generally related to surveillance and security systems for monitoring commercial transports such as aircraft or over-the-road vehicles, transportation transports and terminals, such as aircraft and airports, and emergency response vehicles and personnel." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0002); and the control interface embodies an instrument panel of the aerial vehicle ("User interface devices are supplied on the transport, such as pilot displays and controls, crewmember "panic buttons" and the like." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0046). Regarding claim 7, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein: the request comprises configuration data ("Initialization of Still Video would be utilized where high resolution images are needed, or where there was not enough available bandwidth to transmit full motion video or step-video. Camera selection can be accomplished, as in previous discussions, by association of cameras to sensors." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0324) (The examiner notes that image resolution and camera selection as taught by Monroe correspond to the claimed configuration data); and the method further comprises: determining a subset of the vehicle data to remotely transfer based at least in part on the configuration data, wherein the remote transfer is limited to the determined subset of the vehicle data ("Full motion streams that have been transmitted in real-time to the monitor station and are stored at the monitor station or an associated server, can then be played back to an area of interest and paused. Then the select frame or frames of the lower resolution streamed video can be requested from the aircraft server, thus initiating a down-link of the specified high-resolution still or stills." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0405), Regarding claim 8, this claim is substantially similar to claim 1 and is, therefore, rejected in the same manner as claim 1 as has been set forth above. Regarding claim 9, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein: the remote transfer of the vehicle data causes the remote computing environment to render the vehicle data on a display of the user-controlled device ("For example, if a panic button were pressed, the closest cabin or cockpit camera or cameras would be activated for streaming transmission. Spilt screen transmission or automatic time sequencing of the cameras may be selected if more than one camera is determined to be necessary to evaluate the condition. As illustrated previously, if an engine overheating condition or fire were detected, a camera or multiple cameras viewing the engine could be selected for streamed over the communications channel." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0321). Regarding claim 10, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein the computer-coded instructions, in execution with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: generate the request in response to determining a current location of the vehicle satisfies a predefined trigger condition comprising a predefined location ("Upon command, the data may be sent in a live, real time format to off board stations… Other events may also trigger transmission of live video to the ground, including, but not limited to change in course inconsistent with the flight plan" – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0090) (The examiner notes that detection of a change in course inconsistent with the flight plan of an aircraft as taught by Monroe corresponds to the claimed current location of the vehicle satisfying a predefined trigger condition). Regarding claim 12, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein the computer-coded instructions, in execution with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: obtain real-time vehicle data from the vehicle recording system ("Thus, the system of the subject invention is a sophisticated situational awareness system for identifying events as they unfold on a commercial transport, such as an aircraft, archiving the event, and providing real-time information to external resources for assessing the situation, for providing an appropriate response and for aiding in reconstruction of the event during a post event investigation." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0043); and generate the request in response to determining the real-time vehicle data satisfies at least one predefined trigger condition ("When a response-triggering event occurs, the data is then transmitted live to remote or ground stations for assessment and response." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0083) (The examiner notes that the occurrence of a response-triggering event as taught by Monroe corresponds to the claimed satisfying of at least one predefined trigger condition). Regarding claim 13, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein the at least one predefined trigger condition comprises a predefined vehicle speed ("Other types of events can trigger automatic transmission of onboard data, such as an off course maneuver, abrupt change in altitude, abrupt change in speed, steep angle of bank or attack, extreme high or low airspeed and the like" – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0093). Regarding claim 14, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein the at least one predefined trigger condition comprises a predefined vehicle status ("Other events may also trigger transmission of live video to the ground, including, but not limited to change in course inconsistent with the flight plan, change in cabin pressure, drop in altitude, extreme motions of control surfaces, detection of aircraft system failures, detection of a loud noise within the airframe, failure to respond to radio request, and the like." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0090). Regarding claim 15, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein the predefined vehicle status comprises at least one of a power failure, engine failure, or turbulence ("It is an object and feature of this invention to automatically detect and activate on critical airframe events such as engine failure, hydraulic failure, power failure, controls failure, and the like." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0146). Regarding claim 16, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein the vehicle data comprises historical vehicle data ("It is an object and feature of this invention to provide access, including wireless access, to historical transport sensor data to personnel, such as the Air Marshal, for evaluation of past actions of passengers and crew to better determine their intent or for proving their actions." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0163) and real-time vehicle data associated with the vehicle ("It is a further object and feature of the subject invention to provide real time data monitoring of various systems, components and conditions onboard an aircraft using wireless transmissions systems." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0165). Regarding claim 17, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein the vehicle data comprises one or more audio recordings of an environment internal to the vehicle ("For example, if a panic button were depressed, the associated microphone associated with that panic button can be activated and the audio stream relayed to the monitor station." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0325). Regarding claim 18, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein the vehicle data comprises one or more images of an environment internal to the vehicle ("In the preferred embodiment of the invention, multiple cameras are located in the cabin, cargo bay and cockpit of the aircraft, with additional cameras being located for monitoring the tail section, landing gear and other strategic components. The data from these cameras is routinely stored on a hardened recorder located in the aircraft. Upon command, the data may be sent in a live, real time format to off board stations." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0090). Regarding claim 19, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above: Monroe further teaches: wherein the computer-coded instructions, in execution with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: determine a subset of the vehicle data that is available for the remote transfer ("The data sensors/transducers, such as, by way of example, cameras, engine management sensors, panic buttons, pressure or course change sensors and the like generate critical data which is transmitted to the cockpit display and to one or more onboard recorders. On command, or in response to certain types of events, real time data is capable of being transmitted to remote stations either fixed on the ground or mobile on the ground or in the air, permitting monitoring of events as they occur and permitting formulation of appropriate responses." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0089) (The examiner notes that critical data associated with a user command or certain types of events (e.g., trigger events) as taught by Monroe correspond to the claimed subset of vehicle data that is available for remote transfer); and cause provision of a notification to the remote computing environment, wherein: the notification indicates the subset of the vehicle data ("It is an object and function of this invention to provide event notification whereby detected events from sensors, sensor appliances, video appliances, legacy security alarm systems and the like are automatically processed and a comprehensive and flexible method of notifying individuals and organizations is provided" – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0177) and causes the remote computing environment to render a user interface indicative of the subset of the vehicle data on a display of the user-controlled device ("For example, if a panic button were pressed, the closest cabin or cockpit camera or cameras would be activated for streaming transmission. Spilt screen transmission or automatic time sequencing of the cameras may be selected if more than one camera is determined to be necessary to evaluate the condition. As illustrated previously, if an engine overheating condition or fire were detected, a camera or multiple cameras viewing the engine could be selected for streamed over the communications channel." – see at least Monroe: paragraph 0321). Regarding claim 20, this claim is substantially similar to claim 1 and is, therefore, rejected in the same manner as claim 1 as has been set forth above. Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Monroe in view of Jordan, further in view of Yerger et al. (US 2014/0380433), hereinafter referred to as Yerger. Yerger is considered analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of remote communication with a vehicle in motion. Regarding claim 11, Monroe in view of Jordan teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above. Monroe does not explicitly disclose, but Yerger teaches: wherein the computer-coded instructions, in execution with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: obtain a data transmission cost based at least in part on a current location of the vehicle ("The priority rules can be based on the value of the data to a user or the user's customer, the size of the data package to be transmitted, the mobile network's 102 location, phase of travel (e.g., phase of flight), the real-time cost (e.g., cost at a given location or phase of travel) of the transmission links that the mobile network 202 is configured to use (e.g., Wi-Fi, Cellular, Satellite, ACARS, Bluetooth, NFC), and the like." – see at least Yerger: paragraph 0029); and generate the request in response to determining the data transmission cost meets a predefined trigger condition ("A cost condition can comprise a condition specifying a cost range, maximum cost, and/or the like for a variety of users and/or criticality of a transmission." – see at least Yerger: paragraph 0074). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Monroe with these above aforementioned teachings from Yerger such that the computer-coded instructions, in execution with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: obtain a data transmission cost based at least in part on a current location of the vehicle, and generate the request in response to determining the data transmission cost meets a predefined trigger condition. At the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate Yerger’s method of managing a mobile communications network for a vehicle with Monroe’s aircraft surveillance and response system in order to determine whether or not to transmit data based on the urgency of the data and the cost of the transmission (“Based on cost rules (e.g., the public WiFi is free, ACARS costs $2/kilobyte, Cellular costs $1/Megabyte), and the urgency of the data, the CTMU 106 can decide whether to transmit the data or to hold the data until the external communication unit 108 detects a communication option at a lesser cost (e.g., WiFi hot spot or other communication option at an arrival gate).” – see at least Yerger: paragraph 0031). Doing so would provide the benefit of minimizing a cost of transmitting data while meeting necessary constraints (“The intent of the analysis is to provide an optimum cost (e.g., lowest cost for available given certain constraints) throughout the duration of travel (e.g., flight) regardless of the communication link 105 used.” – see at least Yerger: paragraph 0032). Response to Arguments Applicant's arguments and amendments filed 09 February 2026 have been fully considered, but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection based on the teachings of the newly applied reference by Jordan. In particular, the Applicant’s amendments introduce additional limitations which recite that an approval of the request from the remote computing environment is generated by the remote computing environment based on an evaluation of at least one operational condition associated with the vehicle. The previously applied primary reference by Monroe already teaches relevant aspects of these limitations, including monitoring the operational conditions of a vehicle and detecting “triggering events” which initiate transmission of data to a remote computing environment (see at least Monroe: paragraphs 0083 and 0090). In view of the specification of the instant application, the “triggering events” as taught by Monroe are considered substantially similar to the “trigger conditions” for conditionally initiating remote transfers of vehicle data as described in the specification of the instant application (“In some embodiments, the trigger conditions 114 include predefined thresholds for initiating remote transfers of the vehicle data 112. For example, the trigger conditions 114 include predefined locations, vehicle performance values, vehicle performance statuses, data transmission costs, and/or the like that may be used to conditionally initiate remote transfers of vehicle data 112 from the vehicle recording system 111 to the remote computing environment 105.” – see at least paragraph 0037 of the specification of the instant application). In particular, both Monroe and the instant application describe conditionally initiating remote data transfers of vehicle data based on identifying certain “triggers” in a set of vehicle operational information. However, the examiner acknowledges that the amended claims require that this evaluation of at least one operational condition associated with the vehicle is performed at the remote computing environment, whereas Monroe does not explicitly indicate that the detection of triggering events is performed by a remote computing environment, and instead Monroe may be readily interpreted as being configured such that the detection of triggering events is performed by the vehicle recording system itself, rather than by a remote computing environment. As such, the reference by Jordan was introduced by the examiner to address this deficiency of Monroe. Specifically, Jordan teaches a remote data manager configured to selectively store data in a remote data repository when an event of interest is detected, wherein an event of interest corresponds to particular events, incidents, or other predefined situations associated with a vehicle (see at least Jordan: paragraph 0091). As described in at least paragraph 0085 and Fig. 2 of Jordan, the remote data manager is explicitly located at a remote data center, which corresponds to the claimed remote computing environment. As such, Jordan teaches a system in which the decision of whether to store (i.e., download) data from a vehicle recording system to a remote data repository is performed at the remote computing environment based on detection of predefined operational conditions of the vehicle, as required by the claims. The examiner notes that the primary reference by Monroe provides relevant teachings as to the benefits of selectively limiting a transfer of data from a vehicle recording system to a remote computing environment, such as preventing excessive bandwidth requirements which would come with continuous transmission (see at least Monroe: paragraph 0029) while still transmitting essential information associated with critical operational conditions (see at least Monroe: paragraph 0090). As such, Jordan merely introduces a means to perform, at the remote computing environment, the evaluation of whether to download the data, which is readily applicable to the system of Monroe to provide substantially the same benefits of preventing excessive data transfer to the remote computing environment. As such, the amended claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Monroe in view of Jordan. As per claim 11, the grounds of rejection based on the teachings of Jordan as set forth above further cure the deficiencies of Yerger as pointed out in the Applicant’s arguments, with regard to the approval of a remote data transfer at a remote computing environment. As such, claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Monroe in view of Jordan and Yerger. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DOMINICK ANTHONY MULDER whose telephone number is (571)272-3610. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:00am - 5:00pm. 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, RAMYA P BURGESS can be reached at (571)272-6011. 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. /D.M./Examiner, Art Unit 3661 /TUAN C TO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3661
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Nov 13, 2023
Application Filed
Jun 09, 2025
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Sep 09, 2025
Response Filed
Dec 09, 2025
Final Rejection mailed — §103
Feb 09, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Apr 15, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Apr 29, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
May 06, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
69%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+25.4%)
2y 10m (~4m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
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