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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 13 have been fully considered but are moot because the arguments do not directly apply to the new combination of references being used in the current rejection.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 3-4, 6-7, 9 and 11 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20140306835 A1 to Ricci (cited in the IDS filed 5/31/2024) in view of US 10805577 B2 to Hodge et al., (hereinafter “Hodge”).
Consider claim 1, Ricci discloses a signal control apparatus (par. [0404] and fig. 3: “An embodiment of a vehicle control environment 300 including a vehicle control system 204 may be as shown in FIG. 3”), comprising:
a control unit connected with a built-in memory module (par. [0405] and fig. 3: processor 304, memory 308);
multiple interfaces electrically connected with the control unit, wherein the multiple interfaces connect with one or more built-in sensors for generating sensing signals and connect with one or more external circuits for receiving signals generated by the one or more external circuits (par. [0399] and fig. 2: “The vehicle control system 204 may also communicate with one or more sensors 236, 242 [. . .] The vehicle control system 204 may also perform signal processing of signals received from one or more sensors 236, 242”; par. [0404] and fig. 3, 7A: “sensor subsystems 340 [. . .] The system, subsystems, modules, components, etc. 204, 316-352 may communicate over a network or bus 356”; par. [0396]-[0397] and fig. 2: “The vehicle control system 204 may communicate through the communication network 224 to a server 228 that may be located in a facility that is not within physical proximity to the vehicle 104”);
at least one communication port electrically connected with the control unit, wherein the at least one communication port is used to connect with a communication system that connects with an external system via a network (par. [0396]-[0397] and fig. 2: “The vehicle control system 204 may communicate through the communication network 224 to a server 228 that may be located in a facility that is not within physical proximity to the vehicle 104”; par. [0404] and fig. 3: “communication subsystems 344 [. . .] may communicate over a network or bus 356”);
multiple wireless or wired connection ports connected with multiple video recorders for receiving audiovisual files generated by the multiple video recorders, wherein the audiovisual files are stored to the built-in memory module or transmitted to the external system (par. [0470]: “The vehicle 104 can include a number of sensors in wireless or wired communication with the vehicle control system 204 [. . .] one or more interior-facing or exterior-facing cameras or other imaging sensors”; par. [0478]: “The stereo images can be recorded and/or used to determine depth associated with objects and/or users 216 in a vehicle 104”); and
a control panel (par. [0414] and fig. 3: “The user interface/input interfaces 324 may be as described herein for providing information or data and/or for receiving input or data from a user”).
Ricci fails to disclose a control panel configured to annotate tags in the audiovisual files.
In analogous art, Hodge discloses a control panel configured to annotate tags in the audiovisual files (Col. 8 Ln. 51-6: Fig. 3 shows client device 101 implemented as a dash camera system; Col. 8 Ln. 6-27: client device includes touchscreen or microphone to receive user commands; Col. 23 Ln. 20-56: “The user may provide an indication to the system of the occurrence of an event of interest to the user. For example, in one embodiment, a user may touch the touchscreen of a client device 101 to indicate the occurrence of an event. Upon detecting 702 the user “manual tag” input, the system creates an event-based clip [. . .] Optionally, additional user speech may be input to provide a name or descriptor for the event-based video clip resulting for the user manual tag input. For example, a short description of the event may be uttered by the user”).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the user interface and display of Ricci in view of the above teachings of Hodge to enable the user to tag an event of specific or personal interest.
Consider claim 3, Ricci discloses wherein the multiple interfaces comprise any combination of a positioning signal receiver, a BLUETOOTH communication interface, an acceleration value receiver, a general-purpose input/output (I/O) interface, an analog-to-digital converter interface, a controller area network bus, and a universal serial bus (par. [0404]-[0405] and fig. 3: “The system, subsystems, modules, components, etc. 204, 316-352 may communicate over a network or bus 356”, Global Positioning System, input/output (I/O) module 312; par. [0416]-[0417 and fig. 4: Bluetooth; par. [0523]: analog digital conversion; par. [0470]: acceleration sensor; par. [0403]: USB).
Consider claim 4, Ricci discloses wherein the signal control apparatus is used to implement a hub device having the multiple interfaces, and the hub device is configured to receive and transmit the sensing signals generated by the one or more built-in sensors, the one or more external circuits, the external system, and the multiple video recorders (par. [0404] and fig. 3: “The system, subsystems, modules, components, etc. 204, 316-352 may communicate over a network or bus 356”, including data storage 320, sensor subsystems 340 and media subsystems 348; par. [0470]: sensor subsystems include interior/exterior cameras; par. [0369]-[0399] and fig. 2: wide area communication capability for sending/receiving sensor data; par. [0681]-[0684]: transmit/receive external signals including image data from vehicle camera).
Consider claim 6, Ricci discloses wherein the signal control apparatus is installed in a vehicle, and the multiple video recorders comprise at least one of an in-vehicle multi-view camera, a webcam, or multiple body-worn video recorders (par. [0470] and fig. 2: “The vehicle 104 can include a number of sensors in wireless or wired communication with the vehicle control system 204 [. . .] one or more interior-facing or exterior-facing cameras or other imaging sensors”).
Consider claim 7, Ricci discloses wherein the hub device having the multiple interfaces implemented by the signal control apparatus further embodies an audiovisual hub device that is used to receive audiovisual contents generated by the multiple video recorders, and the hub device broadcasts the sensing signals generated by the one or more built-in sensors or the signals generated by the one or more external circuits to the multiple video recorders via the multiple wireless or wired connection ports (par. [0404] and fig. 3: “The system, subsystems, modules, components, etc. 204, 316-352 may communicate over a network or bus 356”, including data storage 320, sensor subsystems 340 and media subsystems 348; par. [0470]: sensor subsystems include interior/exterior cameras; par. [0369]-[0399] and fig. 2: wide area communication capability for sending/receiving sensor data; par. [0681]-[0684]: disclosing transmit/receive external image signals: “retrieve one or more (static or dynamic) images or videos from cameras along the route [. . .] In this example, the traffic condition may trigger the retrieval of images from one or more cameras [. . .] The images may be retrieved from roadside cameras, vehicle cameras, other vehicles' cameras [. . .] images can be shared on one or more of the social networks, other networks and navigation networks 2252, as wells as, or alternatively, with one or more other vehicles 2220-2228.”).
Consider claim 9, Ricci discloses wherein the multiple video recorders are triggered by a signal transmitted by the signal control apparatus to activate a video recording function (par. [0517]: “One or more video controllers 840 may be provided for controlling the video operation of the devices 212, 248, 882 associated with the vehicle”; par. [0681]-[0684]: “In this example, the traffic condition may trigger the retrieval of images from one or more cameras [. . .] The images may be retrieved from roadside cameras, vehicle cameras, other vehicles' cameras).
Consider claim 11, Ricci discloses wherein the audiovisual hub device implemented by the signal control apparatus connects with a network router through the at least one communication port, so as to transmit the audiovisual contents generated by the multiple video recorders to the external system in a live streaming process (par. [0404] and fig. 3: “The system, subsystems, modules, components, etc. 204, 316-352 may communicate over a network or bus 356”, including data storage 320, sensor subsystems 340 and media subsystems 348; par. [0417], [0436] and fig. 4: “This optional environment 400 can also include an IP router 420”; par. [0470]: sensor subsystems include interior/exterior cameras; par. [0369]-[0399] and fig. 2: wide area communication capability for sending/receiving sensor data. Note, WAN implicitly includes router; par. [0681]-[0684]: disclosing transmit/receive external image signals: “retrieve one or more (static or dynamic) images or videos from cameras along the route [. . .] In this example, the traffic condition may trigger the retrieval of images from one or more cameras [. . .] The images may be retrieved from roadside cameras, vehicle cameras, other vehicles' cameras [. . .] images can be shared on one or more of the social networks, other networks and navigation networks 2252, as wells as, or alternatively, with one or more other vehicles 2220-2228.”; par. [0683]: “the other entity, such as the department of transportation is optionally able to specify what types of information they would like, which can include any type of information from any of the sensors associated with the vehicle 104, as well as image information as discussed [. . .] this "distributed network" of information-gathers can advantageously provide more comprehensive, accurate, and real-time information”).
Claims 2, 5, 8, 10 and 12 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ricci in view of Hodge, further in view of US 20160006922 A1 to Boudreau.
Consider claim 2, modified Ricci discloses the signal control apparatus according to claim 1, but fails to explicitly recite wherein a user is allowed to operate the control panel for remotely controlling any of the multiple video recorders to start or to stop recording an audiovisual content and for previewing the audiovisual content.
In analogous art, Boudreau discloses wherein a user is allowed to operate the control panel for remotely controlling any of the multiple video recorders to start or to stop recording an audiovisual content and for previewing the audiovisual content (par. [0080] and fig. 4: “The vehicle camera 402 includes a display 404, a connection 406 and buttons 408, 410, 412, 414, 416 and 418”; par. [0084]-[0085]: “button 416 operates as a power button to turn the vehicle camera 402 on and off [. . .] Button 418 in this embodiment operates as an emergency record button to allow a user to manually set a recording to a locked state”; par. [0117]-[0119] describes an embodiment wherein the video view screen 510 may display a current video feed from any of the connected vehicle cameras 402 and touch screen controls including a snapshot button 514 and a record button 516).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the user interface and display of modified Ricci further in view of the above teachings of Boudreau to enable user selection of a video feed for display or recording to improve ease of use.
Consider claims 5, 8, 10 and 12, the control panel feature is rejected based on the same reasoning as claim 2. The motivation to combine references is also the same as regarding claim 2.
Claims 13-20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ricci in view of US 20160006922 A1 to Boudreau.
Consider claim 13, Ricci discloses a scalable in-vehicle video system (par. [0523] and fig. 8A: “A video input/output interface 864 can be included to receive and transmit video signals between the various components in the system 800”), comprising:
a communication system providing a network connection to connect with an external system (par. [0369]-[0399] and fig. 2: wide area communication capability for sending/receiving sensor data; par. [0681]-[0684]: transmit/receive external signals including image data from vehicle camera);
multiple video recorders comprising at least one of an in-vehicle multi-view camera, a webcam, or multiple body-worn video recorders for recording audiovisual contents at different locations and with different viewing angles (par. [0470]: “The vehicle 104 can include a number of sensors in wireless or wired communication with the vehicle control system 204 [. . .] one or more interior-facing or exterior-facing cameras or other imaging sensors”; par. [0478]: “The stereo images can be recorded and/or used to determine depth associated with objects and/or users 216 in a vehicle 104”).
Ricci further discloses a vehicle event recorder (Par. [0724]), but fails to explicitly disclose wherein at least one of the multiple video recorders is configured to buffer audiovisual data corresponding to the audiovisual contents before a video recording function is activated to yield buffered audiovisual data.
In analogous art, Boudreau discloses wherein at least one of the multiple video recorders is configured to buffer audiovisual data corresponding to the audiovisual contents before a video recording function is activated to yield buffered audiovisual data (Par. [0034]: “For example, the vehicle camera 102 may loop the recordings on internal memory and save locked recordings to the removable memory component”).
Ricci further discloses:
a signal control apparatus (as examined regarding claim 1), which comprises:
a control unit connected with a built-in memory module (as examined regarding claim 1);
multiple interfaces, electrically connected with the control unit, wherein the multiple interfaces connect with one or more built-in sensors for generating sensing signals and connect with one or more external circuits for receiving signals generated by the one or more external circuits (as examined regarding claim 1);
at least one communication port electrically connected with the control unit, wherein the at least one communication port is used to connect with the communication system that connects with the external system via a network (as examined regarding claim 1); and
multiple wireless or wired connection ports connected with the multiple video recorders for receiving audiovisual files generated by the multiple video recorders, wherein the audiovisual files are stored to the built-in memory module or transmitted to the external system (as examined regarding claim 1).
Ricci further teaches multiple wireless or wired connection ports connected with a control unit and the multiple video recorders for receiving audiovisual files generated by the multiple video recorders (as examined regarding claim 1), but Ricci fails to disclose: transferring the audiovisual files when a specified event occurs within a specified period of time of when the buffered audiovisual data is generated.
However, Boudreau discloses transferring the audiovisual files when a specified event occurs within a specified period of time of when the buffered audiovisual data is generated (Par. [0034]: “For example, the vehicle camera 102 may loop the recordings on internal memory and save locked recordings to the removable memory component”; Par. [0038]: “After the recording loop repeats, the vehicle camera 102 deletes the audio recording unless the vehicle camera 102 is in a critical operation mode wherein the files are identified as critical and locked. The vehicle camera 102 enters the critical operation mode when a critical identification or trigger occurs. The critical identification may be based upon a manual input by a user and/or based upon a trigger event, such as a G-Force threshold”; also Par. [0088]: transferring recorded video to the display unit).
Therefore, the combination of Ricci and Boudreau discloses the whole limitation, wherein the buffered audiovisual data is configured to be transferred to the control unit through at least one of the multiple wireless or wired connection ports as the audiovisual files when a specified event occurs within a specified period of time of when the buffered audiovisual data is generated.
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify teachings of Ricci in view of the above teachings of Boudreau to prevent or delay overwriting an important video clip (Boudreau: Par. [0035]) and/or for enabling user selection of a video feed for recording or display.
Consider claim 14, modified Ricci discloses the scalable in-vehicle video system according to claim 13, wherein the signal control apparatus further includes a control panel, and a user is allowed to operate the control panel for remotely controlling any of the multiple video recorders to start or to stop recording the audiovisual contents and for previewing the audiovisual contents (Boudreau: par. [0080] and fig. 4: “The vehicle camera 402 includes a display 404, a connection 406 and buttons 408, 410, 412, 414, 416 and 418”; par. [0084]-[0085]: “button 416 operates as a power button to turn the vehicle camera 402 on and off [. . .] Button 418 in this embodiment operates as an emergency record button to allow a user to manually set a recording to a locked state”; par. [0117]-[0119] describes an embodiment wherein the video view screen 510 may display a current video feed from any of the connected vehicle cameras 402 and touch screen controls including a snapshot button 514 and a record button 516).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the user interface and display of modified Ricci further in view of the above teachings of Boudreau to enable user selection of a video feed for display or recording to improve ease of use.
Consider claims 15, 16, 18 and 19, Ricci discloses the additional features of claims 15, 16, 18 and 19 of based on the same reasoning as the apparatus of claims 3, 4 and 9 and 11, respectively.
Consider claims 17 and 20, the control panel feature is rejected based on the same reasoning as claim 14. The motivation to combine references is also the same as regarding claim 14.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEPHEN R SMITH whose telephone number is (571)270-1318. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thai Q Tran can be reached at (571) 272-7382. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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STEPHEN R. SMITH
Examiner
Art Unit 2484
/THAI Q TRAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2484