DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-7, and 9-15 are subject to the claim rejection under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the each claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more:
According to the 2024 Guidance Update on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility, Step 1 analysis: claims 1-7, and 9-11 are identified as identified as directed to a process, and claims 12-15 are directed to a machine, and manufacture of mater respectively;
In Step 2A, Prong One Analysis evaluates whether the claim recites a
judicial exception:
each independent each of claims 1, 12 and 15 similarly recites “determining a movement of the vehicle”, “determining an entry and/or an exit of one or more persons into or from the vehicle”; and “detecting the end of the journey of the vehicle when it is determined that the movement of the vehicle is equal to zero, and when the closing of at least the one door of the vehicle is determined, and when the entry and/or the exit of the one or more persons into or from the vehicle is detected”; which are as abstract idea of Mental processes, that can be mentally carried out solely by human, and without any particular algorithms or improvements,
Step (2) Analysis, each of independent claims 1, 12 and 15 recites abstract idea of Mental processes, those steps are human perception and mental processes. There is no limitation, or combination of another element, and there is no additional element.
Each of claims 12, and 15 recites “a device” to perform these abstract idea, but claims 12-15 do not particularly define, or specify the features, algorithms, or particular components, or any modification or improvement of the device to achieve the desired result or the stated purpose. Thus, the claimed “a device” is considered as a generic computer applied to the idea abstract.
In Step 2B, Prong Two Analysis to evaluate whether the claimed additional elements amount to significantly more than the recited judicial exception itself:
There are no any additional elements recited in claim beyond the Mental processes, neither any practical application that above mentioned step as Mental processes can be integrated into has been recited in each of independent claims 1, 12 and 15. As no particular computer function, algorithm or configuration is practically improved, or any particular application, or specific utility, or improvement is defined, or to be brought into certain solution, or improvement in any meaningful practice. Therefore, independent claims 1, 12 and 15 do not have additional elements amount to significantly more than the recited judicial exception itself.
Overall, Claims 1-7, and 9-15 do not limit what’s specialty, algorithms and characteristics of a method, or a device with any specific algorithms or improvements. Therefore, Claims 1-7, and 9-15 are considered as human mental processing, and a conventional operation of device, and would be conventional practice of human observation and mental processing. Therefore above mentioned steps are considered as an abstract idea of Mental processes.
On the other hands, claim 8 recites specific implementation of “using a neural network” learning “an evaluation of observation data to determine the entry and/or the exit of the one or more people into or from the vehicle”; which is considered as an additional element require a neural network to learn the evaluation of observation data. Thus, claim 8 is eligible in Patent Subject Matter Eligibility analysis.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-7, and 9-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Dulin et al. (US 6922622 B2), and in view of PINK (US 20140336912 A1).
Re Claim 1, Dulin et al. discloses a method for detecting an end of a journey of a vehicle (see Dulin: e.g. -- determines if the vehicle is stopped. This condition can be determined in any convenient way, e.g.: input from the vehicle accelerometer (typically in the airbag control module) and/or GPS location updates; monitoring odometer activity, vehicle electrical system activity, engine activity, braking; or external motion sensing (e.g., near object detection by radar or ultrasound).--, in lines 6-12, col. 4), comprising the following steps:
determining a movement of the vehicle (see Dulin: e.g.; --as when the vehicle is moving, the ultrasound sensor has a power requirement on the order of 500 miliwatts. The return signals from the ultrasound pings include a substantial amount of extraneous noise from road irregularities causing interior surfaces of the vehicle to be in vibratory motion.--, in lines 20-46, col. 6; and, --the system looks for vehicle moving signal 88--, in lines 13-61, col. 12);
determining a closing of at least one door of the vehicle (see Dulin: e.g.; -- trigger "ON" when any door, trunk lid, or load compartment door sequence of: open/close occurs;--, in lines 3-5, col. 5; and, -- to ultimate stoppage and the "ending" open/close of the corresponding doors.--, in lines 4-5, col. 9, and, “door open/close condition sensor(s) 64… each door can be monitored, tracked and reported separately.--, in lines 42-50, col. 9);
Dulin however does not explicitly disclose determining an entry and/or an exit of one or more persons into or from the vehicle;
PINK discloses determining an entry and/or an exit of one or more persons into or from the vehicle (see PINK: e.g., -- a scan is carried out for entering or exiting persons. Exiting or entering persons are generally a strong indication that the vehicle will not restart. This applies in particular if the driver of the stopped vehicle was able to be detected or observed while exiting.--, in [0040]-[0042]);
Dulin and PINK are combinable as they are in the same field of endeavor: monitoring vehicle and person/passenger/driver etc., Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to further modify Dulin’s method using PINK’s teachings by including determining an entry and/or an exit of one or more persons into or from the vehicle to Dulin’s {“when the driver/able passenger enters the vehicle, the switch is turned on by one of them (or automatically upon the door driver door being opened) so that upon exit, the alert/warning will remind the driver/passenger to not leave a child or other non-abled person in the vehicle” in lines 55-60, col.4} in order to monitor/track entering or exiting persons (see PINK: e.g., at [0040]-[0042]);
Dulin as modified by PINK further disclose detecting the end of the journey of the vehicle when it is determined that the movement of the vehicle is equal to zero, and when the closing of at least the one door of the vehicle is determined, and when the entry and/or the exit of the one or more persons into or from the vehicle is detected (see Dulin: e.g.; -- determines if the vehicle is stopped. This condition can be determined in any convenient way, e.g.: input from the vehicle accelerometer (typically in the airbag control module) and/or GPS location updates; monitoring odometer activity, vehicle electrical system activity, engine activity, braking; or external motion sensing (e.g., near object detection by radar or ultrasound).--, in lines 6-12, col. 4; and, --when the driver/able passenger enters the vehicle, the switch is turned on by one of them (or automatically upon the door driver door being opened) so that upon exit, the alert/warning will remind the driver/passenger to not leave a child or other non-abled person in the vehicle--, in lines 55-60, col.4; and, -- trigger "ON" when any door, trunk lid, or load compartment door sequence of: open/close occurs;--, in lines 3-5, col. 5; and, -- to ultimate stoppage and the "ending" open/close of the corresponding doors.--, in lines 4-5, col. 9, and, “door open/close condition sensor(s) 64… each door can be monitored, tracked and reported separately.--, in lines 42-50, col. 9; also see PINK: e.g., -- a scan is carried out for entering or exiting persons. Exiting or entering persons are generally a strong indication that the vehicle will not restart. This applies in particular if the driver of the stopped vehicle was able to be detected or observed while exiting.--, in [0040]-[0042]).
Re Claim 2, Dulin as modified by PINK further disclose
receiving movement data of the vehicle (see Dulin: e.g.; --as when the vehicle is moving, the ultrasound sensor has a power requirement on the order of 500 miliwatts. The return signals from the ultrasound pings include a substantial amount of extraneous noise from road irregularities causing interior surfaces of the vehicle to be in vibratory motion.--, in lines 20-46, col. 6; and, --the system looks for vehicle moving signal 88--, in lines 13-61, col. 12);
receiving monitoring data of the closing of the at least one door of the vehicle (see Dulin: e.g.; -- trigger "ON" when any door, trunk lid, or load compartment door sequence of: open/close occurs;--, in lines 3-5, col. 5; and, -- to ultimate stoppage and the "ending" open/close of the corresponding doors.--, in lines 4-5, col. 9, and, “door open/close condition sensor(s) 64… each door can be monitored, tracked and reported separately.--, in lines 42-50, col. 9); and
receiving observation data of a vehicle interior (see Dulin: e.g., --use of one or more systems to sense the occupancy state and temperature inside the vehicle passenger or load space, and provide one or more outputs which can selectively be employed to provide interior and exterior warning of a trapped passenger in a dangerously hot car to permit rescue, and/or to activate vehicle electro-mechanical systems to relieve the heat, such as rolling down windows, unlatching seat belts, unlocking doors, starting the car and/or fans or air conditioning systems and the like.--, abstract).
Re Claim 3, Dulin as modified by PINK further disclose observing a vehicle interior to generate observation data for the determining of the entry and/or the exit of the one or more persons into or from the vehicle and/or to determine a movement of the vehicle (see Dulin: e.g., --use of one or more systems to sense the occupancy state and temperature inside the vehicle passenger or load space, and provide one or more outputs which can selectively be employed to provide interior and exterior warning of a trapped passenger in a dangerously hot car to permit rescue, and/or to activate vehicle electro-mechanical systems to relieve the heat, such as rolling down windows, unlatching seat belts, unlocking doors, starting the car and/or fans or air conditioning systems and the like.--, abstract).
Re Claim 4, Dulin as modified by PINK further disclose measuring acceleration data and determining an orientation of the vehicle to determine the movement of the vehicle and/or in to determine the closing of the at least the one door of the vehicle (see Dulin: e.g., --determines if the vehicle is stopped. This condition can be determined in any convenient way, e.g.: input from the vehicle accelerometer (typically in the airbag control module) and/or GPS location updates; monitoring odometer activity, vehicle electrical system activity, engine activity, braking; or external motion sensing (e.g., near object detection by radar or ultrasound). By way of example, the vehicle at rest (stopped) condition and interior temperature can be extracted by the AOS from the ultrasound return, as described in more detail below. Monitoring ignition interior switch state (On vs. Off) or history is also a simple way to determine if the stopped-vehicle condition is met.
When the stopped vehicle condition is met, after a pre-set delay period, say 5-10 minutes, the occupancy sensor system is polled or the occupancy history database is checked to determine if an occupant is present.--, in lines 5-40, col. 4).
Re Claim 5, Dulin as modified by PINK further disclose the movement of the vehicle is determined: (i) using acceleration data and an orientation of the vehicle, and/or (ii) using data of a navigation system, and/or (iii) using observation data (see Dulin: e.g., --determines if the vehicle is stopped. This condition can be determined in any convenient way, e.g.: input from the vehicle accelerometer (typically in the airbag control module) and/or GPS location updates; monitoring odometer activity, vehicle electrical system activity, engine activity, braking; or external motion sensing (e.g., near object detection by radar or ultrasound). By way of example, the vehicle at rest (stopped) condition and interior temperature can be extracted by the AOS from the ultrasound return, as described in more detail below. Monitoring ignition interior switch state (On vs. Off) or history is also a simple way to determine if the stopped-vehicle condition is met.
When the stopped vehicle condition is met, after a pre-set delay period, say 5-10 minutes, the occupancy sensor system is polled or the occupancy history database is checked to determine if an occupant is present.--, in lines 5-40, col. 4; and, --as when the vehicle is moving, the ultrasound sensor has a power requirement on the order of 500 miliwatts. The return signals from the ultrasound pings include a substantial amount of extraneous noise from road irregularities causing interior surfaces of the vehicle to be in vibratory motion.--, in lines 20-46, col. 6; and, --the system looks for vehicle moving signal 88--, in lines 13-61, col. 12).
.
Re Claim 6, Dulin as modified by PINK further disclose wherein the closing of the at least the one door of the vehicle is determined: (i) using acceleration data of the vehicle, and/or (ii) using audio data, and/or (iii) using observation data (see Dulin: e.g., --determines if the vehicle is stopped. This condition can be determined in any convenient way, e.g.: input from the vehicle accelerometer (typically in the airbag control module) and/or GPS location updates; monitoring odometer activity, vehicle electrical system activity, engine activity, braking; or external motion sensing (e.g., near object detection by radar or ultrasound). By way of example, the vehicle at rest (stopped) condition and interior temperature can be extracted by the AOS from the ultrasound return, as described in more detail below. Monitoring ignition interior switch state (On vs. Off) or history is also a simple way to determine if the stopped-vehicle condition is met.
When the stopped vehicle condition is met, after a pre-set delay period, say 5-10 minutes, the occupancy sensor system is polled or the occupancy history database is checked to determine if an occupant is present.--, in lines 5-40, col. 4; and, --as when the vehicle is moving, the ultrasound sensor has a power requirement on the order of 500 miliwatts. The return signals from the ultrasound pings include a substantial amount of extraneous noise from road irregularities causing interior surfaces of the vehicle to be in vibratory motion.--, in lines 20-46, col. 6; and, --the system looks for vehicle moving signal 88--, in lines 13-61, col. 12).
Re Claim 7, Dulin as modified by PINK further disclose wherein the entry and/or the exit of the one or more persons into or from the vehicle is determined using video-based person recognition (see PINK: e.g., --a scan is carried out for stopped vehicles. This means in particular that a scan is carried out for stopped vehicles in the surroundings of the host vehicle. If a stopped vehicle is detected or recognized, a starting intention criterion is ascertained. Decision data are formed based on the starting intention criterion. These decision data include in particular a piece of information on whether or not the stopped vehicle will start.--, in [0019], and, --0051] Surroundings sensors may include LIDAR sensors, video sensors, infrared sensors, ultrasonic sensors and/or radar sensors, for example. The surroundings sensors may be identical, for example, or preferably different. This means in particular that it may be provided according to one specific embodiment that one such surroundings sensor is provided, or such surroundings sensors are provided. This means in particular that the device and/or the driver assistance system may include such sensors.
[0052] For example, in the vicinity of intersections, crosswalks, in particular when pedestrians are present, and/or stop lights, also referred to as traffic signals, in particular with red stop lights, a restarting of the stopped vehicle is more likely to be expected than on an open road.--, in [0051]-[0052]).
Re Claim 9, Dulin as modified by PINK further disclose wherein a start of the journey is determined after it has been determined that the movement of the vehicle is equal to zero, and after a closing of the door of the vehicle has been determined and after it has been detected that one or more persons have exited and/or entered the vehicle (see Dulin: e.g., --determines if the vehicle is stopped. This condition can be determined in any convenient way, e.g.: input from the vehicle accelerometer (typically in the airbag control module) and/or GPS location updates; monitoring odometer activity, vehicle electrical system activity, engine activity, braking; or external motion sensing (e.g., near object detection by radar or ultrasound). By way of example, the vehicle at rest (stopped) condition and interior temperature can be extracted by the AOS from the ultrasound return, as described in more detail below. Monitoring ignition interior switch state (On vs. Off) or history is also a simple way to determine if the stopped-vehicle condition is met.
When the stopped vehicle condition is met, after a pre-set delay period, say 5-10 minutes, the occupancy sensor system is polled or the occupancy history database is checked to determine if an occupant is present.--, in lines 5-40, col. 4; and, --as when the vehicle is moving, the ultrasound sensor has a power requirement on the order of 500 miliwatts. The return signals from the ultrasound pings include a substantial amount of extraneous noise from road irregularities causing interior surfaces of the vehicle to be in vibratory motion.--, in lines 20-46, col. 6; and, --the system looks for vehicle moving signal 88--, in lines 13-61, col. 12; and, --when the driver/able passenger enters the vehicle, the switch is turned on by one of them (or automatically upon the door driver door being opened) so that upon exit, the alert/warning will remind the driver/passenger to not leave a child or other non-abled person in the vehicle--, in lines 55-60, col.4; and, -- trigger "ON" when any door, trunk lid, or load compartment door sequence of: open/close occurs;--, in lines 3-5, col. 5; and, -- to ultimate stoppage and the "ending" open/close of the corresponding doors.--, in lines 4-5, col. 9, and, “door open/close condition sensor(s) 64… each door can be monitored, tracked and reported separately.--, in lines 42-50, col. 9; also see PINK: e.g., -- a scan is carried out for entering or exiting persons. Exiting or entering persons are generally a strong indication that the vehicle will not restart. This applies in particular if the driver of the stopped vehicle was able to be detected or observed while exiting.--, in [0040]-[0042], and, --a scan is carried out for stopped vehicles. This means in particular that a scan is carried out for stopped vehicles in the surroundings of the host vehicle. If a stopped vehicle is detected or recognized, a starting intention criterion is ascertained. Decision data are formed based on the starting intention criterion. These decision data include in particular a piece of information on whether or not the stopped vehicle will start.--, in [0019], and, --[0051] Surroundings sensors may include LIDAR sensors, video sensors, infrared sensors, ultrasonic sensors and/or radar sensors, for example. The surroundings sensors may be identical, for example, or preferably different. This means in particular that it may be provided according to one specific embodiment that one such surroundings sensor is provided, or such surroundings sensors are provided. This means in particular that the device and/or the driver assistance system may include such sensors.
[0052] For example, in the vicinity of intersections, crosswalks, in particular when pedestrians are present, and/or stop lights, also referred to as traffic signals, in particular with red stop lights, a restarting of the stopped vehicle is more likely to be expected than on an open road.--, in [0051]-[0052]).
Re Claim 10, Dulin as modified by PINK further disclose wherein, after the end of the journey has been detected, a start of a further journey of the vehicle is determined (see PINK: e.g., --a scan is carried out for stopped vehicles. This means in particular that a scan is carried out for stopped vehicles in the surroundings of the host vehicle. If a stopped vehicle is detected or recognized, a starting intention criterion is ascertained. Decision data are formed based on the starting intention criterion. These decision data include in particular a piece of information on whether or not the stopped vehicle will start.--, in [0019], and, --[0051] Surroundings sensors may include LIDAR sensors, video sensors, infrared sensors, ultrasonic sensors and/or radar sensors, for example. The surroundings sensors may be identical, for example, or preferably different. This means in particular that it may be provided according to one specific embodiment that one such surroundings sensor is provided, or such surroundings sensors are provided. This means in particular that the device and/or the driver assistance system may include such sensors.
[0052] For example, in the vicinity of intersections, crosswalks, in particular when pedestrians are present, and/or stop lights, also referred to as traffic signals, in particular with red stop lights, a restarting of the stopped vehicle is more likely to be expected than on an open road.--, in [0051]-[0052]).
Re Claim 11, Dulin as modified by PINK further disclose wherein an end of the further journey is determined when it is determined again that a movement of the vehicle is equal to zero, and a closing of at least one door of the vehicle is determined again, and an entry and/or an exit of one or more persons into or from the vehicle is determined again (see Dulin: e.g., --determines if the vehicle is stopped. This condition can be determined in any convenient way, e.g.: input from the vehicle accelerometer (typically in the airbag control module) and/or GPS location updates; monitoring odometer activity, vehicle electrical system activity, engine activity, braking; or external motion sensing (e.g., near object detection by radar or ultrasound). By way of example, the vehicle at rest (stopped) condition and interior temperature can be extracted by the AOS from the ultrasound return, as described in more detail below. Monitoring ignition interior switch state (On vs. Off) or history is also a simple way to determine if the stopped-vehicle condition is met.
When the stopped vehicle condition is met, after a pre-set delay period, say 5-10 minutes, the occupancy sensor system is polled or the occupancy history database is checked to determine if an occupant is present.--, in lines 5-40, col. 4; and, --as when the vehicle is moving, the ultrasound sensor has a power requirement on the order of 500 miliwatts. The return signals from the ultrasound pings include a substantial amount of extraneous noise from road irregularities causing interior surfaces of the vehicle to be in vibratory motion.--, in lines 20-46, col. 6; and, --the system looks for vehicle moving signal 88--, in lines 13-61, col. 12; and, --when the driver/able passenger enters the vehicle, the switch is turned on by one of them (or automatically upon the door driver door being opened) so that upon exit, the alert/warning will remind the driver/passenger to not leave a child or other non-abled person in the vehicle--, in lines 55-60, col.4; and, -- trigger "ON" when any door, trunk lid, or load compartment door sequence of: open/close occurs;--, in lines 3-5, col. 5; and, -- to ultimate stoppage and the "ending" open/close of the corresponding doors.--, in lines 4-5, col. 9, and, “door open/close condition sensor(s) 64… each door can be monitored, tracked and reported separately.--, in lines 42-50, col. 9; also see PINK: e.g., -- a scan is carried out for entering or exiting persons. Exiting or entering persons are generally a strong indication that the vehicle will not restart. This applies in particular if the driver of the stopped vehicle was able to be detected or observed while exiting.--, in [0040]-[0042]).
Re Claims 12-14, claims 12-14 are the corresponding device claims to claims 1-4 respectively. Therefore, claims 12-14 are rejected by the similar reasons as for the rejections of claims 1-4 respectively. Furthermore, Dulin as modified by PINK further disclose device configured to detect an end of a journey of a vehicle (see Dulin: e.g. -- determines if the vehicle is stopped. This condition can be determined in any convenient way, e.g.: input from the vehicle accelerometer (typically in the airbag control module) and/or GPS location updates; monitoring odometer activity, vehicle electrical system activity, engine activity, braking; or external motion sensing (e.g., near object detection by radar or ultrasound).--, in lines 6-12, col. 4).
Re Claim 15, claim 15 is the corresponding device claims to claim 1 respectively. Therefore, claim 15 is rejected by the similar reasons as for the rejections of claim 1 respectively. Furthermore, Dulin as modified by PINK further disclose a vehicle, comprising: device configured to detect an end of a journey of a vehicle (see Dulin: e.g. -- determines if the vehicle is stopped. This condition can be determined in any convenient way, e.g.: input from the vehicle accelerometer (typically in the airbag control module) and/or GPS location updates; monitoring odometer activity, vehicle electrical system activity, engine activity, braking; or external motion sensing (e.g., near object detection by radar or ultrasound).--, in lines 6-12, col. 4).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Dulin as modified by PINK, and further in view of MAI (US 20200406860 A1).
Re Claim 8, Dulin as modified by PINK however still do not explicitly disclose that
an evaluation of observation data to determine the entry and/or the exit of the
one or more people into or from the vehicle is learned using a neural network;
Mai discloses an evaluation of observation data to determine the entry and/or the exit of the one or more people into or from the vehicle is learned using a neural network (see Mai: e.g., -- The current event may be associated with at least one of: the known event, the unknown event and/or the another event, based on the mismatch cost and additional mismatch cost associated with at least one additional section of the first TSCI and at least one additional section of the second TSCI. The known events may comprise at least one of: a door closed event, door open event, window closed event, window open event, multi-state event, on-state event, off-state event, intermediate state event, continuous state event, discrete state event, human-present event, human-absent event, sign-of-life-present event, and/or a sign-of-life-absent event.
[0102] A projection for each CI may be trained using a dimension reduction method based on the training TSCI. The dimension reduction method may comprise at least one of: principal component analysis (PCA), PCA with different kernel, independent component analysis (ICA), Fisher linear discriminant, vector quantization, supervised learning, unsupervised learning, self-organizing maps, auto-encoder, neural network, deep neural network, and/or another method. The projection may be applied to at least one of: the training TSCI associated with the at least one event, and/or the current TSCI, for the classifier. The classifier of the at least one event may be trained based on the projection and the training TSCI associated with the at least one event.--, in [0101]-[0102]);
Dulin (as modified by PINK) and MAI are combinable as they are in the same field of endeavor: monitoring vehicle and person/passenger/driver etc., Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to further modify Dulin (as modified by PINK)’s method using MAI’s teachings by including an evaluation of observation data to determine the entry and/or the exit of the one or more people into or from the vehicle is learned using a neural network to Dulin(as modified by PINK) ’s {“when the driver/able passenger enters the vehicle, the switch is turned on by one of them (or automatically upon the door driver door being opened) so that upon exit, the alert/warning will remind the driver/passenger to not leave a child or other non-abled person in the vehicle” in lines 55-60, col.4} in order to determining the event (see PINK: e.g., at [0101]-[0102]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WEIWEN YANG whose telephone number is (571)270-5670. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm east.
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/WEI WEN YANG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2662