DETAILED ACTIONS
This Office Action is in response to the application 18/539962, filed on 12/14/2023.
Priority Date: 12/11/2024
Claims 1-9 and 11-21 are presently pending.
Definition of terms that may be used for citation purpose:
page = pg., paragraph = p., column = col., line = ln., for example page 5 = pg.5
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/20/2026 has been entered.
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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Sargent et al. US 2016/0112216; in view of Dergosits et al. US 11,838884; and in further view of Sundaram et al. US 2023/0324981.
Regarding Claim 1. (Currently Amended) Sargent discloses a system comprising: a vehicle interface adapter, the vehicle interface adapter communicatively connected to a diagnostic port of a vehicle via a first cable; (see at least p.20, the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B is a computing device or gateway device coupled to the vehicle computer through the OBDII port) and a vehicle gateway, the vehicle gateway communicatively coupled to the vehicle interface adapter via a second cable, (see at least p.53, gateway module 205 can therefore acquire diagnostic bus and motor vehicle status data and buffer the data and forward the data directly to the vehicle management system or another in-vehicle device (such as a driver's cell phone, tablet, or laptop) via WiFi, Ethernet, RS232/422, USB or other suitable physical and wireless interfaces) wherein the vehicle interface adapter is configured to receive vehicle data via the first cable, packetize the vehicle data into vehicle packets, (see at least p.57, such as the gateway module 205. The wireless data module 340 can level-translate serial data to be compatible with the gateway module 205 and/or packet networks) *Examiner notes that p.53 states that communication to the gateway device can either wireless or physical i.e. with a cable, and transmit the vehicle packets to the vehicle gateway, (see at least p.57, The wireless data module 340 can convert serial data into packets and transmit these packets to the gateway module) and the vehicle gateway is configured to receive the vehicle packets (see at least p.45, to ensure that packets are properly sent or received at the gateway device 205.) Although Sargent does disclose monitoring a power state, Sargent doesn’t explicitly disclose the gateway device receives packets and manage a power state of the system by transitioning the vehicle gateway from a standby state to a full power state in response to an inertial measurement unit (IMU) event or a USB a universal serial bus (USB) wake event.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Dergosits discloses a low power mode for cloud-connected on-vehicle gateway device wherein explicitly the gateway device receives packets and manage a power state of the system. (see at least col.2 ln.43 vehicle gateway device can receive the data requests and respond to the management server in a timely manner. In order to reduce the power consumed to maintain the data connection in the standby mode, the vehicle gateway device can increase a keep alive interval such that the interval between the keep alive packets is increased.) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the gateway device as disclosed by Sargent with the on-vehicle gateway device that manages a power state of the system as taught by Dergosits for the advantage of reducing the power consumed by the system and thereby reducing cost. (see at least col.2 ln.10)
Further Sundaram discloses an in-vehicle compute system that includes a compute device that such as an edge gateway node (see at least p.40, an in-vehicle compute system (e.g., a navigation system)) wherein the gateway device would manage a power state of the system by transitioning the vehicle gateway from a standby state to a full power state in response to a USB a universal serial bus (USB) wake event. (see at least p.38, providing an instruction to exit the standby mode responsive to sensing a negotiated power level at the USB-C connection circuitry) and (as least p.37, he method 600 can begin with operation 602 with detecting a connection event at USB-C connection circuitry 106. The method 600 can continue with operation 604 with receiving a wake signal over the USB-C connection circuitry 106. In examples, the wake signal can be provided to baseband circuitry). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the combined gateway system as disclosed by Sargentand and Dergosits with the USB wake up signal for the gateway system as taught y Sundaram for the advantage of cost savings with lower power. (see at least p.16)
Regarding Claim 2. (Original) The combination of Sargent, Dergpsits and Sundaram discloses all the limitations of the system of claim 1. Sargent discloses further, wherein the first cable includes a first end, the first end comprising a pinout for the vehicle interface adapter and a second end, the second end selected based on a type of the diagnostic port. (see at least p.86)
Regarding Claim 3. (Original) The combination of Sargent, Dergpsits and Sundaram discloses all the limitations of the system of claim 1. Sargent discloses further, wherein the second cable comprises a universal serial bus cable. (see at least p.53)
Claims 4-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Sargent et al. US 2016/0112216; in view of Dergosits et al. US 11,838884; and in further view of Sundaram et al. US 2023/0324981; and PENG et al. US 2020/0328910.
Regarding Claim 4. (Original) The combination of Sargent, Dergosits and Sundaram discloses all the limitations of the system of claim 1. The combination doesn’t explicitly disclose, wherein the first cable includes a detection integrated circuit configured to detect a type of the diagnostic port and transmit a signal to the vehicle interface adapter representing the type of the diagnostic port.
However, in the same field of endeavor, PENG discloses an OBD Interface bus type detection apparatus wherein the first cable includes a detection integrated circuit configured to detect a type of the diagnostic port (see at least p.96, the first bus feature is matched with the OBD interface bus library, the bus type of the connection cable associated with the selected pin being determined) and transmit a signal to the vehicle interface adapter representing the type of the diagnostic port. (see at least p.104, The first bus feature of the connection cable corresponding to the pin is obtained after the digital signal is analyzed. The first bus feature is matched with an OBD interface bus feature library, a bus type of the connection cable corresponding to the pin being determined). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Sargent, Dergosits and Sundaram with the OBD interface bus type detection apparatus as taught by PENG for the advantage of improving the systems scanning efficiency. (see at least p.113)
Regarding Claim 5. (Original) The combination of Sargent, Dergosits, Sundaram and PENG disclose all the limitations of the system of claim 4. PENG discloses further, wherein the detection integrated circuit includes a fixed value set based on the type of the diagnostic port. (see at least p.90, the first bus feature obtained through analysis in step S101 is matched with the OBD interface bus feature library, where the OBD interface bus feature library includes a physical layer feature of each bus and a bus type corresponding to the physical layer feature, including a high level voltage value, a low level voltage value and a baud rate) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Sargent, Dergosits and Sundaram with the OBD interface bus type detection apparatus as taught by PENG for the advantage of improving the systems scanning efficiency. (see at least p.113)
Regarding Claim 6. (Original) The combination of Sargent, Dergosits, Sundaram and PENG disclose all the limitations of the system of claim 4. PENG discloses further, wherein the detection integrated circuit includes program logic to analyze signals received via the diagnostic port to identify the type of the diagnostic port. (see at least p.91, the bus type is approximately determined according to a baud rate value, for example, when the baud rate value meets a typical baud rate value such as 125 kHZ, 250 kHZ, 500 kHZ or 3333 HZ, a connection cable corresponding to a pin may be determined as a CAN-bus protocol.) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Sargent, Dergosits and Sundaram with the OBD interface bus type detection apparatus as taught by PENG for the advantage of improving the systems scanning efficiency. (see at least p.113)
Regarding Claim 7. (Currently Amended) The combination of Sargent, Dergosits, Sundaram and PENG disclose all the limitations of the system of claim 4. Sundaram discloses, further comprising a universal serial bus (USB) USB hub, the USB hub communicatively coupled to the vehicle interface adapter and the vehicle gateway, wherein the vehicle gateway acts a USB host. (see at least p.34, other computing apparatuses that can include USB-C connection ports.) *Note: Examiner interprets that “connection ports” is an example of a USB hub since there is more than one. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Sargent and Dergosits with the USB hub as disclosed by Sundaram to improve the capability of the system by duplication of parts.
Regarding Claim 8. (Previously Presented) The combination of Sargent, Dergosits, Sundaram and PENG disclose all the limitations of the system of claim 4. The combination doesn’t explicitly disclose, wherein the vehicle gateway is configured to transition the vehicle gateway among a plurality of power states including the full power state, a low power state, the standby state and a power off state.
LLOYD discloses a gateway system that automatically transitions to a low power mode wherein the vehicle gateway is configured to transition the vehicle gateway among a plurality of power states including the full power state, a low power state, the standby state and a power off state. (see at least p.50, plurality of modes) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the combined gateway system as disclosed by Sargent, Dergosits and Sundaram with the gateway system to provide a plurality of power modes, in particular low power, full power and standby as disclosed by LLOYD for the advantage of to further improve the conservation of power in the system.
Regarding Claim 9. (Original) The combination of Sargent, Dergosits, Sundaram and LLOYD disclose all the limitations of the system of claim 8. Dergosits discloses further, wherein the vehicle gateway is configured to perform an action received from a network while in the standby state. (see at least col.29 ln.35, The vehicle gateway device can maintain the network connection while in a standby power mode in order to respond to requests for vehicle metric data in a timely and efficient manner.) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the gateway device as disclosed by Sargent with the on-vehicle gateway device that manages a power state of the system as taught by Dergosits for the advantage of reducing the power consumed by the system and thereby reducing cost. (see at least col.2 ln.10)
Regarding Claim 11. (Currently Amended) Dergosits teaches a method comprising: operating a vehicle gateway in a full power state (see at least col.1 ln.58, vehicle gateway device can use large amounts of energy at a full power mode); detecting a change in an operating status of a vehicle communicatively coupled to the vehicle gateway; transitioning the vehicle gateway from the full power state to a low power state based on the change in the operating status; (see at least col.2 ln.25, vehicle gateway device may enter the standby mode based on a lack of input for a period of time from an accelerometer, a vehicle battery, and/or a vehicle computer) transitioning the vehicle gateway from the low power state to a standby state after a timer expires; (see at least col.2 ln.15, vehicle gateway device gathers vehicle metric data from the vehicle (e.g., every millisecond). The gathered metric data can be bucketed and aggregated over time, and periodically (e.g., every 5 minutes) the bucketed data) receiving, by the vehicle gateway, a trigger signal while in the standby state, (see at least col.2 ln.28, vehicle gateway device may exit the standby mode based on receiving input from an accelerometer, a vehicle battery, and/or a vehicle computer.) Although Dergosits does disclose transitioning to another power state, Dergosits doesn’t explicitly disclose the trigger signal comprising a universal serial bus (USB) wake signal; and transitioning to one of the full power state or an action state in response to the trigger signal.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Sundaram discloses an in-vehicle compute system that includes a compute device that such as an edge gateway node wherein the trigger signal comprising a universal serial bus (USB) wake signal; and transitioning to one of the full power state or an action state in response to the trigger signal. (see at least p.38, providing an instruction to exit the standby mode responsive to sensing a negotiated power level at the USB-C connection circuitry) and (as least p.37, he method 600 can begin with operation 602 with detecting a connection event at USB-C connection circuitry 106. The method 600 can continue with operation 604 with receiving a wake signal over the USB-C connection circuitry 106. In examples, the wake signal can be provided to baseband circuitry). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the combined gateway system as disclosed by Dergosits with the USB wake up signal for the gateway system as taught y Sundaram for the advantage of cost savings with lower power. (see at least p.16)
Regarding Claim 12. (Original) The teaching combination of Dergosits and Sundaram teaches all the limitations of the method of claim 11. Dergosits teaches further, wherein said detecting a change in vehicle operating status comprises detecting a vehicle ignition status or monitoring a health of a battery through a diagnostic port. (see at least col.34 ln.44, , the vehicle gateway device determines if input has been received. The input may include may include input from one or more of an accelerometer, a vehicle battery, a vehicle computer, or any other component associated with the vehicle gateway device)
Regarding Claim 13. (Currently Amended) The teaching combination of Dergosits and Sundaram teaches all the limitations of the method of claim 11. Dergosits teaches further, wherein the trigger signal further comprises one or more of: a USB wake signal, an LTE signal or an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor trigger indicating movement of the vehicle. (see at least col. ln., When in the standby mode, the vehicle gateway device can maintain a Long-Term Evolution (“LTE”) network connection with the management server by sending keep alive packets such that the vehicle gateway device can respond to requests from the management server in a timely manner.)
Regarding Claim 14. (Previously Presented) The combination of Dergosits and Sundaram teach all the limitations of the method of claim 11. Dergosits teaches further, wherein transitioning the vehicle gateway to a standby state after a timer expires further comprises confirming that an action was not detected before the timer expires. (see at least col.2 ln.24, vehicle gateway device may enter the standby mode based on a lack of input for a period of time from an accelerometer, a vehicle battery, and/or a vehicle computer)
Regarding Claim 15. (Original) The combination of Dergosits and Sundaram teach all the limitations of the method of claim 11. Dergosits, wherein transitioning to the action state comprises performing an action included in a command received via a network interface. (see at least col.2 ln.39, management server transmits data requests to the vehicle gateway device over the maintained data connection. The data requests may include a request for particular vehicle metrics, a request to implement debugging, a request for log data, etc. The vehicle gateway device can receive the data requests and respond to the management server in a timely manner.)
Regarding Claim 16. (Currently Amended) Dergosits discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for tangibly storing computer program instructions capable of being executed by a computer processor, the computer program instructions defining steps of: operating a vehicle gateway in a full power state (see at least col.1 ln.58, vehicle gateway device can use large amounts of energy at a full power mode); detecting a change in an operating status of a vehicle communicatively coupled to the vehicle gateway; transitioning the vehicle gateway from the full power state to a low power state based on the change in the operating status; (see at least col.1 ln.58, vehicle gateway device can use large amounts of energy at a full power mode) transitioning the vehicle gateway from the low power state to a standby state after a timer expires; (see at least col. ln., vehicle gateway device gathers vehicle metric data from the vehicle (e.g., every millisecond). The gathered metric data can be bucketed and aggregated over time, and periodically (e.g., every 5 minutes) the bucketed data) receiving, by the vehicle gateway, a trigger signal while in the standby state, (see at least col.2 ln.28, vehicle gateway device may exit the standby mode based on receiving input from an accelerometer, a vehicle battery, and/or a vehicle computer.). Dergosits doesn’t explicitly disclose the trigger signal comprising a universal serial bus (USB) wake signal; and transitioning to one of the full power state or an action state in response to the trigger signal.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Sundaram discloses an in-vehicle compute system that includes a compute device that such as an edge gateway node wherein the trigger signal comprising a universal serial bus (USB) wake signal; and transitioning to one of the full power state or an action state in response to the trigger signal. (see at least p.38, providing an instruction to exit the standby mode responsive to sensing a negotiated power level at the USB-C connection circuitry) and (as least p.37, he method 600 can begin with operation 602 with detecting a connection event at USB-C connection circuitry 106. The method 600 can continue with operation 604 with receiving a wake signal over the USB-C connection circuitry 106. In examples, the wake signal can be provided to baseband circuitry). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the combined gateway system as disclosed by Dergosits with the USB wake up signal for the gateway system as taught y Sundaram for the advantage of cost savings with lower power. (see at least p.16)
Regarding Claim 17. (Original) The combination of Dergosits and Sundaram discloses all the limitations of the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16. Dergosits teaches further, wherein said detecting a change in vehicle operating status comprises detecting a vehicle ignition status or monitoring a health of a battery through a diagnostic port. (see at least col.34 ln.44, , the vehicle gateway device determines if input has been received. The input may include input from one or more of an accelerometer, a vehicle battery, a vehicle computer, or any other component associated with the vehicle gateway device)
Regarding Claim 18. (Currently Amended) The combination of Dergosits and Sundaram discloses all the limitations of the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16. Dergosits discloses further, wherein the trigger signal comprises one or more of: a USB wake signal, an LTE signal or an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor trigger indicating movement of the vehicle. (see at least col. ln., When in the standby mode, the vehicle gateway device can maintain a Long-Term Evolution (“LTE”) network connection with the management server by sending keep alive packets such that the vehicle gateway device can respond to requests from the management server in a timely manner.)
Regarding Claim 19. (Previously Presented) The combination of Dergosits and Sundaram discloses all the limitations of the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16. Dergosits teaches further, wherein transitioning the vehicle gateway to a standby state after a timer expires further comprises confirming that an action was not detected before the timer expires. (see at least col.2 ln.24, vehicle gateway device may enter the standby mode based on a lack of input for a period of time from an accelerometer, a vehicle battery, and/or a vehicle computer)
Regarding Claim 20. (Original) The combination of Dergosits and Sundaram discloses all the limitations of the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16. Dergosits teaches further, wherein transitioning to the action state comprises performing an action included in a command received via a network interface. (see at least col.2 ln.39, management server transmits data requests to the vehicle gateway device over the maintained data connection. The data requests may include a request for particular vehicle metrics, a request to implement debugging, a request for log data, etc. The vehicle gateway device can receive the data requests and respond to the management server in a timely manner.)
Regarding Claim 21. (New) The combination of Sargent, Dergpsits and Sundaram discloses all the limitations of the system of claim 1. Sargent discloses further and wherein the wake event comprises the vehicle gateway receiving the wake signal from the vehicle interface adapter via the second cable. (see at least p.53, gateway module 205 can therefore acquire diagnostic bus and motor vehicle status data and buffer the data and forward the data directly to the vehicle management system or another in-vehicle device (such as a driver's cell phone, tablet, or laptop) via WiFi, Ethernet, RS232/422, USB or other suitable physical and wireless interfaces) and via the diagnostic port and the first cable (see at least p.86) Sargent doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein the wake signal is a USB wake signal in response to detecting a power signal received from the battery.
However Sundaram discloses further, wherein the wake signal is a USB wake signal in response to detecting a power signal received from the battery. (see at least p.38, providing an instruction to exit the standby mode responsive to sensing a negotiated power level at the USB-C connection circuitry) and (as least p.37, he method 600 can begin with operation 602 with detecting a connection event at USB-C connection circuitry 106. The method 600 can continue with operation 604 with receiving a wake signal over the USB-C connection circuitry 106. In examples, the wake signal can be provided to baseband circuitry). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the combined gateway system as disclosed by Dergosits with the USB wake up signal for the gateway system as taught y Sundaram for the advantage of cost savings with lower power. (see at least p.16)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JELANI A SMITH whose telephone number is (571)270-3969. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6:30AM-4:30PM EST.
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, Jelani A Smith can be reached at 571-270-3969. 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.
JELANI A. SMITH
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3662
/JELANI A SMITH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3662
Prosecution Insights